Hate to sow discontent in the comments but I think part of what gives shape rotator/wordcel its oomph is that it deliberately invokes established meme dichotomy with adhering to it. It feels somehow wrong to "complete" it. Memes entering their twelve-tone era?
It's interesting to see memes about mental shape rotation break containment from like, trans in-group COGIATI jokes (not that that's the only possible source, of course, but it's where I first encountered it) -- I wonder when that crossed over
Head was spinning with this one. But I appreciate you taking a deep dive on things I've seen online but don't really understand. Also, I think pretty much everything Marc Andreessen does is annoying.
You were onto something with that last meme. Words are a kind of shape and maybe somehow shapes are a kind of word but im not sure if thats any different from the former
The typical understanding of the terms is incorrect imo—the dichotomy doesn't distinguish between verbal and quantitative cognitive profiles, strictly speaking. The "cel" in wordcel should be the clue that the term doesn't mean "high verbal ability" per se but instead indicates a lack of ability to shape-rotate—a cognitive skill that's really about thinking visually and abstractly. At the highest levels of verbal and quantitative ability, both cognitive profiles engage in shape rotation, just in different object spaces. It beggars belief to label Vladimir Nabokov a "wordcel" and bin him with some midwit journalist who embarrasses himself on Twitter regularly, for example.
Similarly, in many quant-coded professions (applied statistics, epidemiology, public health, software development, to name a few) the modal practitioner isn't a genuine shape rotator (or is at best a relatively weak one). Minimal employability in such fields hinges only on your ability to master a certain set of formalisms and their application. Absent any facility with shape rotation, this is just a variety of wordceldom.
I didn't follow this meme bc I encountered it by the time it'd migrated to smug rich guy Twitter, but going through this, I wonder what you'd think of Jordan Ellenberg's new book, Shape. The first few chapters about geometry and its relation to previously-not-thought-to-be-geometric higher math are really neat. LYLAS
Oh, I like Ellenberg's writing a lot, I should pick it up. Will be important to further develop this meme until we've just completely obliterated all fun from it.
OMG I loved this one! Share your weakness for internet anthropology.
Hate to sow discontent in the comments but I think part of what gives shape rotator/wordcel its oomph is that it deliberately invokes established meme dichotomy with adhering to it. It feels somehow wrong to "complete" it. Memes entering their twelve-tone era?
It's interesting to see memes about mental shape rotation break containment from like, trans in-group COGIATI jokes (not that that's the only possible source, of course, but it's where I first encountered it) -- I wonder when that crossed over
William James, Shapechad
The only shape rotation I care about is the rotation of nature's simultaneous 4-day time cube.
"Fools worship mechanics of
language - while they wallow
in fictitious & deceitful word."
"Worshipping a Word God
will destroy the USA."
"You are Enslaved by Word -
no whip or shackle required.
You do not have the freedom
to discuss/debate Time Cube.
Academia destroys your mind
by suppressing opposite view. "
Gene Ray was the original IDW shape rotator
Head was spinning with this one. But I appreciate you taking a deep dive on things I've seen online but don't really understand. Also, I think pretty much everything Marc Andreessen does is annoying.
You were onto something with that last meme. Words are a kind of shape and maybe somehow shapes are a kind of word but im not sure if thats any different from the former
This is the weirdest substack post i read all the way through and liked lol.
Of course shapes are a kind of word. That’s just common sense.
The typical understanding of the terms is incorrect imo—the dichotomy doesn't distinguish between verbal and quantitative cognitive profiles, strictly speaking. The "cel" in wordcel should be the clue that the term doesn't mean "high verbal ability" per se but instead indicates a lack of ability to shape-rotate—a cognitive skill that's really about thinking visually and abstractly. At the highest levels of verbal and quantitative ability, both cognitive profiles engage in shape rotation, just in different object spaces. It beggars belief to label Vladimir Nabokov a "wordcel" and bin him with some midwit journalist who embarrasses himself on Twitter regularly, for example.
Similarly, in many quant-coded professions (applied statistics, epidemiology, public health, software development, to name a few) the modal practitioner isn't a genuine shape rotator (or is at best a relatively weak one). Minimal employability in such fields hinges only on your ability to master a certain set of formalisms and their application. Absent any facility with shape rotation, this is just a variety of wordceldom.
I didn't follow this meme bc I encountered it by the time it'd migrated to smug rich guy Twitter, but going through this, I wonder what you'd think of Jordan Ellenberg's new book, Shape. The first few chapters about geometry and its relation to previously-not-thought-to-be-geometric higher math are really neat. LYLAS
Oh, I like Ellenberg's writing a lot, I should pick it up. Will be important to further develop this meme until we've just completely obliterated all fun from it.