#Meaning and Perception

[omegaphilosophia]

The Philosophy of Noise

Noise, often defined as unwanted or disruptive sound, has deeper philosophical implications beyond its physical presence. It challenges our perception of order, meaning, and communication. From epistemology to aesthetics, the philosophy of noise explores how we distinguish between signal and distortion, sense and nonsense, harmony and chaos.

Noise and Meaning: The Epistemological Perspective

Noise disrupts communication, making it harder to extract meaning from a message. In information theory, noise is any interference that distorts a signal, but philosophically, it raises the question: What counts as meaningful information, and what is mere interference?

Philosophers like Jacques Derrida argue that meaning itself is unstable, and what we call "noise" might be an essential part of interpretation. Similarly, Michel Serres suggests that noise is not just disruption but a necessary background that enables meaning to emerge.

Noise and Society: The Political and Social Dimension

In a political sense, noise represents marginalized voices, dissent, and disruptions to the status quo. Societies often define what is "acceptable discourse" and what is "noise," silencing certain perspectives. Protests, countercultural movements, and even internet activism can be seen as forms of noise challenging dominant narratives.

Conversely, authoritarian regimes control noise through censorship, reducing disruptive voices to maintain power. The battle between order and chaos is reflected in how societies define and regulate noise.

Noise and Aesthetics: The Role of Sound in Art

In music and art, noise has evolved from an undesirable element to a creative tool. Avant-garde movements like Dadaism, Futurism, and Noise Music celebrate disruption, randomness, and distortion as aesthetic principles. Musicians like John Cage and bands like Throbbing Gristle embrace noise as an artistic statement, questioning traditional notions of beauty and harmony.

This raises the question: Is noise simply the absence of structure, or does it have its own order? What we dismiss as meaningless may contain hidden patterns or even new forms of beauty.

Noise and Metaphysics: The Limits of Order

Metaphysically, noise symbolizes the chaotic foundation of existence. If reality is structured, noise is the ever-present force that threatens to break that structure. Some thinkers compare noise to entropy—the tendency of systems to move toward disorder.

In existentialism, noise can represent the absurdity of life, where meaning is constantly disrupted, leaving individuals to find coherence in the chaos. In Zen Buddhism, noise could be seen as an illusion of the mind—a distraction from deeper awareness.

Conclusion

The philosophy of noise forces us to confront fundamental questions about perception, order, and meaning. Whether in communication, society, aesthetics, or metaphysics, noise is both a disruptor and a creator. It challenges our assumptions and invites us to listen—both to what is intended and to what is dismissed as meaningless.

[marciaillust]

trapped in amber

[qoldenskies]

i think its so funny when people take the way donnie acts at face value even though its a horrible lie because he's a horrible liar, while understanding leo is bullshitting very well despite him actually being GOOD at bullshitting. many such cases

[sameboot]

Simon petrikov coping FAIL compilation

[lesvianism]

having a lot of thoughts and feelings about this comparison

[tiedsh0es]

Untrustworthy

[apostaterevolutionary]

Okay can I be a bitter Anders fan for like. Just 2 minutes here lmao

Cause bioware released some game stats for veilguard and apparently 72% of players redeemed Solas which is like. Okay yeah the game kinda pushes you towards that. But when I think of all the shit I used to have to put up with just for enjoying Anders like at all and…

(This is not me being anti-Solas, I do not care if you love or hate him, but I am gonna say what he’s done is like. Objectively worse than literally every other companion so lmao. And that’s fine! You can still enjoy him! I’m not saying you can’t and it’s important to me that people understand that! I’m just saying he did in fact do objectively morally worse things in game than Anders did and I don’t think that’s really debatable. And I can’t really make my point here without saying that but I do want to make it clear this is not some moral condemnation of Solas enjoyers cause it’s not)

Getting anon hate on the regular, being told “oh you’re allowed to like Anders as long as you regularly talk about how much he sucks”, people gleefully describing how much fun they have killing him ON your posts about the fact that you like him, the devs making jokes about shitty fates for him when fans asked innocent questions about him, the absolute audacity of his writer to say half the shit she did in interviews (about bisexuality and mental illness, most critically), and then being beaten over the head again in inquisition about how Anders is the worst character to ever exist and there’s no redemption for terrorists who lie to you one time in the entire game and he deserves death or worse and that’s it

And now… 72% of people are down to redeem the guy who lies to you for 2 games straight and who did a lot of questionable things that includes creating the fucking blight and. Like. I guess I’m glad that Solas fans can live in a world where they aren’t constantly harassed and can give their ship like. A pretty damn good ending all things considered. And that the devs love Solas and actually give the option for that happy ending and have characters go to bat for Solas throughout the game and the most annoying thing they have to see are people making scrambled egg memes. I would not wish anyone to have to deal with the shit Anders fans had to put up with back then cause it sucked. It really sucked. And I’m glad it’s not being repeated with a different character, if nothing else

But like. Man there really is a difference when the writers actually like the character who does the thing, huh

[pratchettquotes]

One of the recurring philosophical questions is:

"Does a falling tree in the forest make a sound when there is no one to hear?"

Which says something about the nature of philosophers, because there is always someone in a forest. It may only be a badger, wondering what that cracking noise was, or a squirrel a bit puzzled by all the scenery going upwards, but someone. At the very least, if it was deep enough in the forest, millions of small gods would have heard it.

Things just happen, one after another. They don't care who knows. But history...ah, history is different. History has to be observed. Otherwise it's not history. It's just...well, things happening one after another.

Terry Pratchett, Small Gods

[mohntilyet]

my initial knee jerk reaction to lucanis/spite saying "family, enemies, contracts" was bad because it felt like an oversimplification but actually thinking on it i really love that lucanis forces himself into this box to make things make sense in his life. family is unconditional, enemies are to be killed, but contracts is so. interesting... man who promises mila that he will find her father because he does not fail contracts. the same man who tells effe that he will kill her slaver because he needs to turn her from a poor young woman that he sympathises with, into someone he can make a deal with. it's not kindness, it's not weakness, he's just fulfilling a contract, and crows don't break contracts. if he kills a bunch of racist blood mages during that process, then he's not breaking the rules, just bending them. a very convenient excuse to be a good man while still being a crow and assassin. and of course when spite is forced into him, he gets out of it with something familiar! by making another deal! something he could work with, something he HAS to work with, because being just an abomination is unthinkable. if he can work himself out of this problem like he's done with every other contract in his life, in his mind maybe there's some tiny chance that this becomes another job that he can claw his life back from.

[deathemayor]

was wishing there were more non-miku vocaloid trinkets sold at an art fair i went to recently, then started thinking about which characters would be well-known enough to still turn a profit with a general audience and i literally sounded like this

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

hope you feel better soon!

I am riddled with ailments, but I stay silly!

[idolomantises]

Anyways, I know its my account and I can do what I want, but I do apologize if this is is upsetting to anyone and I do swear this is the last of me discussing this deranged fandom (at least over here).

I really wasn't planning on saying anything about that whole discourse, but as a survivor myself who has dealt with fans invalidating my own trauma because i said Hazbin having a rape joke was both in poor taste and hurts the themes of the show, I really couldn't help but feel genuine anger.

It's just not acceptable. Behaving like this is not acceptable. But it's also not worth my energy.

[mintytrifecta]

Like one of the reasons I'm so entranced by daring is a character is how he's so self-centered but sooooo unapologetically kind and earnest to other people. He acts with a frankly egregious sense of grandeur that is definitely in part an act an act, yes, but he's willing to admit his mistakes so easily. He's so quick to accept and forgive and it's so clear the happiness of other people is something he deeply values. Prince Charmings are raised to be grand heroes with zero fear, but at their core they're about helping others and being there for them. Daring might not be a destined prince charming anymore, but he exemplifies the core aspect of kindness for kindness's sake without ever asking for anything in return. There's something poetic about it. He couldn't save someone when acting as Prince Charming, but when he was just being himself, genuinely just trying to help someone in danger, he did save them. Daring has a bleeding heart and hides it under the illusion of self-importance. I don't believe that it's all an act, I think he does very much love himself (even if it can get unhealthy) but it's so clear he loves other people just as much. There's a reason he's the gold standard of prince Charmings, and it's not his brevity or combat skills.

[arcanewebs]

personal take on fem tsukasa

[ricketycr1cks]

And if I say Mac grew up equating love to cigarette burns and absent fathers and getting told to toughen up, that Mac doesn’t understand love that isn’t conditional, love without equal parts hate or distaste, that never in his life has Mac understood earnest love, that even though Dennis isn’t trying to, he often ends up re-confirming this idea in Macs head, that love is hatred, that-

[bluastro-yellow]

Kurvitz stresses that Kim doesn't actually have a character sheet hidden in Disco Elysium's code. Imagining that Lieutenant Kitsuragi has only one natural attribute point in Motorics helps the ZA/UM team to understand the depth of his character beyond what's referenced in the game's dialogue. "We just came up with this stuff for coherency," says Kurvitz. "And because we're nerds."

"I like to think Kim has a Thought Cabinet project called Revolutionary Aerostatic Brigades that he's worked on since he was a teenager," Kurvitz says. "This raises the learning caps for his Reaction Speed and Interfacing."

Kim's high Volition skill makes him impervious to prying, Kurvitz says, as the detective can find out on occasions being met with Kim's brick-wall resolve. Kim often chastises these whims of the detective's, but will occasionally play along. The Lieutenant finds his new partner funny, says Kurvitz.

Kim is naturally shit at Motorics and thinks Harry is funny source