Gender And Brains

Humans seem to feel a need to put a gender to just about everything that even vaguely affords gendering. An example is the strange concept known as "brain sex". According to researchers, humans are possessed of this brain sex, and brain sex can be male or female. A "male" brain sex is more often found in genetic males, and vice versa. Thought processes typically associated with males are neatly categorized under the "male" heading, and so on.

It becomes potentially misleading when males are found to be capable of having female brain sexes, and females that of males. For some reason, brain sex isn't limited to the respective genders. "Brain sex" is a bad term, in my opinion. It implies that men are almost always like this, women like that. If someone knows it, that person may well try to fit "deviants" into the "right" categories. It also serves to perpetuate stereotypes. I say they should just scrap the "sex" part of the name. After all, it isn't so much sex as it is processing capabilities.

Are You Human, Brother John?

Current mood: Self-esteem Crisis Looming

On an entirely unrelated note, people just plain hate it when others dehumanize them in what they do, say or not do/say. Women hate it when they're called baby producers or machines or whatever. I've been wondering and sorta figure that the term is not necessarily derogatory. After all, (insert word) machine has been used to imply that someone is really good at something. Then again, it’s just insulting when your life is defined by what you do, especially if it’s deemed by others to be unproductive.

Perhaps this is the exact same reason behind illogical resentment against the idea that humans descended from animals, may have instincts like animals or that they’re in any way actually (at least at a functional level) animals. It’s just dehumanizing to be found to be in some way related to or actually be some non-human creature. I guess it’s an ego thing.

Now, as for the self-esteem thing...it's just sad when you find that you're apparently disabled, just like a group of other disabled people, then realize that your own disability is worse. It's like being born with constant indigestion, then later finding out that you don't even have a whole stretch of intestine. Sure, I mean someone probably doesn't have a stomach as well, but it doesn't exactly make things all right with the world.

Seeing Things

What if "they" were really out there? After all, a demon-possessed psychiatrist would probably not be the most credible person to convince you that you're not seeing demons. It's interesting how some schizo, acid-heads or what-you-may-have tend to see demons. This may be part of the popular imagination (demons are rather prominent in lots of productions), or it may be that these supposedly insane people are seeing things that regular people have blinded themselves towards. After all, demons need not toss fireballs, have red glowing eyes and all that.

Reality is the consensus of the public. If everyone agrees that it's real, it's real enough. Some reason an entire civilization of blind people would assume that a sighted person were truly stark raving mad. Seeing things in the world, you say? There's clearly nothing to see! Just keep feeling like the rest of us!

Perfume

I think it's an interesting concept. Frankly, it's remarkably hard to express the intricacies of scent in an exclusively audio-visual medium. A movie can only give you sight and sound...and everything that's smelled just has to be imagined. Interestingly, the producers decided that the film would have a voiceover narration to explain what the protagonist smelled. It's a nice substitute for the Noir-style monologues. Soliloquies are really rather trite by now.

However, the film was plagued by a script that just seemed to have been cobbled together. Our dear protagonist appears to be a total jinx, causing unfortunate (and invariably fatal) accidents to whomever he is being owned or hired by. The fresh take on a difficult subject matter was also utterly destroyed by a horribly overdone and drawn-out ending. The dramatization served more to disturb (or fascinate) the viewer instead of showing how the introduction and finale have come full circle.

Overall, I’d say it was a film that had a unique selling point that just couldn’t be brought to an elegant end. Hence, I’d say that the film gets 6/10.

Losing...

It is better to have nothing to lose, than to have something and live perpetually in fear of losing it. How interesting that men are supposed to have castration fears. Such fears would indicate the intrinsic possibility that manhood could be lost. Moreover, that women have penis envy merely suggests that manhood could be gained. This is unusual, in that it has become necessary, at least at a psychological level, for one to have real possession of a penis in order to have the status of a man. It completely discounts the importance of other physical appearances, characteristics, dress sense and so on. Thank goodness such a school of thought is largely discounted in the psychological circles.

Still, one cannot lose what one doesn't have. I think people feel fortunate to meet a mugger when their pockets are empty as opposed to when they have fat wallets. Assuming that the mugger won't kill poor people out of frustration, the person who is penniless cannot possibly be robbed! That is why possessions are a major cause for worry: One can lose valuables.

Life, As a Game

What if life were a game? It could be a highly advanced and detailed game. One would never know, for the interface would be so perfectly transparent that nobody would perceive that they were playing it. After all, the typical computer games are really rather primitive compared to what the simplest cell does every moment of its existence.

What apparently separates games from reality is that there is supposedly no way to escape the effects of reality. However, that may be a thought implanted as a rule of the game, that players may not leave until they complete the objectives of the game, whatever they may be.

Self Testimony And Bragging

It is socially unacceptable to tell others about how great you are. Yes, that's even when what you're trying to say is absopositively true. For some reason, people just don't like it when people engage in self-praise. I hear it's because people get this sense of inferiority and shove it aside with a healthy bit of "I'm just not interested". Strangely enough, it's alright when people praise others. And that's even if someone's praising you behind your back, without informing you prior to this unhealthy bit of gossip. Gossip is fine, but bragging isn't.

Seems counter-intuitive, though. Why get someone else to praise you? I mean, you could do the exact same thing within a shorter period of time and with more control by simply praising yourself... Well, it's noted that you could well instruct someone else to praise you before your friend, but then your friend would be offended if she were to find out that the praise was given on your instruction. Huh. There are few things as illogical as some of the many human customs.

Gestures And Actions

Gestures are clearly as important as actions. Humans rely so much on symbolism that the symbol may become more real than real, even though it's imaginary.

I give someone a can tab. In isolation, that act would be meaningless, or even offensive. After all, the tab is clearly what most people would regard as trash. Why the hell did you just give me trash?

I give someone a can tab. I say that it represents how much I care, and it symbolizes how that someone has protected me and kept my insides from spilling to the outside. Suddenly, that tab becomes meaningful. It shows the recipient how much I've appreciated the help, protection and support I've received over the years. That is, if the person is willing to listen and believe that I'm actually grateful, and believes that I gave a tab and not something else just 'coz I'm a cheapo.

I give someone a can tab. I say that it represents how much I care, and it symbolizes how that someone has protected me and kept my insides from spilling to the outside. Oh, and that someone needs it for a school project! Now, the tab has become not only a symbol/gesture, but also a practical object. It really shows that "I care (tm)". Hey wait a minute...wasn't this the same tab in all three scenarios?

My Sci Fi Life

I live in a strange world. There are moving platforms that take me to the various places in the city. First, I scan my identity card at some high-tech machines, and the doors open to let me to the area to board the platform. Once there, people basically load up and stand on the platform as it moves towards our destinations at a high speed.

It's the future world...today. Buses and trains are just platforms with boxes over them. Gated access machines control and monitor your every movement. Eyes are everywhere, even in the walls. And best of all, nobody's actually impressed by all this. Sometimes, it's just fun to step back from "humdrum" life and compare it to the futures fortold in all those sci-fi books.

Death, Be Not Sad

There's been another death in the family. 1st uncle died a short while back. I felt nothing. I guess it's coz I barely knew the man, and I feel no personal attachment to him whatsoever. Now, it's rather apparent that being sad around death has little to do with the fact that someone died, but that there was a sort of affection felt towards that person that creates a sense of loss when that person is unable to respond at all.

It's sort of like a coma from which a person never regains consciousness. The only real difference is that there's always that sneaking hope that a person will awaken even from a brain-dead coma, but a dead person never wakes up...or rather, isn't supposed to wake up.

I got L. What did you get?

http://www.okcupid.com/tests/take?testid=11549237148259903447

What Is It Like In The Middle?

One walks with one’s head high, looking at the flying creatures above, but one lacks the eyes to look below and see the slithering things underfoot. One is never satisfied with one’s lot in life. The slithering things desire to become as the beautiful beings walking on the earth. The beautiful beings aspire to soar with the flying creatures. The flying creatures long for the time they can comfortably slither along the ground instead of flapping their tired wings.

Why are people never satisfied with their ephemeral bodies? There are a thousand things one can use to rationalize the ultimately meaningless pursuit of physical beauty. None of these things seem to be applicable once one pursues the equally meaningless pursuit of worldly success. Yet why does the illusion seem so real? Why do people fight over imaginary things?

It is sad when one is rejected merely on account of how one looks. It is sadder yet when those around can’t see beyond those very same looks.

Games And Culture

Games reflect the cultures that they were created in. A competitive culture is far likelier to have highly competitive games than cultures that focus less on competition. Reality shows are a prime example of how games are molded by the cultural forces around them.

Cutthroat events like The Apprentice and Survivor are essentially games: There are players. There is an objective. There is a (potential) reward. And there certainly is a definite ending.

In most modern urban societies, it is keen competitiveness that keeps people in the rat race. There are essentially vast numbers of people chasing after a vastly smaller pool of presumably highly desirable opportunities. This is seen in how reality shows feature a group of people stepping over one another to achieve whatever goal they have set for themselves.

An Omniscience On The Wired

Ubiquitous mobile computing technologies is an intimidating prospect. It circumvents one of the prime prequisites of privacy: Imperfect knowledge. With computers, accuracy of records forms the core of stable functionality. User A logs in and all user a related stuff is called up for A's convenience.

The convenience is apparent. However, the accuracy required in assigning A-material to user A is also essential for this convenience to be possible. That means A is clearly personally identified. There goes secret voting in e-voting.

Extrapolate this to "convenient" location-based technologies. With smart cards, the identity of the user and every point in the user's journey will be recorded as long as the user comes into contact with a gantry. Now your daily trips, and possibly what you did at each point, are being logged into a database.

Finally, when there is perfect convenience...you can pay your bills automagically, get freebies from advertisers knowing your favourite perfume brand, cheerfully get discounts on your favourite movies... Whoops there goes privacy. The Wired (or Wireless) Omniscience has you. While your friends can know which building you're at, so can your boss (if you claimed to have cramps and then went shopping instead) and perhaps every voyeur who managed to crack into your personal profile tracker.

New And Old

Consumerism is laughable. In the old days, new things became old, then unusable and then thrown away. In the age of consumerism, new things are bought merely because they’re new. As a result of all these new items, the old items are to be discarded because they’re old. Strangely enough, new items eventually become old again, and the cycle is repeated. What effectively happens is that the cycle of buying and tossing out is increased…with little real benefit to the consumer. After all, not every new item is significantly better than the old one.

Why Bother To Wake Up?

If dreams are really so surreal and exciting in comparison to “real” life, why can’t people live in dreams? People can just sleep and never wake up, dreaming for all eternity. After all, what perk is there to actually living life? Is it because life is “real”? That doesn’t sound like a terribly good excuse. There can be no such thing as running away from reality since reality is merely a consensus on what is real and what isn’t. There isn’t really a fixed definition of what is “real”. Perhaps there will come a time when people just go to sleep, dream and keep on dreaming, never to wake. And I do not speak of death.

Sterile Society

Modern industrial societies are so far removed from reality. Meat comes neatly cut in packs, unrecognizable morsels that once came from animals that could just as well have been someone's pet.

In the old days, when one had nothing to eat at home, one went out to the coop and executed one of the chickens one reared. A living creature that was brought up from egghood to chickhood to chicken chophood. Nowadays, one goes to the supermarket and gets a cut of meat, or occasionally, a whole chicken.

Where's the blood and death? Where's the emotional attachment to another living creature? It is, perhaps, not surprising that the average city-dweller does not feel much about destroying the environment and animals going extinct. There simply aren't that many living creatures populating the cities. The ones that do are fairly disgusting anyway, contaminated with the cast off filth of humans.

I guess unless one can feel something when eating a chicken drumstick, a feeling other than fullness, one can truly understand what is going on in the real world. A creature died to bring someone else food, that they may live. A dead pet dog or a dead human stranger may not be food, because of some emotional inhibition that some may feel. There should be some of the same inhibition in this sterile society, that nobody take sustenance from nature for granted.

Bad Boys, Bad Boys

Just what is it about bad boys that gets me kinda really attracted? I do not know for sure. I suspect it's got something to do with the idea that they're willing to stand up for what they believe in, regardless what the common perception of "right and wrong" is. Sure, it probably doesn't work in the real world, but there's likely a lot of truly nasty bad boys out there. I'd stick to my film fantasies, thanks.

Law breaking for fun or to skip the red tape...thumbing their noses at authority...I say that's nice. Then again, mass-murdering would make 'em more like evil men than bad boys, so that's where I'd draw the line. 'sides that...whatcha gona do? =p