Book Discussion "The Conspiracy Against The Human Race" by Thomas Ligotti

[Feywer]

Is anyone familiar with Thomas Ligotti's works? Particularly the book published in 2010 titled "The Conspiracy Against The Human Race" (visit the publishing house,

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).

The wikipedia summary is quite well:

Ligotti assumes a pessimistic outlook from the outset of the book. Taking as a starting assumption the premise that "being alive is not all right," or that in general suffering outweighs pleasure, he argues that the existence of consciousness entails a tragedy: The more conscious one is of the meaningless and often horrifying nature of the world (which is referred to as being "malignantly useless"), the more one wishes not to be aware of this fact, and so overly conscious beings must constantly engage in exercises which limit their awareness of the negative aspects of existence, either intentionally or instinctively. This makes consciousness something that "should not be," and humanity's attempts at either coping with, ignoring, or actively suppressing this fact drive a significant portion of modern society's obsessions, such as the quest for healthy living (despite the fact that everyone dies regardless), art and horror (as acts of

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), and the desire to have children (as a futile attempt at a form of genetic immortality), among many other common behavioral norms. Ligotti argues that the only complete escape from the predicament of consciousness is either to undergo

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, which very few humans successfully achieve, or for humanity to cease existing, preferably through voluntary

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(which Ligotti believes is highly unlikely to ever happen), but which may also be achieved on an individual level through death, although that may entail further suffering in the process, and is therefore not always worth the increased pain.

Ligotti posits that very few people would be willing to be born in the past (due in part to the inevitable increased suffering of inferior medical care), but that very few people feel bad about being alive in the present, despite the strong possibility that future generations will feel the same about us that we feel towards the past (that their lives were filled with more suffering than we would be willing to bear). Philosophical pessimism is not held or even widely considered by most humans, which, according to Ligotti, is because of its terrifying implications rather than the strength of the arguments for or against it.

Philosophical Nihilism and Pessimism are not popular takes on human existence, it seems. Ultimately reality is too hard a pill for many to swallow. Mr. Ligotti apparently suffers from a condition where he cannot experience physical pleasure (anhedonia).

I first came across his works after listening to Mr. Ligotti's poem rendered by

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called "I Have A Special Plan For This World" (

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) and became enthralled. I immediately called up my local mom-and-pop bookstore and requested a copy of "The Conspiracy Against The Human Race" be ordered for myself. I don't care about the "True Crime" hub-bub that surrounds Ligotti's themes and outlook (as I don't consume pop-culture). I am currently awaiting their call-back for my order for pick-up. What are people's thoughts on this book, or his outlook in general?