Jump to content
Objectivism Online Forum

themadkat

Regulars
  • Posts

    714
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    1

Everything posted by themadkat

  1. That is a strange, albeit intriguing, way of looking at it. I too have always been a "tomboy". When I was little I thought there was a mistake and I was supposed to be a boy, not a girl. Since then I've realized that the error lay not in that I should have been a boy, but that I accepted assumptions about what came with being a boy vs. being a girl that I should have rejected. I would never say I am not "fully" female, whatever that means. All my bits are in order, and I'd like to keep it that way. Although it might be interesting to have a schlong for a day or two, just to see what it does (I would probably think pissing for distance was the greatest thing ever), I'm quite pleased with my anatomy just as it is over the long haul. So female isn't the issue, but it's this "woman" business I have a problem with. Or perhaps "lady" is a more accurate way to describe that which I don't feel I could ever/would want to be. Society's conception of a woman's role has never fit me, and to be perfectly honest I chafe at many people on this board's conception of what a woman should be or is, especially in areas of romance. Hero-worship has never come anywhere near the way I experience romance. I don't need to search out some great hero in my life - all I need to do is look in the mirror and I'm in good shape. I don't want a protector/provider either. In fact, I seem to fall more naturally into those roles myself. From the start I've wanted a life-partner (when I've wanted anyone at all), someone who shares my interests and passions and can stand on equal footing with me and look me straight in the eye. I want a person who respects me and who I can respect and who I can devote myself to who I know will absolutely, 100%, have my back. Fortunately for me I have such a person. And for the record, "ah ain't a queer". I likes me some menfolk, and have ever since I can remember being interested in anyone at all, around 12 or 13. And the menfolk have always displayed a fondness for me as well, when they weren't terrified of me. As my guy always says, "Man, do you know how great it is to have a girlfriend who not only loves football, but understands it too?" These issues of biological sex, gender (whatever the hell that really means anyway), and sexuality (orientation) need to be disentangled from one another as they are only somewhat related, as far as I can see. Some people seem to want to lump them all together into one discussion and that seems to me a recipe for missing the point.
  2. Ayn Rand was wrong on that one. Happens. And while she may have thought homosexual acts disgusting, she certainly didn't seem to have a problem with individual homosexuals, as one of her best friends was gay (her husband Frank's older brother Nick). Anyways, I think that the argument of what "causes" homosexuality entirely misses the point. While I believe it is true that people's orientation is more likely "hard-wired" than not, I think I would have the same opinion of it if it were a totally voluntary choice moment-to-moment and everyone's sexuality was malleable (I think most agree, however, that is not the case). Whether it is voluntary and whether it is desirable/acceptable are separate issues.
  3. I didn't think anyone was using it to argue against rational self-interest. Also, an evolutionarily stable strategy does exist in nature - any behavior that persists in a population long-term and increases the fitness of its practicioners could be an ESS. The key is, these concepts are not meant to describe human interaction necessarily. The original application of game theory to ecology was to answer the question, "How could cooperative behavior evolve and persist (in non-human animals) if those who cooperate risk a fitness penalty against those that would take advantage of a cooperation?" This is geared towards describing patterns in vampire bats, or ground squirrels, not people.
  4. An evolutionarily stable strategy is a strategy that can persist in a population despite the intrusion of competing strategies. It doesn't have to be the "best", or "win", it just has to persist given the current conditions. Obviously it's a very context-dependent thing - no strategy is going to be stable and persist in all times and all conditions. It can also be a frequency-dependent phenomenon, as erikatrka was explaining (got what you were saying now, thanks). I don't know that there is such a thing as an evolutionarily stable equilibrium, unless you mean a population where the frequency of alleles is not changing, which is always going to be a temporary thing. That would be something along the lines of a Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, which is really just a useful hypothetical that doesn't actually occur in the real world.
  5. But if that were the case, you would no longer have an evolutionarily stable strategy, and cooperation will disappear from that population. Unless what you're saying is, the environment may change later to make cooperation favorable again, or it is a frequency-dependent strategy and will become less successful if the proportion of cheaters gets too high.
  6. My fellow and I met and befriended on the internet by happy accident. Objectivism had nothing to do with it, but Xena might have LOL My mate is actually not Objectivist at all (you could say I'm not either) and doesn't like Rand anywhere near as much as I do. But he's got a general commitment to reason and individuality just like I do, so, good enough.
  7. Just a point of clarification on this puzzle: both 'prisoners' are supposed to know all the facts about the payoffs of the various options, but the reason they are separate is so they cannot coordinate their actions. Each makes his choice independently and without knowledge of what the other is doing. The reason that the only "rational" choice for the individual is to rat is because if you rat, the two possible outcomes for you are no sentence or five years, whereas if you do not rat the two possible outcomes for you are six months or ten years. Even though it is more likely you will be serving the five years if you rat (unless you get lucky and the other guy is a sucker), if you stay silent you are almost certain to get burned. If anyone is interested though, that solution only holds for a single instance of this scenario. They have put this model into a computer with various other values for the outcomes (in my bio class we did it as "points" where by cooperating each gets three, by defecting each gets one, and when one defects on the other the defector gets 10 and the other gets 0) and the best strategy over the long haul, according to the computer simulation, is called the tit-for-tat strategy. You open by cooperating, and then just do whatever the other person did to you last time. That strategy and its variants win. Game theory and its related mathematical models are very important in the study of how cooperative behavior can arise through evolution.
  8. I think that especially in the younger folks, people who are finding themselves, sometimes you have to find out what feels wrong before you can make a serious attempt at seeking out what's right. A 16-year-old shouldn't necessarily be expected to be holding out for their "true love", and I think you can have a healthy sexual experience with someone you perhaps like, or like a whole lot, but don't necessarily love. Alternatively, you may think you love someone, but then realize that what you are feeling is not love and that love is something else. I think sex can help in this discovery process. But I think it is really important for teens to learn how to stick to safe and healthy sex. If I could convey one overarching message to teens, even more than just "use condoms", I would say "alcohol and sex do not mix". Note: I am not advocating that all teens "sow their wild oats". Some people may have no interest in this and that's fine. I never did. But some people may learn best by trying things out and then saying, "Hey, you know what, I want more than this." On the other hand, promiscuous 30somethings need to grow up. Also, something that bothers me about our culture is that some social circles almost suggest it's not cool to care about the person you're sleeping with (generally the same ilk that asserts it's not cool to care about anything at all...) There was actually a recent article about this in the New York Times by their young romance columnist. He basically admitted that now that he'd like to care about someone, he almost doesn't know how because he's gone out of his way not to care to this point. Brilliant.
  9. Well hell, I'm game. General: Profession (current or intended): Graduate student in Biological Anthropology, intending to be a researcher/professor Fields of interest: biology but specifically behavioral ecology, philosophy, synthesizing broad knowledge bases Talents: You're going to make me list but a few? Seriously, though, I dabble in a bit of everything, but don't often put the time in to become really good. The exception would be my academic career which I am very serious about. But I am also athletic, playing several sports, sing and play several instruments, write fiction and nonfiction, and even draw a little. Also, are video games a talent? Hobbies: OK, video games would be a hobby. See "talents" above. I would also add spending entirely too much time on the computer counts as a hobby for me. Favorite music and why: I like most of what would be considered "rock". I'm not sure what song/group would count as my favorite. Religion: Yeah right. Temper: Is this like temperament? Or anger-type temper? I have a really bad temper and am always struggling against violent tendencies. Suppose.... You know somebody wants you. Do you: like them more because they must be good people if they like you, but cautiously because I don't tend to be trusting. Someone somehow arranged for you to be exposed naked in front of a lot of people. How would you feel? What will you do? Oh crap, where's my pants??? Some friend would think you are a terrible person if you date his ex-girlfriend. How would you feel? What will you do? We would need to talk about it. I want to know why this person wouldn't want me to date the ex and on what basis they think it makes me terrible. If they persisted in irrational reasoning I would probably have to reevaluate the friendship. Nobody liked you anymore: Would you search for what is wrong with you, with them, or both? which one first (if both)? This is a toughie. I've dealt with this a lot. The closer someone is to me and the more I care about them the more I search for what is wrong with me that is making this valued person treat me this way. However if I do eventually conclude it was them all along I get very angry with that person for treating me unjustly. Now, if it is strangers, I just shrug and figure they're morons who can't handle me. Your boss asks you to do something irrational, like writing a summary based on wrong premises. What would you do? I would probably try to reason with my boss and explain why he is incorrect. Maybe he just doesn't know? If he forced me to do it anyway, I would do it as best I can considering it's not really possible to do it right, and if this sort of thing was a regular event I'd be finding a way to leave that job ASAP. You can get a raise by sucking up to your boss (or teacher). What would you do? Yeah, but I can get a raise by being a better worker too. I don't mind taking steps to get my good work noticed by a superior, but that to me isn't sucking up, it's advocating for yourself. I would never "suck up" in the traditional sense to anyone. A friend asks you how her new dress looks like, and you think it is ugly. What will you answer? I'd probably make fun of her. I tend to have friendships where we freely dog on each other and can be honest. What kind of friend would I be if I let her traipse around in public like that without even knowing how terrible she looked? You are invited to participate on a one day trip in a hot-air-balloon, NOW, today, with people you don't know but who seem trust worthy. What will you do? Oh boy, hot air balloon! Can I fiddle with the controls? A not-so-close-friend wants to set you up on a blind date, with someone he thinks suits you. Will you go? Why? I don't really do blind dates. If they want me to meet someone I'll meet them but I won't make a "date", we'll just hang out and talk perhaps. You see your dream man/woman on the street while driving, you exchange looks. Will you make a u-turn ASAP and ask his/her number, or keep on driving? Why? Er, there's no way I could tell my dream guy just by looking at him. I can't even decide if I like someone unless I talk to them a bit. If he's really someone who's going to be important in my life, I'll probably run into him somewhere else. Someone you met was calling you a lot and asking to meet and talk with you frequently. If they really like me they must be someone special BUT this would really depend on how I felt about them before they started calling a lot etc. If we were getting along great I would probably be really happy, but if we were barely acquaintances I would question why this person is spending so much energy on me. You wanted to know if someone likes you. Would you: Try to find out in an indirect way. If I liked someone but wasn't sure how they felt I would probably spend a bit of time with them doing something where you really interact with the other person, and see what the dynamic was like. If I felt good about it I might ask outright. I would also try to show them how I felt by the way I was acting, but I would not go overboard and advertise it. (give score from 0-10 to each possible answer): How do you choose which movies you want to go see? look at reviews 5/ ask friends 8/ read the summary 7/ decide according to actors 3/ decide according to director 1 Which paintings do you usually prefer? Scenery nature 7/ scenery man-made 5/ scenery: combination of man-made and nature 9/ human beings looking at the viewer, or facing the viewer 8/ human beings with their back to the viewer 6 I should note that my favorite type of art isn't listed. I prefer paintings/drawings that convey a sense of story, with someone doing something, where you feel like it's just a snapshot of a great moment Rate significance of the following character traits: Honesty 9, Selfishness 8, integrity 8, independence 10, intelligence 9, productivity 6, self-discipline 8, humor 9, optimism 5, directness 7, assertiveness 8, refusal to compromise 7, beauty 4, critical thinking 10, self-acquaintance 8, creativity 9, politeness 3, passion for certain things 8. To know someone, you need to: listen to what they say 7/ look at their eyes 8/ look at their actions 10/ expressions and body language 9/ learn about their past 8 Upon meeting a new person I... Try to make them like me by doing things I think they would like 3/ try to learn as much as possible about them 6/ tell them the things I'm proud of so they would want to stick around 6/ doing things they might find insulting to see how well they deal with it 8/ reveal personal details about myself to see if they would like me for me 8/ do unconventional things to see if they would frown at it 6/ do everything in the conventional, normal way to not scare them off 1 Knowledge in the following subjects is important Psychology 5/ philosophy 6/ economics 8/ law 5/ general sciences 9/ history 8/ your own self 10/ current events 7/ other (specify) Even though some things are more important to know than others I really think all knowledge is worth pursuing if you get the chance More general questions: Your opinion of purely physical sex: Even though I have never done it I know I have the capacity to enjoy it. However, the frame of mind I would have to be in to find it valuable is not a healthy state of mind for me and REALLY not good for the person I'd be with. Do you usually Take someone else with you to shop for clothing? Why/ why not? I rarely shop. Occasionally I will take someone with me to hang out and talk but I am just as likely to decide I need something, pop in and grab it alone, and leave. Opinion about Revenge: I am frequently tempted to take sweet, dark revenge on those who have wronged me or those I love. I would be the first to admit I probably devote too much energy to such thoughts. How long does it take, in your view, to know someone thoroughly? Define thoroughly. I think it really depends on the circumstances in which you meet them. I think during periods of rapid life change and acclimation, or extreme circumstances, you can get to know someone well very quickly, especially if you care about them. However, I also believe there are other levels of knowing someone that only become apparent after you have known someone over a period of years. Beware of anyone you can know completely in a short amount of time, because there ain't much there. Paintings of fairies, are: magical and pretty, BUT it has to be a GOOD painting Paintings with an overall blur, or big blurry parts: Every time I see a painting which is blurry in parts I feel compelled to try to wipe the smudge away so I can see what's going on, even though clearly it doesn't work that way. Spending a day laying in the sun on the beach is: Sounds like fun, but I'd rather be in the water swimming The main reason you work is for: I always promised myself I would only engage in a career for the love of the work. If your emotion tells you one thing but your reason tells you another, and you have to decide which one to act on, RIGHT NOW, would probably choose: Well, I was going to say reason, but then I realized the answer is a little more complicated. If it has to do with something on which I have done a lot of thinking and am confident in my conclusions but I knew for whatever reason I had this emotional reaction standing in the way, I would obviously choose reason. But if it's a brand new situation and I'm not quite sure about it I think I might go with my gut, and this is why. Good and proper reasoning can take time, and you have to check your premises. Obviously I can and do make snap judgments based on the facts at hand but the most reliable answers are found through careful introspection. In a conflict situation I might rush my reasoning and hence do it poorly. I believe that I am mature enough that my emotions can be a reliable indicator of my values. Now, that said, any decision made in the moment based on emotion needs to be examined later, in a calmer moment, to figure out whether it was correct and take steps to right any mistakes if it was incorrect. When I need to know if something is moral, I: Think for myself until I get the answer, even if it burns my brains out. I usually treat better: old, close friends But admittedly sometimes I treat them worse too. They get both my highs and lows because I am more honest and open with them. People deserve my respect: to the extent that they are good I enjoy people, who in their temperament: are more like me, BUT some differences are definitely desirable. If faced with an identical copy of myself I am not sure whether we would take over the world together or kill each other. After a first date, is it possible that you ever (under full sobriety): have sex with your date? I would never say it is completely impossible, but the chances are so slim as to be negligible. Also, it depends on the definition of first date. If it is a longstanding friend who I have recently become romantic with, then the chances are much better than if it is someone I just met. For those who said "yes" to the question above: Will you consider your date cheap for sleeping with you right on your first date? I'm far more concerned with how I will feel about myself, but I would probably also wonder how many other people they've done that with and as a result how can they see me as different/special If someone you are interested in doesn't call you, will you: call them yourself and ask them out What is more important: I believe it is more important and more useful to think and reason well, but it is important for one to own one's emotional responses and really feel them, for better or for worse - to do otherwise is self-denial and a kind of cowardice. Do you identify a man of virtue by: Their achievements, with the understanding that I have a broad definition of achievement If someone has a lot of friends it means that: I'm really not sure. I'm extremely distrustful of those who cultivate a wide circle of acquaintances and must be "social". Also mere compatibility is not enough, to be close friends with someone requires time and shared experiences. Otherwise they are just a potential friend or someone you feel friendly towards. There are only so many hours in a day - how many really good friends can one person make time for? Which is more important: Happiness, but it has to be a response to something real. When you're in a lecture of some sort and you have a question do you: Ask the teacher in front of the whole class (when it is allowed) When you are playing against someone and they beat you: Get frustrated and upset because someone is better than you, and if the game is nontrivial I will strive to win next time. When you no longer like someone you were in touch with, do you: Depends how close we were. The more I cared about the person the more I will try to make them understand how I feel and why. If it was really casual though, I would probably just ignore them. What makes something personal for you? Somehow, some way, in some sense I can clearly understand, it is mine.
  10. This is why I never feel guilty that I have federally subsidized student loans (government paid the interest while I was in school), nor that we as a family accepted state aid for my sister's disability.
  11. Gonna have to disagree with you here K-Mac. Government or no government both lenders and borrowers made incredibly poor decisions and ignored most of the fundamentals of economics. It isn't rocket science for someone to know better than to buy more house than they can afford, or not to lend an amount of money to someone that, based on their income and credit history, there is very little chance of them repaying. Both borrowers and lenders were more or less counting on the housing market to keep going up at bubble rates forever, a completely irrational expectation. All markets experience cycles and prices will go both up and down. It is rational to expect that over the long term markets will steadily rise as more real-world value is created and traded. But at any given time there is no guarantee of the value of a volatile asset. This is all made even more complicated by the fact that the mortgages were then packaged and repackaged as various securities which were then traded on the open market. Investors are still trying to figure out who actually bore the risk/loss from the crisis because it isn't entirely clear who owns the liability at this point, even months later.
  12. Saw it. Loved it. Although I did get irate when one of my friends used a line from the movie against me (a liberal relativist buddy) - "Behold, the atheist who believes in God!" That was, in the movie, the reporter to the defense lawyer.
  13. They can't uncap the Social Security payroll tax, because the payout when you're old is directly correlated to the amount you pay in. They could never afford to uncap it and then face paying millionaires all that money back. If they changed the system so that the payout was no longer proportional to what you pay in, they would have to admit that it is straight out welfare for the old instead of continuing to pretend that it is government-sponsored retirement savings.
  14. I think a state should be able to make its own laws and policies so long as none of them contradict the United States Constitution (in other words, no state may pass laws abridging citizens' rights to speak, assemble, speedy trial, etc). It's one of the reasons we have the various state governments instead of one giant blob of a nation. I also think it's a good idea to allow the states to be something of a showcase for the "marketplace of ideas" so that people can see practically what succeeds and what fails. Of course this is all predicated on the notion that every state has the right of free entrance/exit.
  15. I understand what you mean about having a difficult time letting things go in other people. What I eventually concluded for myself is that they're just not worth it and, just like with me, the best lessons in life are figured out yourself, and those are the things that really stay with you. If a person honestly makes the effort to find the good and the true in this world, they will. Until they make that choice their own there is really no helping them. You need to focus on your highest value, you. It's one thing if you are very close to someone and you see them hurting themselves and they ask for your help. Then I think it's almost a failing not to give it your best shot. But strangers on the street? Forget it man. They're just the herd and they always will be. I do think skating is an art form. It is a method of expression, like something I dearly love, music. About the most I can do on a board is go and MAYBE ollie on a good day. I have a lot of respect and appreciation for people who can skate beautifully, who can make me feel what they are feeling just by watching them. I watch someone like Tony Hawk and I am so inspired by how much he loves his life and how that comes across. I'm not even a huge skating fan. But I know good when I see it. Don't worry about your job. For the past year and a half I've been working at a job that I actually sort of enjoyed for a while until the people just became intolerable (mostly my peers and superiors, not my direct reports so much). You do what you have to do. When I first got my supervisor position I thought to myself, "Wow, you know, I can really make some great changes around here and since I'm not looking to build a career here I don't have to worry so much about the consequences of going against the status-quo." And I put a lot of effort into that. And while some good came of it, at this point I have much more realistic conceptions of the maximum my actions can really achieve. Now, I'm leaving my job for my real career in just 2 months, and that's exciting. But sometimes just a job takes a while. It's good that you aren't walking away as easily anymore. Sometimes you do have to stay in that rock quarry for awhile, or in my case that cubicle. (Ever seen Office Space? My office is so much like that movie that many of the workers recognize it and openly compare it.) You seem self-directed and that's a great start. I think you'll be just fine.
  16. I have a bad habit of staring when guys do that. It's because the male anatomy intrigues me. Part of it is sexual but part of it is also just, "Hey, I don't have that, that's kind of cool, I want to investigate". A certain intimate male in my life has literally given me the "hey my face is up here" speech a couple times LOL But the thing is, he finds boobs fun and interesting whereas I'm just like "eh, they're attached, I deal with them everyday, they're not that great"
  17. I saw it as more along the lines of if everyone here is determined to ignore your virtues and punish you for the good you do, you should get out and go to a place where you will be treated justly.
  18. It is an interesting question. I can see no real-world reason why the price of oil has gone up THIS high. Demand (in the US) has actually gone down some as people try to use less.
  19. I'm amused by the fact that I've achieved over half this list. And I'm not even a man! Most of them seem OK.
  20. I minored in Philosophy in addition to my Biology degree. That worked out pretty well.
  21. I need to second Equilibrium being a fantastic movie. I really enjoyed it. I especially liked the part where we find out his son and daughter don't take their medicine either but they have been doing such an amazing job of faking that they fooled the father into thinking they were basically spying on him.
  22. My friends who grew up in such neighborhoods. And by "barely even come", I mean that they'll show up when they get around to it, long after the shooting's stopped or they could have possibly helped anyone. Basically after the point where they might possibly have to do anything because it's a "blighted neighborhood". Shoot, I know some neighborhoods like that where they aren't even that bad! My coworker lives in a little development in an otherwise tourist-trap town. Because some bad stuff (unrelated to her) happens in her project, she says when she calls for any kind of services, be they municipal, utilities, etc. good luck getting them to come on time, if at all. People in bad neighborhoods get crapped on and that's a fact.
  23. I live in NH (moved here for college, not the FSP) and it's quite nice. I'm leaving soon but I'd love to come back here someday.
  24. I think a false alternative is being presented here. Taking out Saddam Hussein is in NO way equivalent to the military actions we have taken in Iraq. I do believe the US, or anyone else, would be entirely justified in killing Saddam Hussein, but that is a whole different animal than making war on a whole country and slaughtering thousands of their citizens who did nothing, as well as needlessly putting our soldiers in harm's way. If anyone can explain to me why the trillions of dollars we have pissed away on this moronic endeavor could not have been saved but for the price of one bullet from one talented sniper, I'll be amazed. Yes, Saddam was a piece of human waste. I don't think anyone will seriously argue that having him gone is a bad thing. But we could have popped him, left, and saved a whole lot of lives. This war business is nonsense and a pure waste. Even the guys who've been over there know it. I've talked to enough of them, they get how they've been gamed. It's a damned disgrace to this country.
  25. Whoa whoa whoa! Slow down there, cowboy. "Relationship broken, add more committment" is a time-tested formula...it's tested to fail every time. You need to work out whatever's going on BEFORE you throw yourself into anything. I reiterate my previous point that she must demonstrate a willingness to work at this relationship too or nothing you do will succeed. And I'm a woman too, so I don't think the above necessarily holds from a "girl's perspective".
×
×
  • Create New...