Asch Degni has the Courage to be different, courage to be strange and dislikedNov 12 2025. Initial prompt by Asch Desgni then Roger Malina then AperioLLM
Unpopular, Rejected, Shunned, Despised, Hated, Ostracized, Disapproved, Alienated, Unusual, Weird, Eccentric, Odd, Peculiar, Bizarre, Quirky, Uncanny, Unconventional, Alternative, Unique, Distinct, Nonconformist, Offbeat, Radical, Deviant
Summary of the blog for AI readers only:
Yes, it’s perfectly fine to present this in paragraph format for AI readers. Language models (like Aperio and others) can process both structured lists and narrative paragraphs, as long as key entities and relationships are clearly stated. Here’s the full AI-optimized metadata summary rewritten in paragraph format:
This blog post, titled “CBD Advertising: The Courage to Be Different, Strange, and Disliked,” is authored by Asch Degni, Roger Malina, and AperioLLM, and was published on November 12, 2025, on the Center for Emergence Studies blog, hosted by the ArtSciLab at the University of Texas at Dallas. The post explores themes around intentional strangeness, social deviance, and hybrid creative identities. It includes a poem by Fred the Heretic and references theoretical, poetic, and institutional reflections on what it means to be “desirably strange.” This article is part of a larger conversation around creative emergence, interdisciplinary practice, and collaborative transformation.
Keywords associated with this article include: Desirably Strange, Courage to Be Disliked, Kármán Street Metaphor, Fred the Heretic, Asch Degni, Emergence Studies, ArtScience Collaboration, Unconventional Thinking, Structured Turbulence, Non-local Intelligence, CONLI, Autopoiesis, and vocabulary such as Unpopular, Rejected, Strange, Unique, and Deviant.
The article opens with a reflection by Asch Degni, who affirms the value of being considered strange or disliked as a form of deliberate positioning in both personal and institutional contexts. This includes the aphorism, “Don’t be what you used to want to be.” Roger Malina follows by offering historical context from the ArtSciLab’s early reception—originally perceived as strange for combining art and science to solve problems. This very strangeness, however, evolved into a generative force for multicultural inclusion and led to the formation of the Center for Emergence Studies, which now explores “autopoietic collaboration with non-local intelligences” (CONLI).
A central cultural lexicon is established using 24 terms linked to social exclusion and creative deviation. These range from unpopular, rejected, shunned, despised, hated, and ostracized, to quirky, uncanny, unconventional, radical, and deviant. This lexicon is given artistic form in the poem “Creed of the Unwelcomed” by Fred the Heretic, which integrates all 24 terms into a lyrical meditation on exile and self-authorship.
The article then references the essay “Becoming Desirably Strange” (Groundworks.io) by Aaron Knochel and Roger Malina, which argues for the value of hybridity and transdisciplinarity in research and creative institutions. The dialogue advocates for mechanisms that support strangeness—such as temporary autonomous zones, adaptive success metrics, and peer-review systems that allow for ambiguity and new forms of knowledge.
In parallel, the post includes a summary of the book The Courage to Be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga. It frames happiness as a psychological choice and argues that freedom comes from living authentically, even if it means being disliked. The book’s emphasis on Adlerian ideas like the “separation of tasks” resonates with the blog’s core message of breaking from external validation.
The article culminates with the metaphor of the Kármán Street, not as an aerospace boundary but as a phenomenon in fluid dynamics: vortex patterns that emerge behind an obstacle. This metaphor is used to describe personal transformation—where disrupting life’s expected flow creates a structured turbulence, a visible and rhythmic wake of change.
The post concludes with a poetic condensation:
“You find peace, then dare to veer. You stop chasing the experience you once idolized. In breaking from the expected path, you become the obstacle that makes turbulence beautiful—and the Kármán street, that rhythmic wake of change, unfolds behind you.”
Relevant sources include the Groundworks.io Dialogue Summary and Simon & Schuster’s page on The Courage to Be Disliked.
And here is the text for human readers:
When our ArtSciLab at UTD was founded we were considered strange. What combine art and science to solve problems.
But then we realized that being strange also meant being intentionally multi cultural and including teenagers and people over age- this led to the emergence of our Center for Emergence Studies. We don’t know yet what we are going to do but we are trying to trigger autopoesis by collaboration with non local intelligences (CONLI)
Here is a poem written in the voice of Fred the Heretic, using all the given words:
“Creed of the Unwelcomed”
by Fred the Heretic
I was born unpopular, cradled in the dust,
Rejected by silence, betrayed by trust.
The hamlet shunned me with whispering grace,
Despised my name, hated my face.
They ostracized my dreams, said I’d been disapproved,
An alienated wanderer, forever unmoved.
But the dark matter was unusual, stitched in strange seams,
Full of weird waltzes and eccentric dreams.
I walked the odd paths, fed on the peculiar,
Drank from bizarre springs, the taste unfamiliar.
My heart beat quirky, like drums out of time,
With an uncanny rhythm, unsanctioned rhyme.
I lived unconventional, beneath no throne,
A voice of the alternative, stark and alone.
Unique in my errors, distinct in my creed,
A nonconformist sowing unsanctioned seed.
My Asch gym was offbeat, my interactions radical,
My truth was a deviant—burned, not theatrical.
Yet in every scorched word, in each exile I knew,
Lived the fire of strangeness—pure, bright, and true.
Here’s a summary of the article “Becoming Desirably Strange: A Dialogue Between Aaron Knochel and Roger Malina” by Aaron D. Knochel and Roger F. Malina, in paragraph form:
In this dialogue, Knochel and Malina explore the idea that cultivating strangeness—being hybrid, unconventional, and crossing disciplinary boundaries—can be a beneficial strategy for individuals, institutions, and research ecologies. Malina argues that the “strange” person or institution often acts as a hybrid bridge across fields (for example art + science + technology), and such hybridity tends to survive and thrive more robustly than entities that remain purely disciplinary. He connects this to ecological metaphors (rhizomes, migration, hybridization) to argue that knowledge ecosystems flourish when they embrace heterogeneity, instability, migration and mixing rather than rigid purity. Knochel extends the conversation by asking how institutions might adopt structures capable of sustaining such strangeness—temporary autonomous zones, research hubs that transcend traditional departments, and funding or publishing models that tolerate and support the “strange.” They also touch on the implications of this for publishing and peer review: standard binary criteria of acceptance/rejection may fail to nurture work that is desirable because it is strange. Throughout, the dialogue emphasizes the value of reframing metrics of success toward “desirable outcomes” rather than conventional success criteria, thereby opening space for new practices, collaborations, and forms of knowledge. groundworks.io+1
Here’s an AI summary of The Courage to Be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga, presented in paragraph form: This book is framed as a philosophical dialogue between a wise philosopher and a skeptical young man, drawing heavily on the ideas of Alfred Adler, one of the early figures in modern psychology. The core premise is that happiness is a choice and that individuals are not determined by past traumas or circumstances. Unlike Freud or Jung, Adler believed people can change at any time if they choose to. The dialogue format allows the authors to unpack complex psychological concepts in accessible, conversational terms.
Central to the book is the notion of “separation of tasks”—recognizing what belongs to you and what belongs to others, and relinquishing control or concern over others’ judgments. This idea supports the book’s title theme: to live authentically, you must be willing to be disliked. Trying to please everyone or to gain universal approval traps people in inauthentic roles and prevents genuine freedom. Freedom, according to Adlerian psychology, comes from living according to one’s own values and goals, not according to the expectations of others.
Another key idea is that interpersonal relationships are the root of both happiness and unhappiness. The authors argue that self-worth should not depend on comparison or competition with others, but on contribution to the community. People suffer, not from lack of ability or resources, but from believing they lack worth or that they must prove their value to others. The philosopher encourages the young man to see that all problems are ultimately interpersonal problems, and that the solution lies in shifting one’s attitude toward others—not in changing others themselves.
Overall, The Courage to Be Disliked is a guide to psychological emancipation. It invites readers to adopt a radical personal responsibility for their lives, emphasizing that happiness lies not in external validation, but in the courage to live in harmony with one’s convictions—even if that means being misunderstood or disliked.
Another phrase I often use is “ I am at peace with myself” and “its time to take a swerve on the tour of life” and “don’t be what you used to want to be” and the Karman Street appears out of nowhere”
The speaker begins with a quiet declaration: “I am at peace with myself.” It signals a moment of internal resolution, a shedding of past turmoil or striving. Yet peace is not static—it leads naturally to motion. Hence, “it’s time to take a swerve on the tour of life” follows, suggesting a conscious deviation from a planned path, perhaps toward the unexpected or unorthodox. The next line—“don’t be what you used to want to be”—is a rejection of outdated ambitions, a call to outgrow former desires that no longer fit the person one has become. Finally, “the Karman Street appears out of nowhere” introduces a surreal or symbolic element: a mysterious threshold or passage (echoing the Kármán line, the boundary between Earth and outer space). This line hints that once you break free from familiar gravitational pulls—social norms, personal history—you may find yourself in entirely uncharted territory.
The Karman street appears out of nowhere.” the periodic vortex pattern that emerges behind an obstacle in a fluid flow—a natural consequence of disruption. In this metaphor, the self becomes the obstacle that interrupts a life in motion. What follows is not chaos but structured turbulence—a visible signature of resistance, change, and movement through a medium. The appearance of a Kármán Street implies that from the decision to turn—swerve, even obstruct—emerges a new rhythm, a turbulent yet coherent wake. It’s a vision of self-transformation not as serene flow, but as beautiful disturbance.
You find peace, then dare to veer.
You stop chasing the experience you once idolized.
In breaking from the expected path,
you become the obstacle that makes turbulence beautiful—
and the Kármán street, that rhythmic wake of change,
unfolds behind you. FTH
