Still don't get it. Why shouldn't there be thrill seeking ganker ecologists,
or environmentalists, or people that an adrenaline rush sneaking up to Trumpers
to inject COVID-19 vaccines (or to cough on them, etc.) What difference does
it matter whether the behavior is demonstrated in a pack, or by individuals, in
a deeply composition or not? I mean, really, who gives a damn about your video
game?
My companion Australian Cattle Dog has her own thrill seeking behaviors. It
is, of course, the chase. She won't fetch a stupid ball or swim in circles.
No, her thing is the stealth sneak-up, followed by a sprint, followed by a last
second tear off before collision. It terrifies some humans and dogs, but if no
one is watching I can't help laugh a little. (Like the Blue Angels doing
low-altitude maneuvers over the bay a few weeks ago. How do they get away
with that?) There is some danger because if the dog looks to be about the size
of a calf, she will just go ahead collide with it. So there is a sort of
predatory behavior but it is also inhibited.
-----Original Message-----
From: Friam<friam-boun...@redfish.com> On Behalf Of u?l? ?>$
Sent: Friday, October 29, 2021 7:14 AM
To:friam@redfish.com
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Forum abuse! (was Revising the American Revolution)
Ha! Yeah. I think it's healthy for teenagers to think about killing people.
Hell, it's healthy for adults to think about killing people. There's a problem
for the monists, I guess. If it's healthy to think about killing. Is it also
healthy to actually kill? Or is it a hallmark of health for there to maintain a
methodological dualism, a (n admittedly fuzzy) line between thought and action?
I've lost it, now. But my phone ringtone used to be the audio output of a
coupled oscillator model with 4 oscillators. I've lost the PureData model,
unfortunately. But they're trivial to write. We could imagine a fast cycle
entertaining the thrill kills of one's favorite target and a slow cycle for the
actual killing. But for a healthy person, there'd be many, many fast cycles.
How many meetings do I have today? Did I respond to Bob about that quarterly
report? Did I feed the cat? Shut off the coffee pot? Blah, blah, blah internal
dialogue. The cycle that's entertaining killing Joe doesn't really have a
chance of percolating up to the big cycles.
But the sick person, the incel in the basement ranting on Gab.com about Jewish
Space Lasers, doesn't have as many competing fast cycles. It's easy for a
single cycle to resonate and later dominate that slow cycle. I suppose
schizophrenia might be a counter example, or on the opposite end of the
spectrum, too many fast cycles to allow for coherence in the slow cycles.
Perhaps the only remaining challenge to the model is identifying the neural
correlates? Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Theta. This lump, that lump. That tissue, this
tissue.
On 10/28/21 11:05 AM, Marcus Daniels wrote:
I imagine Greta Thunberg has some ideas pass through her head about thrill
kills. So long as it is all good -- individually as a group -- I say fair
enough.
-----Original Message-----
From: Friam<friam-boun...@redfish.com> On Behalf Of u?l? ?>$
Sent: Thursday, October 28, 2021 9:40 AM
To:friam@redfish.com
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Forum abuse! (was Revising the American Revolution)
There's an opportunity to dovetail the pandemic-hastened restructuring of the work force, cancel
culture, upward trends in socialism, and climate change. At the last salon, I was berated, yet
again, for allowing my pet cats free access to the outdoors. The tack I took in the conversation,
because we weren't just chatting, we were "in salon" (whatever that means), was a
crypto-criticism of Utilitarianism. I chose this because my gank [🎮] of opponents are
"ecologists", asserting the debatable devastation of domestic cats on biodiversity. Yes,
this post is also about value alignment and the arrogant grand narrative of Societal Engineering
for Biodiversity.
I will not be able to retire, nor will most of the people my age or younger. Or, you could slip a little
on the binding and say most of us have retired many times, from many different jobs, to clear space so we
can launch a career in another dead-end job. What is it we're doing, as a society? If we buy that
cultural evolution is a thing, what are the operators? Are we witnessing new operators or are these the
same old operators, just percolating into our privileged space from their endemic home amongst the
underprivileged classes. There are several essays on how tribal life was NOT "nasty, brutish, and
short", but more laconic ... like a cat's ... explosive efforts of hunt or defend, punctuating
periods of resting and futzing with the tools. Modern
"anti-workers"<https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/oct/27/quit-your-job-join-anti-work-movement-elle-hunt>
sound a bit like cats, to me.
Of course, there is the stereotype of a solitary stray living under constant stress,
scraping through dumpsters or hunting moths between desperate fights with other strays
and their bacteria-poisoned teeth and claws. But this is, I think, a bit of a myth born
of fallacious inter-species mind-reading by hedonic humans. Part of the reason cats are
so devastating to "wildlife" is because they are not hedonic at all. They've
all got a thrill-seeking death wish. Well, most do. We have a cat who has a mental
illness, maybe many. She stays in her Princess Dungeon all day every day, only exiting to
use the box or make the terrifying journey to the water and food upstairs. But every
other cat I've ever interacted with is part of the nihilistic thrill-kill cult. Of course
we'll take the rare opportunity to rest comfy in a dry puff of dirty laundry sometimes.
But mostly, we'd rather be squinting in the cold rain, statue-still, waiting to pounce,
chase, kill, and rend.
So, like my cat-hating ecologist gankers, I don't feel pity for the homeless,
suffering kitten scraping by out there. This is the world. Life sucks. Then you
die. The trick is learning to enjoy it.
I realize, at the end of my little essay, that it may not be clear how this
relates to cancel culture or climate change. But, like a joke, explaining it
ruins it.
[🎮]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_video_game_terms
On 10/27/21 1:32 PM, Marcus Daniels wrote:
It is confusing to me why retired people would be particularly cautious in
their remarks. What difference does it make if they inflame? It isn't like
they could be fired for it. Old habits die hard, I guess.
