The true hero, the true subject, the center of the Iliad is force. Force employed by man, force that enslaves man, force before which man’s flesh shrinks away. In this work, at all times, the human spirit is shown as modified by its relations with force, as swept away, blinded, by the very force it imagined it could handle, as deformed by the weight of the force it submits to. For those dreamers who considered that force, thanks to progress, would soon be a thing of the past, the Iliad could appear as an historical document; for others, whose powers of recognition are more acute and who perceive force, today as yesterday, at the very center of human history, the Iliad is the purest and the loveliest of mirrors.and
Thus war effaces all conceptions of purpose or goal, including even its own “war aims.” It effaces the very notion of war’s being brought to an end. To be outside a situation so violent as this is to find it inconceivable; to be inside it is to be unable to conceive its end.The Iliad, or The Poem of Force, by Simone Weil
This is Lukas Bergstrom's weblog. You can also find me on Twitter and LinkedIn.
Tech
Wearables, Medical, Crowdsourcing, Open, WRX, Visual, MacOS, Javascript, s60, Web analytics, Business, a11y, Android, Development, Net, Product Management, barcamp, Energy, Storage, PIM, RSS, Audio, Shopping, Hardware, Security, Automobile, OS, Social, Collaboration, Web, AI, Data, Mobile
Other
History, Bicycling, NYC, Surfing, Activism, Minnesota, Boston, Food & Drink, Life hacks, Agriculture, Geography, Toys, Travel, Personal care, Podcasts, Law, Statistics, Friday, Transportation, Sports, Berlin, Politik, California, Housing, San Francisco, Feminism, Clothes, Quizzes, L.A., Games, Video, CrowdFlower
Music
History, Lyrics, Labels, House, Business, Events, Mp3s, Hip-hop, Musicians, Mailing lists, Videos, Boston, Reviews, Streams, Booking, Shopping, L.A., Mixes, Making, Good tracks
People
Me, Subcultures, Working with, Meditation, Exercise, MOTAS, Heroes, Enemies, Health, Life hacks, Stories, Vocations, Buddhism, Family, Languages, Weblogs, Friends, ADD, Gossip
Commerce
Web, Non-profit, Taxes, Investing, Insurance, Management consulting, Personal finance, Marketing and CRM, Personal services, IP Law, Microfinance, International Development, Real Estate, Macroeconomics, Shopping
Arts
Sculpture, Visual, Burning Man, Events, Desktop wallpaper bait, iPad bait, Poetry, Rhetoric, Humor, Spoken Word, Literature, Animation, Movies, Outlets, Comix
Design
Tools, Architecture, Process, Furniture, Data visualization, Cool, User experience, Web, IA, Type, Algorithmic, Presentations
Science
Networks, Environment, Physics, Zoology, Statistics and Data, Psychology, Cognition
Travel
Kenya, Vagabond '08, Kingdom of Siam, Uganda