Essentialized

By Psoid Froid

"Why do people feel unhappy in today's complex world?"

 

With plenty of character & wit, Psoid Froid takes you on a whirldwind tour through a smattering of topics; from the see-saw of fulfillment, to the sexual archetypes of Fifty Shades Of Grey, to the deceptiveness of mommy's hands. Every essay's a surprise. The book answers the questions in an interdisciplinary way, inspired by a wide variety of books like Travels In Hyperreality by Umberto Eco, Amusing Ourselves To Death by Neil Postman, Antifragile by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Finite and Infinite Games by James Carse, and The Shallows by Nicholas Carr.

 

First, the book explains how the world became more complex and proposes a theory of long-term Human satisfaction called The Fulfillment Games.
Secondly, it explains how we simplify things to deal with that complexity.
Thirdly, it showcases how those simplifications end up making the world more complex and less satisfying.

And yet, despite seeing the world go to shitake, Psoid Froid remains an optimist with an eccentric sense of humour!

Without further ado, here be:

Psoid Froid's psycho-philosophical comedy.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kevin Focke
• Release date: Jul 8, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223617846

Book preview

cover.jpg

Essentialized.

A bawdy and exciting tale introducing a grand new psychological theory to explore the concepts of sado-masochism, hyper-essentialization, the proliferation of intermediation, and the unbinding of the bundled, to showcase the pitfalls of human happiness, machine learning, mathematical models, and more, painstakingly decorated in ornate language to please the aesthetic, emotional, spiritual, and rational sensibilities, for make benefit a gloriously flawed society.

Copyright © 2022 by Kevin Focke and Psoid Froid.

This book has inspired the sumptuous music of the Broken Kintsugi Trilogy:

Pax Eudaemonia

Thralls Of Technology

Zoa Constrictor

ISBN: 9798223617846

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This is a Kevin Focke project.

Looking for more magical creations?

Visit www.kevinfocke.com

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The General Gist

Woof Woof, A Dedication

On Psoid Froid

Editor’s Note: Once More On Psoid Froid

Preludium

Psoid Froid’s Triumphant Prerogative

Poems Of Simple Splendour

Poem: Reasons For Being

The Elegance Of Being

Inherent Schizophrenia

Sanctum Simulacrum

Faust And Furious

Finding Zen In Reason

Control & Release

The Fulfillment Games

Dialogue: Why Oh Why?

Arbitrariness And Childhood

Sexual Tension: The Puppetmaster And The Beast

The Beast And Competition

On Outrage And Offense

The Defecation Of The Commons

The Gamble of Golgonooza

Narry A Philosophical Buffoon In Sight

The Complication Of The Straightforward

Numerical Madness And Reaching For Conclusions

Godlessness & Worthlessness

Magical Thinking

Ring A Bell?

On Decision Making

Me Is Phony

Autonomy & Similarity

Folly Failure

Mommy, Why’s The Womb Wicked?

Mommy Knows Best

Mommy Is Gone! Mommy Is Back!

A Letter To A Child: Of Societies, Monsters And Mountains

Will To Power

Dialogue: No Comfy

Storytime: I, The Lovelorn Fool

Fever Dream: Up And Down

Divinity, Trauma, & Dreams

The Trauma Of Birth And The Fundamental Delusion Of Pride: A Tale Of Certainty, Love, Charm, Comfort, and Confidence

Ideal Love

Male, Female, And Fairy Mainstream Sexual Fantasies

Reduction Ad Absurdum

Sanctum Simulacrum

The Ulterior Bind Of Minde And Its Ostensibly Exemplary Example The Crystallization Of Consciousness, The Question Of Whole Milk & Wholeness, And How Sand’s Transition State Namely Glass Could Be The Clue To The Mysterydoo Of Consciousness

Thralls Of Technology

Screw The Screen!

Simply So

Vacuous Vapor

The Hyper-Essentialization Of Material

Sign Of The Times

Pointing Out The Signs And Its Confounding Confabulations

A Table, An Umbrella, And Such-And-So

The Wizard Of The Coast

Please Do Not Disturb The Crabs

Hyper-Compression In Language

Me-And-Mine, Queer Resonators

Storytime: My Mellifluous Muse

On New Sincerity

Je-Ne-Sais-Quoi, The Curse Of Seamlessness, And The Perfect Fake

A Wallop Of Zingers

Pain Quotidien – Lessons From Daily Nuisances

Shame Of The Body

Ha Ha

Much At Stake

Tomatoes Are Red And Violets Blue (For The Romantics)

Hands Off My Bloody Tomatoes!

Being & Birds & Bees

The Psoid Principle

On Intellectuals

Que?

Hard To Stomach

Poem: Wind

On The Impracticality Of Honesty

Sisyphus’ Pebbles

The General Gist

This book has a lot of flavour, but not everyone might like the taste.

That’s fine, some people don’t like sushi.

Do I understand those people?

Absolutely not.

Do I dislike those people?

No, why would I? More sushi for me!

If this book were a characterful wine or whisky, here’s what the label would say:

Think back on your last memory of happiness. It might have been when you received a pleasant compliment, when you were promoted at work, when you ate a really delicious meal, or when you fell in love with a really good book. A most wonderful feeling, isn’t it? Remiss, the feeling is already gone. Happiness is much like a headache; it can have many causes. Unlike the headache, how can we make it last longer?

The world isn’t as we would like it to be. There are two main ways we can deal with this problem:

1. We can change our environment so it better fits us.

2. We can accept the environment as it is.

It’s a dynamic between control & release, between a clenched fist and an open hand. If your fist is always clenched, you might feel powerful, but stress will spread throughout. If your hand is always open, you’ll go where the wind blows—and you might not like the direction your life is heading. Thus fulfillment is a see-saw; you have the most fun when you go both ways.

Then, the book focuses on how the world became more complex and how we as a society deal with that complexity. It also argues this complexity and our ways of coping with complexity stand in the way of fulfillment.

In short, we expanded our control over the environment by extreme specialization which makes everything more complex. As individuals, it also makes us feel like we’re constantly balancing on the edge of a knife; as if we’re a tiny flame in an ever-encroaching dark forest.

It is a strange paradox: How can we collectively do so much, when our individual power always seems so small? We’re not lazy nor stupid; there’s just not enough time to do & learn things, and there’s more to do & learn every day!

To cope with those problems, we simplify things down to their essence—to rules of thumb and abstractions. But there’s another problem: You can simplify so much that you lose your ability to communicate. For example, you might call up a good friend and say:

‘I need something to protect me from the rain and *wink* *wink* it’s my birthday in a couple of days…’

Perhaps your birthday present will be an umbrella, a raincoat, or—if your friend is feeling particularly generous—a car. All will protect you from the rain, but they’re not the same thing.

Speaking of a car, it’s a truly magical thing: You just press a button, vroom vroom, and off you go. It’s a lot of fun until… it breaks.

So you go to a mechanic…

Who calls the manufacturer…

Who calls the supplier…

…Whose line is currently unavailable. ‘Please leave your message after the tone.’

It’s frustrating. When the metal box breaks down, it reveals a hidden complexity. The functioning of many things relies on the knowledge and cooperation of a huge network of components. Both people and objects who you don’t personally know yet must put your trust in. Strangers, each with their own values, motivations, interests, and quirks.

Humanity is more powerful than ever.

With our collective power, we direct our destiny.

The supernatural is done and dusted—God is dead.

So who do we blame when things go wrong in our lives?

When everything that befalls you, good or bad, is something a Human somewhere caused?

A Human whose name you’ll never know.

A Human you can never curse or thank.

A Human hidden.

A cog, like you, in the ever-churning machine of Humanity.

A background hum drowning out your voice.

A drum unceasing.

Itself beaten.

Woof Woof, A Dedication

In the spirit of the ever-inspiring Chihuahua, this book is dedicated to free speech & simple joys.

Secundo, it is also dedicated to Sir Flâneur—Nassim Nicholas Taleb—who is peremptorily the best living philosopher.

Tertio, it is also dedicated to David Chapman from the blog Meaningness.

There be the flowers redolent of praise.

A Most Glorious Chihuahua

Portrayed: The Chihuahua basking in the glory of its own greatness.

On Psoid Froid

‘Know thyself.’

Some people love me, some people love to (pretend to) ignore me, some people love the ambivalence I cause, and some people love to hate me. In the end, all people love me in one way