NCE.RG.01 | Notes - Ch.1: "Behind the Official Story" (2/11)

Syllabus | Ch. 2 Notes ➡️

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hi readers! 👋 it was lovely meeting everyone last Wednesday (2/11); TY again so much for showing up! as promised, I wanted to just share group notes bc I knew a few other NCE peeps were also interested. one housekeeping item we did discuss was I know there was at least one person in CET who was interested in maybe joining? group members were open to potentially moving our weekly meeting time! if anyone interested could please propose some windows, let's discuss in comments. 👍

anyway, for the first meetup, we all met each other (NCE listeners are some cool people! 🥳) and we all agreed to a high-trust/no transcription/recording rule and basically just all enjoyed talking about chapter 1. 🎉 we agreed to Chatham House rules; ie. anything any member shared would just solely be kept in this dfos space. ✅

memorable insights

1. something very cool that #273 raised was that in this age of WFH and so much transcription/recording/AI software on our machines, the space for hidden transcripts was increasingly disappearing. one benefit of RTO is that those "water cooler" breaks actually provide the physical space for hidden transcripts to develop! "People want a place to spill the tea!"
2. #88's biggest takeaway from chapter 1 was that "powerful people are human beings too and deserve our empathy!!" 🥺🥺🥺 specifically, #88 really empathized with poor Orwell needing to shoot the elephant, not bc he wanted to, but bc as the "the dominant master", that was the role that was expected him. #88 really has a lot of empathy for all the billionaires and Davos people: "they are also *trapped* in their own public scripts" -- "heavy is the head that wears the crown." (related: "audience capture" like this Homelander clip from The Boys.)
3. #120 remarked that dfos very much felt like it was making social infrastructure that was safe for the hidden transcript to transpire. at least, that is the philosophical and spiritual vibe it feels like dfos is trying to go for. Also, #120 remarked, "the more time that passes, the more we become the mask." and that "it's hidden transcripts all the way down."
4. #36 said: "Man, you never know though. Someone may have a virus on their computer and that's tracking everything. There goes your 'hidden transcript'. Literally nothing electronic is safe! I just always assume there is some recording going on. Also: nothing is free!" #36 also observed that "Power literally comes from performance." Dominant actors must play their role and do what is expected of them, or they will lose their power. Finally, #36 made the great point that hidden transcripts are always contextual to the parties involved. eg. Alice and Bob have a different hidden transcript than Alice and Charlie do, even if Alice, Bob, and Charlie are all subordinates and Dana is the dominant.

other stuff

• attended: #36 #88 #120 #273
• if I missed anything 😅, please share below in comments! (I always personally take notes whenever I read nonfiction, so I'll share those too in a comment once I finish writing those up.)
• our next session (at least for now) will be next Wed (2/18) at 7p ET. again, everyone is welcome to join, even if you missed this first session. the more NCE peeps, the merrier! hopefully see everyone there!! 🙋‍♂️
• The NCE Reading Group Syllabus can be found here! 📖