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Re: A New Hellenism

Posted by Bromios on 2026-March-29 17:43:39, Sunday
In reply to A New Hellenism posted by diogenes on 2026-March-29 07:19:06, Sunday

the great failing of fifth century Greece, that it constantly tore itself apart through internecine struggle

The problem is, the good stuff you outline is inextricably bound up with the bad stuff -- man is an aggressive, competitive animal. Boy-love succeeded because it helped the individual boy survive (ie defeat a competitor), and it helped the boy-loving tribes defeat its tribal competitors. Art and philosophy, the palaistra and the symposia: at both the individual and polis level they were part of Athenian desire to be the best, to rule the world. They state this explicitly in the Symposium.

And the golden moments we treasure are brief. None briefer than Alexander's beneficent unification. The problem with utopias is that they posit a static perfect world. Stasis is the surest death to the human spirit. Man will burn it to the ground simply because it's there. AI overlords might quash this tendency, but it'll be a post-human world.

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