Thick Desires, Political Atheism, and Living an Anti-Mimetic Life

The Art of Manliness

Society & Culture, Education, Philosophy

4.7 • 14.5K Ratings

🗓️ 10 July 2023

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The last time we had entrepreneur, professor, and author Luke Burgis on the show, he discussed the concept of mimetic desire, which says that we want the things we want because other people want them. Since that time, Luke has continued to explore the idea of mimesis, and how to resist its negative consequences, in his Substack: Anti-Mimetic. Today on the show, Luke and I dig into these ideas and discuss ways we can step outside the tempo, cadences, and priorities that the world would foist upon us and establish our own rhythms for our lives. Luke unpacks what it means to have “thick desires” and become a “political atheist” and how these concepts can help you live a more anti-mimetic life.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Brut McKay here and welcome to another edition of the Art of Manliness Podcast.
0:11.6	The last time we had entrepreneur, professor and author Luke Burgess on the show, he discussed
0:16.2	the concept of memetic desire, which said that we want the things we want because other
0:21.0	people want them.
0:22.6	Since that time, Luke has continued to explore this idea of Mimesis and how to resist its
0:26.5	negative consequences in its sub-stack anti-mimetic.
0:30.0	Today on the show, Luke and I dig into these ideas.
0:32.6	Discuss ways we can step outside the tempo, the cadences and priorities that the world
0:36.4	would voice upon us and establish our own rhythms for our lives.
0:40.8	Luke impacts what it means to have thick desires and become a political atheist, and how these
0:45.2	concepts can help you live a more anti-mimetic life.
0:48.5	After the show's over, check out our show notes at a-wim.is slash anti-mimetic.
0:56.5	Alright, Luke Burgess, welcome back to the show.
1:15.0	Hey, Brett, good to be back.
1:17.4	So we had you on the podcast a few years ago to talk about your book Wanting, which introduces
1:22.8	readers to a theory of why we want the things we want, and this theory is called memetic
1:29.2	desire.
1:30.2	And the reason I wanted to bring you back on the show is because since you've published
1:33.8	your book, you've gone on to explore different ideas that seem to, they're like, they're
1:39.6	offshoots of you grappling with this idea of memetic desire.
1:44.2	So I think before we start our conversation today, so we can explore these offshoots, I
1:48.6	think it'd be helpful for people who aren't familiar with memetic desire.
	...

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