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RadCap

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I'd love to see the hero you come up with who embodies the virtue of pride!  (The Proud Man?)  The same goes for all of the other cardinal virtues, actually.  Honest Man to the rescue!

Maybe the "virtue" characters could have a name that is name-sounding but is really a synonym for the virtue in either English or a foreign language. Honesty might be a gal named "Verity."

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Ok, turns out the work I thought would consume much of my time this week got pushed to the following week. So I had time to work on the next character. As I said previously, everyone's facination with "Consensus" - specifically her supposed 'hot' looks - prompted me to focus on "Red Herring." Because I wanted to make this difference clear, and had plenty of time in which to do so, you will note that her rendering is of a much higher quality than the rest. I think you will agree, "Consensus" is pretty 'plain' compared to "Red". :rolleyes:

red1.jpg

Quite distracting eh?

You might think she is just another pretty face. But when you look into her eyes, you know something is going on underneath the surface.

red2.jpg

"Red Herring" discovered early in life that men were easily distracted by her beauty. She learned to use her ability to distract them in order to get whatever she wanted. She was thus drawn into modeling at a young age, and by the time she was 25, she was one of the most sought after supermodels in the world. However, the ease in which she was able to distract and deceive others caused her to develop a contempt for most people - reducing them in her eyes to mere pawns - means to her personal ends. And because of her global popularity, there was no end to the number of people willing to be such pawns. This ease at manipulating the contemptible left her with a great sense of enui. Even with all she could acquire, her life was unchallenged and unfulfilled.

Then "Straw Man" entered her life. He was like any other of her fawning audience, writing fan letters which spoke of admiration for her beauty. However, he was different from the rest in one respect. Where others spoke of giving her extravagant gifts (which, because of her popularity, she could get easily from anyone), he spoke of doing forbidden things - criminal things - in her honor. The idea stirred her dulled emotions. She had never before used her abilities to criminal ends.

So she wrote him, instructing him to prove his admiration by actually committing one of these crimes for her. He did, and it caused her a great rush of emotions. For the first time in a long time, she was thrilled at what she could achieve with her manipulations. From that moment on, she was hooked. The criminal life was hers.

Now she is the puppetmaster of numerous other criminal characters (including her ever faithful "Straw Man"), using them as her diversions whenever she has a new goal to achieve. Loyal to none, she holds them in as much contempt as the rest of humanity (though she never shows it to their face). They merely serve as eager fodder to whatever end she finds thrilling. As such, her criminal influence is felt widely, though few realize she is the power behind the villainous acts.

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LOL!!! :) If there was ever a perfect concrete manifestation of "red herring", your model is it!!! She can't possibly be any more distracting. ;):D

I suspect AisA city will be a futuristic (to reflect the immense progress that results from rationality) and very good-looking city, with no ugly, decrepit buildings to "contradict" the tall, beautiful and purposeful skyscrapers (after all, the name of the city is the Law of Identity).

I think you've come up with the most interesting way to teach logic (especially to the general public)--very much unlike the dry, boring liguistic-anylist and meaningless symbolic logic. I think also that it will concretize to a much greater extent the importance and real-life relevance of logical thought.

But I've been wondering, how will the heroes and villains interact? How will they use their super-powers? Surely, I don't think they'll all gather in a giant room and begin an open debate, with the villains using all the typical logical fallacies. :huh:

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RadCap, I continue to be amazed at your drawing skills!

Strangely though, I don't find Red Herring especially beautiful or even distracting. Her evil is showing way too clearly for me to develop any liking of her.

I agree that she may distract people with irrational tastes, though.

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Strangely though, I don't find Red Herring especially beautiful or even distracting. Her evil is showing way too clearly for me to develop any liking of her.

I agree that she may distract people with irrational tastes, though.

She's very distracting for your average Joe. She wasn't meant to distract the Rational Man.

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Oooo. I just had another idea, which will help tie the actions of the stories together and concretize the abstractions very well.

Rational Man is in love. And in each episode, his woman is put in jeopardy - is under assault either directly, or indirectly - by the logical fallacies.

I give you ONE guess as to her name (think about it). ;)

--

I am beginning to wonder if I should continue posting these ideas publically. While I appreciate and enjoy the feedback, I wonder if it is smart to freely distribute the ideas here - or elsewhere (though I have now esentially copyrighted the material by snail mailing a notarized copy of the ideas to myself in a sealed envelope).

--

Concerning the comments:

AisA City is definitely going to look and feel futuristic. I have a definite idea as to its style and look now. Though I cant draw it out yet, because I want to have fleshed out some more ideas. I think its organizational structure may be influenced or represent the different forms of logic - and may have different districts named for different laws of logic etc.

Tom - you are thinking much too concretely when it comes to interactions. No need to sit down and look at chalkboards or diagrams in most instances. Actions and words combined can certainly be used to demonstrate the fallacies of logic and reiterate the proper forms and validation of logic. I may provide examples later.

CF - That is an interesting response. I am curious, what exactly about "Red" shows her evil to you so obviously? :D

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Oooo.  I just had another idea, which will help tie the actions of the stories together and concretize the abstractions very well.

Rational Man is in love.  And in each episode, his woman is put in jeopardy - is under assault either directly, or indirectly - by the logical fallacies.

I give you ONE guess as to her name (think about it). ;)

Rational Man would naturally be in love with...Truth/Verity, Reason?

"Verity" sounds most feminine; however, it makes most sense that Rational Man is in love with Reason. Or she could be Life or Happiness. In love with Life?

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Rational Man would naturally be in love with...Truth/Verity, Reason?

"Verity" sounds most feminine; however, it makes most sense that Rational Man is in love with Reason.

I would say that Rational Man is in love with Reality. ("Truth" gets at that, but reality is the underlying fundamental.)

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Bingo ;)

Logical fallacies are attacks upon the law of identity. And refutations of those fallacies are a defense of the law of identity.

Thus it is perfectly natural that the villians of AisA City assault (directly or indirectly) "Identity" - the girlfriend (or perhaps wife) of Rational Man (after all a rational man is married to identity - binding himself to it, body and soul, and forsaking all others). And it is just as natural that he seeks to defend her against them.

Oh - and because she represents the *Law* of Identity, I suspect I will make her the authority in AisA City - perhaps the Mayor of AisA City. :D

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Radcap, when you first started this, almost two weeks ago, I told you that I thought it was a terrific idea and that it had the makings of a best seller. Now that you are beginning to flesh out the form and some details, I must say that I am even more greatly impressed with your abilities. You really are extremely creative, both in the storylines and in the physical characterizations. I really wish you the best with this project and I look forward to eventually seeing the results of this and any other projects of a like kind.

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Capitalist Forever - I am still curious as to what exactly about Red shows you her evil so obviously.  :)

It is the overall impression, confirmed in just about every detail of her appearance: the way she dresses; her shaggy, asymmetric hair; her black sunglasses and gloves; the expression on her face; her skinny body...She just doesn't look like a woman who enjoys her life and would like to help me enjoy mine.

Sorry for the delay in replying! :)

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What about the "There Is No Spoon Man"? He's the one constantly denying that existence exists, who claims that things aren't what they seem to be, that our perception of the world is subjective and that we do not have the ability to explain this world and that we are deluding ourselves if we think we can.

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Just an update for those who are interested.

In addition to that completely annoying, very time consuming, and completely unrelated task which was defered to this week, I have been reviewing logic in depth - going over the fallacies etc. Specifically I have been listening to Dr. P's lectures - Intro to Logic. His explnanations of the fallacies have given me lots of inspiration - and I now have tons of individuual ideas for the series (and I haven't even finished lecture three - ie not even finished the informal fallacies). Not only that, but I have almost *two entire stories* generally constructed now:

"Ignorantium" and "Ridicule"

Besides their general plots, I even have many of the visual scenes for both established in my head (and on paper). The flesh still has to be put on their bones, so to speak, but things are really progressing. Of course there is still a LOT to do. But I get more excited as I progresss here.

As to overall details, Im sorry to say Ive decided not to share too much more publicly for now - especially as it is related to specific stories. Don't want to spoil the ideas and surprises for everyone. :) ) And because Ive been - and will continue to be - focused more on the idea side of things, I dont have any more visuals for you yet either. I will say, though, some of the characterizations I am imagining should be pretty cool. I think you will enjoy them when I finally render them for you. (That I think I can do without giving away too much - it'll just take time to get there).

So don't worry - you will get to see more here. I still plan on sharing some visuals and more ideas as I progress.

So stay tuned - Same Rational forum - same Rational thread.

;)

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Specifically I have been listening to Dr. P's lectures - Intro to Logic. His explnanations of the fallacies have given me lots of inspiration - and I now have tons of individuual ideas for the series (and I haven't even finished lecture three - ie not even finished the informal fallacies).  Not only that, but I have almost *two entire stories* generally constructed now:

"Ignorantium" and "Ridicule"

I am also listening to Dr. Peikoff's Intro to Logic lectures, it was mostly your ideas that inspired me to brush up on logic, it has been a long time since my debate coaches made sure I knew my fallacies, it is a fun and interesting way to use my commute to work as well. Yesterday, I was listening to Lecture 3 and was really hoping that you were going to do something with "Ridicule", and I am thrilled that you are.

Thanks so much for sharing, this is the best idea I have heard in a long time!

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