Introduction: Thought Experiment 2

I was thinking about what boundaries I haven't crossed were, and I found a way to make myself uncomfortable with writing again. It's called the Fictional Narrative. So here's my first two attempts at that, in two parts titled "The Arcanist" and "Solitary Confinement."
"The Arcanist" is mostly around to support "Solitary Confinement." I say this mainly because it has less thematic value, but also because Willem doesn't work without another context to put him in. It's definitely lighter, and I wanted to see if I could go somewhere where I wasn't completely lost in thought. Action is something I'll want to write about more in the future.

I wanted to call it "Solitary Confinement" because I feel that that's what it would be like if you were the only real person around, even if you're not isolated physically. I was going for a kind of "Tone Piece" with this second one. Willem's state of being in this half is exactly what drives us to social networking sites: the fear of being alone.

The Arcanist

Before the events of the past few weeks, Willem had always enjoyed taverns. They were a place for him to get in touch with the common folk, drink, and, as the night went on, tell stories of his past accomplishments. The tavern that faced him now seemed less inviting than it had been five moons ago. It was surrounded by the desolate wastes of what used to be farmland but now seemed more like desert. Willem could tell that the Bacchae had been here. They were once-people that acted like locusts, drinking and eating their way through the land with hedonistic pleasure. Bacchae were not always a constant threat to these lands, but with the chaos and confusion that followed the zombie plagues, many villagers ended up homeless and lost. Villagers that joined the Bacchae had a much better chance of surviving out in the wilderness. Bacchae were not nearly as plentiful as the undead, but they had a more lasting effect on the land. “At least zombies are kind enough to leave mutton,” Willem thought to himself as he swung open the tavern door. There probably wasn't any food here, but it was worth checking to see if there was anything else of use in this run-down tavern.
As soon as he entered the tavern, the hair on the back of his neck stood up as he caught the gaze of a pale woman behind the bar. Staring into her eyes was like staring into oblivion. He felt as she did: cold, empty, without purpose or reason. His shoulders slumped down and the weight of purpose was lifted from his eyes.
“Who are you?” She asked.
“I'm a wizard,” he replied effortlessly.
“Well, that sounds quite interesting.” she said as she walked around the bar towards him. “Sit,” she said, gesturing to a stool next to the bar.
His feet moved, and he sat down. “I didn't--” he started.
“Shhh,” she interrupted. His mouth shut before he could think. His mind felt like it was covered with warm molasses. “Everything's going to be fine,” she said. “Do you have any silver, or weapons?”
He thought for a second, then showed her his hands, palms up. If he was a wizard, those were probably his greatest weapons. She paused, staring at his hands with puzzlement. “But wait,” he thought, “I'm a wizard. I'm probably supposed to kill vampires.” He blinked, and he could feel his weight in his shoes again. He directed his attention back to the woman, but she was already upon him, hissing with predatory anger.
Willem cried as her hands clutched at his collar and her fangs went for his neck, but his hands were only and inch short of her chest. He turned them toward her and they erupted with lightning. Shrieking, the vampire was blasted away from him and out the tavern's swinging doors, skidding along the dirt in the afternoon sun. Her screams of pain increased in urgency as her skin caught afire, but it was over almost as soon as it started, and she was reduced to nothing more than ash.
Willem flicked his wrists, sending off the last of his lightning into the floor below him. His hair was standing on end. He gritted his teeth at the ringing headache this sudden casting had caused him, but a headache was a small price to pay for the elements he had harnessed without his full focus. He shrugged into the stool again, this time of his own free will. Scanning behind the bar and finding the shelves empty made him want a drink even more.

Solitary Confinement

The next day, scouting on top of a hill, Willem spotted a large mob of zombies milling about in the barren fields below. Curiously, he studied their empty, dull faces through his spyglass. He watched as they staggered about, going no-where in particular. Other observers might be wondering why the zombies weren't hunting or looking for signs of people to feed on, but Willem knew that they were completely mindless. Without any prey to stagger after, they didn't really have any purpose at all. Sometimes he wondered what it would be like to be one of them, one of the mindless horde, free from responsibility and free from sanity. He longed for freedom from duty, freedom from reason, the freedom to act on impulse. Every day he would wonder if today was the day that his quest was over, if today was the day that he could let go of all his responsibilities and be at peace. This concept also kept him awake with fear at night, for he knew that for most wizards, your first day of rest is the day that you die. He only hoped that someone whom he had met along the road, or maybe one of the villagers he had saved, would remember him for his bravery or his good looks. He wished that the Academy hadn't been obliterated by Hellfire. He wished that the world would just go back to the way it was. But this was going to be a long, lonely day, and for Willem, there was much worse down the road.
Being alone with your thoughts when you're a wizard can be quite dangerous. After all, with the wrong thoughts a wizard can kill. Willem had not seen a living person in over four days now, and it was starting to take its toll on him. He caught himself talking to the sand, the grass, or to no-one at all. His mind would wander back to the things he'd seen in the last month, the acts of evil and mindless destruction that he had witnessed. These sights only strengthened his resolve for his quest to stop the apocalypse, but at times he felt as though that day had already come and gone. “Maybe nobody's left,” he thought to himself. “Am I the last living person ever?” His sense of duty faltered. “If I'm the only one left, then I wouldn't have a quest anymore. I'd be free!” But wouldn't he have failed his quest if that were the case? Was he really that desperate for respite that he wanted failure? He worried that his inner dialogues had become those of a madman.
As he came out of his daydreaming, he looked ahead at the swirling sand on top of the dusty road. Were times ever going to be as good as they were, or had those times ended long ago? As if in answer to these dreadful thoughts, a wagon trundled up the road ahead, kicking up a cloud of dust behind it. It was not alone, though. From behind it, a crowd of people appeared with more wagons, stumbling over each other in their collective drunkenness. Willem looked for a place to hide, but the foliage had been torn up by the trampings of the Bacchae. Willem noted that this could probably have been left as a warning, but that this information wasn't very useful for avoiding the problem he had at hand.
In the end, he just decided to stand off to the side of the road and just let their troupe pass by while he sat under a cloak of magic. But as they began to file along the road, he realized that he was standing in front of over a thousand people. They came in by the hundreds, spilling off the road, yelling and whooping, some of them stopping to drink or play. What kept them going in such a state of excitement was a mystery to Willem, but he tried to make himself as small as possible. They couldn't see him, but if they touched him, the game was up.
“The problem with being invisible is that you're still solid. Avoiding people who can't see you, especially when you're in a crowd, can be somewhere between taxing and impossible.” -Mage's Manual, pg. 5598
He wasn't able to make much headway past the tide of restless people that surrounded him at all sides. Seeing them fight was alarming, and he could feel a brawl was going to erupt at any second. As the crowd slowed and their rage collected, a small, stout man began pushing a skinnier, taller one in the middle of the crowd. The taller one growled and showed his fangs, then pounced. A fountain of blood erupted from the small one's neck, and the victorious tall one pulled back with a smirk dashed with crimson. This fight was over, but the surrounding crowd was overtaken with bloodthirst. They began laughing and whooping like a pack of wild dogs. Some others began fighting, and crowds surged around them.
Willem took this opportunity to slip into a wagon and steal some supplies. If escaping had to wait, then having dinner couldn't. In the end, the only food that he found to eat was a deat rabbit. It was raw, but a large chunk of it had been bitten off already. It would make good stew, if Willem could cut around the tainted parts. He exited the wagon and decided that it would be better not to tempt his luck with the other wagons and just to leave the train behind, so he skulked past the rest unseen into the dark.

Questions for Thought.

I accept that most of these questions will go unanswered and they are therefore hypothetical. You can, however, give them life by actually answering them in the comments section.

Apologies for the lateness of this post; my computer charger broke recently and I am still raising the funds to get it replaced. Until that point, I will be relying on school-provided Internet. I think that Darth Vader said it best: "NOOOOOOOO!" Curiously, I have not observed any increase in free time from losing Internet access at my house. What would you do without free access to the Internet?

Last Saturday night, in a state of feverish delusion, I convinced myself that Tony had impregnated me with a "Shivers" parasite. It turned out to just be a case of bad yogurt, but for half an hour, I had myself convinced that the churning in my stomach was a being malevolently planted by my seemingly charming English professor. Then and now, I chuckle at how surprised we would all be if Tony actually did implant us with parasites without our knowledge. What if this course was just a sadistic "parasite primer?"

In my moral philosophy class, we talked about what it takes to qualify as a person. What I've been wondering about since then is how people in the future will react to human clones. Would it be wrong to be racist against clones? And could a progressive campaign for clone rights lead to the destruction of mankind? When cloning becomes possible, I bet that it's going to be a very political issue.

Another thing that I've wanted to bring up but it was too small a topic to discuss individually was this level of the new Call of Duty (and if you haven't seen it yet, brace yourself; it's extremely violent)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6MUhIZEDaI
This level put me in a state of turmoil. Since that's what makes a good work of art for me, I concluded that Call Of Duty must qualify as a work of art. As video games grow more and more advanced, we may have to start analyzing some of them like we analyze books and films. Looking forward to the future: Could there be an "American Beauty" of video games? If so, what do you think it would be like?

I have also been thinking about what makes the difference between a parasite and a symbiote. Perhaps the distinction is that a symbiote requires informed consent, while a parasite does not. What do you think about this line, and where would you draw the line?

LIMITED_EDITION

As we were talking in class today about what a love letter meant, someone pointed out that a love letter is more romantic than an email or text because it is rare, because it is special.

I was also thinking about how many of my classmates, as well as The_Man_Formerly_Author himself, have changed their names recently. What does it mean when you change your name? Well, one, you are redefining yourself. That takes attention from everyone who would normally see your name, recognize you, and move on; it makes them view your profile so they can figure out who you are. You're new, you're hot stuff. And the most exciting thing about this person now is that they will no longer be Nanotext; they will be The_Author. But not forever! If they changed their names once, they are likely to do it again. Dynamic. New. Limited Edition.

Because what's more attractive than something that's temporary? Like a new product launch for a company, a new username for your Twitter or Plurk account can be a good way to attract new fans and followers. So, for experimental purposes and for a limited time only, I will be entitled Limited_Edition. Let me know what you think about my project in the comments or via Plurk.

A Propoganda Parasite's advocate

The thing that I've been thinking about most lately is freedom. But more importantly, I was thinking about lying to myself, and about how I'm free to do that in the U.S. The more moral opinions a society has, the more wrong ideas the society has (assuming that only one way is completely right).

And that's a good thing. There's nothing I like more than a taste of my own American Freedom. Other countries might not support Americanization as much as I do, but in my opinion, it is the best way: may the top dog win. It's the way nature intended: May the toughest, funnest, most addicting cultural tendencies win. Wal-Mart, McDonald's, Microsoft, I'm talking to you. Our freedom to choose what kind of food we want, what kind of movie we want, and what kind of news we want is the hedonist's greatest boon.

Avatar, the sign that we are doing too good a job at entertaining ourselves, has been a topic of interest for the last week in our class. The Author formerly known as Nanotext shared this link:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/Movies/01/11/avatar.movie.blues/index.html

Perhaps the best thing you can take from this article is that “this movie is so good, you will want to go see another movie just so you can forget about how happy this movie made you feel.” Wow, the worlds depicted in our movies make people want to be in the fantasy world rather than reality? James Cameron just bred the most efficient movie ever, and I would have to give him props for that. So high-five, James Cameron, and high-five, America, for making his dream come to life.

When we watched Dracula the other day in class, what really set me off was that Van Helsing and the other “white hats” had the audacity to kill the spawn of Dracula. I mean, in the world of the film, sure, they were killing evil undead, but metaphorically, they were killing the “enemies of the cross,” aka, enemies of Christian Society. The dichotomy depicted in this film, I think, is an example of one of the most powerful parasites out there, the propoganda parasite. It can make you think crazy, new and sometimes false things without you ever realizing that you've been affected.

Another good example of a thought parasite would be the article I posted above. Under the pretense of being a “news article,” this article's propaganda parasite bears a simple command: “Watch Avatar.” Perhaps even more cleverly, it has a second message for people who have already seen Avatar: “you should go see a rebound movie. Avatar is making you feel depressed.” For those of us who feel sad every once and a while, we now have something to blame it on, and a solution for our problem. It may not seem this way to everyone, but this thought parasite may have helped people, and it may have even helped people without even being right in the first place. With a great thing called the Placebo Effect, we have the ability to partially construct our reality from our beliefs. So if, for example, you were feeling sad because of the economy, then you read this article and because of it you went out and saw a “rebound movie” and you expected it to make you feel better and so it did make you feel better, that would be an example of how the Placebo effect and Propoganda Parasites helped you.

So, even if something is false, if you believe in it, there's still a good chance it will appear true to you. And this is how we may begin to create our own reality. The less people who try to stop you from being deceived, the more power you have to limit your information intake and therefore shape your perceptions of reality. So by informing people, we are taking power and happiness from them, and by telling people what they want to know, we are giving them power and happiness. So therefore, if you want to make someone happier and more powerful, it is a good idea to tell them what they want to know (as long as they believe you).

As kind of a p.s. to this week's blog post, I would like to share my favorite source of inspiration with you.

http://www.deepthoughtsbyjackhandey.com/

Have a great night!

A Conversation With Dahamburgler

My friend Dahamburgler and I wanted to have a conversation about the internet over plurk. Next time we'll just public plurk it then provide a link. Enjoy!

Billchu13 feels

like there's not enough time in the day for all the stuff we want to do

Dahamburgler thinks

the internets (aka Das Webernets aka the toobs, aka Castle Webbenstein) are the real culprit. We spend all day on social sites instead of

Dahamburgler thinks actually be social

Dahamburgler thinks Our lives revolve around avoiding any human contact nowadays

Billchu13 loves the internet, and all its tubes

Billchu13 what's wrong with something that great, even if you're addicted to it?

Dahamburgler It's kind of like Shivers. We, who have been used to it since we are born have to problems with it, but the people on the outside are the

Dahamburgler only people that can be a real judge of whether it is truly a benefit or not. People who are addicted to drugs think they're good too!

Billchu13asks , what' s wrong with drugs? Just because a view is different from yours, even if it's through a different lens, doesn't make it less valid.

Billchu13is browsing the Facebook during this conversation, and dahamburgler is venting w/ freinds

Billchu13

Dahamburglerwonders if we should stay on point. I do not doubt that i rely on the internet too. That is not the question. My query is whether it is hurting us.

Billchu13 I see the Internet as an enabler. As far as communication with people goes, I can have text conversations with my friends all day, not just

Billchu13 when we're on the phone

Dahamburgler Ya, but are we really that against human contact that we can even HEAR each other while conversing. Like right now, you're sitting next to

Dahamburgler me, but we are TALKING not just typing to each other, but conversing in person. I have no problem sending messages when its inconvienient

Dahamburgler but I feel we use it as a replacement rather than a suppliment.

Billchu13 It's a supplement, at least for me

Billchu13 I still need to spend time with real people. Texting/fb-ing is addition, not subtraction

Dahamburgler You say that because you are on the inside and you cannot see properly. Nor can I for that matter. Yet, to quote you

Dahamburgler "Colby, you should get Duels of the Planeswalkers so you don't have to come to my place to play it.

Dahamburgler "

Billchu13 only b/c you don't like coming to my place, but valid point

Billchu13 just because something is so awesome it makes everything else pale by comparison doesn't mean that's a bad thing

Dahamburgler I don't follow...

Billchu13 Being "inside the parasite" doesn't have to be a bad thing. you're working under the assumption that everything that takes away from what

Billchu13 you already have is a bad thing. But sometimes it's time to say "out with the old and in with the new"

Dahamburgler I believe there are pros and cons to everything I just feel people aren't really aware of what they have bought into without realizing it.

Dahamburgler For example, I buy a new computer every 2 years at least because I want to stay up to date on games and programs because I've been

Dahamburgler conditioned to always feel that I should because I was raised in the technologically savvy era.

Billchu13 but maybe... everybody benefits from this computer addiction.

Billchu13thinks this kitty can defend the internet way better than I can

Billchu13thinks

Dahamburgler The argument is not whether the internet is funny or that it is a waste of time, but rather that we spend so much time on the internet

Dahamburgler without even thinking about how we used to communicate. We have "free hugs" people and the "hugbots" so that we can have an artificial

Dahamburgler replacement for actually having to see people and have physical contact with them. "Why go out and make friends and have fun when I can

Dahamburgler sit in this chair and

Dahamburgler 'make friends' on the internet'. I'd much rather go on a hike or find a nice place to sit and read outside than spend all day in the same

Dahamburgler sedentary position all day.

Billchu13 If you wanted to do that, you would. Is your complaint that the Internet is keeping you from doing that?

Dahamburgler No, it's the weather. I'm saying that we should have balance to our laziness.

Billchu13thinks the Internet and digital era are not limiting the things that we do. It's an enabler, not a disabler.

Dahamburgler But maybe it shouldn't be "out with the old" is all I'm saying. We have replaced the old ways with new ones without realizing it.

Dahamburgler Why can we not assimilate the new things with new. I mean its a bit late now, but you get what I mean

Billchu13feels that whenever there's a market for old things, they will come back.

Billchu13 But when there's not a market for something anymore, then what's the point?

Dahamburgler I'm not saying we should bring old things back, I'm just saying we need to be aware of our technological history and the fact that our

Dahamburgler lives revolve around all this new technology that will be as obsolete as the gramophone in due time. I feel Nick Swarthson had a good

Dahamburgler example. When we are grandparents we'll be telling stories about of technological history. Our grandkids will ask about the games we used to

Dahamburgler play and we would say something like "In my time, we used to an incomplete pie chart and we would chase GHOOOSTS!!!" How stupid does that

Dahamburgler sound even now? But it lead to the games we play today, and was part of the technological revolution that lead to modern PCs.

Billchu13 The fact that our technology will be obsolete in ten years in no way lessens its awesomeness. It just makes me even more excited about

Billchu13 THE FUTURE

Billchu13 It's...the future of gaming

Dahamburgler The more important part is the technology of the future that will make some illness a thing of the past

Dahamburgler in any case, I hope that we can simply recognize our reliance on technology. That way we can at least be prepared if, for some reason,

Dahamburgler all our technology stops working

Billchu13 hopes that never happens, my head might explode

Billchu13 I don't think that we have any illusions about our reliance on technology for everything.

Billchu13 But what I'm saying is, technology is great. It's the hyperevolution of the human race.

Billchu13wonders In a hundred years, who knows what we'll be capable of?

Dahamburglerthinks it will be great, but who's to say that we will not be so reliant, that IT runs us...anyhow, it's late and we should go to sleep.

Dahamburglerthinks

TOPIC DISCUSSED! in my opinion.