January 2009
14 posts
1 tag
Why Religion Exists
Phil: Heaven forbid! Everything must be taken cum grano salis.
Demop: Exactly; and it is just for that reason that I want you to accept religion cum grano salis, and to see that the needs of the people must be met according to their powers of comprehension. Religion affords the only means of proclaiming and making the masses of crude minds and awkward intelligences, sunk in petty pursuits and material work, feel the high import of life. For the ordinary type of man, primarily, has no thought for anything else but what satisfies his physical needs and longings, and accordingly affords him a little amusement and pastime. Founders of religion and philosophers come into the world to shake him out of his torpidity and show him the high significance of existence: philosophers for the few, the emancipated; founders of religion for the many, humanity at large.
1 tag
“Within our lifetimes I suspect we’ll see something along the lines of a...”
– SoMA Review - What the Cratchit Family Can Teach Us About Christmas
ALTERNATE REALITY GAMES (ARG)
- an interactive narrative that uses the real world as a platform
- uses media and traditional game elements (like puzzles) to tell a story that may change or be otherwise affected by the participants’ actions or reactions
- the internet is the central binding medium for an ARG (cellphones, the web…)
- players are more actively ‘controlled’ by designers, as opposed...
the Plot of ‘I Love Bees’ via Wikipedia:
The game’s plot begins with a military spaceship crashing to Earth in an unknown location, leaving the craft’s controlling artificial intelligence or AI damaged. This AI, known as the “Operator” or “Melissa”, is not alone; other AI programs share its system. In an effort to survive and contact any surviving...
notes on Snow Crash
- most prophetic aspects may not be the technology, but the depiction of a decentralized, post-statist social system
- has de-coupled the notion of land of sovereignty and redefined nations as people linked by values or interests
- posits an atomized, completely de-centralized future
- “Rhizomatic” structure; small, inter-dependent nodes, no central government
The witch remembered initiation like one remembers their first sex; the tension and anxiety before the ordeal, the madness, fear, and doubt throughout, explosions of the mind and self at last as with the realization that no death is greater than the death of ego. But, like sex, these initiations vary in their frequency, and some may come rather unexpectedly.
Metafiction is a (not very) futuristic art form that’s like a cross between a TV show like Lost, and wikipedia. It’s a story that rapidly expands along multiple dimensions through multiple media using content developed by multiple groups of people.
…She’s the best potioner in the city. So you’ve heard. Love potions. Revenge potions. Energizing potions. Baldness potions (giving or curing). Various curse potions.
You have a pedigreed female pet dog (or some other creature) you’d like to breed but she just rolls her eyes at any of the father prospects you’ve introduced her to. So you’ve come for a potion.
The potioner listens to your...
Storyteller is a charming toy by Dan Benmergui. It gives the player three windows onto the same events, a vertical triptych.
http://is.gd/gRby
The player manipulates the first two scenes, moving characters around in a way that indicates their alliances. The third panel reflects the outcome, the result of the player’s manipulations.
1 tag
“So, you too, sir, have seen and heard this spectacle,” said the Arab, laughing...”
– from Jackals and Arabs by Franz Kafka
1 tag
“The Traveller had a quick look at the man. When the Officer was pointing at...”
– from The Penal Colony by Franz Kafka
We march all night, through the mad burgeoning streets, passing the ghosts of slaves and the solid bodies of the limbless and lifeless. The roads seem to curve and meander, split and branch in vain, as if a path to nowhere, this writhing fractal of cobblestone and walls. Traversing it is simply an act of blindly choosing one direction or another, each time making a left where you had previously...
2 tags
Inside, Outside, Upside-down
Outside was pain and strife, cold and wet.
Inside was warm and quiet and the people were nice.
Outside was noisy and confusing and she didn’t know her way.
Inside was familiar and everything was in its place.
Outside was where she was supposed to be.
Inside was where she needed to be.
The Doctor wanted her to go outside.
Her voices wanted her to stay inside.
The Doctor said the voices were...