Is this writer, much like myself, a representation of what Dr Calhoun's experiment revealed as "the beautiful ones"?
"During his studies, Calhoun coined the term "behavioral sink" to describe aberrant behaviors in overcrowded population density situations and "beautiful ones" to describe passive individuals who withdrew from all social interaction."
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_B._Calhoun]
I too have little if no desire to lord over anyone. Is this passivity? Withdrawal? But what I lack in that ambition for power I magnify in my desire for autonomy. Yeah, I have my usual moments of feeble aggression which can be mistaken for a deeper and more permanent desire for power (eg. stuck on the road, impatient in a queue, wanting a prospective sale to go through etc) where I fantasize power to influence outcomes - but the moments pass just as quickly when I realise the absurdity of that sort of wish.
Autonomy OTOH is sacred for me. Absurdly, I will fight till starvation than be co-opted into someone else's creative ideals (especially when I do not agree). I'd rather go hungry than submit to power dynamics in this regard.
The ability to withdraw is an expression of power in and of itself. Autonomy is the power that many (most?) are looking for. It’s just that many are incapable (or believe they are incapable) of achieving autonomy without getting others to do work for them.
Programmers try to find the best of both worlds: they try to get machines to do work for them, so that they don’t need to impose on people to do so.
"During his studies, Calhoun coined the term "behavioral sink" to describe aberrant behaviors in overcrowded population density situations and "beautiful ones" to describe passive individuals who withdrew from all social interaction." [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_B._Calhoun]
I too have little if no desire to lord over anyone. Is this passivity? Withdrawal? But what I lack in that ambition for power I magnify in my desire for autonomy. Yeah, I have my usual moments of feeble aggression which can be mistaken for a deeper and more permanent desire for power (eg. stuck on the road, impatient in a queue, wanting a prospective sale to go through etc) where I fantasize power to influence outcomes - but the moments pass just as quickly when I realise the absurdity of that sort of wish.
Autonomy OTOH is sacred for me. Absurdly, I will fight till starvation than be co-opted into someone else's creative ideals (especially when I do not agree). I'd rather go hungry than submit to power dynamics in this regard.
Loved the article.