Rule of Life #15

Rule #15: We only know through perception.

Cogito ergo sum is a bit of a no-brainer to include when describing paradigms of human existence, but its a good one. Even deduced information is drawn from data gathered through ordinary perception.

If Rule 14 is the “what you see is what you get; deal with it,” of existence, Rule 15 is the rider that says, “yeah, but you might just be a brain in a jar.”

Rules of Life #14

Rule #14: Illusion uninterrupted is no illusion.

Sometimes, people ask whether or not we exist in a simulation. It's a valid academic question, but I consider taking the questions raised by a mission to Mars or a survey of Io to be more important. Look, quantum computers and the limitations of the Universe's computational abilities are critical areas of knowledge, but...The Matrix isn't shutting down anytime soon.

Debating the nature of reality over a glass of Delightful Buzz Red might be a fine excuse, but it's not going to peel back the curtain.

Maybe it is all fake. Cool. Now bring back hard evidence, or else it just doesn't impact my life the way that fish-eating spiders do. The same largely applies to aliens, government conspiracies, and religion. They're all fine theories and I enjoy learning about them, but I don't take them any more seriously than this season of Doctor Who.

Okay, slightly less seriously than this season of Doctor Who.

So long as an illusion lacks any seams^[1], it isn't any less real than...reality^[2]. 

People work much the same way. Someone who is perfectly compassionate and empathetic, but always acts like a jerk is actually a jerk. Someone who's an asshole on the inside, but who is always kind, understanding, and helpful towards others is not an asshole. They're a person with asshole tendencies that rises above them every day. It's--y'know--

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[1] Any. At all. None. Zero. Zip. The Matrix's dejavous? Interrupted. Total illusion.

[2] For non-illusory universe. These non-illusory definitions get recursive real quickly.

Don't Masturbate

50 Cent says so.

Rules of Life #13

Rule #13: Change is death.

 
Change, like death, is inevitable. What is will not endure and whether what is to come is better or worse depends in some part on your actions.

It will probably be worse if you don't work to make it better.

Klickstein, Phil Robertson, and the PC Police

So, last week Nickelodeon alum Mathew Klickstein had an interview with Flavorwire. In it, he talks about how Pete & Pete was the best show in Nickelodeon because it was a white, male cast, how Clarissa Explains it All was only successful in hindsight because of Melissa Joan Hart and "feminist bloggers," and how Sanjay and Craig's Indian lead is unnecessary and equivalent to blackface.

I don't know much about Pete & Pete, but Clarissa Explains it All was an objective success, and there's no need to justify a non-white character created by a multicultural staff in a multicultural country. Reasonably, folks have been angry at him. The result is that the event he was promoting, "Nite of Nickelodeon Nostalgic Nonsense!" was scuttled. The rest of the attendees scheduled a new event without Klickstein. He cited "PC Police" in his cancellation notice. But is there such a thing as the PC Police?

Game OverThinker

Hatsune Miko on Letterman

So, this happened. The singer is Hatsune Miko, a popular avatar from a singing synthesizer program. Some you might know that David Letterman is stepping down soon (in favor of Stephen Colbert), so we can only assume that he either no longer cares or his long-repressed interest in holographic characters representing singing gynoids representing 16-year-old girls can finally be indulged.

My limited research into her hasn't yielded who owns her, who "manages" her, and who creates the story behind her. My first response was negative; I don't think anyone will be surprised when I refer to 16-year-old female characters designed by straight guys as "dick accessories."

King Dome

The blog I wanted today isn't quite ready to post, so here's a video of Seattle's Kingdome exploding.

It's that Time of Year Again

Leonard McCoy & The Prime Directive

So, in Star Trek IV: The One With the Whales, Dr. McCoy is in a late 20th Century hospital. He passes a woman who's on dialysis and gives her a pill. She regrows a kidney. It's a short, two scene gag that reverses the fish out of water comedy of the rest of the movie.

The Prime Directive states that The Federation should not interfere in the internal affairs of a less-developed culture. In "Symbiosis," Picard notes that such interactions are invariably disastrous for the less-developed culture. Given that Star Trek pulls from a Western tradition, it obviously pulls from European interactions with Native American (and perhaps even African) cultures.
Reality doesn't bear that out. Disease and superior systems of applying force are not the same as having a "superior culture."

Good old Admiral Ross. How I hate him!

I know content has been a bit sparse lately. I'm sorry. The stuff I want to talk about is either Star Trek related or based on the shit happening in places like Ferguson, Hong Kong, or Japan. I don't want to get social-justice warriory or become completely up-my-own-ass Star Trekky, so I haven't had much to work with.

So with that in mind, I'm going to bitch about a character from Deep Space Nine, Admiral William Ross.

Oh fuck Ross.

ADM Ross: “Ben, I can’t be bothered to plan retaking DS9, the most important location in the war with The Dominion. You do it.”