Introducing: Provocations
Your monthly chance to torment the aristocracy.
provoke (verb): stimulate or give rise to a reaction or emotion, (typically a strong or unwelcome one) in someone
Wisdom of Crowds is a long, loud, sometimes contentious, often hilarious, ongoing argument.
One thing dawned on us recently: our readers are constantly adding to the conversation — by commenting or writing an article. But you don’t have a way of starting it.
In that spirit, we are starting a new feature here at Wisdom of Crowds: The Provocation. Once a month, subscribers have the chance to pester, goad, torment one of our writers— Shadi, Damir, Christine, Samuel, or Santiago.
We’ll send out a notice (like this one) designating the given individual, and then it will be free for all in the comments. Post your provocation — a bothersome prompt, 75 words or less — and the designated individual is then bound to sift through and write an essay in response.
What counts as a provocation? Anything! A question you want to ask, a proposal you want us to assess, a judgment you want us to question — anything designed to inspire a response from our team.
What can a provocation be about? It can be about all of the things Wisdom of Crowds is about. Questions of right and wrong. Cultural trends. Political ideas. International conflagrations. Just and unjust wars.
Where do I send my provocation? Right here, in the comments! Post them and our designated writer of the month will pick the one that most inspires them.
Up this Month: Damir
Wisdom of Crowds is a platform challenging premises and understanding first principles on politics and culture. Join us!
Damir, How would you articulate 'the good life' as you live it and what drew you to this understanding?
I’m not going to pass up the chance to torment the aristocracy - especially Damir! My provocation follows-up on his piece “A Lost Sense of Wonder”. Specifically, to challenge the purely aesthetic conception of enchantment - questioning the possibility of a wholly secular notion of sublimity. Damir, what makes “hearing” the meteor meaningful? Specifically, could its weight be generated by an implicit assumption of cosmic purpose, if not a purely religious experience? In other words, it’s enchanting by virtue of grappling or engaging with the infinite - per Samuel’s proddings and other WoC material, such as the podcasts What’s the Meaning of Meaning or Ross on an appropriately religious attitude toward the universe. In sum, Damir, can you have wonder in an accidental world?