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Placebo

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  1. Sci-fi/fantasy Reading Recommendations

    in Fiction

    Posted

    ...That's the best "End of the World" book I have ever read. Of course it doesn't end for the survivors....

    You might also check out Footfall when you are done with that one. It's the book they originally wanted to write.

    And to be environmentally incorrect, Fallen Angels is a great deal shorter (but also has a lot of SF Fandom in-references in it).

    Yes I saw Footfall at the book store today. Looked quite interesting and if I like Lucifer's Hammer I'll buy it for sure.

    Also bought Dan Simmon's 'Hyperion' today after hearing such good things about it.

  3. Sci-fi/fantasy Reading Recommendations

    in Fiction

    Posted

    Heinlein is great. 'Door Into Summer' is one of my favourite books of all time. Quick and easy to read with a couple of great heroes. Moon is a Harsh Mistress is very good as others have said and Double Star was also very good.

    Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury is great.

    Just about to start 'Lucifer's Hammer' by Pournelle and Niven.

  10. The most philosophically bad movies you've ever seen

    in Movies, Shows, and Theatre

    Posted

    Big movie buff here - you guys are attacking some of my favorite films! I don't believe film is supposed to reflect my philosophy to have merit as artwork. I will defend Natural Born Killers and True Romance if pressed.

    I'll jump in the fray with a couple of offenders nonetheless. SPOILERS galore in case you have masochistic tendencies.

    1. The Piano - Talentless woman who noodles on a piano decides to stop speaking for no reason, neglects her sole responsibility as a parent, and is sexually turned on by blackmail and manipulation. Oppress me, please! She gets everything she wants, and then either considers to, or actually does kill herself over that stupid piano.

    2. The Devil's Rejects - the concept of anti-hero is not accomplished here. This family of interchangeable evil is loyal to one another, and the cops are just as evil. I would tell Rob Zombie to stick with music, but I don't want him to do that either. Philosophically - we should probably entertain the exact opposite position to this. We should be disloyal to our family if our family kidnaps, rapes, tortures, and kills. (This is actually my pick for worst film ever.)

    3. Home Alone - Where do I start? You guys probably already know why I picked this one. Feels too laborious to type it all out.

    4. I Am Legend - It was the premonitions of god and gods imposed purpose over Will Smith's character that offends my sense of reason to the core. After I read what the actual message was supposed to be via the novel- that Smith's character was actually an oppressor and kidnapper performing scientific experiments on a sentient being who deserved to be free in her new existence... I yearned that the film had not decided to change that message.

    My brain is busted for now. Gah.

    You can't be serious? Why?

  12. individualistic rock songs

    in Music

    Posted

    Whoever that was that recommended "Live Forever" by Oasis, thanks. Great song.

    Here are some I like:

    "Rose" - A Perfect Circle

    "Stupid Girl" - Pink

    "Battle for the Sun" - Placebo ("You are a cheap and nasty fake, and I am the bones you couldn't break")

    "Slave to the Wage" - Placebo

    "Sing Your Life" - Morrissey

    "The Fight Song" - Marilyn Manson

    "15" - Marilyn Manson ("This time I won't hesitate to kill to protect what I believe in.")

    "Better of Two Evils" - Marilyn Manson

    "Little Boxes" - Malvina Reynolds

    "Here to Stay" - KoRn

    "Alive" - KoRn ("Once I cried, now I wipe away the tears. Once I died, now I'm alive.")

    I guess some of them technically aren't rock songs, but I like 'em anyway and I tried my best not to list tons of rap songs. :P

    Speaking of Placebo, the lead singer Brian had some pretty pro-living, pro-happiness things to say about the new album:

    “We’ve made a record about choosing life, about choosing to live, about stepping out of the darkness and into the light,” explains Brian. “Not necessarily turning your back on the darkness because it’s there, it’s essential; it’s a part of who you are, but more about the choice of standing in the sunlight instead.”

    They're an awesome band.

  13. Getting over ex and her sex

    in Relationships, Love, Sex, Romance

    Posted

    she closed the door on rekindling a romance when i found out after we broke up she'd been getting drunk and got lifts home from strange guys, i could of forgave that but the most recent time she got very drunk and went home with a friend and two guys they just met. she ended up getting robbed by one of the guys and hinted to me he wanted to have sex with her before she fell asleep... she sed she took morning after pill just incase but doesnt recall having sex with him although she felt dirty...

    i couldnt be with her now

    Dude, she clearly can't be trusted and she doesn't value herself if she put herself in such ridiculous situations.

    As harsh as it may sound, there's nothing to gain anymore with being with her but I think you realise that.

    You may find that with time(as cliche as that sounds) you will probably start to think of her less and less. Just give it a while and try to concentrate on other things. Also try to spend time with other people (friends, family) that have a positive influence on your life.

  14. Would it be moral to kill Hitler as a baby

    in Questions about Objectivism

    Posted

    Thanks to the people who've actually answered the question..so about %10 of the posters here.

    Ok JMS, here's a another more realistic scenario, if you like. An innocent/brainwashed man is working at a nuclear missile site in North Korea. He has tripped and is falling right onto the red button that launches nukes at Seoul. You know hundreds of thousands of people will die. You, JMS, happen to be a spy with a sniper gun, and are in the building. Do you shoot this innocent man, knocking his body away from the button and to the floor, preventing the launch sequence? On the one hand, you are killing an innocent man. On the other hand, you are saving hundreds of thousands of innocent lives. I'm asking these preposterous questions because I'm interested to see what parts of utilitarian ideas are rational, even if most of it is bunk.

    But making up ridiculous extreme hypotheticals does not help find out anything about whether an idea is rational or not.

  21. Hi. A little help.

    in Questions about Objectivism

    Posted

    See, that was the problem I was having. I couldn't actually see the contradiction myself and I didn't have VOS with me to look at what parts the guy was talking about. He didn't actually explain his contradiction in the slightest but he went on to use the following points as if they were proof:

    "She shows here that the ultimate value she claims is a necessity, is indeed not one. If it were a necessity to value our own survival we would have to do so, however it is possible to value ones death. She has admitted this here, and has contradicted herself in a formal sense, these values can be claimed to be irrational, but to maintain consistency they need to be impossible to possess. The contradiction here is more evident when we realize that we can value our own death by espousing the virtue of purpose,and pride(imagine a scenario where someone who's purpose in life is to be a parent must choose to save their own life or that of their children), virtues she claims are necessary for survival.

    She also claims that parasitic behaviour is necessarily something which will go against life as the ultimate value of ones life - in VOS she claims that looters ensure their own destruction. Ghengis Kahn would have a thing or two to say about that, he lived a very long life by living off others, so have many others. She essentially claims that parasitic behaviour is by necessity destructive and will result in death, yet when such behavior is required to value one's survival she cannot deny consistently that it is necessarily destructive.She does, and shows how poor her argument is."

  22. Hi. A little help.

    in Questions about Objectivism

    Posted · Edited by GreedyCapitalist
    Duplicate text

    Hi, I'm new to the forum. I'm an objectivism supporter but still learning. A problem I am having however is explaining myself succinctly when debating with someone about Rand's metaphysics and epistemology. An example would be an argument I had with someone recently on an internet forum. He brought up what he thought was a Rand contradiction, here it is:

    1."Let me stress that the fact that living entities exist and function necessitates the existence of values and of an ultimate value which for any given living entity is its own life"

    and

    2."the functions of all living organisms, from the simplest to the most complex – from the nutritive function in the single cell of an amoeba to the blood circulation in the body of a man – are actions generated by the organism itself and directed to a single goal: the maintenance of an organisms life"

    Contradicted by

    3. "If he chooses irrational values, he switches his emotional mechanism from the role of his guardian to the role of his destroyer"

    Now, I asked for the page numbers because it was hard for me to answer without some context behind what else Rand was saying in the paragraph.

    The guy never got back to me so this isn't for the argument but it's for me personally, can someone please dispel this 'contradiction' in a succinct way as I feel I know the answer but just can't put it into words.

    Help would be much appreciated. Thanks guys.

    Rand was saying those quotes just to clarify.

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