Listened to Ideas with Nahlah Ayed on CBC radio. The episode was about Gunther Anders and the “Promethean Shame."

On philosophy:

[...] shouldn't be about abstract ideal or giving us definitions about what it means to be human, it should help us answer the question 'what is happening to me right now?' and 'why am I feeling the way that I am' - these very concrete questions

And writing, dry humour, songs are often tools for what Anders called philosophical exaggeration (übertreiben), which is a device to amplify the the feelings or situations that we can't otherwise recognize what they are

when a microscope exaggerates the size of a virus a million times over, does it also exaggerate the danger? or does it make it visible? It is in this sense I exaggerate

Anders' idea is that exaggeration is helpful to make something fleeting or suppressed very present, tangible, comprehendible. I find this noteworthy in two contexts. The first is to refrain from dismissing arguments where exaggeration is used as it may just be making something visible that can't otherwise be seen or conveyed effectively.

The second is that there is still so much we cannot comprehend about ourselves; how much we suppress and how hard it is to unlock - maybe philosophical exaggeration in the form of writing may actually be helpful for introspection?

I also need to read more on 'Promethian Shame' and listen to the start of this podcast - seems very relevant to AI today