Constructs As Law

Humans regard many things as law. Many of those things are social constructs. In fact, many "procedures" are social constructs. By that logic, judges are absolutely forbidden to laugh and joke in court. Obviously, people who are capable of showing humor in serious situations cannot be taken seriously. Their judgement is clearly impaired and they should not be placed in positions of power. We are not permitted to laugh at the dead and kick their rotting meat around because they used to be living, breathing people.

Much of it doesn't make sense. Social niceties like politeness can escalate to violence when people do not adhere to modes of polite conduct. People turn illogical once their nicely laid out and perfectly irrational expectations are not met. At best, they can attribute an initial slight to the fact that the person is a child, new or foreign. However, they expect people to change to suit them. How unusual.

Life Is Fragile

It's strange. There was this neighbour who sorta grew up with me. He was around my age, grew older, got a girlfriend and died in a motorcycle accident. When large numbers of people die over time, they become a statistic. There are so many traffic accidents that we occasionally forget that it's people who're dying in the accidents. Well anyway, another one bites the dust. I guess I feel more about friends and acquaintances that die 'coz they're people and not titles. First uncle died. Another uncle died. But people didn't die there. They were just "uncles" and stuff. But if the person's related in another way, perhaps as "friend", things are different. There's a personal stake in whether the person exists or just fades away. That's that.

Nature, Nurture And Criminals

A psychologist said that humans were 100% nature, and 100% nurture. That is, it is impossible to separate nature from nurture in humans as the two are so closely intertwined as to be inseparable. However, there is a widespread belief that there are inviolate "essential" behaviours in people that are not modified by nurture.

"Once a thief, always a thief" would be one of them. If someone were found to have the propensity to steal, no amount of reformation anywhere would change that. Yet there is the allegation that people "can change" and there is a fear that religious indoctrination can change peoples' essential natures.

All this just seems to be a judgement of convenience. It is easier to say that a criminal is always capable of criminal acts than it is to say that I just don't like him 'coz he stole money before. Doing so would appeal to peoples' "common sense" that some things are inbred and cannot be changed. Of course, such "inbred" behaviours can be changed by negative things like violent extremist religious indoctrination.

If this internalized belief of many people were to be lent any weight, it can be surmised that it is the essential nature of people to be evil or violent or destructive. That's because even "good" people are believed to be able to become corrupted criminals, yet "bad" people will never turn over a new leaf.

Symbolism And Idolatry

Humans live by symbolism. Lines on the ground can mold peoples' journeys as they try to stay within the lines or perhaps on the lines. Religion is rife with symbolism. Christians frown on idolatry, believing that people bowing to graven statues to be worshipping false gods. Of course, not everyone believes that their lumps of stone would actually do things to change the world. However, what of christians who bow to their crosses?

After all, crosses are just symbols, representing the sacrifice, etc etc. Surely the act of bowing to them would not count as worship. Interesting, since that's what "idol worshippers" do. Surely bringing monetary sacrifices before a cross is not an offering to it. Strange, since that's where idol worshippers burn their incense: Before an idol, often at an altar. And of course, surely nobody prays *to* the cross... Sometimes I wonder if christians take the cross as a conduit to their God. Sort of praying *through* the cross, perhaps using it as a megaphone of sorts.

It is difficult to tell what goes through peoples' minds when they pray. Are they praying to their God, praying through an image to their God, or just praying to the image? I suppose they'd deny praying to images, given the stigma attached to that act. Still, when does one cross the line from symbolism to idolatry?

Bad Impressions?

Sometimes it's difficult to know what people are thinking. It's so simple to drive people away with a single sentence, or a vague vibe that they pick up. I wonder if it's worthwhile to bother with such people. On one hand, they're clearly not making an effort to get to know me better. On the other hand, they probably have reason to be this wary. I really don't know, 'coz I hate to get people turned off, yet I do not want to associate with people whose perceptions can hinge on a single impression.

Cognitive Development

Though it may be assumed that cognitive development occurs as a person ages, there are areas where such development isn’t stressed. In fact, “childish” perceptions aren’t entirely eliminated even in adulthood.

A child may think that a tall glass of milk would have more liquid than a shorter, broader glass with an equivalent amount of milk. Adults would find this amusing, perhaps even silly. However, at restaurants, similar techniques are used to make food appear more substantial, giving customers a “good” feeling. Sure, adults would deny that they’re fooled, but it seems rather likely that this happens only after some disinterested analysis.

Hence, it may be thought that much of adult cognition is an overlapping of instinctive perceptions with experiential or conditioned responses to specific phenomena. After all, even people living in modern societies governed by science still have sneaking suspicions that there is luck at work here and there. Bad things may happen with apparently unusual frequency and no amount of conditioning can prevent the associations made when a lucky coin suddenly seems to make those bad things go away.

Fun Game-Inspired Campaigns

Heroes For Better Item Drops
Heroes For Safer Work Conditions
Zombies Have Rights, Too!
Undeads Have The Right To Exist
Monster Union: We May Be Ugly, But We're Not Evil

Involvement And The Media

Humans are programmed to respond emotively to things that are perceived as human to them. A dog is not human to most people. However, when humans perceive them as a sort of human (a pet), they treat the dog as if it were another human. For example, a pet owner is unlikely to just toss the dead dog into the trash. Likewise, involvement is essential when consuming media.

There have been suggestions that game characters aren't personally identified with as much as movie characters. This is likely since gamers are given agency to determine the storyline. It is possible that the player character's real personality isn't fully formed in order to afford this degree of agency, and thus there isn't a fully established personality to empathize with. Moreover, movie characters are invariably more "realistic" in that they involve "real" people instead of animated sprites. Being more "human", these characters appear to be easier to relate to.

Hence, involvement appears to be determined to a large extent by the perceptions consumers have of the media personalities. If the personalities are viewed as incomplete or unrealistic, involvement decreases. However, the fact that games occasionally have fleshed-out characters that are seemingly human-like yet are unrelistically rendered indicates the possibility that visual aesthetics may not be as powerful as some suggest.

Connective Time

I noticed that, as time passed, I find increasing amounts of my time being taken up by connective time. That is, waiting in line for this and that, waiting, waiting, waiting. People get late. Traffic jams. Lying around on the sofa induces unwanted naps. There are queues everywhere. It is not surprising that people find themselves wanting for time. In fact, if connective time could be fully utilized, I dare say that people would find remarkable amounts of personal time that is available for leisure and other activities. I really have no patience for those people who sit down on the trains apparently doing nothing while waiting for their stop. I find myself doing that from time to time, and and it just seems like a horrible waste.

Helping The Less Fortunate

If one isn't plagued by the extreme misfortune of truly being right at the bottom of the social ladder, there likely is some surplus that can be spared for the unfortunates all around. Perhaps a pack of sweets to enable a vagabond to have something special for one of the holidays. Or something small like a donation to the less fortunate. One doesn't have to sell one's house and all belongings and donate them to someone or someones just to be charitable.

Understandably, some street urchins are plain lazy or are potentially dangerous. Yet there are times that one may feel that they are lazy precisely because nobody is willing to give them a shot at life. If there's nothing to strive for, there's no real reason to strive. When one is convinced that the situation is hopeless, there's a chance that one simply stops trying.

The Life Of a Student

It's interesting to be a student. There's allowance coming in from a provider that isn't your boss (not in the boss-employee way). There's also the case of being unable to find the time to really do the things that one should do. For one, I can never seem to find the time to tidy my room. I can spare the time to go out with friends, watch movies, take naps and do homework, but never the time to tidy my room. Honestly, it’s a lost cause. I tidy the place, and then get so caught up in work that I basically dump the notes in a handy corner after use. Being roughly in the center of the room also means that my notes are winding up along some pathway that leads through the room. At a glance, I’d say that my room is clearly a disaster area. I can really tidy everything up in a twinkling, but the mess would rapidly return till my semester ends. If only mom would quit nagging about how my room should be neat and all. The only way I know to achieve that involves not doing any real work in my room.

Adults Hate Play

All that is fun is frowned upon in the world of the adults. After all, it's far easier to approve of "serious" things like wars and taxes and everything else that just isn't "fun". The world would likely collapse if people wouldn't work enough overtime and people decided that they should golf as much as their senior managers. Gaming addiction is clearly problematic as people have found that playing (and hedonistic consumption) are clearly more desirable than the "serious" world they are forced to conform to. It would seem logical that, besides the practical considerations of being "serious", play and fun are just things that should be left to the kids. Kids are afforded special rights.

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?