tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21553664.post114245396153777963..comments2022-01-21T17:23:24.800-06:00Comments on Us, Robots: Who you calling a semi-illusion?Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21553664.post-1142821072294267692006-03-19T20:17:00.000-06:002006-03-19T20:17:00.000-06:00I find the notion of realness, or illusoriness cum...I find the notion of realness, or illusoriness cumbersome. Considering we still don't have a complete picture of the basic forces operating on the universe, it feels a little premature to assume that there exists something which is not emergent. After all, if we consider something illusory because its existence is owed to composite forces, we have to consider the possibility that all forces are composite forces, even if that consideration leaves us face to face with the discomforts of a reality that’s eternally recursive. How can we speak of a definition of illusion which may include everything which exists?<BR/><BR/>That said, it sounds like part of your character quandary is isolating the conflict regarding definition of self. Note the following…<BR/><BR/>One inherent conflict is the sense of disappearing into the great wash of not-you vs. the sense of being one with everything: oddly, these notions are almost identical except that one is a sense of becoming whole while the other is a sense of becoming lost. Both are the result of composite self.<BR/><BR/>Another conflict is against the other. As soon as the self becomes an illusion, I can expand it to contain what I previously saw as the other, or contract it to create a new other. Note the recent conversation at bitchphd’s regarding child birth and the notion of when one transforms from self to self and other. Or someone naming a relic that was once their leg or arm.<BR/><BR/>I think the central conflict you’re getting at though, is between the self as a unique force in the universe around which composite elements are sewn (the soul) vs. a purely emergent self which exists as the result of composted elements.<BR/><BR/>I think people voice this conflict in many common everyday questions. Am I me, or just the result of the things I own? Am I destined to be who I am, or did I choose to be this? Am I really any different than you are?<BR/><BR/>If I had two characters; Samantha and Jonathan, and stood then at opposite ends of the spectrum, I would imagine they could have a conversation like:<BR/><BR/>Jonathan: I don’t know, I suppose I’ve always been sort of a dreamer.<BR/>Samantha: Ya right. You’re just a guy with a used car who watches too much T.V., and would rather have bad breath than see a dentist.<BR/>Jonathan: And you’re just cynical.Central Content Publisherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00253155339560248960noreply@blogger.com