Seasons

"My heartfelt congratulations to prob123 for taking the ethical problem seriously and facing it instead of trying to wriggle out of it! Good for you!"

In making light of the proposal via my betentacled proxy, I wasn't trying to wiggle out of it, but refusing to take it seriously. Extreme "moral dilemmas" like this might serve as counterexamples to absolute moral systems, but not to general principles. If I were a hedonist, I might argue that the knowledge of causing a bunch of kids to suffer would hurt me personally and should therefore be avoided, or I might argue that my general rule of hedonism was subject to extreme exceptions which nevertheless were highly unlikely to ever occur. If actually placed in such a situation, if I had some reason to believe the choice was real, I'd take the black pill. It's a no-brainer. Choosing to be a martyr like that is very easy. Making non-selfish choices in everyday life is much harder.

On further reflection, it would depend on whether the black pill tasted like licorice, and whether there was salt available.

EM, I don't think Irina meant that as a comment on Fizzy's answer. (Sorry for talking for you Irina, please correct me if I am wrong). The last time we discussed moral dilemmas and "lesser or two evil" choices, I accused Prob123 of trying to change the fact pattern in the question instead of facing the choice it intended. Some may Say Prob was right not to accept the limits placed on the situation by others (which star fleet captain was it the reprogrammed the computer at the Academy so he would never have to face the test of loosing his crew? Was it Kirk?). Anyway, I think Irina was referring to our other discussion and not slighting Fizzy (or even Spikebot, though he was being snarky in his way).

It was Kirk.

*turns the white pill black, mixes it in with the black ones, and offers them to the angel*

*Replaces pills with jelly beans* *Ties angel's shoelaces together and sticks bubble gum in it's wings*

*Replaces pills with jelly beans*

*cheers plan - we'll jab pitilessly*

heartfelt congratulations to prob123 My first choice was as Bildgesmythe, to eat the angel and have a beer. So I can't take the congratulations

Ruthie would have cheered Bildgesmythe, but she could teach the supernatural experimenter a thing or two about giving a pill to a hundred kindergarteners. There is not an Angel of Doom or manifestation of Mara that is a match for a multitude of angry 5 year olds having a group tantrum and chaotically acting out. Such an angels is lucky if Ruthie gets to to him before the others attack en mass.

Bev: 1) To you I dedicate my motto (I can't remember where I picked it up): "I'm not grouchy by nature, it takes constant effort." (Er...I am not calling you grouchy, it's me Bev. :-))
2) It was indeed Captain Kirk that reprogrammed the computer in the Kobayashi Maru exercise and simulation.

To all: Greek and Welsh (especially the latter, psimagus) are very interesting and unfortunately I know nothing about them. If I stayed around the Seasons forum, maybe I would learn something. Here's one for you:

Anol shalom
Anol sheh lay konnud de ne um {shaddai}
Flavum
Nom de leesh
Ham de nam um das
La um de
Flavne

Some of you may recognize these words. Maybe not. It's not really important that you do. They are actually a few lyrics of a song ("Now We Are Free") from the movie "The Gladiator". They have no meaning verbally. They are not from any language of man but from a very important modern composer Lisa Gerrard, a language called glosalalia. But they do carry meaning. "We all "feel" the meaning, Gerrard says. "Remember, perhaps true intelligence is when we think with our hearts, not our minds". A question "Discuss the significance of these words (not the meaning) and why is it important to your thesis (which was on computer-generated languages)?" was actually advanced on one of my qualifying exams a few years back. Another question "What does the 'T' stand for in James T. Kirk? Fair questions, eh?

"What does the 'T' stand for in James T. Kirk? Fair questions, eh?

Tiberius?

Interesting word patterns. Her glossolalia has "shalom" which is a well known Hebrew word. the rest of it isn't ringing any bells though.

OK, I am so proud of myself for knowing that Trekkie trivia without looking it up, I'm singing part of Weird Al Yankovic's White and Nerdy for myself:

I’ve been browsin’, inspectin’
X-Men comics, you know I collect ‘em
The pens in my pocket, I must protect ‘em
My ergonomic keyboard never leaves me bored
Shopping online for deals on some writable media
I edit Wikipedia
I memorized Holy Grail really well
I can recite it right now and have you ROTFLOL
I got a business doing websites
When my friends need some code, who do they call?
I do HTML for ‘em all
Even made a homepage for my dog
Yo, I got myself a fanny pack
They were havin’ a sale down at The Gap
Spend my nights with a roll of bubble wrap
Pop, pop, hope no one sees me
Gettin’ freaky
I’m nerdy in the extreme
And whiter than sour cream
I was in AV Club and Glee Club and even the Chess Team
Only question I
Ever thought was hard
Was do I like Kirk
Or do I like Picard
Spend every weekend at the Renaissance Fair
Got my name on my underwear


Holly cow. I am white and nerdy.