We Are Not Saved

Journey of the Mind: How Thinking Emerged from Chaos by: Ogi Ogas and Sai Gaddam Against the Grain: A Deep History of the Earliest States by: James C. Scott This post represents a new feature (experiment?) I plan to occasionally write posts which take advantage of one or more books I read recently, but which aren’t actually reviews of those books. See, for example, my last post: Superminds, States, and the Domestication of Humans.  Despite the fact that the books feature heavily in these posts, I assume my adoring fans still want actual reviews. But it doesn’t make sense to wait until the next book review collection for those reviews to appear, nor does it make sense to cram the reviews into the original essay which was about something else. And so I thought that instead I would have the reviews quickly follow the essay as sort of supplementary material. So that’s what this is. Let me know what you think. 

How durable is the state? How resistant is it to being overthrown? How closely does it reflect our desires? Is it possible it has its own desires? But maybe more importantly how does all this affect the possibility of a very close election in November?

A narcissistic dialogue around ideas that are either annoyingly fractured or wholly unrealistic.  DON'T DIE: Dialogues  By: Bryan Johnson Published: 2023 247 Pages Briefly, what is this book about? How best to extend the lifespan of humans and the lifetime of humanity presented in the form of a fictional dialogue between various aspects of the author's personality.  What's the author's angle? Bryan Johnson is a biohacker who measures dozens and dozens of biomarkers. As a result of this he claims to be aging at 64/100th the normal rate. He’s also a former and, as near as I can tell, disaffected member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Who should read this book? If you’re really into lifespan expansion, then maybe? Or similarly very concerned with X-risks? But I will warn you that the book is written in one of the more annoying styles I’ve ever encountered. Not only does it directly impede the transmission of information, it actively works against its inclusion.. Specific thoughts: A strange

  Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture, and the Making of the Gay Male World, 1890-1940 by: George Chauncey The Conservative Futurist: How to Create the Sci-Fi World We Were Promised by: James Pethokoukis Morning After the Revolution: Dispatches from the Wrong Side of History by: Nellie Bowles Every Man for Himself and God Against All: A Memoir by: Werner Herzog The Complete Maus: A Survivor's Tale by: Art Spiegelman The Master and Margarita by: Mikhail Bulgakov The Buried Giant: A Novel by: Kazuo Ishiguro Naked Defiance: A Comedy of Menace by: Patrik Sampler The Riddle of the Third Mile (Inspector Morse Series Book 6) by: Colin Dexter Dungeons & Dragons 2024 Player's Handbook (D&D Core Rulebook) lead designer: Jeremy Crawford

Transcript: https://www.wearenotsaved.com/p/divine-disappointment-and-mortal Is God Disappointed in Me?: Removing Shame from a Gospel of Grace  By: Kurt Francom Published: 2024 190 Pages Briefly, what is this book about? Our parents expect that we will do certain things—perhaps it’s cleaning our rooms, perhaps it’s becoming a doctor—when we don't, they're disappointed. We have a tendency to view God in the same fashion; He also has expectations, and when we fail to meet them we imagine that He is similarly disappointed. Francom claims this is a false belief. Because of God’s omniscience and infinite love, He cannot be disappointed. When we think He might be it leads to shame, which prevents us from accessing His love.  What’s the author’s angle? Francom is the director of Leading Saints, an organization whose primary focus is providing advice and resources for the lay leadership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He’s also heavily involved with Warrior Heart a Christian men’s organization th

A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through? by: Kelly and Zach Weinersmith Ravenna: Capital of Empire, Crucible of Europe by: Judith Herrin The Birth of the West: Rome, Germany, France, and the Creation of Europe in the Tenth Century by: Paul Collins Missing: The Need for Closure After the Great War by: Richard van Emden In My Time of Dying: How I Came Face to Face with the Idea of an Afterlife by: Sebastian Junger Do Hard Things: Why We Get Resilience Wrong and the Surprising Science of Real Toughness by: Steve Magness Eruption by: James Patterson and Michael Crichton  The Last Devil to Die: A Thursday Murder Club Mystery (#4) by: Richard Osman He Who Fights with Monsters 8: A LitRPG Adventure by: Shirtaloon He Who Fights with Monsters 9: A LitRPG Adventure by: Shirtaloon He Who Fights with Monsters 10: A LitRPG Adventure by: Shirtaloon

My submission to the Astral Codex Ten Book Review Contest. It was not a finalist. Comments are appreciated. (Especially ones pointing out how much better it is than the actual finalists.)  Links to transcript sections: I- Prologue II- The Core Observation III- The Realm of the Potentially Traumatic IV- “Won’t Somebody Please Think of the Children!?” V- A Continuum of Parenting, With Sundry Bad Examples, and an Appearance by The Last Psychiatrist VI- Resilience

If Trump can brazen is way through all of his various scandals why can't Biden brazen his way through this?

Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work by: Matthew B. Crawford Nuclear War: A Scenario by: Annie Jacobson The Pragmatist's Guide to Relationships: Ruthlessly Optimized Strategies for Dating, Sex, and Marriage by: Malcolm and Simone Collins Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder by: Salman Rushdie Arkham: (The Weird of Hali #7) by: John Michael Greer Robert E. Howard's Conan the Cimmerian Barbarian: The Complete Weird Tales Omnibus by: Robert E. Howard & compiled by: Finn J D John Stories of Your Life and Others by: Ted Chiang He Who Fights with Monsters 6: A LitRPG Adventure by: Shirtaloon He Who Fights with Monsters 7: A LitRPG Adventure by: Shirtaloon Astrophilosophy, Exotheology, and Cosmic Religion: Extraterrestrial Life in a Process Universe by: Andrew M. Davis (editor), Roland Faber (editor), and Various

Just look at the episode picture. The episode picture explains all...

The Burnout Society by: Byung-Chul Han Get Married: Why Americans Must Defy the Elites, Forge Strong Families, and Save Civilization by: Brad Wilcox The MANIAC by: Benjamín Labatut Heart of Europe: A History of the Holy Roman Empire by: Peter Wilson You Can’t Screw This Up: Why Eating Takeout, Enjoying Dessert, and Taking the Stress out of Dieting Leads to Weight Loss That Lasts by: Adam Bornstein  Norwegian Wood by: Haruki Murakami He Who Fights with Monsters 2: A LitRPG Adventure by: Shirtaloon He Who Fights with Monsters 3: A LitRPG Adventure by: Shirtaloon

Irish Impressions by: G. K. Chesterton How to Have Impossible Conversations: A Very Practical Guide by: Peter Boghossian and James Lindsay A Mathematician's Lament: How School Cheats Us Out of Our Most Fascinating and Imaginative Art Form by: Paul Lockhart A Little History of Science by: William Bynum Book Yourself Solid: The Fastest, Easiest, and Most Reliable System for Getting More Clients Than You Can Handle Even if You Hate Marketing and Selling by: Michael Port The Goblin Emperor by: Katherine Addison Red Hook: (The Weird of Hali #6) by: John Michael Greer He Who Fights with Monsters: A LitRPG Adventure by: Shirtaloon All My Knotted-Up Life: A Memoir by: Beth Moore

Meganets: How Digital Forces Beyond Our Control Commandeer Our Daily Lives and Inner Realities by: David B. Auerbach The Robot’s Rebellion: Finding Meaning in the Age of Darwin by: Keith E. Stanovich Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World by: John Vaillant Persian Fire The First World Empire and the Battle for the West by: Tom Holland Submission by: Michel Houellebecq The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation by: Rod Dreher Great Emergence: How Christianity is Changing and Why by: Phyllis Tickle Investigating the Book of Mormon Witnesses by: Richard Lloyd Anderson

The Matter With Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions, and the Unmaking of the World (Volume 2) by: Iain McGilchrist The World Behind the World: Consciousness, Free Will, and the Limits of Science by: Erik Hoel Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America by: Beth Macy American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by: Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin  Younger Next Year, 2nd Edition: Live Strong, Fit, Sexy, and Smart - Until You're 80 and Beyond by: Chris Crowley and Henry S. Lodge M.D. Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by: Mason Currey Meditations on First Philosophy by: Rene Descartes Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans by: Plutarch Neuromancer by: William Gibson Aftermath: Expeditionary Force, Book 16 by: Craig Alanson

The Creative Act: A Way of Being by: Rick Rubin The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives by: Leonard Mlodinow Shakespeare for Every Day of the Year compiled by: Allie Esiri The Monster of Florence by: Douglas Preston Encountering Mystery: Religious Experience in a Secular Age by: Dale C. Allison Jr. As a Driven Leaf by: Milton Steinberg

My report from Natal Con 2023. Including reflections on Tommy Boy, seatbelts, and the proliferation of polycrises.

Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny by: Robert Wright Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by: Matthew Desmond Scarcity Brain: Fix Your Craving Mindset and Rewire Your Habits to Thrive with Enough by: Michael Easter Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values by: Robert Pirsig Finite and Infinite Games by: James Carse Fever Pitch by: Nick Hornby Sun and Steel by: Yukio Mishima Coraline by: Neil Gaiman  The Gods Never Left Us by: Erich von Däniken Mere Christianity by: C. S. Lewis

Transcript: https://www.wearenotsaved.com/p/egregores-group-minds-and-white-magic  Is there such a thing as a group mind? If so how does it affect the thriving and surviving of groups? What do such group minds look like from a historical perspective? What about a modern perspective?

Transcript: https://www.patheos.com/blogs/dispatchesendofworld/2023/11/the-overemphasis-on-love-and-tolerance/  Love is very important for Christians, but has there been too much emphasis placed on it? And has this emphasis warped it into something else? To put it more simply is perfect Christian love the same as unlimited tolerance? This post argues that it's not, and that in fact if you're looking for the ultimate Christian principle it might be "repentance".

The Origins of Woke: Civil Rights Law, Corporate America, and the Triumph of Identity Politics by: Richard Hanania How Elites Ate the Social Justice Movement by: Fredrik deBoer The Matter With Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions, and the Unmaking of the World (Volume 1) by: Iain McGilchrist The Alter Ego Effect: Defeat the Enemy, Unlock Your Heroic Self, and Start Kicking Ass by: Todd Herman The Best Minds: A Story of Friendship, Madness, and the Tragedy of Good Intentions by: Jonathan Rosen To Hell and Back by: Audie Murphy The Ministry for the Future by: Kim Stanley Robinson The Mysteries by: Bill Watterson A Desert of Vast Eternities (Pilgrim's Path Book 2) by: Vic Davis The New Copernicans: Millennials and the Survival of the Church by: David John Seel Jr.