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image Triumph after triumph after triumph! Stumbled on extract from Orwell’s interview, posted by Musk. Every time I see stuff from 1984 I marvel about the foresight he had… “In our world there will be no emotions except fear, rage, triumph, and self-abasement… …We have cut the links between child and parent, and between man and man, and between man and woman. No one dares trust a wife or a child or a friend any longer. But in the future there will be no wives and no friends… There will be no loyalty, except loyalty towards the Party. There will be no love, except the love of Big Brother. There will be no laughter, except the laugh of triumph over a defeated enemy. There will be no curiosity, no enjoyment of the process of life. All competing pleasures will be destroyed. But always there will be the intoxication of power, constantly increasing and constantly growing subtler. Always, at every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless. If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face - for ever… …And remember that it is for ever. The face will always be there to be stamped upon. The heretic, the enemy of society, will always be there, so that he can be defeated and humiliated over again… …That is the world that we are preparing, Winston. A world of victory after victory, triumph after triumph after triumph: an endless pressing, pressing, pressing upon the nerve of power.” 1984 And the moral is simple - do not let it happen! But it is up to everyone personally. Only through personal responsibility can we try to preserve or correct something.
Humans need Humans! Tarkovsky is considered one of the pillars of cinematography, not just in his home country but worldwide. He is often mentioned alongside Bergman, Fellini, Antonioni, Kurosawa... and sometimes even ranked higher. Before now, I had only seen Stalker. To be honest, I didn't fully understand it. As a big fan of the Strugatsky brothers, I had read Roadside Picnic several times. But in Tarkovsky's film, the main character, the Zone, and everything else were portrayed completely differently. Even the central theme diverged significantly from the book. After reading the book about Tarkovsky, I was inspired to explore his other films. So, when my wife asked if I wanted to watch Stalker or Solaris, I immediately said - Solaris. From the very beginning, I felt a strange sensation. Perhaps my brain, accustomed to the rush of emotions and hormones triggered by modern films, struggles with the slow and enigmatic openings... The science studying the planet Solaris has reached an impasse. It's impossible to communicate with the ocean, which seems to possess a consciousness that reacts to human actions. On Earth, there is a debate about whether to continue investing resources in exploring the planet or to abandon the mission. Psychologist Chris Kelvin travels to Solaris to decide what to do. "Guests" begin appearing to the scientists at the station—people they once knew. Chris's friend, one of the scientists on Solaris, leaves a dying message: "This is not madness... there's something involving the conscience." As Chris sleeps, a "guest" also visits him—his wife, who died 10 years ago after an argument. Sartorius, a strictly rational workaholic, tries to view these "guests" as mere objects of physical study. He conducts blood analyses, autopsies, and attempts to analytically justify the origin of these visitors. For Chris, however, the appearance of his wife is so shocking that it completely shatters his initially cynical and detached attitude. The film vividly illustrates that memory and conscience can be more revealing than a person's actions during their lifetime. True love transcends mere relationships with the living; it is a complex of emotions that can humanize seemingly inanimate entities, granting them genuine life, emotions, and suffering. Sartorius is visibly disturbed by Chris's response to his "guest." He cannot fathom how they could be considered anything other than objects. To him, real emotions are impossible towards something that "in reality" no longer exists. The story begins with research into the unknown, pushing boundaries, learning, and contacting new civilizations—a triumphant march of scientific progress. Yet it culminates in the realization that the most crucial endeavor is understanding oneself and one's fellow humans. "Science? — Nonsense! In this situation, both mediocrity and genius are equally helpless... I must tell you that we do not want to conquer any space at all. We want to expand Earth to its boundaries. We do not know what to do with other worlds. We do not need other worlds. We need a mirror... We are struggling with contact and will never find it. We are in the absurd position of a man rushing toward a goal he fears and doesn't need. A man needs a man!" Another powerful moment is Chris's feverish monologue about how the primary force for saving humanity is shame (or how else can one describe repentance without saying the word itself). Only through the recognition and processing of this shame can one save oneself from destruction and madness. How, in an age of scientific atheism, can one convey that love conquers death in the most literal sense? How to demonstrate that the most important thing for a person is their neighbor, another human being? I now feel that a movie like this can be watched multiple times, each viewing revealing something new. #journal
Somehow browsing #Nostr I have come across the article from #[1]​ titled "Dear Crypto & Fiat Bros. An open letter to the confused and dismissive." (
dergigi.com
Dear Crypto & Fiat Bros - An open letter to the confused and dismissive. | dergigi.com
The coin is dead, long live the coin!
). And this is probably one of the best, if not the best piece on #Bitcoin, I have ever read. "Bitcoin is best understood as a force of nature, like the coming and going of the tide, like the sun rising in the east and setting in the west.... The tide will come and go, the sun will rise and set, and Bitcoin will produce a new block. Every 10 minutes." At some point after installation of my own node I got this feeling, and I was sitting in awe trying to contemplate the existence of this network. This article captured a lot of these feelings in words. Thanks #[3]​!