The online humanities revival continues apace
Kyla Scanlon explains the world with Lewis, Canetti, Girard, Tolkien
So yes: it’s the despair and the algorithm, together. To explain where that leaves us, I think we need myths. Myths give us language for recurring human patterns, and frameworks for understanding whatever is going on. They describe the harmony and discord, conflict and scapegoats, plagues and crowds. Books.
uses six books to try and make sense of six parts of the confusion in the world today. Here is part of the first one.
In the opening of The Silmarillion, the world is sung into existence by the Ainur, the holy ones, each contributing their voice in harmony to a vast symphony directed by Eru Ilúvatar. But then Melkor, the most powerful of the Ainur, introduces discord into the music. It’s chaotic, a melody of pride and violence. When it gets woven into the very fabric of creation, it permanently scars the world.
Our world feels the same - the age of struggle between order and chaos. Discord (lowercase d, ahem) has become a central organizing force. In Nepal, Discord servers (capital D) coordinated mass protests that toppled the government.
Previously, she has analysed the economy with The Screwtape Letters. A lot of the most interesting thinking, writing, and just sheer energy about the humanities right now is reintegrating them into the broader intellectual life of business, news and economic analysis, AI.
She makes a good point using the Silmarillion. The humanities and the arts are indeed the guardians of culture. When this breaks apart it is fertile ground for discord to spread its nasty influence, cause there’s no armor, no glue holding the culture together. Tolkien certainly knew this. He saw it firsthand in the Great War. And reflects this in the Sillmarillion and the Lord of the Rings.
Hmm. A lot of SF tech people seem to love Lewis and Tolkien. Does that add up to a humanities revival? Isn’t it more of a defeat for a century of literary modernism?