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The golden fleece and impossible standards
About this film
In this ~35 minute walk I philosophise about unattainable standards and unclear desires in our life. I briefly mention the myth of Jason and the Argonauts to then draw connections between the insights of that story and everyday affairs. What I cover, in short: We have a propensity to discount or underappreciate what we have. Instead, we have a longing for magical solutions—the golden fleece—that will elevate us to great heights. We let go of what we have in pursuit of the unattainable. As we fail to attain that, we ultimately feel bad about ourselves, rationalising our failure as inadequacy and worthlessness. I draw a parallel between the golden fleece and the incessant pursuit for the killer app, using Emacs as a case in point. When we do not know exactly what we want, we cannot get it. Even if something can read our mind, it still needs to find a mind that is clear. Otherwise we have “garbage in; garbage out.” Lengthy commentary on impossible standards that govern our life. I explain the scope of application and how we must be aware of it when particularising an abstraction. I am interested in the multifacetedness of the human condition to find precepts that work for humans, not…
Directors & creators
Protesilaos Stavrou
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