Re: virus: Re:virtuality

Alex Williams (thantos@decatl.alf.dec.com)
Fri, 3 Jan 1997 10:25:41 -0500 (EST)


> Hehe, that's a very cynical attitude :) Isn't America supposed to be the
> "land of the Free"?

Actually, that's just a bad translation from the Sioux. It was
intended to be "Land of the Expensive Speeding Ticket" but some of the
words didn't exist yet.

> That's utterlay outrageous !!! Proves a lot about politicians doesn't it?
> I don't know what the reaction was like where you are, but if that happened
> here, there'd be every form of civil liberties group having a field day :)

Oh, there was a little hoopla, but I don't think it /surprised/ anyone
and I don't think it really sponsored any action. We're getting
pretty prima facia cynical over here ...

> That is a possibility. Could it, do you think, be done so that a person's
> personality is erased, and a new one implanted for the purposes of a game?
> I don't think so, 'cos surely the object of a game is to test the "real"
> you in different environments. Interesting concept. Maybe we're all in a
> prison block at the moment, and we're having psychotherapy, trying to change
> our persona, to fit in with the society from which we came.

Why would they need to erase my mind so I can play a different
persona? Ever play in a role-playing game? I play different
characters with highly diverse personalities all the time. If our
reality is just a big role-playing game for some higher cosmic
entities, if I die as a mass-murdering fiend today, I might be back
(after I write up a new sheet) as a pious priest tomorrow.

> Maybe I'm a mass murderer. You definately are :)

Mass murderer? I kill fat people?

> Most of the people who believe in reincarnation, as part of their religion,
> tend to be fairly peace orientated, as one group (and I think it's Bhuddism,
> but I'm ot sure), believe that you come back as an animal, so you have to
> be nice to animals. Others believe that if you're bad in life, you get demoted,
> so to speak, to a lower level of humanity, but if you better yourself then
> you get promoted. The probelm is that if you are so bad, you become an
> "untouchable", or something, and you can never escape from that situation.

In terms of belief, however, your virtual psychotic doesn't believe
any differently than someone who believes in reincarnation. The only
disagreement is on the ethical surrounds.