The Five Questions Game, from i_am_lane
"Memetics" piss off Hal--it seems like he vocalizes a gut violent reaction against them (it?) whenever I bring up anything remotely like it. On an only superficially related note, -ive-ournal memes make me feel a little whorish, and highlights that fact that there are really about six people total that read this thing, meaning that, for all intents and purposes, the meme stops here. But, I entered into unofficial contract a while ago, and I'm a man of my implicit word, so....
i_am_lane asked me these five questions. Should you wish for me to ask YOU five questions, simply post here with a note saying so. I will respond with my five, and then you post your answers and this explanation in your journal.
1. Is there anything morally objectionable in ego-gratifying?
Ooh, good question, especially in the context of our exchanges so far. My first-reaction answer is "Yes! Wait...whose ego?"
I'm pretty agnostic about all moral theory these days, so I'm afraid the only interesting answer to this is going to be one consulting moral intuitions. (sorry)
But as far as how my gut goes...big egos generally bother me, because they are either intimidating or irritating. (Rationalization: Generally, I think they distort our perceptions of people--we correlate ego strength with merit, which makes sense, but often forget the proper causal relationship between them.)
So I'm always wary of and instinctively attempt to undercut big egos and the people prone to them. (Unfortunately, instrumental exceptions abound, especially (I'm pretty sure I'm not proud of this) in the sort of pseudo-Socratic disingenuous sense of "I am an eager and innocent pupil, humor me as I try to prove you wrong." I suppose it's a trap that is more dishonest and more instinctive to me than I'd like to admit.)
Since I fall into that category of people prone to big egos, all this applies to myself. Which is why, maybe, I was hesitant to participate in this sort of ego-stroking meme? "Please, show interest in what I have to say. Yes...just like that...a little lower...ahhh."
Gross.
On the other hand--and this is relevant to you; did you mean for this question to be double-edged like this?--honest praise is honest praise and I have nothing against it except when it is directed uncritically at the ego-prone in such a way that contributes to ego swelling. Everybody feels down sometimes ("I'm backwards and unlettered lichen")--these seem to me instinctively precisely when it's most necessary and appropriate to bust out the affirmation. That way it's communication that corrects, rather than distorts the recipient's self-image.
There are other appropriate times, I think. Gratitude is one, for example. In general, I've been getting less stingy and more random recently; I've found myself on a number of occasions telling people I have just met that I approve of them. Always honestly, see. But the intention is something like "On my end, I'm totally down with being friends."
Thinking back, I think that you've probably been subjected by me to all the interesting cases of ego-gratification at some point, sometimes simultaneously. How does that make you feel?
2. If you got a chance to have one drink with Nietzsche, what would it be?
Before or after the collapse into insanity? If before, he had a very sensitive stomach, I hear, so...how about some iced tea. That guy needed to chill out a little, anyway. If after the breakdown, then definitely horse blood, to be ironic.
3. Would you rather punch or kick Charleton Heston?
Punch! I don't know how to kick in any way doesn't look ridiculous.
4. If you were a hitman, what would your calling card be?
In an ideal world? First I would collect a lot of data and determine the subjective prior probability distribution over the various explanatory hypotheses people would use to try to explain my calling cards and otherwise hitmanly behavior.
Bear with me.
On each hit, I would perform an action that falsifies, or at least disconfirms, the most probable of the remaining feasible hypotheses.
Q: "My career as hitman must be of finite duration (i.e., I must perform only a finite number of hits.)" Discuss.
5. You wrote that you were a fan of me...what began this fandom?
I started lurking on real_philosophy last spring. Initially, I was very confused, since the first things I saw were apperception's Kant rehashing and a post by mostconducive. I was like "Either I am much dumber than I ever dreamed, or the world has gone batshit mad."
Then you utterly pwned the latter a la Sokal. And I thought "This man deserves a trophy."
i_am_lane asked me these five questions. Should you wish for me to ask YOU five questions, simply post here with a note saying so. I will respond with my five, and then you post your answers and this explanation in your journal.
1. Is there anything morally objectionable in ego-gratifying?
Ooh, good question, especially in the context of our exchanges so far. My first-reaction answer is "Yes! Wait...whose ego?"
I'm pretty agnostic about all moral theory these days, so I'm afraid the only interesting answer to this is going to be one consulting moral intuitions. (sorry)
But as far as how my gut goes...big egos generally bother me, because they are either intimidating or irritating. (Rationalization: Generally, I think they distort our perceptions of people--we correlate ego strength with merit, which makes sense, but often forget the proper causal relationship between them.)
So I'm always wary of and instinctively attempt to undercut big egos and the people prone to them. (Unfortunately, instrumental exceptions abound, especially (I'm pretty sure I'm not proud of this) in the sort of pseudo-Socratic disingenuous sense of "I am an eager and innocent pupil, humor me as I try to prove you wrong." I suppose it's a trap that is more dishonest and more instinctive to me than I'd like to admit.)
Since I fall into that category of people prone to big egos, all this applies to myself. Which is why, maybe, I was hesitant to participate in this sort of ego-stroking meme? "Please, show interest in what I have to say. Yes...just like that...a little lower...ahhh."
Gross.
On the other hand--and this is relevant to you; did you mean for this question to be double-edged like this?--honest praise is honest praise and I have nothing against it except when it is directed uncritically at the ego-prone in such a way that contributes to ego swelling. Everybody feels down sometimes ("I'm backwards and unlettered lichen")--these seem to me instinctively precisely when it's most necessary and appropriate to bust out the affirmation. That way it's communication that corrects, rather than distorts the recipient's self-image.
There are other appropriate times, I think. Gratitude is one, for example. In general, I've been getting less stingy and more random recently; I've found myself on a number of occasions telling people I have just met that I approve of them. Always honestly, see. But the intention is something like "On my end, I'm totally down with being friends."
Thinking back, I think that you've probably been subjected by me to all the interesting cases of ego-gratification at some point, sometimes simultaneously. How does that make you feel?
2. If you got a chance to have one drink with Nietzsche, what would it be?
Before or after the collapse into insanity? If before, he had a very sensitive stomach, I hear, so...how about some iced tea. That guy needed to chill out a little, anyway. If after the breakdown, then definitely horse blood, to be ironic.
3. Would you rather punch or kick Charleton Heston?
Punch! I don't know how to kick in any way doesn't look ridiculous.
4. If you were a hitman, what would your calling card be?
In an ideal world? First I would collect a lot of data and determine the subjective prior probability distribution over the various explanatory hypotheses people would use to try to explain my calling cards and otherwise hitmanly behavior.
Bear with me.
On each hit, I would perform an action that falsifies, or at least disconfirms, the most probable of the remaining feasible hypotheses.
Q: "My career as hitman must be of finite duration (i.e., I must perform only a finite number of hits.)" Discuss.
5. You wrote that you were a fan of me...what began this fandom?
I started lurking on real_philosophy last spring. Initially, I was very confused, since the first things I saw were apperception's Kant rehashing and a post by mostconducive. I was like "Either I am much dumber than I ever dreamed, or the world has gone batshit mad."
Then you utterly pwned the latter a la Sokal. And I thought "This man deserves a trophy."