From: Jason Joel Thompson (jasonjthompson@home.com)
Date: Sat Nov 18 2000 - 17:46:39 MST
Hi Steve.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Steve" <steve@multisell.com>
> >1) Strip away limiting ideological garbage.
>
> The notion that you "have limiting ideological garbage,"
> or that if you do you can "strip it away," is itself part of this
> ideological garbage.
Um, I don't care how high you want to climb up the rope of tautology here
Steve, the point remains. Do you think that the act of stripping away
limiting ideological garbage is itself, a limiting ideology? If so, please
explain your position in detail so the slow kids can keep up.
> >2) Understand your personal power.
>
> Like boxing or wrestling ability?
Certainly.
> Or do you have power to hold back the waves?
That too. We humans are industrious little critters. You can get
suprisingly good results from with a little bit of rebar and a pinch of
concrete.
>
> >3) Understand your environment.
>
> And all of the other environments.
Sure. Of course, they have decreased relevancy to our existence if we don't
actually get to live in them.
>
> >4) Do.
>
> What exactly?
Hmm... you'd like a specific directive? Well, I was kinda hoping to keep it
opened ended... oh, you know, follow your bliss, blah bibbty blah, that sort
o' thing, but in your case I'll see if I can come up with something
concrete-- um... oh, I dunno... ah, okay, Steve, I'd like you to create a
popular sit-com based on the wacky on-screen antics of a cheeky pocket
calculator who mysteriously comes to life when accidentally dropped into a
jar of incredibly old peanut butter. Wise-cracking technological relic,
with a real heart of gold, he undertakes to fight crime (and teach the
little ones their numbers!) living out of a basement flat in Manhattan with
a crochety (yet endearingly likeable) aged Jewish pawnbroker and a young
female cab driver with remarkable spunk.
> >(What works for me: "You are a human on planet Earth, and you kick ass.
> >There *is* a way. Do it now.")
>
>
> >Others will disagree, but: reality is, after all, a game.
>
> Yes, I could have just as easily agreed with all your above points ...
> but even so, reality almost by definition is what "isn't" a game ...
> games are microcosmical realities where the rules are agreed amongst the
> players.
Yes, actually, you're right. By its very definition, by "game" we usually
mean, "that which -isn't- reality." However, is there some value to be
found in treating reality as "if it were" a game? I guess that depends on
how you play games, but in my case the answer is a definitive yes. By
looking at reality as a complex rule set and attaching (necessarily)
arbitrary goals to it, and further, by seeking to optimize your success at
achieving those goals in the context of situational and environmental
modifiers, and by de-sentimentalizing your approach, and clearly weighing
costs and benefits we begin to hold reality a little bit at arms length.
I kick ass at Monopoly by the way.
> I advise that whatever you do it tries to improve upon the "human
condition"
> ..
> although maybe the biggest game of all is that we are "humans," ha! I gave
> up
> pretending to be human a long time ago.
And what are you pretending to be now?
--
::jason.joel.thompson::
::founder::
www.wildghost.com
"Always buy the Oranges. Always buy three houses. Make lots of trades.
Subtly undermine your strongest opponent's integrity. And... oh yes, the
shoe. You must always be the shoe. BE the shoe. You ARE the shoe."
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