Cloud-uk
Master Don Juan
' All around us there is a secret society of smugness, a union of people, men and women, parents, businessmen, of all nationalities, who "get life". '
I love computer games. I'm not very good at them, but I think they're great. Perhaps this isn't very "Don Juan" of me, but hey, maybe I'm not a Don Juan then.
Computer games, all of them, are interactive environments, of varying complexity. Space invaders: an interactive environment in which (what now looks like) you're under constant attack by an eternal army of crabs. Recently they've brought out a game where the object is to get two room mates to fall in love and screw each other. If you add the possibility of pubic lice into the second it sounds un-nervingly like the first. Creepy how life goes round in circles now and then.
Sure, when computer games are an escape from reality, when they are the only interuption between your wanking-sock sessions I can see a problem. But creating them is like creating a little bit of the biggest "interactive environment" there is, the world. I was giving a game called "Black & White" a quick spin yesterday, if you are not familiar with it you're a god, and you've got two consciences, and you can be good or evil, and blah blah blah...
You start off, and the little evil nipple-pierced naughty conscience is telling you to become evil. The fluffy, bearded old good conscience wants you to be good. Christ, the game starts off like a ****ing anxiety attack for the ethically uncertain! You are being yelled at, by fictional characters: FICTIONAL CHARACTERS about the ethical policy you are intent to act on whence the game continues! I'd just been for a ****ing X-ray and I wanted some chilling out time where I get to see pretty pictures move about! The moral inquisition I recieved was not what I was looking for at that point in my life.
Thing is, the freedom of choice is a suprisingly easy thing to deny someone. You do it, you deny people this freedom. When you argue for something, when you aim to convince someone that they should think, that they should do what you wish them to, whether that is what you think or not, whether that is what you do or not. Hell, it happens on this site: everytime you tell a newbie AFC to get off his arse and achieve you are, to an extent, destroying his freedom to make a free and unbiased choice.
We are bombarded with facts, opinions, suggestions, help, ideas, orders- christ, it's not just those who are easily persuaded that are denied this freedom. Of course, whether the denial of this freedom is good or evil, black or white is up in the air. Still, doesn't get rid of the issue...
Let me revisit an old story.
" A fisherman sits by a riverside, his line dipped into the water. A businessman comes up to him, sits down, opens up his laptop, and starts typing away.
The two start talking, and the businessman inquires about the other's life.
"Everyday, I come down here and fish. I catch two fish, one for my wife, and one for me."
"Why don't you catch more?" puzzled the businessman,
"I only need two fish, one for me and one for my wife"
The businessman explained to the man, that were he to catch more fish, he could sell them at market and buy a fishing boat.
The fisherman continued he defiance "I only need two fish".
The businessman, clearly seeing that the fisherman didn't get this concept, progressed his arguement. "With a fishing boat," he said "you can catch even more fish, and make money!".
"I only need two fish" was the inevitable reply.
The businessman waited for a moment, then forcefully spoke "With money, you can start your own business! You will never have to work again, you can grow old and retire happily with you wife to a little house by the river where all you have to do all day is..."
The businessman whent a very ill shade of pale, and was still at the riverside, laptop secured in his lap, as the fisherman pulled his second fish of the day from the river and walked off home."
At first, reading this story, I thought it was stupid. The fisherman had accomplished nothing with his life, and so the whole tale was total ****. Now I get it. It is ****ing hard to keep your head above all the trends, and advice, and confusion that other people impose on you. The senseless harem scarem of what is cool and what isn't. Narrowing advice given by other people about your life, what you can and should decide for yourself.
Good advice is a very rare thing. Something instantly recogniseable and universally cherished.
So, what happened in my little "interactive environment"? I told them both to **** off and I played the game how I wanted to play it. A great achievement? No, not unless you're wierd, but it illustates the point quite well. Do what you want to do, it's harder than you think sometimes, and it may seem wrong to other people, but do it. If I hadn't, I wouldn't have been playing that game, and I wouldn't have thought about this (Woh, that's another creepy little circle of life moment right there). The freedom of choice is definetly one of those things that separates those who "get life" from those that don't.
"Getting life" isn't about understanding what the reasons behind doing what other people think is best for you. What you chose to do may not be the best thing, it may not be the most informed, but at least it'll be yours! Get a little bit of impulse into your life, act on the moment, impulsive people are fun and sexy.
"Be like the fishing rod, not like the lap top"
Hell I don't know, it just has a nice ring to it
I love computer games. I'm not very good at them, but I think they're great. Perhaps this isn't very "Don Juan" of me, but hey, maybe I'm not a Don Juan then.
Computer games, all of them, are interactive environments, of varying complexity. Space invaders: an interactive environment in which (what now looks like) you're under constant attack by an eternal army of crabs. Recently they've brought out a game where the object is to get two room mates to fall in love and screw each other. If you add the possibility of pubic lice into the second it sounds un-nervingly like the first. Creepy how life goes round in circles now and then.
Sure, when computer games are an escape from reality, when they are the only interuption between your wanking-sock sessions I can see a problem. But creating them is like creating a little bit of the biggest "interactive environment" there is, the world. I was giving a game called "Black & White" a quick spin yesterday, if you are not familiar with it you're a god, and you've got two consciences, and you can be good or evil, and blah blah blah...
You start off, and the little evil nipple-pierced naughty conscience is telling you to become evil. The fluffy, bearded old good conscience wants you to be good. Christ, the game starts off like a ****ing anxiety attack for the ethically uncertain! You are being yelled at, by fictional characters: FICTIONAL CHARACTERS about the ethical policy you are intent to act on whence the game continues! I'd just been for a ****ing X-ray and I wanted some chilling out time where I get to see pretty pictures move about! The moral inquisition I recieved was not what I was looking for at that point in my life.
Thing is, the freedom of choice is a suprisingly easy thing to deny someone. You do it, you deny people this freedom. When you argue for something, when you aim to convince someone that they should think, that they should do what you wish them to, whether that is what you think or not, whether that is what you do or not. Hell, it happens on this site: everytime you tell a newbie AFC to get off his arse and achieve you are, to an extent, destroying his freedom to make a free and unbiased choice.
We are bombarded with facts, opinions, suggestions, help, ideas, orders- christ, it's not just those who are easily persuaded that are denied this freedom. Of course, whether the denial of this freedom is good or evil, black or white is up in the air. Still, doesn't get rid of the issue...
Let me revisit an old story.
" A fisherman sits by a riverside, his line dipped into the water. A businessman comes up to him, sits down, opens up his laptop, and starts typing away.
The two start talking, and the businessman inquires about the other's life.
"Everyday, I come down here and fish. I catch two fish, one for my wife, and one for me."
"Why don't you catch more?" puzzled the businessman,
"I only need two fish, one for me and one for my wife"
The businessman explained to the man, that were he to catch more fish, he could sell them at market and buy a fishing boat.
The fisherman continued he defiance "I only need two fish".
The businessman, clearly seeing that the fisherman didn't get this concept, progressed his arguement. "With a fishing boat," he said "you can catch even more fish, and make money!".
"I only need two fish" was the inevitable reply.
The businessman waited for a moment, then forcefully spoke "With money, you can start your own business! You will never have to work again, you can grow old and retire happily with you wife to a little house by the river where all you have to do all day is..."
The businessman whent a very ill shade of pale, and was still at the riverside, laptop secured in his lap, as the fisherman pulled his second fish of the day from the river and walked off home."
At first, reading this story, I thought it was stupid. The fisherman had accomplished nothing with his life, and so the whole tale was total ****. Now I get it. It is ****ing hard to keep your head above all the trends, and advice, and confusion that other people impose on you. The senseless harem scarem of what is cool and what isn't. Narrowing advice given by other people about your life, what you can and should decide for yourself.
Good advice is a very rare thing. Something instantly recogniseable and universally cherished.
So, what happened in my little "interactive environment"? I told them both to **** off and I played the game how I wanted to play it. A great achievement? No, not unless you're wierd, but it illustates the point quite well. Do what you want to do, it's harder than you think sometimes, and it may seem wrong to other people, but do it. If I hadn't, I wouldn't have been playing that game, and I wouldn't have thought about this (Woh, that's another creepy little circle of life moment right there). The freedom of choice is definetly one of those things that separates those who "get life" from those that don't.
"Getting life" isn't about understanding what the reasons behind doing what other people think is best for you. What you chose to do may not be the best thing, it may not be the most informed, but at least it'll be yours! Get a little bit of impulse into your life, act on the moment, impulsive people are fun and sexy.
"Be like the fishing rod, not like the lap top"
Hell I don't know, it just has a nice ring to it
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