Yesterday and today I wrestled as never before with my mortality. In the end I have concluded that if death is annihilation, then I want my life to count for as much as it can, and if my death can count for something too, as with soldiers on a battlefield, then I want that as well.
Maybe death is annihilation, or maybe not, but it sure looks to be, and some would say, obviously it is. Assuming they're right, my only available rebellion is to purposefully collide with the world, taking pride and solace in the unassailable fact that nothing will be as it would have been, had I not existed.
I exist. Unassailably I exist, today, right now. I am a Chaos Butterfly. Reality in all its superabundant complexity cannot escape my choices and the causal chains they initiate. Moreover, I and I alone decide how briskly to flutter my wings, and in what direction to push the wind. Nothing will be as it would have been, had I not existed. The future is exquisitely vulnerable to me, and the future is a web of consequences undreamed of, spread like a net over infinity.
Live with the best, then die like the rest...
While your every action is a step in defining some piece of the future, that future is likely never to notice or credit you. A HUGE statue of oneself would be nice, but things don't work out that way for most of us, eh..?
Quote from: Pharaoh Cat on December 05, 2011, 10:24:05 AM
Yesterday and today I wrestled as never before with my mortality. In the end I have concluded that if death is annihilation, then I want my life to count for as much as it can, and if my death can count for something too, as with soldiers on a battlefield, then I want that as well.
Maybe death is annihilation, or maybe not, but it sure looks to be, and some would say, obviously it is. Assuming they're right, my only available rebellion is to purposefully collide with the world, taking pride and solace in the unassailable fact that nothing will be as it would have been, had I not existed.
I exist. Unassailably I exist, today, right now. I am a Chaos Butterfly. Reality in all its superabundant complexity cannot escape my choices and the causal chains they initiate. Moreover, I and I alone decide how briskly to flutter my wings, and in what direction to push the wind. Nothing will be as it would have been, had I not existed. The future is exquisitely vulnerable to me, and the future is a web of consequences undreamed of, spread like a net over infinity.
Both arrogant and humble! Me too!
Chaos is my friend, I have great faith in it ;D
"Death is nothing to us, since when we are, death has not come, and when death has come, we are not."
-Epicurus
Quote from: Asmodean on December 05, 2011, 01:49:08 PM
While your every action is a step in defining some piece of the future, that future is likely never to notice or credit you. A HUGE statue of oneself would be nice, but things don't work out that way for most of us, eh..?
Being remembered can't be the goal if I'm at all realistic, very true. But that's OK. A thousand years from now, when a rocket ship lands on Venus instead of Saturn because of something I did this morning, the fact that no one knows it was me won't change the fact that it was. What I'm deciding now is what sort of directional spin I want to impart to my actions. Outcomes will still be wildly unpredictable, of course, but every now and then my directional spin may carry forward.
Quote from: Pharaoh Cat on December 05, 2011, 10:53:49 PM
Quote from: Asmodean on December 05, 2011, 01:49:08 PM
While your every action is a step in defining some piece of the future, that future is likely never to notice or credit you. A HUGE statue of oneself would be nice, but things don't work out that way for most of us, eh..?
Being remembered can't be the goal if I'm at all realistic, very true. But that's OK. A thousand years from now, when a rocket ship lands on Venus instead of Saturn because of something I did this morning, the fact that no one knows it was me won't change the fact that it was. What I'm deciding now is what sort of directional spin I want to impart to my actions. Outcomes will still be wildly unpredictable, of course, but every now and then my directional spin may carry forward.
Murphy's law. Try doing some serious evil - end up doing some serious good.
Quote from: Asmodean on December 05, 2011, 11:07:23 PM
Quote from: Pharaoh Cat on December 05, 2011, 10:53:49 PM
Quote from: Asmodean on December 05, 2011, 01:49:08 PM
While your every action is a step in defining some piece of the future, that future is likely never to notice or credit you. A HUGE statue of oneself would be nice, but things don't work out that way for most of us, eh..?
Being remembered can't be the goal if I'm at all realistic, very true. But that's OK. A thousand years from now, when a rocket ship lands on Venus instead of Saturn because of something I did this morning, the fact that no one knows it was me won't change the fact that it was. What I'm deciding now is what sort of directional spin I want to impart to my actions. Outcomes will still be wildly unpredictable, of course, but every now and then my directional spin may carry forward.
Murphy's law. Try doing some serious evil - end up doing some serious good.
How frustrating that would be! ;D
Quote from: xSilverPhinx on December 05, 2011, 11:08:29 PM
How frustrating that would be! ;D
Well, that's unanticipated consequences for you :P
Quote from: Pharaoh Cat on December 05, 2011, 10:53:49 PM
Quote from: Asmodean on December 05, 2011, 01:49:08 PM
While your every action is a step in defining some piece of the future, that future is likely never to notice or credit you. A HUGE statue of oneself would be nice, but things don't work out that way for most of us, eh..?
Being remembered can't be the goal if I'm at all realistic, very true. But that's OK. A thousand years from now, when a rocket ship lands on Venus instead of Saturn because of something I did this morning, the fact that no one knows it was me won't change the fact that it was. What I'm deciding now is what sort of directional spin I want to impart to my actions. Outcomes will still be wildly unpredictable, of course, but every now and then my directional spin may carry forward.
1 or 0 directional spins? ??? If so, then the proper location in some strong eletromagnetic field can solve that dilemma...
I thought I'd use that analogy because I think you underestimate circumstance...
Quote from: Asmodean on December 05, 2011, 11:10:43 PM
Quote from: xSilverPhinx on December 05, 2011, 11:08:29 PM
How frustrating that would be! ;D
Well, that's unanticipated consequences for you :P
For an evil mastermind, they should pose no problem ;D You can get your evil plans back on track even if there was some unintended good happening on the side. ;D
Quote from: xSilverPhinx on December 05, 2011, 11:19:09 PM
Quote from: Asmodean on December 05, 2011, 11:10:43 PM
Quote from: xSilverPhinx on December 05, 2011, 11:08:29 PM
How frustrating that would be! ;D
Well, that's unanticipated consequences for you :P
For an evil mastermind, they should pose no problem ;D You can get your evil plans back on track even if there was some unintended good happening on the side. ;D
The Book of Asmo, rule number fifty-seven. ;D
Quote from: xSilverPhinx on December 05, 2011, 11:13:58 PM
1 or 0 directional spins? ??? If so, then the proper location in some strong eletromagnetic field can solve that dilemma...
I thought I'd use that analogy because I think you underestimate circumstance...
I wasn't thinking binary and wasn't really thinking quarks, although that connection occurred to me after I typed the sentence. Let's discard any association with quarks or binary choices. Direction will be any point on the outer surface of a sphere.
I should also note that controling the outcomes isn't really the point. There will be outcomes. They'll reverberate forever. That's enough. My perspective here is near to that of Camus with his ethic of quantity rather than quality, or Niezsche with his will to power if we take power as raw force, a quantity. Icing on the cake, gravy on the potatoes will be any instance where a reverberation happens to align in some philosophical way with the original action that initiated the chain of causality. Maybe only one reverberation out of a million will be in this category, but that's better than zero, and given the long game I'm playing here, anything better than zero is worth considering. Still, if a cheesburger five hundred years from now gets cheddar put on it instead of pepperjack, due to something I did this afternoon, the fact that I personally prefer pepperjack is of no importance. There was consequence. The pond rippled. That's enough.
Interesting philosophy. Though, personally, I don't worry too much about how ripply I make the pond several hundred years from now - I won't be around to see it.
Quote from: DeterminedJuliet on December 06, 2011, 02:14:00 AM
Interesting philosophy. Though, personally, I don't worry too much about how ripply I make the pond several hundred years from now - I won't be around to see it.
I think so too, though it is cool to know there is that bigger picture so to speak, and if we're lucky or privileged, we get glimpses of it.
It's an interesting perspective.
It hit me this morning what a great tool the internet is for a chaos butterfly. I can post thoughts and have them read by many in lots of places. What multiplication! What randomness! Ripple, ripple. All I have to do is be interesting!
Quote from: Pharaoh Cat on December 08, 2011, 09:23:00 AM
It hit me this morning what a great tool the internet is for a chaos butterfly. I can post thoughts and have them read by many in lots of places. What multiplication! What randomness! Ripple, ripple. All I have to do is be interesting!
And there you have the problem (https://www.happyatheistforum.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg710.imageshack.us%2Fimg710%2F9922%2Frimshot.gif&hash=77d5ac078a921ed7ff6be629eed7a4f2ac98bb10)
I don't think you have to be interesting to make ripples.
There's say 500,000,000 sperm cells in an ejaculation.
I suggest some male who hasn't yet done their reproducing will see this turtle. (https://www.happyatheistforum.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cool-smileys.com%2Fimages%2Fdancing-turtle.gif&hash=c3d367db408b78be83d0b6b7c7a1213dcecc179c)
Seeing it will cause a different sperm to be successful some years hence, a wholly different person will exist because of the turtle.
The different person will create a whole different world.
Praise the turtle.
Quote from: The Magic Pudding on December 08, 2011, 01:05:51 PM
Seeing it will cause a different sperm to be successful some years hence, a wholly different person will exist because of the turtle.
Wow. I wonder if that's scientifically valid. Nifty if it is! :)
Quote from: The Magic Pudding on December 08, 2011, 01:05:51 PM
I don't think you have to be interesting to make ripples.
There's say 500,000,000 sperm cells in an ejaculation.
I suggest some male who hasn't yet done their reproducing will see this turtle. (https://www.happyatheistforum.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cool-smileys.com%2Fimages%2Fdancing-turtle.gif&hash=c3d367db408b78be83d0b6b7c7a1213dcecc179c)
Seeing it will cause a different sperm to be successful some years hence, a wholly different person will exist because of the turtle.
The different person will create a whole different world.
Praise the turtle.
That turtle is up to something. Why won't he show his face?! >:(