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RadCap

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Here's a self-portrait:

:nerd:

Notice the big eyes, Betsy. Though sometimes I look more like this:

:D

"Instead of the darkness in a lot of series, I want this to be a brightly lit place."

Good call.

Speaking of bright and colorful art, check out this guy's work. I really like it:

http://alexanderchen.com/

You can tell the artist loves to see people enjoying themselves, and admires architecture.

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Hey, A Rob. Remember me? :D

Interesting concept. I have some points to make, though...

1) On the subject of weapons, give the guy a gun and some decent fighting skills, and let him be open about it. And I don't mean a ray-gun; give him a real iron slug-thrower. There's too much anti-gun sentiment among role-models these days; if it's rational to use force in self-defense, then "Rational Man" should embody this. Certainly the character should not be able to solve all (or even most) of his problems through force, but you can't always reason your way out of a fight either.

2) I disagree about needing a mask. First off it's an armor issue; if this guy is going to regularly be getting into the kind of trouble that requires bullet-proof clothing, why would he *not* want a bullet-proof helm? If his brain is supposed to be his most valuable asset, why is it also his least-protected one?

Second, a rational man *does* often have things to hide from his enemies. Would you publicly announce that you had evaded your taxes, or that you were an under-cover cop while you were investigating murderous criminals? It would be suicidal. The "mild-mannered professor by day" schtick will not fly if every two-bit hood that he crosses can know exactly who he is and where to find him (and his friends and family), unless he just never leaves an enemy alive (this *is* geared towards children, right?). And *then* he should have trouble with the authorities...

3) While you may not want multiple super-heroes, a good supporting cast of non-super allies (ethical businessmen, scientists, politicians, etc.) would help fill in a lot of gaps. Instead of just bringing in a corrupt politician, for example, you could contrast him against an ethical one to show how politicians are *supposed* to behave, giving kids a positive concrete example. And how is it that Rational Man can afford those cool wrist-computers? Maybe a wealthy businessman is bank-rolling him (giving you oppourtunities to show what a great thing riches can be in the right hands). And of course, it gives our hero more people to protect...

4) Have you ever heard the name "Macgyver?" It was a popular television series two or three decades ago centered around a character of the same name. He was basically an altruist who ran around helping people (the show's ethical and political stances were often horrible) and he refused to ever use a gun (stupid, considering all the trouble he got into with murderously-inclined bad guys).

None-the-less, if you want your hero to solve his problems through the application of science and technology, it's worth watching a few episodes for inspiration because the character is a scientific and mechanical genius. Without weapons or decent fighting skills he always has to overcome obstacles through the use of brains and technological improvisation. Your character could be like a Macgyver done right.

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IC - sorry, but I do not remember you.

Concerning your points and suggestions:

1. Rational Man will have an assortment of weapons - and defenses. Whether he carries all of them at all times is not likely. What he will carry at any given moment has yet to be determined. Since this is the future, there is no reason for weapons to be limited to simple metal slugs though. Hand held weapons can include heat seeking and dna seeking micro-rockets, as well as odd-tipped weapons.

While weapons will be useful, since the primary focus of the series is fallacies, physical combat will be secondary - and in some cases unnecessary.

2. - With all his other defenses (including his laurels), he has no need for cumbersome headgear.

As to needing to hide is identity

"Second, a rational man *does* often have things to hide from his enemies."

Not in a rational society - like AisA City. Reason only needs to hide when the law is against it. And that is not the case in AisA City. ;)

"Would you publicly announce that you had evaded your taxes, or that you were an under-cover cop while you were investigating murderous criminals?"

Taxes? In AisA City? LOL! Oh - and Rational Man engages the irrational directly and publicly. It is the irrational man who must hide, not the rational. As such, he does not do 'under-cover' work at all.

"The "mild-mannered professor by day" schtick will not fly if every two-bit hood that he crosses can know exactly who he is and where to find him (and his friends and family), unless he just never leaves an enemy alive (this *is* geared towards children, right?). And *then* he should have trouble with the authorities..."

Every two-bit hood is easily taken care of by AisA City's capable Police Force. It is the extraordinary irrationals who Rational Man must face - along with those who fall prey to their illogic. As to finding him and his family, Identity has always been a target of the irrational. By being plainly visible, he draws some of that danger away from her.

Put simply, he does not hide his rationality. He uses it properly and proudly.

THAT is what you teach children - to stand UP to the irrational, not hide from it.

3. There will definitely be a good supporting cast - of friends and businessmen and scientists and teachers, etc. Who knows - amongst them, we may even see some of the origins for the Virtues.

As to how Rational Man affords all this science, I have already decided on an alternative - though I do not wish to elaborate upon it now.

4. Seen MacGuyver. Again, since the focus is logical fallacies, gimmicks etc will be secondary to showing what is wrong with the fallacy and why.

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Hey RadCap, I love this whole idea. It looks outstanding. I think you should rename the title of this thread, though---I just read it today on a whim. I bet a lot of forum members have no idea what it's about (as I didn't), but would love it just as much as the rest of us.

Keep up the good work.

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  • 1 month later...
I haven't had the time to post much lately, because of events in RL.  However, I thought I'd share the bit of web work Ive done for the Rational Man project.

http://www.rationalman.net/index.html

The website looks very professional, nice job so far! I went there expecting something undeveloped and was pleasantly surprised.

Also, I don't think I've commented on any of your previous posts, so I'd like to mention that I really like the idea and wish you the best with it.

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The website looks great. This thread and the site have made me quite eager to see this project when it is completed. I have purchased Peikoff's "Introduction to Logic" course to prepare myself for it, however I expect the course to have a broader applicabilty as well :D .

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 4 years later...

This is quite a bump (4 years!) but it had to be done. I am planning on writing some sort of objectivst themed superhero story. Because of that, I was looking around the forums for stuff about superheroes and how members felt about them. Then, I stumbled on to this thread. After 6 pages all I can say is WOW, this entire idea is absolutely fantastic. However, the link for http://www.rationalman.net does not work. I would really like to know what became of this.

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  • 5 months later...

You've got this stitched up so tight that I can add nothing. If I weren't having such fun reading it. for the first time in my life, I'd know what it means to be eaten up with Envy:)

Captain Copper? Getting a bit...erm...Frisco, aren't we?

I think Ragnar was meant to be a Viking more than a priate. It's amazing how such a brutal and vicious people became so ramanticized.

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