let's THiNK about it

By: Ryder Richards
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  • Summary

  • A cultural detective's journey into philosophy, art, sociology, and psychology with Ryder Richards. (Formerly known as "The Will to DIY")
    2020 Ryder Richards
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Personal Development Personal Success Philosophy Social Sciences
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Episodes
  • The semantic drift of "good"

    The semantic drift of "good"
    Feb 21 2025

    Ryder Richards discusses the evolution and degradation of the concept of "good" in moral language, referencing Nietzsche, Shell, and McIntyre. Nietzsche argues that "good" originated as a term for nobility but was inverted by the oppressed into a virtue of meekness. Shell suggests that modern morality has been corrupted by utility, aligning with capitalism and democracy. McIntyre claims that modern society suffers from moral fragmentation, rendering ethical discussions incoherent. Richards ties these ideas to Orwell's 1984, emphasizing the structural collapse of language and the futility of moral progress in modern culture wars. He concludes that the concept of "good" has lost its original meaning and is now used without clear definition.
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    8 mins
  • Language Failure: How Words Shape Our Reality

    Language Failure: How Words Shape Our Reality
    Feb 17 2025
    Language Failure: How Words Shape Our RealityA Long-Form Summary of the PodcastOpening Hook: The Illusion of RealityImagine walking through downtown San Francisco. On your phone, you see pristine streets and a bustling city. But when you look up, the reality is starkly different—crumbling infrastructure, vacant storefronts, and widespread urban decay. This isn't an episode of Black Mirror; it's what happened in 2023 when San Francisco created a Potemkin village—a facade meant to impress foreign dignitaries while hiding the city’s deeper issues.This phenomenon isn't just about urban aesthetics; it signals something deeper: the failure of language to accurately reflect reality. When we manipulate language, we manipulate perception, and when perception detaches from truth, society begins to collapse.The San Francisco example proves that we know what a functional city looks like—we can manufacture an illusion of order when necessary—but we don’t maintain it. Instead, we mask the problem rather than solving it. This mirrors the broader theme of the podcast: language, like infrastructure, is breaking down, and instead of repairing it, we disguise its failure with illusions.The Problem: The Breakdown of RealityWhat happens when our words and perceptions no longer match reality?We see this in:Infrastructure decay: Baltimore’s bridge collapse, failing subway systems, and deteriorating roads.Media and distraction: Instead of addressing problems, we divert our attention—scrolling through TikTok instead of engaging with real-world issues.Social and political discourse: Headlines inflame emotions, but we rarely engage with the underlying facts.We live in a loop of anxiety and escape, toggling between existential threats and dopamine-fueled distractions. This is not just modern life—it’s a historical pattern that has preceded societal collapse before.Historical Warning Signs: Orwell, Cuenco, and the Soviet UnionMost people remember 1984 for its themes of surveillance and thought control. But Orwell also illustrated a world where physical reality itself was decaying—the elevators don’t work, the food rations shrink, and yet, the Party insists everything is improving.Michael Cuenco builds on this idea in his 2021 essay, Victory Is Not Possible, arguing that today’s culture wars function in the same way as Orwell’s language control. The ruling elite isn’t just lying—it’s actively shrinking language, making dissent impossible because people lack the vocabulary to express opposition.The Soviet Union offers another chilling parallel. Adam Curtis’s documentary, HyperNormalisation, explores how, in the USSR’s final years, everyone knew the official narrative was false—record-breaking harvests were announced while store shelves were empty. But rather than resist, people played along, creating a world where fantasy replaced reality.The result? A world where illusions become more real than facts. People, exhausted by the gap between truth and propaganda, retreated into cynicism, vodka, and pop culture.Today, we are experiencing a similar detachment from reality—not through authoritarian control, but through semantic drift, emotional manipulation, and digital distractions.The Mechanism: How Language Becomes UntetheredHow does language lose its connection to reality? Through concept creep and false logic.Concept Creep (Semantic Drift)Words broaden in meaning, diluting their original precision.Example: Trauma once meant a physical wound (1850s), but by 1895, William James and Freud extended it to psychological wounds. Today, it describes any discomfort—I was traumatized by cold coffee.Hyperbole and Semantic InflationOveruse weakens terms: Abuse now includes neglect, fascism is applied to trivial disagreements, bullying can refer to mere criticism.Example: Courage once meant facing real danger, but now can mean avoiding offense.Semantic InversionWords flip in meaning—what was once good can become bad and vice versa.Example: Freedom increasingly means freedom from reality and consequences rather than actual agency.When words become unanchored from objective meaning, they create ideological vacuums—leaving us drifting like astronauts in space, weightless, disconnected, and incapable of grappling with reality.The Ladder of False Logic: How We Convince Ourselves of LiesThe Ladder of Inference, or false logic, explains how we trick ourselves into believing distorted realities:Observable Facts – A politician says, Education is declining despite higher spending.Selected Data – You focus on a single phrase that confirms your bias.Interpretation – This sounds like something a dictator would say.Assumption – They must have a hidden agenda.Conclusion – They’re trying to destroy public education.Belief – They are evil and must be stopped.Action – Post an outraged rant online, comparing them to Hitler.Each step takes you further from reality—until your worldview becomes purely ...
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    23 mins
  • {AI}ice's Odyssey in DALL-E Land

    {AI}ice's Odyssey in DALL-E Land
    Mar 26 2024

    In this lecture, Ryder Richards, an artist currently based in Fort Worth, explored the intersection of art and artificial intelligence (AI), specifically focusing on a project that reimagines Salvador Dali's "Alice in Wonderland." Richards delved into public fears and misconceptions about AI, emphasizing a lack of understanding about how AI algorithms function, including generative adversarial networks (GANs) and diffusion models. By showcasing AI-generated images and discussing the differences between various AI platforms like Dolly, Midjourney, and Stable Diffusion, he illustrated AI's capabilities and limitations. Richards highlighted how each platform has its strengths and weaknesses in creating art, the humorous mistakes they can make due to misunderstandings, and the importance of understanding these tools to navigate the burgeoning field of AI art effectively.

    The lecture further ventured into the implications of AI in society, touching on concerns of dependency, the impact on human skills and creativity, and the ethical dilemmas surrounding AI-generated content. Richards presented a nuanced view of AI's role in art, arguing that while AI can facilitate the creative process, it also raises questions about originality, authorship, and the value of human touch in art. Through the lens of his project, which attempted to fuse AI's capabilities with the essence of Dali's work, Richards explored the challenges of using AI to replicate human creativity. He concluded by discussing the broader societal and philosophical questions AI raises, including the potential loss of human agency and the importance of storytelling in preserving humanity's unique attributes. This reflection underscored the complex relationship between technology and human creativity, suggesting that while AI can be a powerful tool, it also prompts us to reevaluate the essence of art and creativity in the digital age.
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    42 mins

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