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Luke Burgis
Luke Burgis

51K Followers

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Wanting: The Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday Life
Wanting: The Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday Life

WANTING is a book about desire—why people want what they want, and why you want what you want. Whether it comes to romance, business, politics, or even fashion, by the time you’re done reading you will have seen something in the world, and in your own life, that you can never unsee. You get to choose what to do about it.

2021

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Luke Burgis
Luke Burgis

Stories

Pinned

How Social Media Has Made Us All Rivals

It’s a Chamber of Desire from which there is no escape — In the isolation of the pandemic, our need for social media has been especially acute. It helps us to make sense of who we are. We didn’t know what to desire. So we turned to other people, on our phones, to tell us: Watch Tiger King, drink negronis, adopt dogs…

Social Media

8 min read

How Social Media Has Made Us All Rivals
How Social Media Has Made Us All Rivals
Social Media

8 min read


2 days ago

The Mortification of Ornette Coleman

A Personal Story of Transcending the Transactional — The Triumph of Art Over Content — Art is often misunderstood; content is always optimized. The passage from content to artistry involves resisting optimization. Just before the American jazz legend Ornette Coleman was set to take the stage for his 1974 benefit concert at the Trieste psychiatric hospital, located at the far eastern point of Italy on…

Jazz

18 min read

The Mortification of Ornette Coleman
The Mortification of Ornette Coleman
Jazz

18 min read


Sep 18

The Art of Disengagement

Midsommar, Scapegoating, and the Anti-Mimetic Mind The French social theorist René Girard once remarked that the Egyptian pyramids — stone monuments constructed over the tops of dead kings — were architectural designs that symbolized something more profound in human behavior. The pyramids, he said, are a reflection of what a…

Film

10 min read

The Art of Disengagement
The Art of Disengagement
Film

10 min read


Sep 14

The Church of A.I.

On the reduction of reason and the urgent need to broaden it — I spoke at an event for Quilt.AI in The Times Center in New York City over this past week. It was a beautiful venue and an awesome gathering of people — including at least one twitter follower and substack reader who unexpectedly tracked me down to say “hi” afterwards. You…

Artificial Intelligence

7 min read

The Church of A.I.
The Church of A.I.
Artificial Intelligence

7 min read


Sep 4

What Friday Night Lights Has to Teach Us

High School Is Hard—And In Some Sense, We’re All Still Living It — It’s that time in Michigan: early season Friday night lights. It’s not Texas, but high school football here is damn serious: we have cool fall weather, local newspapers profiling players and teams, and cars parked outside huge stadiums for three-quarters of a mile down country dirt roads, alongside cornfields —…

Football

9 min read

What Friday Night Lights Has to Teach Us
What Friday Night Lights Has to Teach Us
Football

9 min read


Aug 26

Speaker Lineup Announced for NOVITATE 2023

Join me in Washington, DC on November 3, for a groundbreaking event — I’m excited to finally be able to announce the initial list of speakers, panelists, and presentation sessions for the first ever NOVITATE experience, which I will be hosting in Washington, DC, on November 3, 2023. This year’s theme, “Be Not Conformed”, will bring together the metaphorical three cities of Athens…

Conference

3 min read

Speaker Lineup Announced for NOVITATE 2023
Speaker Lineup Announced for NOVITATE 2023
Conference

3 min read


Aug 22

To Whom It Is Given

Givenness as the Antidote to Abstraction — “Fortunately the world around us is real,” wrote Václav Benda, dissident in the former Czechoslavakia, friend of Václav Havel, and signer of Charter 77. “The family really does exist, it is together or divided, has its joy and woes, its friends and interests. We should continue to surround their totalitarianism…

Philosophy

8 min read

To Whom It Is Given
To Whom It Is Given
Philosophy

8 min read


Aug 21

On Contemplative Hobbies

A Jon Franzen-Inspired Reflection on the Joy of Passivity Author Jonathan Franzen has written about his love of bird-watching for a very long time. Recently, he published this wonderful essay in the New Yorker (by far my top read from last week) on “The Problem of Nature Writing”, which is…

Hobbies And Interests

3 min read

On Contemplative Hobbies
On Contemplative Hobbies
Hobbies And Interests

3 min read


Aug 15

Content Vs. Art—Transcending the Transactional, Part II

A continuation of my dialogue with writer Thomas J. Bevan — Below is a conversation about Content vs. Art which I began with writer and friend Thomas J. Bevan, which I began last summer. You can find Part I of this conversation here. I’ve removed the paywall from the archived post for those new to the topic. A Dialogue with Thomas J. Bevan (Continued) Luke: A lot has…

Politics

15 min read

Content Vs. Art—Transcending the Transactional, Part II
Content Vs. Art—Transcending the Transactional, Part II
Politics

15 min read


Aug 13

Lamborghini vs. Ferrari—The Hidden Story of Desire

Why rivalry drove Ferruccio Lamborghini into a new business, and how he knew when it was time to slam on the brakes and exit — The following is an excerpt from the bestselling book Wanting: The Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday Life (St. Martin’s Press, 2021), published with permission. Ferruccio Lamborghini first made his name by building tractors. He saw it as important and noble work for Italy’s large population of farmers. But that…

Cars

11 min read

Lamborghini vs. Ferrari—The Hidden Story of Desire
Lamborghini vs. Ferrari—The Hidden Story of Desire
Cars

11 min read

Luke Burgis

Luke Burgis

51K Followers

Book Author

Author of “WANTING: The Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday Life.” Find more at read.lukeburgis.com

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