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I will not deny that the addiction to speed in our western culture is fueled in large part by the war drive of humanity, that we DEMAND harder, faster stimulus, trying to keep that twitch twitching, as the true horror of a desire is satisfaction.

But the delirium that it induces is the confusion brought on by the shock of the deluge of data, unfiltered by our traditional gatekeepers, as technology progresses beyond what is known and catapults us into the unknown. The anxious cry to take a step back, to try to revive the traditional structures of family and gender is understandable, but there is nowhere to go back to; what is seen cannot be unseen.

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The Royal Barvarian Medical College published a paper in the 1830s warning people of excessive speeds (around 20 to 30 MPH) could induce madness. Every time I hear someone say the liberals want to be free of biology with their gender theories and pushing boundaries, I think of those people at the Barvarian Medical College, respected members of their communities and experts in their fields still overreacting to what amounts to nonsense.

The real world is a big, surprising place; won't you join us?

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I often think that Ivan Illich, who often said that no one needs to travel faster than the speed of a bicycle, had a point. A fetishism for speed in and of itself is a central feature of modern war, and the development of faster and harder weapons, cf. Virillio: "Speed is the hope of the West," and Marinetti who said in 1905 "Hoorah! No more contact with the vile earth!"

My worry is that the boundless attitude is simply destructive, because we cannot keep pace. Perhaps speeds beyond that of a bicycle do induce a kind of madness?

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