Pride

So why do we have pride? It’s one of the seven sins, after all. It only ever seems to get in the way of pragmatism, experimentation, and honesty. I don’t know how many times I’ve let foolish pride make me angry, because I believed I was better than this, that I shouldn’t have failed, or that I shouldn’t have had to deal with this, or be exposed to this. It seems like an endless source of frustration and inner turmoil over things that are just part of life.

And when I consider other possibilities, things I’m not familiar with, pride stops me short. I consider myself a very honest person, especially with myself, but still I can find myself too proud to admit I was wrong, or too proud of my successes and the way I’ve done things to dare to tear it all down and start from scratch. I feel like I’ve come too far to let something so petty make me falter, and I ignore the risk that I may be going the wrong way entirely, failing to notice or to understand what needs to be done.

With women

I mentioned some time ago, though in a more extreme case, that working so closely with Lith as a character has given me some rather unique insight into a certain mindset. It’s been strange to realize just how much of what I came to understand instinctively could actually be applied more intellectually to understanding other people, but in a way, that is one of the great rewards of writing. So today, I would like to take some time to share some more of these insights, in the form of advice– specifically, advice for men, on how to deal with women, especially in amorous, intimate, and/or romantic situations. This isn’t to say that I can make dealing with women easy, but I know from personal experience that many men go years or, indeed, their entire lives without understanding some of these strange aspects of women, and the mysteries of their ways can only compound the difficulty of pursuit and interaction by making it impossible to even choose a path to start down on with any certainty. I hope to lend those who want to do well by their feminine counterparts and by themselves, but do not know what to make of the strange and alien habits and desires they encounter in the attempt.

Game loss

The spread of subjects in video games has ever been dominated by violence. Certainly there have been some notable alternatives here and there, but in terms of popularity and widespread use, violence has been the foremost focus through every stage of development, straight through to today. But with the development and expansion of the market, the flourishing independent market, and the constant search for a unique premise to offer up, to stand apart from the crowd, many alternatives have been raised, and some of them have been surprisingly successful.

Some of these games may well make us wonder why we enjoy them. Some are modeled around wholly mundane elements of life, literally things we can do ourselves, perhaps things we already do frequently. Yet we play these games, and we enjoy them. Some may be so inaccurate to the theme they present that it’s simply an amusing flavor for engaging gameplay, but some make a close enough approximation as to make us wonder, perhaps, “why don’t I actually just DO this myself?”

Past belief

One of the most culturally valuable things globalization and the internet has given us is a certain sense of perspective. It used to be that the average person’s life was no larger than the town they lived in, and the opinions shared publicly and in their family were the only opinions to be had. People of education would often seem transformed and alien, their heads filled with all these bizarre concepts the normal people had never heard even a hint of. The average person’s world was smaller.

Arguably, this was a more comfortable way to live. It’s hard to “care” about an entire world, and it’s easier to form strong bonds of family and neighborly friendship when there’s very little alternative. But this was also one of the strongest components in the generation and continuation of many close-minded, destructive practices. Xenophobia. Racism. Meaningless beliefs based wholly on the fact that “everyone believes it,” sometimes founding meaningless aggression toward other regions (“rivalries” with other cities or states, extreme pride in the local sports team or other location-based feature) or the common refusal to ignore basic tenants of logic. This was not an environment for the discovery and development of “better” or “right” ways of thinking or doing things. Often, by means of simple gerontocracy, the best and right ways of everything were already determined.

Contradiction

I find it difficult at times to talk about my beliefs. Not because I fear persecution or rejection, or because I have any difficulty putting them into words, nor because I don’t feel like I believe anything, although some may argue that in a way, that last is closest to the truth. I have trouble discussing what I “really think” about a given issue because there can be multiple things that I believe, even about the same thing, and sometimes those things are directly opposed to each other.

Some people believe that certain things closely related to them are the most important things in the world– their family, their profession, their way of life. They decide that these groups and concepts are being oppressed and need to be uplifted, or that their position is being threatened and must be protected, and so they gradually turn all their questions of morality, politics, and future ambitions toward furthering the goals of these important things. If somebody asks whether they prefer an elephant or a donkey, they will support whichever they believe will better help with the things they care about most. Their beliefs unfold from this basic foundation to create their “opinions” about almost everything in the world.

In Memoriam Evolve

Because we do not yet live in a single enormous information superconductor that allows all data, all creations that can be transmitted as series of bits to move freely between brains without cost or arrangement, there exist intermediary services that package our ideas and creations for easy distribution and consumption. And because we do not yet live in a post-scarcity utopia free of the trappings of economic models, starvation, and the burden of the worker, the same intermediary services must also act as exchangers of liquid value, attempting to transform these provided ideas, these encapsulated and encrypted pieces of art, into as much money as possible. This allows them to pay the creators for their time and effort, and to pay their own costs. And, incidentally, to make a profit.

On sex context

Twenty years ago, pornography was a different creature. Magazines and video tapes ruled supreme, and they were the filthy, physical evidence you had to procure by any means necessary and hide in the cleverest spot possible, somewhere both inaccessible to any prying eyes and readily available for every day use. What little you had was prized, and often used repeatedly. Every new piece acquired was a treasure.

Then the internet happened. Now, the porn flows freely, and anyone with the time and the inclination can become rapidly desensitized and even develop a degree of porn snobbery, distinguishing good porn from bad at a glance and scoffing at entire fields as uninteresting and below one’s consideration. But one funny little thing hasn’t changed.

Limited liability

We, as a species, have a problem. Rather, we have many problems, but there is arguably one problem which looms greatest over us right now, that threatens our future survival, our ecosystem, our systems of government, and the basic moral structures we attempt to maintain and improve. The gravest problem we face today is the existence of a certain class of people.

These people care about literally nothing except making money, and they are extremely good at it. They will sacrifice anything they can to make more money, more consistently, forever. They can and will destroy anything that gets in the way of greater profits, and they steadily manipulate all rules and regulations that might turn against them to better cater to their needs. These people cannot be imprisoned when they destroy property and kill people. They cannot be arrested. They cannot be executed. The only punishment that can be turned against them is a monetary fine, as that is the only language they speak. And if the fine is smaller than the cost of doing things the “right” or “legal” way, then they will pay the fine every time, as just another business expense. These people do not have souls to damn to hell, and they do not have consciences to keep them awake at night. They do not sleep, or rest, or slow. They are without mercy, pity, or compassion. And they are the most powerful people on the planet.

Consume and repeat

When one reads a book or story, often, once is enough. You’ve enjoyed the plot (hopefully) and now you can return it, or put it on the shelf and suppose that you might read it in a few years. And if it’s a really good story or book, maybe you’ll read it again sooner. This is, I think, a pretty typical way to experience a written piece of work.

When you play a classic, linear video game, once is probably enough for the majority of them. Back when there were very few out there, we might have replayed the best ones a good deal since we had little choice, but today, even if you’re penniless, we’re nearly drowning in options. The best games might get played again, though, and maybe even fairly soon.

Think and feel

Exactly what role does emotion play in our lives today? It could be said that emotions act as something of a bridge between our basic, animal instincts and our logical, abstract minds. Animals can be observed to have emotions to a degree, certainly happiness, sorrow, and fear, and perhaps to a lesser degree remorse, jealousy, and more complicated sentiments such as these. In humans, emotions are the ways that our gut instincts alter our perception of the world. They stimulate certain responses in us, making us think faster, grow tense, fixate on certain subjects, produce various chemicals, and often act in very illogical ways.