A Pixelated Mind

Working at a center for ethics has its advantages.  (By the way, I work at a center for ethics now.) One of these advantages is the ability to work next to – and be on first name basis with– internationally renowned ethicists. I don’t usually think about ethics, but I used to be fairly interested in it.

Last week I spent half-an-hour talking to Walter Sinnott-Armstrong about some of his views. He essentially summed up his most interesting/relevant papers for me. It’s fun to hear about groundbreaking ideas from the source itself.  Especially when it doesn’t require me reading anything.

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I had this idea a long time ago, wrote a draft, then let it sit until now. Now I stand it up because my friend Iris insists that English would be a terrible language in which to discuss time travel.  Why?

“Because you have verb tenses. In China, we just have a verb and specify the time period independently. So instead of ‘I jumped,’ you would say ‘I – in past – jump.’”

I admit that Chinese has us by the short hairs on time travel clarity, but at least in English we can sing words that everybody understands the first time!

In any case, I don’t want to learn another language when time travel becomes not only possible, but commonplace. I’ll just hope that we have new verb tenses for the various new situations that we encounter. Here are my suggestions:

As an example, I’ll use the word ‘engorge’

These are all going to sound stupid until they start getting used. So what are you waiting for?

Profile 1: A person with a failed marriage, an unwanted child, and many regrets of time wasted and relationships lost.

Profile 2: A person in a successful relationship, in a career that gives them time and challenges, facing future obstacles, but loving their life at the moment.

Profile 3: A person in a happy relationship, with very-loved children, who has seen the worst of the worst, but has prevailed through tenacity and talent.

Question: Is it likely that when you ask them for advice in a certain situation, they will all give you identical advice?  It depends on the situation somewhat, but generally the answer will be ‘no.’

Prima Facie Analysis: In choosing who to ask for advice, you are essentially prejudicing the chances of your future actions.  A person who has lived through more shades of moral gray area will tend to be more permisive than one who has never found themselves in questionable situations.

Concern: Sometimes there are some people you just can’t ask for advice.  Sometimes you only have one or two people you can ask for advice.

Worry: Some people only surround themselves with happy people.  Some people only surround themselves with funny or smart people.  Some surround themselves with yes-men.

Secunda Facie Analysis: The type of person you are has a huge impact on who you feel comfortable with, which has a huge impact on who your friends and consiglieres are….  which could be absolutely terrible..

If I didn’t have to see people every day, I wouldn’t shave.

– Frank Jagear

Would you?

Suppose you were caught in a deserted island, would you shave then?  Assume you have access to a razor, running water, heat, and shaving cream.  For me, the answer would greatly depend on whether the temperature and weather were the same or different.  A shaggy mane might be beneficial in the summer.

But it’s not beneficial here.

So that’s introducing variables we don’t want, I guess.  Okay.  What if it turned out that everyone vanished?  You still lived where you live and the water and electricity still ran like it does.  And somehow there was a constant supply of food and toiletries.  But there’s no people.  Would you still shave then?  Would you cut your hair?

My friend Frank says he wouldn’t do either.  Even when I tried to eliminate every variable other than people.  He is quite right, then, when he says that he only does takes care of himself so that he won’t be shunned by society.

I, however, would.  I’d shave every few days: not because I care about what I look like, just because I don’t like the feel of it.  And I’d cut my hair every few months.  Only, because I would only care about comfort, I would shave it (with a 3 or 4) rather than style it.  I wouldn’t change any of my clothes, though.  Those I only wear for comfort.

…

hm.  That’s funny: that’s exactly what I do now!

I thought I’d invented this word. Oh, well.

Have you ever been writing an answer on a test and you’re fairly certain it’s wrong, but you write it anyway because the alternative answer sounds even more wrong?

That happened to me yesterday.

But more importantly, I just realized that I’d unnecessarily recreated a concept.  Last week, when I wrote my Callooh! Callay post, and last year when I invented the concept of an anti-life, I thought I was being bright and making a useful concept.  I didn’t stop to wonder if anyone had thought about it before, I just went with it.

But someone had already created it.  Specifically, Otto Binder and artist George Papp in issue 68 of Superboy.  I’m talking, of course, of bizarro world.

Now, I hate superman for many reasons (some of which Steve will probably point out in the comments).  So I didn’t think about bizarro world when I recreated the concept.  But now that I realize it is the same thing as anti-world, I feel like a guy on Linux in a world of PC.

My only consolation is that bizarro world is the opposite of the DC universe, not our own universe. (Believe me, the metaphysics of this bother me.)  I’m also slightly consoled by the fact that I hate superman and don’t want to be referencing him– however slightly– in even my rarest of posts.

So yeah.  I feel a bit cheated and self-conscious, but silly for feeling that way because it’s a stupid comic. (Not that comics are stupid: just Superman and all associated ‘Super’ superheroes.)

And now I have to think of an awkward end to this post/segue to link to this somewhat related post.