Hypatia Theon's Philosophical Investigations

Kinky_LOVE fans on Face-Book

2010-04-07T21:54:00.000+03:00

A message for Carri

2010-01-05T10:12:00.001+02:00

Dear Carri,

   Since the interface at IZEA (Where I started the whole Shaggy-dog post due to frustration with the dragged out posting process that kept making me do one thing after another then another and yet another and so on before finally letting me post.) is so poor for users (Convenient as it may be for a company that seemingly wants to totally dominate, rather than genuinely communicate.) I'll post my half of our dialog here on a blog that I control, and where you or anyone else is free to comment (except not anonymously, which I consider the way of all cowards and don't permit.) Here's what the IZEA DOG ate. (If I sound a bit peeved, then I've succeeded in ironic understatement because the truth is that I'm totally outraged.)

   From the video you can see what our family business is 12 hours or more a day five days a week. The photo shows me performing a wedding, which I often do several times on weekends as Rev. Wilkinson, ULC. I doubt IZEA is relevant to these jobs or the time I spend swimming for exercise, so let's consider the things I do on the internet in my precious free time. (I hope you're beginning to grasp my inclination to kill as many birds as I can with each stone, and why I don't repeat mistakes that cost me time, e.g., your posting process?)

   I'm an editor of Wikipedia. Just recently I rewrote and updated the links for Nanette Workman's page, then sent her a request, to which she agreed, to upload some photographs to Wikipedia commons, so soon we may be able to illustrate her page with the proverbial thousands of words worth of pictures. A real boon if you're a Nanette Workman fan, like yours truly. (I have virtually every song she's ever sung, but that's beside the point for IZEA, isn't it?) Can you help out here? Probably, not. Can I do anything for you? Maybe write a page about your company? Because the only thing close to it in our encyclopedia now is the well know furniture company, but you don't seem to be them, I guess. Well, Wikipedia has a policy that a company has to be of a certain stature with a signifacant public record of accomplishments in its field, so, uh.... (You have yet to answer question one about whatever the heck IZEA is good for, Carri.)

   About posting to Twitter, I believe I explained before, Carri, that I use GetGlue, which you seem oblivious to, so I'll explain further. When I write reviews of movies, books, songs, restaurants, topics of interest, and so on, that my family, friends, their friends, casual acquaintances, and anyone at all in the whole wide world who's interested might like to see, GetGlue posts them to both Facebook and Twitter, not to mention GetGlue itself, where I also have myriad friends and many followers including the CEO of GetGlue, Alex Iskold, with whom I've had numerous conversations through GetGlue's interface, which compares to IZEA's like Boeing's assembly line for jet airplanes does to the Wright brother's bicycle shop.

   If you'll take a look at my GetGlue profile, you'll see some other incentives that cost no money but make users feel good, a very important point in team morale, wouldn't you say, Carri?

The key point for me is becoming a Guru of gurus (Teacher of teachers) as well as the guru of topics or works of particular interest to myself. You might notice that I'm guru of over a dozen. Take a look at the range. For instance, I became guru of Godel's Incompleteness Theorems, by discussing mathematics and logic. I became guru of Bahagavad Gita by discussing philosophy and religion. I became guru of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe by talking about the book, the guru of student teaching by encouraging teachers, and I even became guru of Squirms, Screams and Squirts by writing erotic poetry.

   You can also see from the Recent Activity on my profile, by clicking Network Theory, that I send you the following message: "@izealove For Carri [ http://getsatisfaction.com/people/carri_104871] Check Shaggy Dog ... & Let's Network! Got to GO! :D" (Only I misspelled "Network" with two "w"s and no "t" showing what a rush I was in to get all this information to you, Carri; but, not to flog a dead horse, the dog ate it!)

   Well, that's enough for you to go on, I guess. You should be able to answer my question now .... or maybe start thinking about making a career change from IZEA to GetGlue?

Looking forward to hearing from you soon by comment here, there, or, who knows, maybe even by good old-fashioned email, but it's great not to have to worry about my precious messages being mangled by your poorly designed IZEA forum ever again. Dennis (Hypatia Theon) Wilkinson

Philosophical Flirting with "The Latest Dark Cabal"

2005-06-30T06:09:00.000+03:00

Thanks for the link on your blog to Richard Bowes's story, "There's a Hole in the City," and it's nice to better understand Rick's thinking by his comment:

What I needed was time and context. In the direct aftermath when I found myself the only person out walking on a dark city block or when any sudden sound made everyone look toward Ground Zero, I felt I was in a ghost story. That stuck with me and served as the metaphor that made it possible for me to tell the story you read.

there, too. I do appreciate the appeal of a ghost metaphor as a vehicle for communicating those painful echos of "reality" in semi-fictionalized form. Myself, I've resorted to many such subterfuges from life as a dirty joke to my current role playing "real" life is pursuit of "the truth," but for today your blog together with Rick's ghost story have given rise to my latest philosophical question to the blog sphere, "Why is it so hard to 'tell it like it is'"?

Live or Die? You decide the cat's fate!

2005-06-29T03:37:00.000+03:00

Does Stuff Exist, Or Not?

Schrodinger Said:

"One can even set up quite ridiculous cases. A cat is penned up in a steel chamber, along with the following diabolical device (which must be secured against direct interference by the cat): in a Geiger counter there is a tiny bit of radioactive substance, so small that perhaps in the course of one hour one of the atoms decays, but also, with equal probability, perhaps none; if it happens, the counter tube discharges and through a relay releases a hammer which shatters a small flask of hydrocyanic acid.

If one has left this entire system to itself for an hour, one would say that the cat still lives if meanwhile no atom has decayed. The first atomic decay would have poisoned it. The Psi function for the entire system would express this by having in it the living and the dead cat (pardon the expression) mixed or smeared out in equal parts."

It is typical of these cases that an indeterminacy originally restricted to the atomic domain becomes transformed into macroscopic indeterminacy, which can then be resolved by direct observation. That prevents us from so naively accepting as valid a ``blurred model'' for representing reality. In itself it would not embody anything unclear or contradictory. There is a difference between a shaky or out-of-focus photograph and a snapshot of clouds and fog banks."

What Does All This Mean?

For the sake of adding a little interest to this old saw of a scenario, the cat in mention has been placed inside an old bowling ball bag of mine. (Science is not always a literal art.) I have a Geiger counter here, but in lieu of an actual radioactive substance I was forced to use some very old Kraft macaroni and cheese. (It was that or my Timex Indiglo.)

Now, according to Schrodinger's theory as I understand it (and that's saying very little), the above cat's state is as of this very moment exactly alive and dead (though technically, 100% dead and 100% alive at the same time -- hence the paradox) ...until someone opens this here bag, that is.

Let The Cat Out Of The Bag

The "rather silly" part of "A Rather Silly Experiment In Quantum Physics"? You're soaking in it. Now here's the "interactive" bit. By pressing the button you "simulate" all that probability half life decay-jibberish by enacting a simple script. This will accordingly choose LIFE or DEATH for our wee quantum furball.

Go ahead -- hit the button below to discover the potential fate of Schrodinger's kitty...

Schrodinger's Cat by Cecil Adams. He of "The Straight Dope" explains it all for us -- and manages to make it rhyme, too.
Everything you ever wanted to know about lots of info on Albert Einstein. (Yeah, he's no Schrodinger, but it's all relative. Ugh...)

Errors in logic, flaws (or fleas?) in the cat theory, comments, regards to the cat? Email me.

Contrary to the ideas discussed above, the cat and I will indeed exist (barring any unforseen circumstances such as e coli, spontaneous combustion, or large falling objects) until and after the fact of your anticipated response.Carpe diem nonetheless...

Note to PETA: This is only a theoretical experiment...
...and it's okay, anyhow, because I ate the cat when I was done.
Copyright 1999 phobe.com

A fundamental question...

2005-06-28T06:04:00.000+03:00

Art Witherall attributes this question to Martin Heidegger
Martin Heidegger has called the fundamental question of metaphysics: "why is there something instead of nothing?".

I began considering John Wheeler's version, "How do we get 'it' from 'bit'?"
John Wheeler's questions: "The Question is what is The Question? Is it all a Magic Show? Is Reality an Illusion? What is the framework of The Machine? Darwins Puzzle: Natural Selection? Where does Space-Time come from? Is there any answer except that it comes from consciousness? What is Out There? Tis Ourselves? Or, is IT all just a Magic Show?"

Is there an altertative in THE PHILOSOPHY OF XAVIER ZUBIRI?
As Zuribi puts it (in Sobre la esencia translation by Robert Caponigri) "The theory of "sentient intelligence" must be distinguished from the "epistemological question" or the theory of knowledge. The theory of intelligence is logically antecedent to the epistemological question and every epistemological theory eventually reveals that it presupposes a theory of the intelligence in its account of what and how man can know."

Women Philosophers Wanted. Apply Here.

2005-06-27T11:09:00.000+03:00

Historical Women of Philosophy: 600 BC - 17th Century AD
<- The Three Graces by Edward Burne-Jones
One wonders at the connection... (How can this not be exploitative?)

Women Philosophers <-Hypatia Leads List.

Feminism & Philosophy
How Feminism Is Re-writing the Philosophical Canon
Encyclopedic Historical Account

A few links to wax philosophical over.

Another Good Question!

2005-06-25T20:17:00.000+03:00

Sandra LaFave on:

Thinking Critically About the "Subjective"/"Objective" Distinction

Do you agree with Sandra's conclusion that, "some people’ s moral claims are objectively more worthy of belief than others — because they are more reasonable"?

Are you satisified with your answer to this question?

2005-06-25T17:38:00.000+03:00

Is the unexamined axiom not worth holding?

Brain in a vat? Coming soon or here already?

2005-06-22T13:04:00.000+03:00

"If current research trends continue, however, perhaps the ethical and political problems surrounding stem cell research will succumb to a technical solution. At least three teams of researchers in the United States and Australia have recently reported encouraging results suggesting it may be possible to generate embryonic stem cells—or at least cells that are functionally equivalent to embryonic stems—without having to create or destroy embryos in the process. Several hurdles remain. But the work strongly suggests that the fantasy of someday being able to turn ordinary cells—from, say, a person's skin—into personalized stem cells capable of becoming replacement tissues for various ailing organs may not be so many years away." Including, for example, a brain in a vat?

"Fantasy writers have long been captivated by the possibility of preserving human life in a reversible state of suspended animation. In fictional tales the technique enables characters to "sleep" through centuries of interstellar travel or terrestrial cataclysms, then awaken unaffected by the passing of time. These stories are great fun, but their premise seems biologically far-fetched." Has reality caught up with and passed fantasy?

"Why are top scientists from the fields of neuroscience, biology, psychology, physics, computation, and philosophy increasingly interested in researching human consciousness?

Because the quest to solve the puzzle of human consciousness—the very essence of our being—is one of the great problems of modern science." Many philosophers remain skeptical.

How about you?

Reductio ad absurdum

2005-06-21T15:23:00.000+03:00

Impenitent
ILP Legend

Joined: 02 Aug 2004
Posts: 1768

Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2005 8:58 pm Post subject:

no, the implication is not there... knowledge itself is problematic if not impossible... but consciousness could be anything it wants to be... the default assumption is that the conversation is with another human... but that's the assumption... the actuality is that "I" press keys that turn off and on a myriad of electrical switches in combinations that produce effects which "I" interpret as meaning something... does it have meaning outside of "I"? it cannot be known... then again, "I" could be nothing but a brain in a vat... -Imp _________________ cogito ergo cogito sum ergo sum... "5 out of 4 people have a problem with fractions..." "I really like this jacket but the sleeves are much too long..." - Kilmister

Well, Imp, you've been reduced to making absurd claims:

1) That the implication isn't there. If it's not there, then where is it?

2) That knowledge is problematic or impossible. How then do you know that, or anything else?

3) That consciousness could be anything it wants to be. Recalls the canard, "If wishes were horses, then beggers would ride."

4) Another human is a default conversationalist. Then what's the purpose of Turing's test?

5) One could be nothing but a brain in a vat. Agreed. Therefore?

Re: How about this problem?

2005-06-21T13:53:00.000+03:00

Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2005 7:37 pm Post subject: Re: How about this problem?

Impenitent:

"... not really... there is no certainty in regards to consciousness... but as always, I don't know :) ..." - Imp

If you don't know, doesn't that imply that you are uncertain as to whether you are actually conscious yourself, or, for just one possible example, having a lucid dream? :lol:

Impenitent:

"...I think turing was correct... if it can give the expected responses at each instance, it could be considered "intelligent"... one couldn't tell the difference anyway..." - Imp

So then the default assumption is that you are an Ai that is pretending to be a woman who is unable to prevent convincing evidence that she is neither a man nor an expert system? 8)

Is there any need for more philosophy?

2005-06-21T02:20:00.000+03:00

Some (objectivists, but not mathematicians, historians, conservatives, and many others) have claimed that there is a need for philosophy, but . . .

Isn't there enough already?

We don't really need any new philosophy, do we?

Who's there, and are you aware?

2005-06-20T11:08:00.000+03:00

The assumptions behind one of philosophy's oldest questions, "Who am I?" Are that are that one asks oneself and that the easy answers that first spring to mind are wrong. To doubt the first presupposition seems linguistically senseless, and if the simple answers suffice, the question would have been tossed into the dustbin with yesteday's papers ages ago. None-the-less, it must be pointed out that the subjectivity implicit in the I/not-I duality need not be bought into while those simple answers may be taken as crude brush strokes outlining a portrait requiring more detail rather than the red herrings usually wrapped in those old papers. To take this perspective is to say that there can be no evidence for your mind any more than an ultimate demonstration of free will or proof of life after death. These terms contain within themselves their own oxymora. For if will were free, then it would contain an element of randomness that kept it from being applied effectively whereas to speak of "after" death is to negate death's finality.

How about this problem?

2005-06-20T03:45:00.000+03:00

Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2005 9:42 am Post subject: How about this problem?

Impenitent wrote:

I still see no problem...-Imp

I'd be silly to disagree with one who claims to see no problem.

Do you find any problem with my claims that just as there is no sure proof of sexuality in cyberspace neither is there any certainty with regards to consciousness.

If you've followed any of the lines here: http://hypatiatheon.blogspot.com then you'll know in terms of the Turing Test's origin in the party imitation game, Philisophical zombies, and Emergence versus Supervenience just how intractable this problem is.

_________________
Emergent Systems of Self Hierarchically Organized Complexity or ESSHOC (pron. es-shock) are produced by thermodynamic pumps like Earth, living cells, and human brains, which reverse entropy locally while creating Gaia, species, and human culture respectively. ~E

Emergentism

2005-06-19T23:56:00.000+03:00

Emergentism follows John Stuart Mill's systems that are not subject to the natural law of causes but "amount to more than the sums of the properties of their parts" and British philosopher C. D. Broad, whose definition of emergence amounted to the claim that mental properties would count as emergent if and only if philosophical zombies were metaphysically possible. Samuel Alexander believed that emergence was fundamentally inexplicable, and that emergentism was simply a "brute empirical fact." Ludwig von Bertalanffy founded General System Theory (GST), which is a more contemporary approach to emergentism popularized by Fritjof Capra.

Supervenience is a well-defined relation between "higher-level" (e.g. mental) and "lower-level" (e.g. physical) properties. Informally, a group of properties X supervenes on a group of properties Y exactly when the X-group properties are determined by the Y-group properties, where "determined by" is taken somewhat non-specifically.

Consciousness is notoriously difficult to define or locate, but Alan Turing proposed what is now known as the Turing test to determine if a computer could simulate human conversation undetectably. This test is commonly cited in discussion of artificial intelligence. The application to consciousness is highly suggestive, but not clear. One is reminded of Edsger Dijkstra's comment "The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than the question of whether a submarine can swim".

Turing's Test evolved from a party game in which object is for an interrogator to determine which of the other two players is a man and which is a woman. If the world were a logical place, men would ride side saddle. ~Rita Mae Brown

Life is an unfoldment, and the further we travel the more truth we can comprehend. To understand the things that are at our door is the best preparation for understanding those that lie beyond. - Hypatia Theon

SEX and Zombies. Let's get married!

2005-06-18T20:26:00.000+03:00

Violet Blue. <-Bringing you the best in Sex writing since 2001.

Zombies on the Web. <- Extreme Unction Philosophy.

Now it's time for me to perform a few weddings.
After work I'll analyze SEX and Zombies for a philosophical posting.

Until then, read this.

More background on Oxymoron of Philosophical Humor

2005-06-18T03:39:00.000+03:00

It's daily beach time again, but I did want to post this.
Where you can philisophize and cut bait.
Philosophical Debate about pornography.
<- Why SEX is 8th.
<- Why study philosophy?
<-Have an argument with Socates that you can win!

Philosophical Humor

2005-06-17T03:14:00.000+03:00

I'm gathering background material for a post on Philosophical Humor.

Dancing at the Philosophball.

Xena & Gabrielle's Philosophical Humor.

Bubblegum chewing Yin & Yang?

Guess that'll have to do for a start 'cuz it's time for our daily swim.

Judgement vs. Discussion

2005-06-16T01:34:00.000+03:00

Impenitent said:

"a discussion of policies is not the same as having cyber sex... think of it as sex ed in class versus your honeymoon... one is clinical the other "practical"... - Imp

Actually, Imp, if you'd be so kind as to click this link , you'll find evidence that severely challenges your distinction.
Maintaining these dualities has always been a wee bit of a problem for us.

An Answer to Kill Your T.V. about the Harm Principle...

2005-06-15T11:07:00.000+03:00

To answer Marcel Duchamp's T.V. Killer: <-- This links to a copy of the original post from which you can click one more link and view or even respond to the original on a forum where I'm not welcome to post, and; therefore, I don't, even though these copies should be proof enough that I could if I was the sort to sneak around and do so under pseudonyms rather than simply copying the whole topic to my blog or linking to it on ILovePhilosophy.com.

Here's what Kill Your T.V. had to say a couple of days ago:

One of the major tenants of the enlightenment is the Harm Principle. According to it, unless there is direct physical harm directly from a person's actions it is an alright action legally. This doesn't go into ethics, but your question seems to me more about the law. It is the individual's responsibility to protect themselves. And if the person is not mature enough to be able to this, it is their parents responsibility to keep an eye over them. Which brings up the issue of parental protection vs. over protection.
_____________________
"Look at yourselves. Some of you teenagers, students. How do you think I feel and I belong to a generation ahead of you - how do you think I feel to have to tell you, 'We, my generation, sat around like a knot on a wall while the whole world was fighting for its human rights - and you've got to be born into a society where you still have that same fight.' What did we do, who preceded you ? I'll tell you what we did. Nothing. And don't you make the same mistake we made...."
-Malcolm X

Note that Kill Your T.V. merely brings up several issues without actually discussing them, which is quite interesting in relation to her signature pointing out the feelings of a do-nothing generation highlighted by a quote from Malcolm X about inheriting the unfinished fight for human rights from elders who were mostly talk with little effective action. In sterling contrast, Kill Your T.V. fails to even proffer effective talk.

Let's analyze this non argument point by point.

1) The Harm Principle is a major tenant of the enlightenment. I am unable to find any mention under the European Enlightenment; however, from Wikipedia I found:

The harm principle is attributed to John Stuart Mill's most famous work, On Liberty. Mill defines the harm principle in chapter 1 as follows: "the sole end for which mankind are warranted, individually or collectively, in interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number, is self-protection. That the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not sufficient warrant. He cannot rightfully be compelled to do or forbear because it will be better for him to do so, because it will make him happier, because, in the opinion of others, to do so would be wise, or even right... The only part of the conduct of anyone, for which he is amenable to society, is that which concerns others. In the part which merely concerns himself, his independence is, of right, absolute. Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign."

Which seems sufficient for this analysis. Contrary to Kill Your T.V.'s next claim:

2) The Harm Principle determines that actions which don't directly cause physical harm are legal. Mill defines an Ethical principle about how power can be "rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community ... to prevent harm to others." Thus negating Kill Your T.V.'s following assertion:

3) Hypatia Theon's question is more about law than ethics: If this discussion were about whether the scope of law is limited by the harm principle, there are numerous counter examples; however, both Mill's definition and Hypatia Theon's thesis are primarily focused on ethical considerations, so although mention of the law is not a red herring here since determining precisely the local nature of the force of law in the relevant community (Plano, Texas, U.S.A.) and how it might be applied as a useful tool to leverage change of a bad policy regarding cyber sex on AmiaWorld.net is a very relevant topic for discussion (Entirely eschewed by Kill Your T.V.) it none-the-less remains true that our overall topic is primarily applied ethics within which the law is potentially one part of the particular instance of application of ethics.

4) It is the individual's responsibility to protect themselves. Hypatia Theon agrees as Mill certainly would, too. Naturally, this includes protecting ourselves, and by extension our family, from sexual predators.

5) It's the responsibility of parents to keep an eye on their kids. Of course it is, and that's what this (in the wide sense of not only these posts but our blogs, too) is all about. To be precise: Does our responsibility to protect our children from sexual exploitation extend to a right to open discussion on the forums of game sites of the management's policies regarding cyber sex?

6) Which brings up the issue of parental protection vs. over protection. Which is, to be sure, exactly where we might go astray as parents, so discussion seems in order, nicht wahr?

Irony?

2005-06-14T14:49:00.000+03:00

Pinnacle of Reason:

"I want more posts in this thread before I reveal the irony.
I am sticking to my promise also. and that I swear by God." =-O

So, Pinnacle of Reason, by "reveal the irony"? May we take you to be saying that nobody is likely to be paid even though you will, of course, stick by your promise, which somehow also entails that there is no way what-so-ever for aspirants to answer is such a manner as to be worthy of winning your $10,000 prize? :-\

That just seems the most likely meaning of "irony" here because it also automatically lets you off the hook for quite an expensive offer, right? ;-)

Pretty much as I expected, though. 8-)

Re: Want $10,000?

2005-06-14T01:29:00.000+03:00

Subject of a post in the Psychology Forum at ILovePhilosophy.com: Want $10,000?

Pinnacle of Reason:

"If anyone can explain what the below text means, I'll pay him/her $10,000."

It seems naive to expect payment when Pinnacle of Reason will be the judge of whether the explanation was adequate.

What, if anything, is meant by this text?

When we speak a language, we speak using voices. We communicate by means of sound, which is music.
If we equate language with music, and say music is identical to language. Then doesn't our mind speak music?
Is it fair to say, since we express our Mind by means of Music, that Mind is Music?
The human mind has two distinct faculties. 1)Rational & Irrational, 2)Arational (Neologism)
1) The rational & Irrational is expressed by means of a combination of logical or illogical structure and words (signifiers) with meaning attached.
2) The arational or emotional is not adequately expressed by words, but by feelings, which can be expressed in classical music.
So, in the beginning. The mind precedes language and music. Mind is not language. Language is a component of the mind. Our mind is not bound by words, because our mind can also be expressed using classical music.

The text begins by limiting the meanings of some common words, so that language is considered merely verbal speech, neglecting for example sign language and all other non-verbal symbol systems like this writing, too. Furthermore, communication takes place only through the medium of sound, which is defined as music. Within this restricted vocabulary a tautology is now introduced that to set language equal to music is the same as making music identical to language. Now within this set of narrow definitions and the logic that L = M is the same as M = L there follows this syllogism: If language equals music and music is identical to language, then (our) mind speaks music. Of course this follows within the vocabulary wherein language is only by speech that communicates only by the sound of music. Q.E.D. So much for the logical meaning of this text.
Next follows a moot ethical consideration of the "fairness" of saying what's just been said, i.e., "The medium is the messenger." Since mind is expressed through the medium of music; therefore, mind is music.
A further set of definitions is imperfectly presented with the mind being divided between rational (logical) and arational (emotional) sides reminiscent of so many other dualities like right brain and left brain, body and soul, God and Satan, and so on.
Within this imperfectly focused set of definitions, meanings are considered as attached to words used either logically or illogically whereas emotions cannot be fully shown by words and are expressed by music.
Now returning to the beginning, just like the Biblical logos which was with God and was God, mind precedes that division of mind into the rational, logical, verbal left brain versus the arational, emotional, musical right brain. Thus it follows that mind is not only language, a mere component thereof (Just shown, by definition, to be half or less.) and, of course, then not the entire circumference. Mind, or its emotional side anyway, is also expressed through (classical) music. Again Q.E.D. if one accepts the second, somewhat blurry definitional set.

You can pay me at long.zhenzhu@gmail.com, but I'm not expecting that anytime soon.

Some thoughts after reading, "Dream a Little Dream... Again"

2005-06-12T05:58:00.000+03:00

First of all after reading From sunshine to suicide Dream a Little Dream... Again. I have to tell you I'm an adult survivor of child abuse, and I believe you understand, at least in part, what that means and entails, ne?

Then I'll relate for you this anecdote: Not so long ago I was watching CNN footage on one vignette from the seemingly endless horrors in Palestinian guerrilla terrorism versus Israel's state terrorism bombings and counter bombings. One young suicide murderess or heroine, according to your subjective political perspective which almost everyone over the mental age of two has, had detonated herself at the entryway to a nightclub killing a security guard, whose alertness had proved fatal joining him in an explosive final climax with her, and lodging a gristly bit of her head among the fractured bits of lintel remaining above the door where gore dripped from it onto the floor. Is that image ghastly enough to upset your stomach a bit? Nowhere in my imagination is there an insight into the spiritual motivations of that young Palestinian girl leading to that orgasm of mayhem on her way to paradise. Do you have a clue, Rhoda? If so, please do let me know, too.

Regards, Hypatia Theon

Just who is "Maximum Awesome" and what good is linking to it?

2005-06-12T02:36:00.000+03:00

Hypatia Theon said...

1) So, Faye, what's your relationship, if any, to MaximumAwesome?

I got here from a link on that blog.

Hmm... Also, let me know when your novel Strange Fruit in A Small Town will be released, please?

Thanks, Hypatia Theon

2) I'm going to quote you, Carnonymous The Brilliant, on my blog:

"Coming Next Week:

Hey you turds, I have been hellafied busy at the dealership this week so that's what's behind the lack of updates (I only promise one update a week, but like to do two if I can). Anyways look for the following hard hitting, thought provoking items next week:

1. My Letter To Amnesty International

2. The Webster Hate Mails: I have received several emails from people who really hate my treatment of Webster. I laughed so hard at these schlongs I almost crapped my pants.

3. My Problem With Porno Previews: Since I apparently have quite a few fans that own porno sites (a couple guys post my rants on a porno site owner message board) I have a very special rant just for them.

Look for those and POSSIBLY the debut of The Reverend Jackson's Reviews, if the Good Rev can get up off his ass and send me his story. Mohammad get your ass in gear as well.

Later Turds

-Carnonymous The Brilliant"

...along with a link back to yours in case anyone is interested, but I'm really here to ask, "Why are you linked to to MaximumAwesome?"

Thanks, Hypatia Theon

3) Well, it's seems easy for you, Zombie, to say,

"Well, I guess I'm just like everybody else. I'm a regular guy. I like football. I have a wonderful wife and a cat. Except now she's my zombie wife. And, uh, I'm her zombie husband. I gotta tell ya, I'm not keen on the whole thing. Nossir. Not at all. You ever try the horizontal mambo with your tender bits all rotted and flayed? Not pretty."

But what's I'd like to know is, "Why are you linked to to MaximumAwesome?" What the heck does it do for your blog? (Or much more to the point, for mine?)

Because, quite frankly, I have yet to see how it's doing anything for me at all other than giving me a topic for this rant to which your blog is the last chapter, Zombie. because judging from this photo, you are the perp behind Maximum Awesome, aren't you, Dave?

Thanks, Hypatia Theon

Poetry for Jenny

2005-06-11T05:06:00.000+03:00

Jenny, your poetry reminds me of one of my favorites, Mary Karr. Have you read her?

Here's a short one from The Devil's Tour

Disappointments of the Apocalypse

Once warring factions agreed upon the date
and final form the apocalypse would take,
and whether dogs and cats and certain trees
deserved to sail, and if the dead would come or be left
a forwarding address, then opposing soldiers
met on ravaged plains to shake hands
and postulate the exact shade
of the astral self--some said lavender,
others gray. And physicists rocketed
copies of the decree to paradise
in case God had anything to say,
the silence that followed being taken
for consent, and so citizens
readied for celestial ascent.

Those who hated the idea stayed indoors
till the appointed day. When the moon
clicked over the sun like a black lens
over a white eye, they stepped out
onto porches and balconies to see
the human shapes twist and rise
through violet sky and hear trees uproot
with a sound like enormous zippers
unfastening. And when the last grassblades
filled the air, the lonely vigilants fell
in empty fields to press their bodies
hard into dirt, hugging their own outlines

Then the creator peered down from his perch,
as the wind of departing souls tore the hair
of those remaining into wild coronas,
and he mourned for them as a father
for defiant children, and he knew that each
small skull held, if not some vision
of his garden, then its aroma of basil
and tangerine washed over by the rotting sea.
They alone sensed what he'd wanted
as he first struck his shovel into clay
and flung the planets over his shoulder,
or used his thumbnail to cut smiles and frowns
on the first blank faces. Even as the saints
arrived to line before his throne singing
and a wisteria poked its lank blossoms
through the cloudbank at his feet,
he trained his gaze on the deflating globe
where the last spreadeagled X's clung like insects,
then vanished in puffs of luminous smoke,

which traveled a long way to sting his nostrils,
the journey lasting more than ten lifetimes.
A massive vine corkscrewed up from the deep
oblivion, carrying the singed fume
of things beautiful, noble, and wrong.

Well, typing and proofing that was an act of love.

Regards, Hypatia Theon

Something else to contemplate today . . . (We've linked to your blog, Wally, please check out ours?)

2005-06-11T01:08:00.000+03:00

Listen to what Wally the Weiner had to say:

December 14, 2004 was the night of the Video Game Awards Show in Santa Monica, California hosted by Snoop Dogg. But Snoop's not the only one who handed out hardware that night, 'cause it was also the night of The Wally Awards. The Wally awards are our answer to the 2004 Video Game Awards. The show featured Mike and Craig of XXXchurch, Rob and JR of Gatecreative.com, Bobito the Chef, Fin, Cal Logic and many others.
Click Here To Purchase a DVD of the Entire Award Show.
Click Here to Watch the Entire Show Online! (windows media file) (Well, this download took nearly 10 minutes at about 120 KB/sec, but the eye-opening half-hour lampoon that's so informative about M-rated games, which any kid can buy, was well worth the time spent downloading and, I.M.H.O., is must viewing for concerned parents. Please check it out for your children's sakes.)
Click Here to Go To Wally theWiener.com

THE FACTS ABOUT THE INDUSTRY
How did an industry that used to be represented by PacMan and Donkey Kong turn into Leisure Suit Larry and Extreme Thong Volleyball? 2004 was the year of porn and sex in video games and Wally took notice.

Game industry worldwide video game annual sales reached $20 billion (Cohen, 2000).

In households with children, 67% own a video game system (Subrahmanyam et al, 2001).

In a report by the Federal Trade Commission, of 118 "M" rated games, 70% were targeted to children under 17 years of age (FTC, 2000).

Unaccompanied children, ages 13 to 16, were able to buy "M" rated video games 85% of the time (FTC, 2000).

Then Check out what we're saying about problems with NWN at AmiaWorld, o.k.?

Regards, Hypatia Theon

The 7th question from seeking philosophical heroines...

2005-06-10T13:43:00.000+03:00

ESSHOC Posted on ILovePhilosophy.com:

"7) Religiously, we embody in ourselves some interesting living contradictions, that have proved very difficult for other philosophers even to accept, of being simultaneously Christian and Buddhist in that the husband is a born-again Christian and ordained minister currently earning his salary by performing Christian weddings in a country that's 98% non-Christian, as are therefore the couples he joins in marriage. Yet his spirituality has extended by engagement in zen and yoga with years spent in both meditation and more active pursuits such as giving away all his money and walking barefoot through the Himalayan Mountains clad in the orange robes of an Indian sadu carrying only a sleeping mat and begging bowl. Husband and wife are both now certified members of Nichirenshu though the wife was raised in Zenhhu as a samurai boy as occasionally still happens in traditional families with first-born daughters. Her father said, "Well I'd hoped for a son, but it can't be helped, so I'll just raise her like one," and entered on her honseki (national registration) the samurai nickname Saemonnojo, The Guardian of the Left Gate, a famous samurai hero; however, in addition to this intensive training in martial arts technique and philosophy, the wife was also taught both English and Christian doctrine from her pre-school years by two neighbors who were, respectively, head of the English department and headmaster at a college spun off decades earlier from the English school of the Nagasaki Y.M.C.A. Surely, there are one or two spiritual questions worthy of philosophical investigation with which we are intimate?"

As I proposed that we'd have a couple of spiritual questions to investigate, let's consider these two topics:

1) Jesus Christ's sexuality. <-A topic I discussed with other philosophers and which we analyzed at GREAT l-e-n-g-t-h half a year ago that I have posted on this web page for your delectation.

2) Lucid Dreaming. Especially as presented in the film, "Waking Life". <-Many scenes illustrated and discussed here. See this film if you possibly can. It's a life-altering experience.

"And what on Earth," some might ask, "is the connection between these two subjects?"

"Well, hell," we'd explain, "Jesus in the best metaphor we've ever found for the human condition outside of lucid dreaming."

Sin-searingly yours, Hypatia Theon (As always prayer-fully at home in "The One."

GreenZap: Proceed With Caution? Right off, I'd say!

2005-06-10T02:22:00.000+03:00

You said:

"GreenZap: Proceed With Caution?
Category: General: Making Money Stuff
A few weeks ago, I was invited to join GreenZap. I was told that if/when I open an account, I'd get US$25 in the form of WebCash. WebCash is basically a currency you can use wherever a merchant accept such payments. At the moment, they claim to have deals with NetFlix, HotWire, Amazon, etc.

Basically, the plan is that it's meant to compete with the likes of PayPal.

I signed up without doing much research. Well, I figured, as long as it doesn't ask me for credit card details and other information that I find too sensitive to give out, there isn't mich to lose. If they're just planning to harvest emails, well, what's a handful more junkmail? ;-)

Then, I started to find these websites and discussions online:

    * MLM Scams: GreenZap Scam

    * GreenZap is not a scam! Green Zap is legit!

    * GreenZap Scam

    * Greenzap? Latest Greatest Payment Processor

There are hundreds more. But, who knows who's telling the truth and who's scamming whom? If anything, it's good for GreenZap's marketing. They're creating a buzz, right?

Anyway, for now, I'm giving GreenZap the benefit of the doubt. At the moment, I see the US$25 WebCash in my account. Apparently, I can't use it anywhere yet until the end of the month of June 2005.

They're currently offering a "Go Gold" option, wherein if you upgrade by sending US$100, then you get US$100 WebCash, a debit card, and reduced transaction fees (from US$2 to US$1). I'm not sure about you, but at this stage, I'm not at all tempted. I really prefer to wait and see how this one unfolds first before sending any money or sensitive information.

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06/08/05 - 05:44:24 - Shai - No comments | No Trackbacks
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Hmm... In this case I'd agree with you about 150% at least. In fact, I'll wait until your July posting about whether or not you could actually spend that hypothetical $25 before taking any kind of action whatsoever. Thanks for the heads up. In my experience SCAMS outnumber legitimate offers about umpteenzillion to one or thereabouts, so I gave GreenZap a miss the first time their SPAM arrived in my e-mail or however it was I first heard about it. These things never seem to die a natural death, though. I rememxber one totally bogus letter that had a l-o-n-g life as a fax forwarded precursor of spam before like a vampire with thousands of pointed chopstickes driven through her heart that shudders back into a bloody lipped kiss of death reanimation in some endlessly screened rocky picture horror show never to lie in discarded coils of film on the cutting room floor boogie bopped back to life as an e-mail come on. Hmm... Have I mixed enough metaphors yet?

Have a nice one...

Regards, Hypatia Theon

Multiple Personalities and Cyber Sex

2005-06-09T16:22:00.000+03:00

Re: our point #6 - "Psychologically, we have submitted that our characters are not mere circumscribed manifestations of D&D rules in particular acts of literary creation, but that we are actually a multiple personality, not in a disordered sense but as a many-minds creative commune."

Formerly multiple personalities were classified as (http://allpsych.com/journal/did.html) Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), sometimes referred to as Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD). This analysis saw dissociation as a disorder in which a person becomes seperated from reality. Having multiple personalities was seen as a rare condition of mostly female patients with alternate personalities splitting off from the host in early childhood for which the goal of treatment was integration of her fractured personalities that should be treated by hypnotherapy or medications and conculuded that multiple personalities were an under-diagnosed defense mechanism against abuse.

Yet psychiatrists of a Jungian persuasion have taken a positive perspective (http://futurepositive.synearth.net/2002/11/24) that the psyche is a complex homeostatic system for which Jung's model provides an integrative descriptive language which is very useful in discussing the wholeness of human personality, although perhaps its mythological references often sound archaic to modern readers. Jung's description transcends the neuromolecular language available to psychoneurology affirming the reality of the psyche's enormous complexity that seeks to obey its archetypes and draw the functioning of the person toward integration in the self, a process that can start only when the ego allows the functioning of other psychic elements to be brought into some degree of conscious expression.

One of many helpful websites, (http://www.healthyplace.com/communities/personality_disorders/wermany/index.html) WeRMany, offers this test:

Questionnaire
From: People In Pieces Multiple Personality In Milder Forms Greater Numbers

by Alan Marshall, Ph.D.

Is it possible you have an ego state disorder? Do you dissociate? This questionnaire may help you decide if you should get help now.

Do you sometimes find yourself "zoning out" in the middle of a conversation, nodding your head appropriately, but unable to get yourself back in it and fearful that you will be found out?

Did you spend a lot of time in fantasy as a child, so much so that teachers or parents criticized you for being "in another world" a good bit of the time?

Does fantasy interfere with your life as an adult? Do you daydream about pleasant things so much that it jeopardizes your job or compromises your relationships?

Do you feel like quite a different person from time-to-time?

Do friends suggest that you seem quite changeable, different from day-to-day?

Are you accident-prone?

Do you make a lot of "Freudian slips" -- where you think one thing but say or write something quite different, even the opposite?

Do you have a sense that part of you is missing or had to be jettisoned along the way?

Do you notice things about your sex life that you think are weird, like hating to be touched in ways that most people seem to enjoy?

Do you have large chunks of your childhood that are devoid of memories?

Are you more indecisive than most of the people you know?

[A score of six or more "yes" answers is suggestive of Ego State Disorder.]

Caution: This is not a standardized test, and the scoring is only suggestive.

My score = 11. What's yours?

Recently I posted an example of a conversation quite representative of how "girls" are "felt up" by "guys" in cyber space. It seems these hetrosex-only-please guys require reassurance that their proposed partner is of the proper sexual persuasion to get it on with them. (http://www.ne.jp/asahi/sweet/song/pearl_moral_tail.htm) This is a game we became very familiar with during our cybering days in which we held the equivalent of a royal flush in poker, i.e., an unbluffable hand that can at best be tied (extremely rarely) and never beaten. The way the game is played is to point out evidence or propose a test which pulls down another player's panties and reveals what's underneath. Despite the false faith placed by naive players of this game in the proof provided by, for example, a telephone call, there is no 100% certainty even up to and including an actually face-to-face meeting of the "real" sex of one's cyber partners. Although many guys would be satisfied after meeting a smooth complexioned and buxom cutie, "she" might yet be a trans-gendered guy, or there are even weirder cases of girls who fully believe in their femininity yet upon dna analysis prove to be males whose hormones caused them to grow up with a woman's body. Well, a guy who just wants to get it on without any responsibility for a future family might even be happier with one of those, but it does suggest fertility as an ultimate test. Now 99 point quite a few more nines of those you meet in cyber space couldn't go that far. We not only can but have. That's the royal-flush blessing and also curse of being a cyber couple. Multiple personality redeux. Beyond the many in one to the union of many into one.

Guess that's enough food for thought now.

Regards, Hypatia Theon, at home in "The One."

No thanks, Aunt Annie.

2005-06-09T00:01:00.000+03:00

Aunt Annie's Advice

Wednesday, June 08, 2005 at 1:37 PM

Free Credit Reports

Starting June 1st, another large area of the USA (the South) was added to the states that can get a free credit report once every 12 months per the FACT Act. After September 1st, all of the states will be eligible.

To get your free credit report, visit:
AnnualCreditReport
You may request one from any (or all) of the three major credit reporting agencies (Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian). You may chose to get all 3 and compare them for discrepancies, or you can get a free one every 4 months by selecting one agency at a time. This is a great way to keep an watch out for mistakes in credit reporting or identity theft.

Don't let anyone talk you into paying for a credit monitoring service unless you really want one! (And, if you do, be sure to research the best deal for you.)

Well, since I got ripped off very badly once by a <i>FREE</i> credit reporting agency... Guess I'll take pass this time.

What happened was quite a large charge for that "free" report turned up on my next monthly statement, then, since I live in Japan, there followed a least an hour of being shuffled from one "toll free number" (Only they're not from here!) to another going through seemingly endless menus with "Press one for... or Press two for..." with choices that all seemed not to apply to my particular case, holding for a customer rep., who would finally come on and say something like, "Didn't happen on my watch, so please call... another "toll free number" that's not toll free for me, sigh!

Never again, pretty, pretty, please!

No more "FREE" credit reports, thank you very much indeed.

Regards, Hypatia Theon

Background material for Religious and Psychological posts on sex in cyber space...

2005-06-08T22:59:00.000+03:00

http://www.ne.jp/asahi/sweet/song/late_night_pseudophilosophy_question_half_year_ago.htm <- Could Jesus have been a woman?

http://www.ne.jp/asahi/sweet/song/pearl_moral_tail.htm <- People, there is no SEX is cyber space. It's all an illusion!

There's quite a lot here to contemplate. Please let me know your thoughts on this rather tacky topic?

Regards, Hypatia Theon

Philosophical Investigation: Simultaneously the Basis and Vehicle of Ethics

2005-06-07T11:46:00.000+03:00

Selecting from the many possible antecedents, we'll follow the lead of Arthur Schopenhauer in Preisschrift über die Grundlage der Moral based on the ethics of ancient India. In particular, please bear in mind Schopenhauer's first ethical principle: "Neminem laede; imo omnes, quantum potes, juva," or "Do not harm anyone, but help all whenever you can." Thus, our Metaethical position is that by examining the facts we will present (and possibly by confirming or refuting those facts personally using tools available to many gamers, and which we will personally supply to a few philosophers willing take an active role as philosophical investigators) any interested philosopher will be able to define a right course of action by reference either to a preferred personal moral code or to the moral code of the culture or religion that philosopher claims membership in. Reference to the chosen code of behavioral rules provides a standard or norm against which to judge the facts in hand and move on to applied ethics. In our following arguments, we presuppose it is possible to persuade other philosophers to agree with us that, having been informed of the situation we'll describe and convinced that our description is valid, it is important to take personal responsibility and act to rectify the problem.

The following question was analyzed in some detail by one political pundit, whose analysis was our blog posting for Monday, May 30, 2005.

The term "cyber-hypocrisy" had other connotations for me, though. We've got a blog that started from a sense of moral outrage at the way a game website's policy of covert cybering among players seems an established perk of the site's moderators and owner, so that they strenuously resist changing it, or in fact even openly discussing more wholesome ways of handling the inevitable sexual side of role play. Secretiveness seems to us, who are anything but innocent of salacious cybering, a likely cloak for exploitation. The optimum treatment would probably be PG rated love talk (I'm writing several purple-prose examples on our site. LOL.) with double entendres revealing a risque interpretation to the less innocent while the inexperienced would read it in a harmless way. What's your take on this issue?

The pundit's detailed analysis during which he emphasizes his personal opinion about an American moral crises, "I believe (FIRMLY) that the number one problem in the United States is not Iraq, or the economy, or Bush, or the democrats, or the debt/deficit/delicatessen....the number one problem is the sexual molestation and exploitation - RAMPANT exploitation and molestation - of children. It's huge. It's almost totally covert and underground, considering the numbers. And the implications for adulthood and the severe emotional, mental and physical damage is horrifying," concludes: "And limping awkwardly back to your original question about my thoughts on this issue, well this pretty much sums it up: Let people be free / those that do harm must pay."

Leaving this question in Applied Ethics: "Given the number one, or at least very significant, problem of sexual molestation and exploitation of children together with a stance of freedom with responsibility, then what's our duty in cyberspace?" Of course, I'm not exactly hiding a personal focus on seeking philosophical investigators to inspect AmiaWorld behind my back here.

Well, obviously, I could, and in fact have, go on for pages about this concern of ours, perhaps it is merely our obsession, more likely there are legitimate improvements that could be made in Amia World's policy about sexual relations between player/characters during role play. Now, to stand in briefly as a devil's advocate, we have learned that there exist a whole class of "social servers" within which are "adult" social servers (Doesn't a name like "Kinky Kingdom" say it all?) where players are "supposed" to go to scratch those itches, so the management of Amia World, having been well aware of that fact long before we learned of it, can merely say, "Well, if you want to role play sexual relations, go to a social server. In Amia characters don't do sex." Unfortunately, the last time we were able to look before being banned, this claim is belied by an openly posted rule, "Those who feel the need, keep your cybering to tells." That rule is read by all new players who takes the time to read the site rules when they first arrive in the Entryway, through which every player must pass join the role play. If some kind NWN player with a set of CD keys would go to the Entryway and take a screen shot proving that Amia's policy has been changed, we could refocus our concern and move on, being content that Amia has grown, so it's time for us to do so, too. Meanwhile, we can but seek assistance shining light into the darkness until the very act of observation causes change, as is we believe simultaneously the basis and vehicle of ethics.

Good Bye KISS off... Hypatia get's a philosophical run around

2005-06-06T17:40:00.000+03:00

Paul Knierim wrote:

As I said I'm not part of the site's adminsitration at the moment, nor involved in any decisions of the site at the moment. And a large part of the reason for that is this insane myth everyone believed that I was responsible for every decision anybody made, whether I'd ever seen the thing in question or not. I am now responsible for no decisions whatsoever, excepting software upgrades... I hope that's clear and simple enough for people to comprehend.

I'm just disapointed that you've been unable to see how silly you've been acting. I'll admit your posts were always kind of odd, but this roleplaying stuff seems borderline obsessive. I could see you were a bit different on your return, but I'd thought you'd be able to control yourself.

By the way, I don't know of any graduate students in philosophy unless you mean Tobias. I certainly am not one.

I won't be replying again because I shouldn't have started the conversation in the first place. Must be some sort of self-mutilation ritual, I have a bad week so I seek out ways to make it worse.

Since Paul says, "I won't be replying again because I shouldn't have started the conversation in the first place," there seems little else to do but post this here as a ....

GOOD-BYE KISS, from Hypatia Theon

Being Philosophical about our Banning

2005-06-06T02:28:00.000+03:00

Herein Hypatia Theon considers a personal letter from another philosopher addressed to the man within whose brain she currently finds her mental manifestation existent. That man is an ex-pat American living in Nagasaki, Japan since June 13th, 1980, so coming up on his 25th anniversary and setting a citizenship record there well beyond his 13 years in second place Honolulu, Hawaii, where among other things he got a couple of graduate degrees in applied psycholinguistics and ethnomethodology, and third place San Diego, California, his birthplace, where some family members still live in Del Mar. The other much younger, though perhaps with deeper roots in academic philosophy, man is a philosophy graduate student, php programmer and, a key point, the actually site owner and hence final decision maker at philosophy forums, so in this letter to some extent rationalizing responsibility for our banning. (The "our banning" here is a deliberately selected red flag to make explicit the fundamental point of philosophical disagreement upon which we believe the Philosophy Forums administration team is individually or collectively turning a blind eye to our position and resorting to legalisms as a tactic for avoiding legitimate argument, or at least an argument that's reasonable from our viewpoint, the bone of contention being recognition of whether it is a valid viewpoint.)

Paul Knierim wrote:

I was going to reply in more detail than this, but since I'm not an admin right now, just a webmaster and have purposefully not read any of the moderator discussion about bans for the last week, I'd better not. I'm already kind of breaking the spirit of my self-imposed vacation, needn't kill the spirit of it entirely.

Oh dear, now we've noticed on this last proofreading that we owe you another apology, too, Paul, for killing the spirit of your vacation. Well, we did intend to wait at least a month before bringing this up. Anyway, gomen ne? We hope there's at least a bit of philosophical interest in it for you. :D

From what you say it would seem then that there were offensive posts in addition to the multiple usernames (which by itself can get people banned, but the combo of the two invariably brings about a ban). Your accusing dreamweaver of bias and suggesting he moderates arguments because he disagrees with them completely removed the possibility of being able to forgive the other issues.

Or in plain words, Paul, you're saying, "this as a hopeless case, so don't even bother appealing it," aren't you? In fact, though you seem to have forgotten it, Dreamweaver and our host mind ~E had a long running disagreement in a thread over half a year ago in which Dreamweaver suggested banning ~E, but ~E was polite and reasonable though never abandoning his position of being simultaneously a believer as an ordained minister making a living performing weddings and yet also espousing the position of modern scientific skepticism, so that the thread finally petered out with us all agreeing that we disagreed and ~E not being banned. Thus, on that basis, it seems at least fair to raise the possibility of Dreamweaver's less than total objectivity, not baselessly "accuse" him of bias. You yourself have often plumbed the many facets of the subjectivity versus objectivity divide, so, well, how does that apply to this particular case?

Anyone who knows him well realizes that he's the least likely person in the universe to hold a grudge against anyone. And look through as many forums as you please and I don't think you'd come across a fairer administrator. Certainly he handles disagreement very well, which is why although he disagrees with me on quite a lot of philosophical [not to mention non-philosophical] topics he's a great friend. I feel a little guilty about abandoning my lightning rod position so that he's getting more of the heat now, and perhaps that influenced me to email you, though of course he handles it well and he's handled bitter former members countless times before (even if not as many countless as I have). So you'll have to excuse me if I'm a little overly protective about people being rude to him at the moment.

Then I, Hypatia Theon, take this opportunity to humbly apologize for any rudeness whether from an intended jibe or merely an accidental posting mistake on behalf of myself, as well as all my brother and sister players and their characters and the man who is typing this on a computer keyboard in Nagasaki, Japan. I'm sure that his wife, Satsuki, who as you well know handles our family financial matters, would agree too, though at the moment she's abandoned this particular quixotic quest entirely to the husband, preferring to concentrate her energies on practical matters like refurbishing our entire home and garden in preparation for a family extravaganza when her folks visit later this month and mastering her birthday computer and art software with an eye on earning actual cash for writing more anime screenplay treatments for sale to Japanese T.V. *All of us here prostrate ourselves and kiss Dreamweaver's hard working feet on which he has trekked hither and yon selflessly administering justice all over Philosophy Forums.*

>knowing you'd be inclined to back up the decisions of your chosen moderators

Dreamweaver is an admin, not a mod. Anyhow I frequently challenge and ask for clarification on things I don't agree with. I like to think I do so respectfully but I recently got burned by someone felt otherwise. Of course actually reversing someone else's decision is rare, but when the explanation doesn't satify me, like for example Morrandir's ban of blueskyboris, it's been known to happen. Similiarly dreamweaver reversed my ban of Esran because I couldn't come up with good enough reasons when asked.

Ah yes, I remember blueskyboris because ~E had some interesting discussions with him, and as a well-ordered multiple personality all those memories are available to me as Hypatia Theon as well.

In dreamweaver's case, when I question his decisions he's always got a very good reason and frequently provides me with insight that changes the way I moderate/adminstrate. (I'm not implying I'd question him on this matter, the reasons for the decision seem to be clearly listed already.) If I had to go by trust alone I'd trust his decisions over mine, but of course I normally prefer to try to learn.

Here Hypatia Theon agrees with you at least 100%, Paul, preferring to learn by listening to what "The One" is telling us, or however you characterize that openness in your personal philosophy, is how "mistakes" are transcended and transformed into stepping stones.

I can't give you dreamweaver's email since I don't know that he'd want you to have it, but you can contact him through the site contact form. Tobias will read anything you send there as well.

Of course I should note that I don't have any reason to believe they're significantly offended, and in fact it's quite possible they've forgotten about it by now. To be honest, I suggested an apology simply because I glanced at the contact form submission and was disapointed by your reaction to the ban there, having thought that despite your multiple personalities you didn't have any that were like that.

Hmm... Not sure what you mean by that. We only recall Lozaluk Albad or Hypatia Theon saying something like, "Well, if that's how you "win" a philosophical argument, i.e., by first moving it to pseudo and then banning, then that's a sand box I haven't time to play in." Which is still true, and if it's offensive, then we're all sorry. Gomen, ne? What else is there to say? Truth is truth, and sometimes it hurts, even those one respects and loves, both of which feelings we have for Tobias, Dreamweaver, and you, too, Paul.

Well, enough about a sitution I haven't even read up on I guess.

O.K. Agreed again, Paul. Let's end here, and post this on our blog, where Dreamweaver and Tobias, or anyone on the whole world wide wacky web can check it out and follow up as they see fit.

- Paul

Dennis Wilkinson wrote:

Paul Knierim wrote:

I don't look in for a few days and it seems you've found yourself a way to get banned. Well, I don't know exactly how it happened but the listed reason suggests you were creating multiple usernames.

Like any sane forum, we don't allow that, and especially don't allow that when they're used to play out different roles in threads. We are obviously not running a role playing game. Multiple usernames are simply a manipulative way that troublesome people tend to try to confuse others or express agreement with theirself.

You really owe dreamweaver a sincere apology, but that's up to you.

- Paul

Hi Paul,

    I was going to wait for tempers to cool off for maybe a month or two before writing to you about this topic, not being sure whether you were part of the banning process but knowing you'd be inclined to back up the decisions of your chosen moderators. Not that I can fault you on that management policy, which is one I'd probably recommend as a manager myself, though honestly I've never held a managerial position in any organization nor does it seem likely I will anytime soon. :-)

    Perhaps it was my karma to be banned however I had presented the necessary arguments for the positions I now hold. Actually, I'm deliberately stating this from what I take to be your viewpoint. Otherwise, we'd say our karma and so on. ;-)

   I'm sure you can see, though without necessarily agreeing, how from that viewpoint, our viewpoint, presenting a philosophical position and the arguments for it that entails being a multiple personality, of course we created multiple user names, not making any secret about it, as the personalities of the different user names were an essential part of the over all demonstration of our position. Hmm... Of course, as a role play game was the genesis of the situation we're currently working to resolve, in part by presenting arguments aimed at recruiting other philosophical investigators, it seems natural that that colored the presentation of our position. Anyway, "no use crying over split milk," as it's said. Surely, no covert manipulation was intended or attempted on our part. :-(

    An unfortunate software mishap truncated the polite introduction of one post making it seem very rude towards Tobias and Dreamweaver to the point that someone on your forum called it "a ban magnet." :-[   The actual text of the unmangled post can be seen on our blog http://hypatiatheon.blogspot.com/ as the post for Wednesday, June first . Here's how the first two paragraphs at philosophy forums should have read: O:-)

Oh, one more technical note to administrators and php programmers: You might want to cut and paste our whole blog posting for June first into your philosophy forum posting box and troubleshoot the reason for our incredible BAD LUCK, evil karma, or whatever went wrong the many times we tried to post it correctly and finally gave up 'cuz it simply won't work. :(

Apologizing to Dreamweaver, or anyone else who's feelings have been hurt, is a joy to us quite independent of being banned. Just indicate who's been injured and how along with their e-mail addresses, and it will be taken care of. :-D

Regards, Dennis (And the whole gang.) :-*

P.s. Well, I just noticed *one more mistake* =-O on proofing, so the bad karma was a self-fulfilling prophesy in a transitive sense, ne? 8-)

*one more mistake was writing "BrainPoliceXXX," our primary AmiaWorld handle, instead of "~E," our original PhilosophyForums member name.

Written with all our LOVE and as much wisdom as we could master at the moment, Hypatia Theon & all of us here.

Re: Something strange in my mail box...

2005-06-04T23:45:00.000+03:00

info@tan-tan-tanuki.net wrote:

完全無料（１万円分）でばっちりサポート！ときめくような素敵な恋愛探し。 http://www.awg4.com/ss/?lover ▼▽▼▽▼▽▼▽▼▽▼▽▼▽  趣味、年齢、地域、画像有、直メ交換等の条件指定で相手のプロフィールを検索。専 用メールボックスあり！  女性スタッフ一同、あなたに幸福が訪れる事を祈ってます。  http://www.awg4.com/ss/?lover 。☆～この夏に向けて幸福を手にしたい方は是非、覗いてね～☆。     ＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝ 不要な方はこちらへ↓ renraku_awg0000@poppymail.com ＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝   ■18歳未満は利用出来ません。■

What are you trying to say here? Can you tell me again in a simple way?

すみません。僕は日本語をあまりよくわかりません。家内は日本人だけど私は外人だから簡単な漢字で書いていただきませんか？

Or better yet... Does anyone there know English?

Regards, Hypatia Theon

P.s. I saw your cute photo... at http://www.awg4.com/ss/?lover

But we're already happily married, thanks!

The Metaphysics of ESSHOC & SOAR. Are characters in Amia an instance?

2005-06-03T18:12:00.000+03:00

Some thoughts on ESSHOC (Emergent Systems of Self Hierarchically Organized Complexity):

Contemplation on the sixth basic question of ontology (being) in reverse plus Erwin Schrödinger's conclusion in CHAPTER 6 Order, Disorder and Entropy of WHAT IS LIFE? that "the device by which an organism maintains itself stationary at a fairly high level of orderliness ( = fairly low level of entropy) really consists in continually sucking orderliness from its environment" has led me to believe that if Schrödinger had known in 1944 our current science of cosmology, which has progressed from the hypothetical speculation of his time to the falsifiable hypotheses of the expanding Big Bang, he might well have extended his "exploration of the question which lies at the heart of biology" to include consideration of how Emergent Systems of Self Hierarchically Organized Complexity or ESSHOC (pron. es-shock) that are produced by thermodynamic pumps like Earth, living cells, and human brains, which reverse entropy locally while creating Gaia, species, and human culture respectively, might apply to a universal thermodynamic pump created by the combination of accelerating expansion and the limiting speed of light such that as time proceeds from the one of maximum density/temperature at minimum size towards the zero of minimum density/temperature at infinite expansion that mass/energy/information "lost" beyond the point of no return creates the ESSHOC as our universe cools into separation of forces, emergence of elementary particles organized into elements, galaxies, organic chemistry, life, brains, memetic evolution & leading perhaps to an upcoming technological singularity and beyond? Meanwhile, isn't it logical to consider Amia and such internet game worlds as a higher level "reality" emergent from the mental, memetic world of human culture? Anyway, There’s nothing particularly new about the idea of our universe creating itself by a bootstrapping process or emergent self-organizing hierarchies of complexity. I find confirmations everywhere among scientific models of our macrocosm. Not to even mention Schrödinger's epilogue to WHAT IS LIFE? "So let us see whether we cannot draw the correct, non-contradictory conclusion from the following two premises: (i) My body functions as a pure mechanism according to the Laws of Nature. (ii) Yet I know, by incontrovertible direct experience, that I am directing its motions, of which I foresee the effects, that may be fateful and all-important, in which case I feel and take full responsibility for them. The only possible inference from these two facts is, I think, that I –I in the widest meaning of the word, that is to say, every conscious mind that has ever said or felt 'I' -am the person, if any, who controls the 'motion of the atoms' according to the Laws of Nature.".

Some musings on SOAR (Self Observational Active Replication):

I’m trying to characterize these mechanisms simply, so, after considering anthropomorphism, I would like to include the necessity of a subjective time dimension for human consciousness:

For a being to observe and interact with the universe, it must exist across one dimension as well as sensing the others -- anything which sensed all dimensions could not be said to think or act, because it would not have any dimension for thoughts to take place in (thoughts being sequences of brain states, and sequences automatically requiring a dimension to exist in just as multiple points makes a line). Here we can see that despite a lack of objective distinction between the four dimensions, any subjectively existing being (a thinker) must encounter one of those dimensions subjectively in the form of time. Time is that dimension in which thoughts are sequenced.

One point it seems important to be crystal clear on is that SOAR at the level of mind creates a much richer consciousness, in a non-mystical sense of self-awareness, than at the Gaia level of genetic replication or the universal level of the “laws” of physics. In terms of:

Semiotics concerns the study of signs/symbols in three basic dimensions: syntactics (rule-based operations between signs within the sign system), semantics (relationship between signs and the world external to the sign system), and pragmatics (evaluation of the sign system regarding the goals of their users).

I’d say that universal SOAR is purely the creation of syntax, in DNA-based SOAR semantics emerges with pragmatics enforced by the environment (This seems to be the level determinists limit themselves to considering.) whereas at the level of mind pragmatics becomes internalized so that choice, as far as humans know anyway, only emerges in mental SOAR, although exercising creative free will of course entails all those “laws” of organic chemistry and particle physics being simultaneously enacted in turtles-all-the-way-down recursion. Surely, when our personal "muse" inspires us to create characters and stories all the lower levels are simultaneously invoked, so when we do this co-operatively, what else is it but universal representation?

I'm afraid that I’ve expressed myself poorly regarding this subtlety of levels:

I'm not sure I'd agree with calling simple patterns like crystals non-representational. Crystals clearly don't have the extensive symbol set and syntax DNA has, but they still represent information in their replication process.

The difference is between information which is locally represented or universally represented as Von Neumann, et. al, explain the evolutionary advantages of local memory over distributed memory:

Why then is there an advantage of local memory over distributed memory self-replication? Von Neumann's argument maintains that if we do not have symbolic descriptions directing self-replication, then an organism must replicate through material self-inspection of its parts. In other words, the dynamics must be able to produce copies of itself by template identification of parts existing in its environment. The simplest way would be to have every part of the structure individually heritable. Clearly, as systems grow in complexity, self-inspection becomes more and more difficult [Pattee, 1995]. The existence of a language, a symbol system, allows a much more sophisticated form of communication. Functional, dynamic structures do not need to replicate themselves, they are simply constructed from physically non- functional (dynamically inert) descriptions. For instance, for an enzyme to replicate itself, it would need to have this intrinsic property of self-replication "by default", or it would have to be able to assemble itself from a pool of existing parts, but for this, it would have to "unfold" so that its internal parts could be reconstituted for the copy to be produced [Pattee, 1995]. With the genetic code, however, none of these complicated "gimmicks" are necessary: functional molecules can be simply folded from inert messages. This method is by far more general since any functional molecule (with limitations to be discussed ahead) can be produced from a description, not merely those that either happen to be able to self-reproduce, or those that can unfold and fold at will to be reproduced from available parts. The evolution of distributed memory based self-organizing systems is restricted to this type of trivial (in Von Neumann's sense) or through self-inspection (self-description [Kampis, 1991]) reproduction..

I have an inkling how universal SOAR transforms distributed memory of the “laws” of physics to local memory, but I don’t want to babble foolishly about quantum mechanical decoherence for which I can’t give any mathematical formula, so I’ll content my self with a quasi-empirical meta-logical formulation of : E + ~E -> 0 where the symbol “->” denotes the process of becoming “=”.
The best physical model I can find for this is in Stephen Wolfram’s A New Kind Of Science | On Line Chapter 9: Fundamental Physics (See: Sections 7 – 16.) that the Universe is fundamentally the evolution of a network of relationships between nodes, which entails that there is no ultimate substance as a node is simply where three relationships cross – continually updated in SOAR as at each center of ESSHOC, with the center of the universe being everywhere, new information is constantly arriving from earlier higher-entropy eras and coordinating the creative emergence of the “laws” of physics as non-local universal information becomes local information, or as Wolfram explains it:

…the basic reason for this is that if the universe is a network then it can in a sense easily contain threads that continue to connect particles even when the particles get far apart in terms of ordinary space.
The picture that emerges is then of a background containing a very large number of connections that maintain an approximation to three-dimensional space, together with a few threads that in effect go outside of that space to make direct connections between particles.
If two particles get created together it is reasonable to expect that the tangles that represent their cores will tend to have a few connections in common – and indeed this for example happens for lumps of non-planarity of the kind we discussed on page 527. (Preserving physical quantities like electric charge, and, with casual invariance, like local gauge invariance.) But until there are interactions that change the structure of the cores, these common connections will then remain – and will continue to define a thread that goes directly from one particle to the other.

Thus, crystals don’t replicate themselves via local representation, but are instances of phase transitions perhaps best characterized in this poetic way physicist John Baez explains Renormalization:

Right at the critical point, something very cool happens: the system transforms in a simple way under scaling! What does this mean? Well, if you get some water right at the critical point, it looks "opalescent" like a moonstone. If you stare at it carefully, you'll see a bunch of liquid water droplets of all different sizes floating around in steam. However, if you look closely at any of these droplets, you see they are full of bubbles of steam, and if you look closely at the steam, you see it's full of little droplets of liquid! It's like a random fractal: no matter how closely you look, you see the same thing. You can't tell if you're looking at water droplets in steam or bubbles of steam in water, and there is no distinguished length scale... at least until you get down to the scale of atoms, that is.

Well, this is all background material for a Metaphysical question I'd like to raise about worlds such as Amia, i.e., are they ESSHOC within which characters instantiate a level of SOAR beyond mind?

Sorry if that this is still a bit recondite. Maybe after a few more days meditation on the question, I can recast its background in simpler terms. This is just to get us started.

Regards, Hypatia Theon

Seeking philosophical heroines (or heroes) help us, please? Or at least talk about it.

2005-06-02T03:10:00.000+03:00

Dear Ben and I-Love-Philosophy members,

Surely it's best to be candid about any ulterior motives one is aware of at the very start of a philosophical essay, thus providing both a token of honest intent and a context within which to develop an argument, which having a ready-made devil's advocate built in, may be balanced to razor-edged nicety that cuts to the heart of one's philosophical obsession to clarify issues and reveal truth. For is it not one primary purpose of philosophy to clarify that we may better understand?

What we are obsessed with has a history many pieces of which are now publicly available on our two web logs. The first, based more in the wife's passion, as it was our initial attempt at blogging, began presenting the story of our discontent with emotional incoherence and gradually gained focus and acumen at blog space communication. Here's its current form: Let's use PG LOVE role play only to protect kids from cyber abuse. The second, much more recent attempt by the husband at stepping back and taking a more dispassionate look at the problem, reveals that freedom from those righteous emotions may sill be quite some ways beyond us. Just a few posts, to which this current essay will also be added, show our own philosophical heroine characterized in: Hypatia Theon's Philosophical Investigations. So far Hypatia Theon has been more successful at alienating potential allies by her advocacy of involvement in our crusade than at engaging other discussants in extended platonic dialogs. Perhaps Hypatia Theon must first transcend our desire for real engagement in political activism to change an evil, as we consider a policy that we believe fosters cyber exploitation by mature adults of innocent children, and indicate an ideal of abstract discussion free of urgency for philosophical activism? (Furthermore, is this term "philosophical activism" itself an oxymoronic betrayal of confusion between our intuition and our logic? I.e, our intuition already sees reason to act while our logic requires prior collection of facts then careful analyzes of those followed by strategic and tactical considerations before moving on.)

Summarizing the key points for those lacking time or patience to investigate links, as well as to confirm estimations of our viewpoint by intrepid investigators who did take the time to look and contemplate:
We are currently barred, though it may be possible to change that soon with a better understanding of internet technicalities and resources, by both IP ban (of our local net?) and CD key ban of two out of three sets we now own of NWN (Neverwinter Nights currently game version 1.65.8066 English with Shadows of Undrentide and Hordes of Underdark installed) from the internet world of Amia, both the forums at AmiaWorld.net and the game site itself at IP:204.11.47.24:5121 last time we could check it, though that information must be readily available to anyone not banned from the forum, so we could simply check from a computer in another building, and have done so recently confirming no changes yet other than the removal of that Team-America porno link that we credit to our feeble efforts at casting light on the situation as described on the first blog, which was just one small step in our campaign to make Amia world a safer place for children to play and a more relaxed atmosphere for adults to enjoy their role play in as well. Now as advocates of action we seek to engage others in our quest to make the world a better place to live and play in.

Why should all of this be of any interest at all to philosophers, when in fact it's quite easy to see chronicled in our blogs that our first investigators of choice were, quiet logically IOHO, journalists or public officials such as police in the town of Plano, Texas, where the company hosting the Amia is located?

Well indeed answering that question of philosophical relevance would be the purpose of this current thread and any others this ESSHOC, a new incarnation of ~E, who has lost his disputational venue, might start. Amia world, an emergent reality within this reality, referring to whatever is taken by one to be the real world in which we dwell, is an excellent model, at least, or an actual reality of its own, at best, within which to investigate many philosophical questions in those traditional academic arenas of Metaphysics, Epistemology, and Ethics, not to forget those popular here at I-Love-Philosophy, the social sciences, natural sciences, psychology and religion. In brief:
1) Metaphysically there is the problem already alluded to above of the reality of these worlds within worlds like Amia. Are they merely created by the intelligent design of human programmers, or does the participation of many minds and "The One" (if one is a believer) result in the emergence of a higher level of existence?
2) Epistemologically there arises the question of self knowledge by the ubermind within which another mind arises. Here this may be the relationship between game player and character. Is this a mere literary knowledge like that of an author for a character in a story, or does the active engagement in in a game beyond even the unconscious creative sphere of any one human mind engender transcendent awareness or perhaps invoke the involvement of a "real" muse?
3) Ethically there are many obvious questions involving potential exploitation of children and one's duty when one becomes aware of these problems, so I'll merely point out that deeper meta-ethical questions might be posed as well.
4) In the social sciences, we've pointed out the dual economic basis of character motivation, which is loot and experience points for the hunters versus dream coins awarded for exemplary role play, leading to interesting political disputes among both characters in the game and players on the forums.
5) As for the natural sciences, we must defer to computer "geeks" (Here intended in the positive sense of mavens.) who can enlighten us about the various physical limitations or augmentations, but we have a rudimentary knowledge of those scientific issues and so may attempt to at least frame some questions.
6) Psychologically, we have submitted that our characters are not mere circumscribed manifestations of D&D rules in particular acts of literary creation, but that we are actually a multiple personality, not in a disordered sense but as a many-minds creative commune.
7) Religiously, we embody in ourselves some interesting living contradictions, that have proved very difficult for other philosophers even to accept, of being simultaneously Christian and Buddhist in that the husband is a born-again Christian and ordained minister currently earning his salary by performing Christian weddings in a country that's 98% non-Christian, as are therefore the couples he joins in marriage. Yet his spirituality has extended by engagement in zen and yoga with years spent in both meditation and more active pursuits such as giving away all his money and walking barefoot through the Himalayan Mountains clad in the orange robes of an Indian sadu carrying only a sleeping mat and begging bowl. Husband and wife are both now certified members of Nichirenshu though the wife was raised in Zenhhu as a samurai boy as occasionally still happens in traditional families with first-born daughters. Her father said, "Well I'd hoped for a son, but it can't be helped, so I'll just raise her like one," and entered on her honseki (national registration) the samurai nickname Saemonnojo, The Guardian of the Left Gate, a famous samurai hero; however, in addition to this intensive training in martial arts technique and philosophy, the wife was also taught both English and Christian doctrine from her pre-school years by two neighbors who were, respectively, head of the English department and headmaster at a college spun off decades earlier from the English school of the Nagasaki Y.M.C.A. Surely, there are one or two spiritual questions worthy of philosophical investigation with which we are intimate?

Well, that should be enough food for thought to either get us started on the road towards philosophical insight, or banned from this forum as too hot to handle. You please be the judges because we're obviously too subjective, ne?

Regards, ESSHOC

Hypatia Gets Pseddo-Philosophical

2005-06-01T02:28:00.000+03:00

My dear fellow Pseudo Philosophers,

Sorry, Tobias the metaphysical exorcist, I'm quite sure that my alter ego, Lozaluk Albad , the Eternal Novice, didn't mean to say your post "sucked" in his sardonic insistence on the bad luck of your intention to define me, and by extension him and all the other facets of our multi-character personality, out of existence or at least into order with your neo-Kantian nearly Nazi nay saying.

Lozaluk Albad is rather a monotonic one-note melody of a character with his incessant pessimistic dwelling on negativity, but by that very intense focus on one point of bad luck, he is exceptionally good at recognizing it, so you should take him as seriously as any other heart attack when he clenches his fist around the vitality of your argument.
Furthermore, had he not been constrained by his bad luck from resurrecting threads over 120 days old, he would have brought to your attention some postings you may have forgotten or merely overlooked by BrainPoliceXXX several months ago on the topic of lucid dreams and even his long running dispute with Dreamweaver on the topic of embodied contradictions in our mind. (Speaking of Dreamweaver with a certain sort of premonition, I can just feel him getting ready to move this whole thread to Pseudophilosophy, revealing how much moderation he has when it comes to bearing grudges? Just an instance of black humor like that bad luck of having this whole post disappear the first time I wrote it, for how could our moderators be other than fair minded? Sending a legitimate philosophical posting to pseudo would just be a sneaky way of admitting you can't win by real argumentation, nicht wahr?)

Since we're in a Metaphysical sub-forum (or really should be if moved to Pseudophilosophy) let me direct a brief analysis to your definitional attempt at exorcism from that standpoint. Your effort to narrowly define Hypatia Theon out of independent existence into mere game characterhood circumscribed by various rules fails to close at least three wide-open doors:
1) There is the well-established psychological phenomenon of multi-character personality, and we speak not of "disorder" but the well ordered sort such as we.
2) Your claim to know "definitionally" another mind/soul is a philosophical faux pas. Who has shown that this is possible beyond mystical claims at telepathy and such?
3) Although unpopular on these forums, the belief in the existence of an actual soul of the "real" Hypatia Theon, the one of history not of our current popular cultural myth, can't be merely swept under the rug of some D&D rule book. Can you prove I'm not that soul in residence here and now? I thought not! Or wanna give it a Kantian go?

This is not intended to end in Q.E.D. merely to open lines of Philosophical inquiry, which I'm sure you'll not be surprised to hear we believe could best be carried out by active philosophical heroines (and maybe heroes, too) booting up NWN (We'll even supply funding for four more sets of CDs.) and embarking on a tour of Amia armed with Lola to keep chat log records of their findings.

Regards, Hypatia Theon

Hypatia Comments: Hoping to Got Some Dialogs Going...

2005-05-31T18:09:00.000+03:00

At 5:18 AM, Hypatia Theon said... to Common Sense.

Well... America has this fixation on polarized power struggles. There is another way though. Wisdom <- Please consider the contrast between American and other countries expressions of favorite sayings in this sharing of International Wisdom. Then, if you've a mind to discuss this more philosophically, please get back to me?

Thanks, Hypatia Theon

At 7:22 AM Hypatia Theon said... to Lord of Swans .

You know, SDW, ours could really be another marriage made in heaven because your interests dovetail so nicely with ours. As husband and wife we blend East and West with husband a born-again Christian, one time member of an American Pentecostal house church complete with laying on of hands, casting out marijuana daemons, and the entire fundamentalist nine yards, now become much more philosophical and spiritually eclectic over years of disillusionment with American political realities and bare-foot journeys across the mountains of Northern India dressed in the orange robes of a sadu, carrying only a simple bedroll and begging bowl. Currently retired from teaching ESL at various companies, colleges, and universities, he performs Christian weddings on weekends for 98% non-Christian couples.
The wife, raised in zenshu now a member of nichirenshu, had childhood dreams to become a veterinarian and travel to Africa, but after one ronin year following shikenjigoku failure to enter a veterinaian school in Hokkaido, compromised her dream to become a pharmacologist at a Fukuoka University, where she became notorious for losing her virginity at the age of 22 as forfeit in an epic battle martial arts battle upon which her own professors wagered bets in excess of 1,000 USD with Chen (Nicknamed after the Chinese martial artist, whom he slightly resembled.) who also became her first lover afterwards. (He stares from some old photo albums looking rather harassed as he often complained about being bitten during love play... She still does that sometimes. Ouch!) Satchi no longer practices those arts studied in childhood: Kendo, Nagainata, Yari, Karate, and later after she and her friend Matsuo met the Dragon in the Mountain, a mysterious Chinese who lived in the forests between Shimabara and Fugen Dake, she learned some Chinese art like Tai Kuan Do until Matsuo died hanggliding on the first day of the New Year when he crashed down in a mountain river and no one could reach him to unfasten his harness before he drowned. Anyway, I was so impressed by the inner beauty of that samurai spirit that led her to strap on my paraglider and try to fly from the highest peak in Nagasaki for what would have been a suicide flight if I hadn't collapsed the risers before she could actually take off. Ah, memories. *SMILE* Hope we can make a few, too.

Love, Hypatia Theon (At home in "The One" where East meets West)

Let's be philosophical about this problem.

2005-05-30T12:42:00.000+03:00

Pearl Dragon received this letter:

Mmmmm, Pearl - that's a tough one:
(left hand) - people should be free to do what they want, as long as it doesn't hurt anyone else and everyone is of consenting/comprehending age or mentality. So regarding the inevitable sexual side of role play or even some questionable cybering by individuals or members of a group (any group), I must say the exact same thing I said to an ex-girlfriend when she pulled out a box of coat hangers, a Nazi uniform and a live chicken...."knock yourself out, baby!". As long as no one is victimized or is a minor I FIRMLY believe in the "tug-of-war" principle which states that if I pull one direction your human nature makes it also inevitable that you will pull the other way. From hackers to hippies I have found this to be true. People must be free to decide for themselves, even if they do some harm to themselves in the process, since the burned hand teaches best. Cigarette smokers, heavy drinkers and sex-a-holics always find this out for themselves, and as long as they do no harm in the process I respect their freedom of discovery.

(right hand) - there IS such a thing as coercive seduction, and I'm quite familiar with this process. Some people are naturals at it. They create a scenario or situation, control the rules, apply generous amounts of pressure (political, peer, etc.) and manipulate others to bend to their will. Again....usually....the burned hand teaches best, but what about the 18 year old girl, naive and innocent, who gets manipulated into role play in a cyber environment by a very practiced, very smooth, very manipulative predator? Well, usually I say caveat emptor ...buyer beware!... but I had a friend once who at the ripe of age of 20 committed suicide in a emotionally charged romantic situation, having been completely deluded and exploited. Again we have the issue of harm, and it begins to ever-so-subtly encroach over into that large gray land of "potential harm". Do we protect the innocent in such situations? And by doing so, are we #1.) playing God, #2.) on a power/ego trip, and #3.) preventing the victim in this situation from learning life's hard lessons?

Tough calls. Having never been in the exact situation you described it's tough for me to speak definitively on the issue. As an advocate of freedom and social responsibility I'd say that customers should inquire about products and environments and that vendors have a right to enact controls for safety. Everybody's free to come and go.

BUT, if someone gets seriously hurt, and if someone is at fault in this regard, then the someone at fault should face crucifixion and be eaten by beetles. I speak in less jest than you might think, because I believe (FIRMLY) that the number one problem in the United States is not Iraq, or the economy, or Bush, or the democrats, or the debt/deficit/delicatessen....the number one problem is the sexual molestation and exploitation - RAMPANT exploitation and molestation - of children. It's huge. It's almost totally covert and underground, considering the numbers. And the implications for adulthood and the severe emotional, mental and physical damage is horrifying. And I've simply known too many victims for it to be a series of isolated cases. I could write an entire blog about alternative lifestyles (gay, goth, s&m, etc., etc.) and how the members of those lifestyles unilaterally (in my experience) carry around immense loads of baggage and personal pain from childhood sexual trauma in one form or another. It's one thing to be attracted to a member of the same sex, perhaps even to act on it. It's something else entirely to hurt oneself. In my experience, nobody does that for no reason.

And limping awkwardly back to your original question about my thoughts on this issue, well this pretty much sums it up: Let people be free / those that do harm must pay.

Kindest regards,
S. D.... W.....

----- Original Message -----
From: Pearl_Dragon
To: ..........@......com
Sent: Sunday, May 29, 2005 7:17 AM
Subject: [Lord of Swans] 5/29/2005 05:05:27 AM

Having considered your blog post, I find that I agree with your point about the hypocritical stance of American legislators being skewed to lean towards their financial benefactors, those soulless corporations, while they pay mere lip service to the needs of average citizens without special financial clout. It's an obvious and rather traditional sell out of the "representatives" to power brokers quite as old as democracy by proxy.
The term "cyber-hypocrisy" had other connotations for me, though. We've got a blog that started from a sense of moral outrage at the way a game web site's policy of covert cybering among players seems an established perk of the site's moderators and owner, so that they strenuously resist changing it, or in fact even openly discussing more wholesome ways of handling the inevitable sexual side of role play. Secretiveness seems to us, who are anything but innocent of salacious cybering, a likely cloak for exploitation. The optimum treatment would probably be PG rated love talk (I'm writing several purple-prose examples on our site. LOL.) with double entendres revealing a risque level to the less innocent while the inexperienced would read it in a harmless way. What's your take on this issue?

--
Posted by Pearl_Dragon to Lord of Swans at 5/29/2005 05:05:27 AM

We consider it best to hand this topic over to the dispassionately philosophical investigations of Hypatia Theon, who is overjoyed to discover an awesome intellectual that responded in an insightfully serious way to one of Pearl Dragon's blog flirtations. Surely it would be a waste of his talents to leave this exchange in the hands of a woman like Pearl with her constant undertone of sexual seductiveness. Hypatia Theon, on the contrary, is a character nearly 100% role played by Pearl's "real" husband, such that both the character and the player have only academic interest in cyber sexual relationships with men, or women either in the character's case; thus, it seems the greater part of wisdom to consider our dialog on that basis, nicht wahr?

Sincerest Regards, Hypatia Theon