I feel like I’m pretty much only willing to try something if someone I know and respect recommends it to me. I’m always super unwilling to just randomly pick up a book or a movie or whatever on my own… I feel like ever since being vaguely into Marvel slop, I’m just so much more aware of how finite my time is and I have to know I’m going into something worth seeing and engaging with before I’ll commit to even trying something. Does anyone else feel this way more? Is this just the process of me calcifying as I get older, or is it to do with how society is?
I’ve hit this with science fiction. Used to be willing to suspend disbelief for nearly anything just to get a sci-fi fix… but… eh. So much of it is just transplanting modern sensibilities and relations into a fantastic setting. And sure, most “far future” stories are really just reflections of the era in which they’re written in. That’s fine if the author actually has something to say about that. But a lot of sci-fi just… doesn’t.
Also I’m done with the computational theory of mind. Those depths have been well and truly plumed, can we give it a rest? Panpsychism is my new friend, if only because there’s a lot untapped narrative potential.