if i was in possession of, say, 450 well conditioned athletic male slaves, i would build so much stuff. naturally i would also need no more than 10 well conditioned athletic female slaves. you dont want too many female slaves. when girls hang around with each other a lot their cycles get in sync with each other. that fact makes me afraid. definitely hafta separate them. otherwise id be crushed under a wave of horrible, destructive, smelly estrogen. i would first build a giant hexagonal complex, which i would call The Hexagon. id need a helicopter pad, perhaps a small airstrip would do. extensive underground bunkers and passageways would need to be prepared before the surface-side portion of the campus. after the slaves finished the construction, im sure i would hire them for a variety of positions. gardners, pool men, those guys who wave the colored batons on the runway, and security personel. and janitors. although it would be tough trusting a slave with your security. seems to be begging of a mutiny. maybe id have to hire the security guys from specta guard or something. maybe i could pay them with slave-mined gravel. ill think of something.
for those who dont know, the following people/groups will be coming to our spring weekend: Moby, Less Than Jake, Mos Def, and ...... MR BELDING. i guess hes gonna give a lecture or something. should be amusing.
Friday, April 01, 2005
Free Will
this is a topic which i havent thought much about, and i came across an article about it which made me do just that. so here goes: do we have free will? or do we merely think that we do? many religions preach that we do not (Gods master plan, destiny, fate, etc.) while at the same time science has also cast a shadow on free will with genetics and environment research. the basic theory is that if you have the same genes, and are raised in identical environments, then you will be the same. however as environments are incredibly complex (im not talking about nature and shit, but rather the people around you and in society) it is impossible to test the hypothesis without creating coditions no one naturally encounters (i.e. completely quarantined with all contact with the world filtered and controlled, sorta like the truman show). however, it has always been my understanding that free will exists. in fact, for me, it has to. its not that i dont believe in god, or the science behind genetics. rather it is entirely too depressing to think that free will is an illusion. what would be the point of trying to achieve anything if it didnt make a difference. if it was destined to happen, then why should i trouble myself with doing it. somebody else will. who cares. i cant think of a more reasonable reason for suicide. if nothing i do matters, fuck it, im out.
this raises an interesting point. if nothing i do matters, then i can essentially live without consequence. no "bad" or "evil" actions will damage the overall integrity of the world because it is all preordained. obviously, consequences for actions are inevitable, both positive and negative. thus, one can surmise that the only goal in life is to limit your own negative consequences, and promote the positive consequences. or simply, live the best life you can.
my feeling is, that we need atleast the impression of free will. mankind needs goals. every innovation (and indeed every action) has been for a purpose, no matter how mundane or seemingly meaningless. without goals, we would waste our lives away, economies would crash and civilization would crumble. people would have no reason to exist. we need purpose. we yearn for it. this is how all afterlife existence was introduced. naturally, no one knows what happens post-death, so we created a variety of afterlives in which we were either rewarded or penalized for our earthly lives. with no one able to dispute the existence or nonexistence of an afterlife, the ultimate goal had been set. be a good person, lead a good life, and you will spend eternity in heaven (or reincarnated as something really cool, like a hawk or something).
religions were created, and yes, they were created, to solve the simplest (or atleast shortest) question of alltime: Why?. each has a basic set of rules that must be abided by to ensure a trip to the afterlife, be it heaven, reincarnation, or total enlightenment. while i kind of wandered from the subject of free will, i will continue on with this religious ramble. atleast for a sentence or two. ok now im done. just kidding. anyway, my personal beliefs do not fall into any of the major categories for religion but rather encorporate portions of many different ones. even though i think that the site is atleast partially made to be comical, i find that their articles of faith are remarkably succinct and inline with my own thinkings. i speak of course of The Universal Church Triumphant of the Apathetic Agnostic.
oh yeah, and here is the post about free will that spawned this long and probably nonsensical entry.
this is a topic which i havent thought much about, and i came across an article about it which made me do just that. so here goes: do we have free will? or do we merely think that we do? many religions preach that we do not (Gods master plan, destiny, fate, etc.) while at the same time science has also cast a shadow on free will with genetics and environment research. the basic theory is that if you have the same genes, and are raised in identical environments, then you will be the same. however as environments are incredibly complex (im not talking about nature and shit, but rather the people around you and in society) it is impossible to test the hypothesis without creating coditions no one naturally encounters (i.e. completely quarantined with all contact with the world filtered and controlled, sorta like the truman show). however, it has always been my understanding that free will exists. in fact, for me, it has to. its not that i dont believe in god, or the science behind genetics. rather it is entirely too depressing to think that free will is an illusion. what would be the point of trying to achieve anything if it didnt make a difference. if it was destined to happen, then why should i trouble myself with doing it. somebody else will. who cares. i cant think of a more reasonable reason for suicide. if nothing i do matters, fuck it, im out.
this raises an interesting point. if nothing i do matters, then i can essentially live without consequence. no "bad" or "evil" actions will damage the overall integrity of the world because it is all preordained. obviously, consequences for actions are inevitable, both positive and negative. thus, one can surmise that the only goal in life is to limit your own negative consequences, and promote the positive consequences. or simply, live the best life you can.
my feeling is, that we need atleast the impression of free will. mankind needs goals. every innovation (and indeed every action) has been for a purpose, no matter how mundane or seemingly meaningless. without goals, we would waste our lives away, economies would crash and civilization would crumble. people would have no reason to exist. we need purpose. we yearn for it. this is how all afterlife existence was introduced. naturally, no one knows what happens post-death, so we created a variety of afterlives in which we were either rewarded or penalized for our earthly lives. with no one able to dispute the existence or nonexistence of an afterlife, the ultimate goal had been set. be a good person, lead a good life, and you will spend eternity in heaven (or reincarnated as something really cool, like a hawk or something).
religions were created, and yes, they were created, to solve the simplest (or atleast shortest) question of alltime: Why?. each has a basic set of rules that must be abided by to ensure a trip to the afterlife, be it heaven, reincarnation, or total enlightenment. while i kind of wandered from the subject of free will, i will continue on with this religious ramble. atleast for a sentence or two. ok now im done. just kidding. anyway, my personal beliefs do not fall into any of the major categories for religion but rather encorporate portions of many different ones. even though i think that the site is atleast partially made to be comical, i find that their articles of faith are remarkably succinct and inline with my own thinkings. i speak of course of The Universal Church Triumphant of the Apathetic Agnostic.
oh yeah, and here is the post about free will that spawned this long and probably nonsensical entry.
Thursday, March 31, 2005
through a combination of our cable inexplicably not working and my own lack of attentiveness of Red Sox news, the Kim trade escaped me until moments ago. when i learned that that asshole, byung-yung kim, had been sent to the rockies, i literally stood up and cheered at my desk. i received some dirty looks. however, when i explained they joined in. we are having an impromtu party to celebrate later this afternoon.