Has anyone ever reached out to an author, philosopher, intellectual

>>9672399
simon critchley's secretary told me to not contact him with personal queries.

his email address is, apparently, to organise talks, publications and so on

I sent Gene Wolfe fan mail circa 2000 and it developed into a lovely friendship. He helped me get my first short story published, sent me advance copies of his books at times. The greatest of all time in lots of ways.

>>9672399
i have never not gotten a response from a retired faculty member at any institution ive ever attended

p.s. they're goldmines and usually willing to give you any info you want + meet with you if they're around

The professor of philosophy at Yale says he agrees with my theory on the afterlife

I've come up with better shit than he has desu

damn op that looks like a rad af skate spot, we need to find some ancient aztec dudes lost in the yucatan and recruit them to design skateparks

>>9673038
>The professor of philosophy at Yale

wow for such a big school i'm surprised to hear they only have one professor of philosophy, but hey at least he agrees with your theory

>>9672408
>simon critchley
so... explain how you gained revenge by slut shaming him.

>>9672399
A famous now rather aged musician of note responded very pleasantly, and at some length, to a query I once sent him, but that's it.

i thought i wrote an email to walter benn michaels once but it turns out it was just a daydream but it seems real in my memory i had to think for a second wait that didnt actually happen

Chomsky replied to my email asking him about the study of Law.

>>9673038
What is it?

>>9673053
Shelly Keagan who talks a lot about death. I emailed him when I was like 18 by googling "professor of philosophy Yale". I didn't even have anything in particular to message him, I just saw that he had talks on death and messaged him my thoughts on what I knew he'd be interest in (not mainstream ideas btw)

i emailed the guy who wrote that book about the ten thousand hours things with an admittedly cringey story about how as a "smart but lazy" type his book lead me to want to apply myself more and put in my hours etc. and he kindly responded with a one liner. a lot of people hate on him, but he seems p chill for that

>>9673189
I'm off in 30 mins I'll write then

Noam Chomsky and Richard Stallman.

Seriously. They both answer. I don't know if Chomsky still does, but he did up to the last time we contacted back in 2014. He even gave me a nice answer once, recommeding two books and giving me the contact of a NY professsor who specialized in a subject I was interested in (this in november 2012). He's older now, and has a new wife, so I don't know if he will be available for you.

Stallman almost certainly will. His email answers are quite famous around the internet. His ED article used to have a compilation, if I remember correctly.

>>9673181
What did he say?

Interesting. I never asked him that, though I'm a Law student now.

You shouldn't have asked either, because it takes too much of his time.

I predict he probably answered something like 'I am sorry, but I can't tell. Questions like that involve a lot of personal aspects which only you can analyze properly, and therefore I am not in a condition to answer your question. Best regards, Noam.'

I hate Law, by the way.

>>9673189
Alright. Our consciousness is borne from the brain, though not necessarily only ours. Would you consider an idea shared between you and someone else to diverge just because it's essentially from someone else's brain?

By that logic, your consciousness wouldn't be different if it were in someone else. I'm proposing that your consciousness exists, in varying extents, in people that know you - dependant on how well they know you and basically how much you're on their mind.

I think the only reason you don't gain consciousness in the bodies of others is because it's relatively small compared to the amount of 'you' in your own body. This would obviously change if your body died.

I think this is what the afterlife is. It would be a much lesser form of consciousness and be dictated by how you're remembered, by how many people and to what extent.

>>9673359
if you actually watched the lectures on death from the professor in question you would see he address this with a "...nah" when he talks about immortality through publishing important papers...ok, so you publish some paper that has an equation in it that second year stem majors are forced to memorize for a midterm, ok cool, but you're still dead, and they just know the equation not you, and eventually someone will come up with some better shit and you'll be forgotten anyways, so it doesn't really pan out

>>9672472
Still got any of those letters?

>>9673368
I didn't watch the lectures, and I'm not talking about through a paper.

When I thought of it, I did so under the assumption that through torturing someone you could cause dissociation and gain immortality that way.

I'm also curious what it would give someone in life. When I thought of it I was thinking powers, but I'm no longer 18 so idk

I thought that, life could be defined as and measured by will. To make the world conform with your will would be to expand yourself.

I emailed Harold Bloom once when I was 17. I asked him about going to college for the humanities and publishing poetry.

in part of his email he said:
>Our universities in fact have been in terrible decline since the later 1960s, and humanistic studies are dead to dying. I am going on 85, but if I were seventeen now, I would give up any notion of either an education from or a career in the academic world. Read and write on your own. Find people of similar intelligence to share with. Above all else, read and reread Shakespeare.

>>9673667
I emailed Bloom a few months ago after he got mentioned in my graduate Shakespeare class. It was mostly a love letter to him where I talked about how much I admired his defense of the canon. He emailed me back saying he was grateful for the note and that I should read his book on Falstaff.

>>9673667
>>9673687
I emailed Harold Bloom trying to convince him that deconstructive readings can be embiggening and he sent me 300 pictures of his cock.

>>9672399

No, and I actually feel bad for the guys who wrote the translations. Don't shoot the messenger if you are. I'm not really paying attention. But still, these guys are just translating stuff.

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>>9672472
>tfw you wrote Gene Wolfe a letter more than two years ago and haven't received a reply

>>9673359
That is retarded.

>>9673702
>I actually feel bad for the guys who wrote the translations.
What?
>These guys are just translating stuff.
JUST.

>>9673797
Professor of philosophy at Yale agreed with it

Who are you?

>>9673359
I actually can dig this. I find myself becoming certain people I know I'd I hang out with them enough.

One of my exes wrote to a poet/professor she really admired and they corresponded for a while. Christopher Kennedy, he's pretty great. I guess he gave her some writing advice. His book Ennui Prophet got her through a really dark period in her life.

And Lydia Davis really likes him, which is a win in my book.

>>9673993
Yeah, me too.

Consider how we think of ancient technology. You have to figure, we know relatively nothing at this point. It's kind of widely accepted that we know nothing of the mind and not much of medicine.

It's possible humans at some point knew how to do some amazing shit, and we forgot it. Egyptians forgot how they made the pyramids

>>9673999
Did he bang your gf? Getting cucked by an intellectual superior is hot desu

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>>9673982

what a faggot

>muh professor

Yes, a number of times. Anecdotes as follows:

1. Wrote to one now renowned but then obscure translator to say I'd appreciated his bilingual editions very much, and to send him a copy of a book I'd contributed to which quoted one of his works. Correspondence ensued, and I ended up organising the editing and printing of one of his works in a handmade edition. Became fast friends and enjoyed nights out whenever we crossed paths once or twice a year thereafter.

2. Knew of one renowned European author via family connection, met him at an event, mentioned my experiences. He got in touch, and ensued a lengthy friendship which involved me helping him organise his archives, correspondence and to -be posthumous memoirs.

3. Wrote to another writer-translator to say thanks for his great insights and works, thus ensued another correspondence and epistolary friendship and standing invitation to go and visit.

Those are the most important ones, I suppose, but there are more. Without being a fanboy type, I do think it's important to be polite and say thank you when someone writes something particularly insightful, inspiring or useful. Especially in obscure fields, or for non-Stephen King/JK Rowling tier authors. And authors generally appreciate the human feedback (obviously a fat check is nice, but in its absence some gratitude is nice too).

>>9673982
>professors at cucked universities cant possibly be stupid

>>9675899
>cucked universities
another board /b/eckons you, go play with your friends.

yeah ive done it a few times. some answer nicely but dont give anything, ohters just state plainly that you can buy their stuff on amazon or on their sites and once there was one that sent me the book i mentioned and even an additional one.

now, if you just ask a question or want some info there are some that reluctantly write you a line or two about what is already evident, and others engage in the discussion, tho not leaving it open of course, and give you suggestions and stuff.

others dont bother answering.

you can get anything. so yeah, just try.

>>9674461
Quintessentially /lit/

>>9673982
Academia's problems condensed in one 11 word post - it's funny how idiots can unknowingly spout the greatest revelations.

>>9673359
>Our consciousness is borne from the brain.

Stopped reading right there. Is consciousness borne from stones, jackets and plant pots as well?

>>9672472
>>9673723
can i get his PO box adress pls?

I wrote some questions to Robin Hobb about certain details in her work, she praised my eye for attention and strongly hinted that my speculations about her work were on point.

IIRC she said (paraphrasing a bit) "these questions mean that you are one of those readers I was talking about earlier, when I say I sit back and chortle and know that somewhere, sometime, someone is going to pick up on these bits and go "AHA!"

>>9675972
Robin Hobb is a fictional character asshat

And he lived like 600 years ago did you try writing King Rirchard too

>>9675976
Yeah, Richard was less enthusiastic though, he couldn't get over me making fun of his failed crusade. Great writer, terrible strategist.

>>9675976
next you are going to tell me that you cant write to movies either, well excuse me but mad max answered my letter

>>9675904
You cant even deny it because you know its true.

>>9672399
I've wanted to for awhile, but I can't really think of any living people I respect enough to ask about. Is a political science like Michael Scheuer too famous? And how do you contact someone anyways, is it considered weird to mail it to their house and not PO box? Where do you get this address anyways?

I'm considering a career in law/political science, any advice on people to mail to?

>>9676082
This. I have a few books with living authors I would like to send something to, but I have no idea how to find out their personal contact information.

i emailed pynchon once

emailed my nigga dostoevsky

>>9676903
Word hit him up on myspace my man

>>9674734
>>9675899
>>9675925
Note that I'm responding to a post that says nothing other than 'that's retarded'

A guy on r9k was talking about how he emailed his dumb art manifesto to Camille Paglia but she never replied.

>>9673359
Explain this "someone else". What is this "someone else"? Where can I find it? How can I see it?

An idea can never be shared. Yes, your idea is different to their idea.

No, this is stupid. In a sense, yes, other people continue to exist in your mind even after they have died. This is because they ONLY existed as however you perceived them -- and memories, or daydreams, or normal dreams certainly count as perception. But, this is like pointing to a duck and calling it a dinosaur.

t. 18 year old who read Stirner (drowning in pussy as I type this)

>>9672399
I reached out to a pretty famous programmer about a presentation he had which I didn't attend and he sent me the powerpoint.

>>9676955
He's a robot he should be used to being ignored.

>>9674461

Seeing as they live 1800 miles apart I highly doubt it. But if they ever did fuck it was before I dated her so I don't really care tee bee aytch.

>>9673049
underrated idea

>>9672399
I asked Christopher Hitchens if I could send him a book I published. He said yes, and I sent it. That's all, folks.

>>9676991
B

>>9677425
you are wrong

I saw George RR Martin at a grocery store in Los Angeles yesterday. I told him how cool it was to meet him in person, but I didn’t want to be a douche and bother him and ask him for photos or anything.
He said, “Oh, like you’re doing now?”
I was taken aback, and all I could say was “Huh?” but he kept cutting me off and going “huh? huh? huh?” and closing his hand shut in front of my face. I walked away and continued with my shopping, and I heard him chuckle as I walked off. When I came to pay for my stuff up front I saw him trying to walk out the doors with like fifteen Milky Ways in his hands without paying.
The girl at the counter was very nice about it and professional, and was like “Sir, you need to pay for those first.” At first he kept pretending to be tired and not hear her, but eventually turned back around and brought them to the counter.
When she took one of the bars and started scanning it multiple times, he stopped her and told her to scan them each individually “to prevent any electrical infetterence,” and then turned around and winked at me. I don’t even think that’s a word. After she scanned each bar and put them in a bag and started to say the price, he kept interrupting her by yawning really loudly.

>>9677428
reddit

>>9677430
same

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>>9672399

Great discussions with Douglas Rushkoff

Wrote to Niles Heckman he responded politely and offered a skype

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>>9677474
If you ever fancy a chat
********' on Skype.

Feel free to find me on there sometime.


Best,
Niles

>>9677493
>********' on Skype
what did he mean by this?

>>9672399
I sent an email to a textbook author and got a reply within minutes.

Secondly, I've been meaning to email NNTaleb as in Fooled By Randomness I'm 99% he makes a mistake when talking about probability of independent vs dependent events. But from what I've observed, he'd probably just get mad at me.

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>>9677474
There are certainly some interesting ideas here, and I like them best when they are additive. Still, it's a tricky environment in which to expose oneself


People are looking at narrative as a way of understanding how we may or may not be moving through reality? I guess I've thought about that a bunch, at least insofar as the narrative structures we use end up limiting our understanding of things, or even what we think are possible actions.

I've been reading Julian Barbour's book on time (End of Time), which has a multi-verse-like (not exactly, but kinda) explanation for how our experience of time can really be explained. And that's a way of understanding time that seems pretty digital, discrete, to me. So a digital media environment should engender more awareness of this way of things happening.

But those 4chan threads are hard to follow

Chomsky, Nick Land, Richard Stallman, Heaven's Gate

>>9675928

>Implying those things are even slightly analogous

Just googled "professor of philosophy at" and then opened a lot of tabs. Sent my philosophy of the mind thesis to dozens of random teachers, at least one will respond

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>>9673049