Often it worries me that people want to actualize not merely unlimited choice -- which has always existed -- but a kind of transcendental choice that defecates on reality.  It worries me because I wonder what these games are "freeing" the player from, and whether that escape from a lack of choice ever actually occurs.  My personal opinion is that ( Read more... )

I just finished (re)reading Lord of the Flies.  Sometimes I wonder why these kinds of books were assigned during high school.  Either teenagers can't be fully aware of the subtle connotations in these books or I'm lagging far behind.  After this reading -- over a decade later --, I couldn't believe the story had ended ... and I said outloud, "Yep, ( Read more... )

Context:

"Those grand lines of perrenial wisdom that you gave, these bullshit 'do unto others as you would have them do unto you' lines are nothing but ego-driven nonsense. ... As you can see, those tidbits of "grand advice" simply don't work. Do another 3000 years of stupidity and violence need to pass before you will admit they don't work?"
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Someone finally pieced together my understanding of the Ego v. Altruism case in the context of psychology and Buddhism.  I want to put a disclaimer that I generally dislike the superficiality of Psychology Today but Ellison articulated points from a variety of sources while still remaining concise, so it's worth skimming over.  Here are two quotes ( Read more... )

Originally posted to
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