Philip Jose Farmer explored this idea in a few of his stories.
In one there was an alien race. They thought it was tragic that people would die and be gone from the world forever. So they invented an artificial soul (called a “wathan”) and hooked it up to all the sentient beings. Then they managed an artificial afterlife too. Reincarnated everybody.
That is arguable.
Any exploration into strange realms of life, memory or consciousness (and there have been many of those) might shed useful light on the subject for speculation.
Ya but whats an attention-related superpower OTHER than concentration (and its associated powers)?
One guy here was talking about getting high and laying on his hammock.
And the Buddhists have an “alternative to concentration” type meditation technique.
“it’s an attention” thing sounds right to me too. Shift of attention = shift of reality. In the small as well as the large.
Like looking up from your phone to notice the clouds.
Woah! I never heard of that one. That’s amazing.
Of course not. It’s just a dream.
Except when I’m in the dream. Then it seems like reality.
So it depends on where I’m standing.
You have an avatar. You have a goal. You do stuff and try to get stuff and try to avoid stuff… You feel real emotions. That sure sounds like a reality.
Nice.
Ok. What is this method by which I travel from one reality to another?
There are several things that I could name that I used to buy back when times were plenty but no longer.
Because real men are silent and never express emotion. Especially in tender situations. Or so goes the meme.
Re this giant conversation… this collective linguistic technology-augmented hallucination…
It’s good because it ignores space. You can talk to anybody all over the world instantaneously.
It’s bad because it is dominated by the loudest
It’s good because we can render our ideas in a broad menu of options. Text, sound, video
It’s bad because it does not differentiate between levels of abstraction. First-hand accounts carry the same weight as fifth-hand acccounts.
It’s good because it’s convenient. Smartphones.
It’s bad because it exists entirely apart from the world. Asserting a world-ness of its own. And that’s a seductive argument.
It’s good and bad because it supplies infinite entertainment.
It is strong and weak the way all language is strong and weak.
That’s all that one person could come up with in 5 minutes. Theoretically the combined intellect of the internet’s billions might come up with a couple more.
No man. I wanted something better than conventional, popular, obvious and literal.
And now I’m being insulting. Sorry.
Ugh. Forget it.
My point is, this thing that we have here is unprecedented in its vast size and it’s profound disconnection from reality.
So no, not just “a conversation”.
A conversation where most of the talk refers to fantasy. Where any insanity can find a support group filled with the likeminded. Where the greatest powers are those that seek to manipulate us and control our attention. A dreamworld where matter is entertainment.
And everybody takes it so seriously.
If it was a person we’d put him in an asylum.
Yes, what is this thing?
If this were a fantasy novel we might call it a hell-realm filled with hungry hallucinating ghosts and promise-weaving succubi. Too much?
Your naming it sheds little light.
What’s good, bad, strong and weak about it?
Here is my question.
What is this conversation that I’m indicating here? What might you call it? What’s good, bad, strong, weak etc about it?
If a conversation that is empirically grounded is called “science”, what is a conversation that is empirically ungrounded called?
And then there’s replies like this. Defending it.
Discussing people that you never met. Phenomena that you never observed. Stuff that you never, personally, with your own eyes, saw.
Discussion without empiricism.
Just started watching it. Presently at s01e03