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| Author |
Message |
brighn
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The Book of Life
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Oct 4 04:29 UTC 1994 |
Deep thought time... there exists a book which describes your entire
life, including the future. You can find out how and when you die,
what will happen to you next year, and what your friends (and supposed
enemies) really think of you. Consider this question under both
deterministic (the book is set in stone and its contents can't be
changed) and non-deterministic (the book is pliable and changes if
you want it to, but not necessarily the way you want it to) views:
What parts of the book, if any, do you read?
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| 42 responses total. |
rcurl
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response 1 of 42:
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Oct 4 04:39 UTC 1994 |
There cannot, of course, be any such "book", but it is fun to
enjoy the fantasies that the human mind can create, including ones
that are metaphors for human choices. What metaphor does your
answer represent?
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brighn
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response 2 of 42:
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Oct 4 04:41 UTC 1994 |
I'm not sure. Of course, this is a philosophical exercise and
nothing more, although it was treated as much more in Sunday School
when I was a youth. But we've been done that road before, and it's a thorny
trail, so let's stay on this one.
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kt8k
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response 3 of 42:
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Oct 4 11:27 UTC 1994 |
I'd read the naughty bits first ... <lewd grin>
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chamberl
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response 4 of 42:
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Oct 4 11:46 UTC 1994 |
Depends. Is there a part in the book about me reading the book?
Guess I'd read that part to see which parts I should read.
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iggy
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response 5 of 42:
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Oct 4 12:14 UTC 1994 |
it -is- possible to write in it. and it is possible for
others to do so to, although not very often. so ward it well.
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anne
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response 6 of 42:
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Oct 4 17:46 UTC 1994 |
Does this book contain every scene, and conversation and stuff like that?
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rcurl
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response 7 of 42:
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Oct 4 18:17 UTC 1994 |
What you do, is read passages, and then do something entirely different
for the period depicted. That will blow the sysop's chips.
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kentn
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response 8 of 42:
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Oct 4 18:48 UTC 1994 |
My book is overdue at the libraray, I'm afraid...
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bjt
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response 9 of 42:
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Oct 4 23:06 UTC 1994 |
My book has been rejected by several publishers as too mundane and boring.
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chamberl
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response 10 of 42:
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Oct 4 23:55 UTC 1994 |
I think I'll wait for the movie.
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rcurl
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response 11 of 42:
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Oct 4 23:59 UTC 1994 |
CD-ROM. Make that CD-RAM.
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steve
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response 12 of 42:
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Oct 5 01:27 UTC 1994 |
I'm not so sure that such a book isn't possible, Rane. If all
that we are is a set of molecules and when we die we're dispersed
with nothing else afterwards, then I could see that. But what if we are
more than that? What if there is "something beyond" this life,,
whatever it turns out to be? Why then, couldn't there be the abilty
to store such things?
I'm not arguing that there *is* such a thing, but that we can't
disprove it, either.
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rcurl
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response 13 of 42:
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Oct 5 03:22 UTC 1994 |
There is no objective evidence whatsoever for "something beyond".
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tsty
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response 14 of 42:
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Oct 5 06:06 UTC 1994 |
count on this: I would/will read that "book" from back to front unitl
I match the book to the current situation.
I would hope that includes more than a single page, but if it
doesn't .... tough for me.
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rogue
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response 15 of 42:
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Oct 5 12:31 UTC 1994 |
#12: It's not the skeptic's job to disprove anything.
I would not read any part of the book.
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katie
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response 16 of 42:
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Oct 5 14:56 UTC 1994 |
My mom raised me by the book.
(Unfortunately, it was _The Shining_.)
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popcorn
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response 17 of 42:
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Oct 5 15:16 UTC 1994 |
This response has been erased.
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zook
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response 18 of 42:
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Oct 6 00:43 UTC 1994 |
No, I wouldn't want to know what people think about me. It
would just get me depressed :-( I guess I'm also too much of
a trekkie: the future is the Undiscovered Country, and I'd like
it to stay that way until I get there.
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aruba
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response 19 of 42:
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Oct 6 02:57 UTC 1994 |
Interesting. "The Undiscovered Country" is from Hamlet, making
Star Trek VI the 7th episode of old Trek to be named after a quote
from Shakespeare. But the ironic thing is, while the phrase refers to
the future, in the Star Trek universe we had already seen the future,
so it wasn't undiscovered at all!
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mwarner
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response 20 of 42:
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Oct 7 19:12 UTC 1994 |
So much of life is based on perception and perspective. After all, our
brains are trapped inside the nut shell we call a skull. I'd be very
curious as to how the book handled displaying "the facts" relative to each
of our perception/perspective soup mix recipe of our lives. I.E., on what
level would the book be presented, and why. The molecular life story of
Mike would be interesting, but not what I would *expect* from a life
story. Any version I could digest would be less than true.
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zook
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response 21 of 42:
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Oct 8 00:51 UTC 1994 |
I stand corrected. Shows how much I know about literature...
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mtm
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response 22 of 42:
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Oct 9 02:17 UTC 1994 |
Really, if you had a book like that it would be impossible not to read it.
You would probably look at just one or two pages, then get drawn further
and further in. Of course, if the book were written in enough detail then
reading would correspond with experiencing or be even slower, so that you
could not read the book - you couldnt catch up (could'nt figure out
where to put the punctuation there.) On the other hand, if the book only
hit the high points, the only way to not be completely bored with your
life would be to focus on the smallest details that weren't included in
the book - wet leaves in the driveway on the way to work, the texture
of bread in a sandwich.
This all assumes that the book, or life and it's script rather, were
deterministic. I'd rather write or alter the book, even if I didn't
know how it would come out - but not at ramdom, did that when I was
younger and it hurts too much :>)
How about this, from Deena Metzger:
It is 2:00 am. You can't sleep (sounds like grex.) But you are not tired.
Voices within you demand to be heard. If you do not speak, you believe
you will die. If you speak out, you believe you will die. What is it
that you must say, and who or what is threatening you if you speak?
(This "book" is a little more internal than the other.)
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mtm
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response 23 of 42:
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Oct 9 03:01 UTC 1994 |
re #12 and 22 (talking to myself)
If the book contaioned all of your experience mapped in detail (sight,
sound, taste, neurons firing) there would be NO difference between
reading the book and living. They would both be equally rich, equally
real. This assumes that they both play out at the same speed. If
the book "played" slower than life, you would not realize you were dead
until some time after you died (when you finished the book; or the book would
just abruptly end and you would never experience the moment(s) leading up
to and of your own death.)
If the book played out faster, you would experience your own death in detail,
then have absolutely no sensations between then and including when you actual
did die. So you really died when you finished the book (no sensations since.)
Sounds like the book and life would have to play out the same and therefore
be indistinguishable (if the book were complete.)
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tsty
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response 24 of 42:
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Oct 9 03:30 UTC 1994 |
presuming that the book is complete in all detail before it is available
to my hands, I'd read it in toto - inlcuding the last paragraph even
if that paragraph were to be at some unspecified time inthe future.
I am not afraid of being a human being - in fact I would prefer
to be able to anticipate my death as I recognize the swarm of circumstances
accumulating in real-time.
I am not motivated by fear, count on it.
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