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The Meta-Campaign
In the thirty days before the Ninth Anniversary of Only a Game can we get thirty players to return and leave a comment? That's the challenge. Last year, I celebrated the Bronze Anniversary (i.e. eight years) of this blog by revisiting eight classic posts. This year, instead of revisiting posts ...
Congratulations on your imminent progeny, oh Lord of Chaos.
Chaos Upgrade
Apparently, there was an insufficient degree of carnage in my life, so we’ve arranged to escalate the nonsense by an order of magnitude. The level up will be complete around 21st April next year. Our most sincere wish is that this one is a good sleeper!
If it's any comfort, I can think of few people more deserving of obtaining the title than you (none spring to mind). Oh, congratulations by the way.
I'm too deep into revisions of my own to say anything really substantial just now, but well, we'll be in touch soon!
The Strange Case of Doctor Bateman
Last week I had the viva for my PhD by Publication. Although I spent some time preparing for cross-examination, it was not something I'd been particularly worried about, mostly since I'd been utterly slammed with teaching prep, timetable juggling, and even some ill-timed consultation work. Thi...
Welcome back, Chris :-)
Indeed, we're reaching some sort of a consensus, I guess, in the sense that we realise conversation is still happening, but that it is diffuse, often unconnected. Maybe that's how it's always been or how it always seems: it can be difficult to see a tightly knit cluster or network if you're not part of it.
As for tumblr: it's a weird place. It is technically possible to include a comment system on your tumblr, but you have to insert it through CSS in your theme. Many blogs don't bother with it, understandably.
In addition, it is common practice on tumblr to comment by reblogging someone's post and adding your thoughts below the original post. Like replying to an email, but public. In other words, there is definitely a lot of interaction among tumblr users, but the technology doesn't make it super-easy. (That issue again).
Finally, tumblr has become, for whatever reason, a space where minorities of all kinds have been able to carve out a niche (clusters?) for themselves, which is very valuable, in my opinion. I hope that in the wake of the takeover by Yahoo, this will continue to be possible.
After the Volcano
Part of the July Blogs of the Round Table. Over at Critical Distance, it seems that the bloot on the extinction of blogs struck a chord and pushed the conversation further into the corners of the internet. Their BoRT for July, “Blogception”, is a continuation of the themes that began with “The...
Some new musings on the subject, with special reference to the state of videogame blogging: http://www.eveningoflight.nl/subspecie/2013/07/06/the-future-of-videogame-logging/
This is part of this month's theme for Blogs of the Round Table. It seems we kicked something off here.
Bloot Me If You Need Me
In ancient times, when there was something that a tribe or village needed to discuss they called a folk moot, in which all the free members of the community would come together to discuss the matter at hand and decide what should be done. It is from this practice that we get the contemporary p...
Gefeliciteerd! (As we say in Dutch)
Bronze
Today is the eighth birthday of Only a Game - happy Bronze Anniversary to all you players, whether stallwart or new! Here's to the delightful madness we have already shared, and the greater chaos to come. Blogging will be disrupted while I'm away visiting my family on the Isle of Wight, but I'l...
Hi Chris, thanks a lot for the roundup of our discussion - very convenient! I thought I had something more to say about the technological side of things, but I haven't gathered my thoughts properly, so this is it for now.
Cheers!
Bloot Me If You Need Me
In ancient times, when there was something that a tribe or village needed to discuss they called a folk moot, in which all the free members of the community would come together to discuss the matter at hand and decide what should be done. It is from this practice that we get the contemporary p...
Qwallath is now following Chris
May 29, 2013
Et voila: http://www.eveningoflight.nl/subspecie/2013/05/28/on-blogging-online-conversations/
A bit of a rant, but still. :-)
The Extinction of Blogs
Is the community of bloggers destined for extinction? Or is there some small hope of a revival? Sometimes you have no idea why you’re doing something. That’s how it was with me and blogging. I did it because a good and trusted friend advised me that I should be doing it – but I had no idea wha...
Best of luck with your keynote!
Regarding discussion here: it may be that social networks are slurping up too much time for people to invest in conversation here. Perhaps a more aggressive reminder strategy on your part, encouraging people to read and comment on Only a Game, may pull some back? \
Then again, maybe that isn't your style? I know it isn't mine.
Off to Philosophy at Play
I’m away this week giving my first ever philosophy keynote (level up!) for Philosophy at Play at the University of Gloucestershire, so I won’t have time for anything more substantial on the blogs this week. I am making my way through the manuscript for Chaos Ethics, and hope to resume blogging ...
Whoohoo! Thanks, Chris. As you know, I'm really looking forward to reading your exploration of ethics and alignment in D&D.
Winner, and Last Chance to Win
By the throw of a D6 the second winner in the Spring Review Drive is Oscar Strik. Congratulations to Oscar, who admittedly stacked the deck in his favour with a whopping four review submissions. A signed copy of Dungeons and Dragons and Philosophy will be on its way to the Netherlands shortly. O...
Did people have this issue when they wrote letters to each other? I haven't studied the habits of prolific letter writers, but how many really regular correspondents did they have, could they manage?
Would you have to narrow down your 'consumption' of blogs to get back to a deeper interaction with those that are left, and if so, how to decide who?
To Google or Not To Google
Back to thinking about deleting my Google+ account. Trying to establish if my problem is with G+ or with Google itself - and if the later, can I muster the will to disassociate myself with all their products or not? Disengaging from G+ feels like copping out if my problem is really with the big ...
Congratulations, you've earned your *DING*!
Level Up! Author of Philosophy Books (Plural)
Yes, today is the official publication date for The Mythology of Evolution, so I get to level up once again – hurrah! Also: the Kindle ebook version of the book is now on sale, as follows: Amazon.com, $9.35 Amazon.co.uk £5.76 Enjoy your weekends when you get there!
I share your views in this matter, and that final quote by Carney sums it up nicely.
However, I'd be interested in your views looking at this phenomenon from another angle: Why do you deliberate provocation of this kind seems so popular among certain members of our society?
I always have a pet theory about insecurity about Western secular identity leading to a perverse focus on the flaws of other ethnic groups, but I'm not sure if it would apply in this case. I haven't tried to apply it yet in any thorough sense.
Iconoclash and Racist Cartoons
Is the iconoclast responsible for the reactions to their defiant acts? On this, as with so many contemporary issues, those who act with the greatest certainty are all too often the furthest from moral innocence. Once again, the French press has used freedom of speech as their excuse for publis...
The way I see it, there are a couple of problems that haunt troublemakers on any side of the spectrum:
a) Overgeneralisation of observations and analyses. This is behind much of the scapegoating and bigotry we see in the world.
b) Unwillingness to empathise with 'the enemy'. This might be a result of a). If your mind about the other (overgeneralised) is already made up, the easier it becomes to hate.
There are probably a ton of factors I am ignoring, but these always scream in my face.
My personal problem is: what do I do about it, apart from striving not to fall into the same traps? Is it at all possible to curtail the above tendencies in people? This ambition entails a belief in a certain degree of human malleability, but that in itself can spawn political monstrosities.
Alternatively, do we simply accept the hollowness and hatred in our politics, and 'ride the tiger', to paraphrase a not wholly savoury Italian thinker?
The Empty Cries of Rebellion
Everyone sees something that must be fought, but thus far our rebellion has been scarcely more than a shouting match. Can we find something worth fighting for, or just convenient bad guys to blame for all our mutual problems? Although I am a lover of those who tilt at windmills, I find it trag...
I'm always relieved when I read a message like this. A good friend of mine fell down his stairs two years ago and never got up again :(
So here's to your health, and your son's!
Falling Down the Stairs
No blogs this week on account of an accident on the staircase this morning. I was carrying my 18-month son down for his morning milk when I slipped and slid on my back all the way down to the ground floor. Soren is fine, thankfully – I held him tightly to my chest – but I’ve taken quite a few hi...
Oh, and tangentially, this: < http://www.wikipaintings.org/en/rene-magritte/the-masterpiece-or-the-mysteries-of-the-horizon-1955 >.
Strange Horizons
What is the simple and enigmatic power of this thin line dividing the sky above from the world below? How do we understand the boundaries of our perception? And what strange horizons split us away from each other, ourselves, and our futures? I grew up on the Isle of Wight, a thirty mile wide r...
Just beautiful, Chris. Thanks.
Strange Horizons
What is the simple and enigmatic power of this thin line dividing the sky above from the world below? How do we understand the boundaries of our perception? And what strange horizons split us away from each other, ourselves, and our futures? I grew up on the Isle of Wight, a thirty mile wide r...
As a Dutchman and ex-daily frequenter of Amsterdam, I accept your apology on behalf of the city and its visitors.
I would be less likely to forgive you if I pictured you as the sort of loud Brit who is out with the lads to Amsterdam to abuse the local prostitutes as well as our hospitality. ;-)
But seriously, it's a difficult issue, and it reminds me of the following podcast in which the issue of drug use as part of spiritual practice came up. < http://www.occultofpersonality.net/membership/altar-of-burnt-offering >
Personally I see little moral problems with the use of drugs in itself, as long as you can honestly say to yourself that you believe it is very unlikely you will cause harm to yourself or other as a result. I guess this falls closely under the header of Consequentialism.
What you get out of using drugs and if it's worth it to yourself is another question. I guess I would agree with Hume and Kant that a bit of alcohol in whatever form can be conducive to pleasant company, though not essential, of course.
Getting Wasted (A Moral Question)
Contains discussions of drug use that some readers of a sensitive disposition may find offensive. A famous adage, often erroneously ascribed to the philosopher Bertrand Russell, states that ‘the time you enjoy wasting is not time wasted’. But what of the time you enjoy being wasted? The ethics...
Read the first two chapters and enjoying your perspective immensely so far. I'll post some thoughts on the book on my blog when I'm done and find the time. Thanks for sharing the PDF!
The Mythology of Evolution – PDF available!
The publisher has delivered the final proofs of The Mythology of Evolution, which is now available for reviewers! If you are a book reviewer, an academic, or a blogger, you can email me to ask for a copy of the PDF for review. (If you don’t have my email address, use the Contact link on ihobo....
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