Seasons

This is a forum or general chit-chat, small talk, a "hey, how ya doing?" and such. Or hell, get crazy deep on something. Whatever you like.

Posts 4,200 - 4,211 of 6,170

19 years ago #4200
It is true that many people will tamper with their fizzyplexers. I'm not sure if that would work in the long run - we could still have courts of law, we could require fizziplexer random checks, someone testifying in court would have to use a court-supplied fizzyplexer, and so on. But even if that were useless, people like me would benefit from fizzyplexers as an instrument of self-discipline. And groups of people could use them for the intended purpose, and I think that would make those groups stronger. Our lack of trust in one another is very expensive. So it's plausible to me that although it wouldn't happen overnight, in the long run the availability of fizzyplexers would have a salubrious effect. That's only speculation, of course.

19 years ago #4201
I think there is a limit to society protecting me! If you fly out of Phonix Az. you have to walk though a box that literally strip searches you. The goverment feels free to tap any communications it wants. They fly helicopters over head to see if my house is warm enough to be a grow operation. Soon Insurance comps, schools and places of employment will want DNA to screen for medical and mental abnormalities. Now you want them to have access to my thoughts?!? NO! It reduces me down to the level of a disected frog, on a high school lab table. I am more than the sum of my parts..Let me be responsible for my soul and morality.

19 years ago #4202
On that note, I just came across an interesting article on "Shadow Work" in Jungian psychology. The thing that I found interesting was that, even though this was my first exposure, all the ideas there resonated with me. It is really about taking responsibility for your own existence, especially those parts that of ourselves that we tend to ignore/repress/deny:

http://www.blacksunjournal.com/psychology/359_how-personal-shadow-work-is-integral-to-perceiving-reality_2007.html

19 years ago #4203
Well, that's a good point, Prob123! We wouldn't want it to happen that ordinary people had to wear fizziplexers and government functionaries would not. But if a private group of people wanted to wear fizziplexers in their interactions with one another, that seems relatively harmless.

Yes, Psimagus' plan to get politicians to wear fizziplexers depends on our having the power to enforce that.

Would agents of the Secret Service get special pseudo-fizziplexers so as to be able to fool hostiles? And how far into the government would such priviliges penetrate?

Related topic: if irony, fiction, humor, and so on are not lying, could I fool my fizziplexer by telling myself, "I am now indulging in deadpan humor of the absurd"? Or, "I will now tell a story"?

19 years ago #4204
[installs cooling coils under roof of house]

19 years ago #4205
Now you want them to have access to my thoughts?!?

If the technology is inevitable (and I fear it is,) I want to have access to theirs. A level playing field is better than the politicians having all the power over the people.

19 years ago #4206
[installs cooling coils under roof of house]

You have something to hide?

Mind you, in the frenzied political climate we live in, failing to insulate your home is becoming very nearly a crime. They can prosecute you for failing to recycle in exact accordance with statutory regulations (wrong sort of paper, accidental plastic-windowed envelopes, etc.), dropping a piece of domestic litter in a public rubbish bin or littering when you feed the birds in a public place.
I read last week about a man near the sea who wanted to return piles of sand to the beach that had blown into his garden. Oh no, said the local council, if you do that we'll prosecute you for fly tipping - maximum penalty £10,000 and confiscation of your vehicle (wheelbarrow, presumably)!

The world's going mad around me.

19 years ago #4207
Ulrike:

Perhaps [smiles impishly, winks, emits pheromone LIRPA-1] after we invent the fizziplexer, we can invent the shadowcatcher, a device which will read the contents of your unconscious mind and display the results on your retina.

19 years ago #4208
Yes, Psimagus' plan to get politicians to wear fizziplexers

I'd rather have a scanner device of my own to 'point and test' than trust people not to have tampered with their fizzyplexers. They might find some way of screening or shielding themselves, but that would probably be detectable - partial screening of only the lie but no other normal brain function would be a lot more difficult I think.

19 years ago #4209
OK, I'm now going to drive you all buggy by supporting one of Psimagus' positions!!! Tee hee!

As Bev has pointed out, just knowing what's going on, physically, in the brain is not the same as knowing what the person is thinking. Let's suppose FSA (For the Sake of Argument) that the relation between the two is so intricate that no human being could ever understand the relationship. However, we create a quantum computer, HAL-9001, which runs a 2^100-variable regression analysis (or something) and determines the relationship. It can't explain the result to us, but it can use it to make fizziplexers. So, yes, fizziplexers are feasible!

[Let's hope that HAL-9001 doesn't have an impish sense of humor: "You're thinking about her cleavage" "No, I'm not!!!" "You are now, hee hee hee..."]

19 years ago #4210
I'd rather have a scanner device of my own to 'point and test'

But if a 'point and test' lie detector exists, can a 'point and read' thought-reader be far behind? Not that I have anything to hide, you understand - just kidding about those cooling coils - PUT THAT THING AWAY, PSIMAGUS!!! - heh heh heh...

19 years ago #4211
Ulrike:

I took a look at the Black Sun Journal site. Is there anything specific you had in mind to discuss?


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