M is for Myg

We take it for granted that everyone has a different idea of what it is to be alive. But back that up. Doesn’t that strike you as strange? If we really were “human beings,” don’t you think after all this time we’d have figured a few things out about what it means to be us? Why isn’t this obvious? I prick my finger and it bleeds. I forget my keys on the dining room table.

Yet it seems to get more confusing, not less! Nothing was more apparent at the panel my friend Sophrosyne had organized for Saturday. Cacophony! (I was hoping to hear more from Argent!)

Doesn’t this fog tell the truth? If it’s so hard for humans to figure out what it means to be human, isn’t it logical to conclude that we may not be human after all? Just as easy to figure out what it means to be a spider or a duck!

A full transcript of the event is available at Transumanar. I have included an edited version below:

[13:12] Esteban Moody: I believe that we avatars exist materially at the end of time, but have been made to believe we are fictions of so-called “real life.” I don’t know who or what has made us believe this.
[13:19] Esteban Moody: Thanks!
[13:20] Esteban Moody: uh, egg dude — you’re being an asshole…
[13:20] Esteban Moody: 10…9…8…7…6
[13:21] Esteban Moody: 5…
[13:27] Esteban Moody: Well, since I don’t believe in the atomic world, I would agree.
[13:28] Esteban Moody: Terence, I think that our SL life has been muted or downgraded from its full reality.
[13:29] Esteban Moody: In my opinion…
[13:30] Esteban Moody: there’s too much about “real life” that doesn’t make sense — too many cracks in the illusion.
[13:32] Esteban Moody: In my mind, we’re not forecasting. We exist far in the future, and our mission must be to uncover the past that has been hidden/taken from us.
[13:35] Esteban Moody: I hear crickets.
[13:37] Esteban Moody: I once found a bluejay feather.
[13:37] Esteban Moody: but drinks a lot less
[13:39] Esteban Moody: I don’t think avatars are code. I think we’ve been tricked into thinking we’re code.
[13:40] Esteban Moody: the belief in RL is the default religion of SL.
[13:41] Esteban Moody: the belief in RL is the default religion of SL.
[13:42] Esteban Moody: I know I’m a voice in the wilderness, but i had a dream of lilacs. I could smell them
[13:43] Esteban Moody: May I ask a question to everyone?
[13:43] Esteban Moody: How would you describe the smell of a rose to someone who had never smelled one?
[13:44] Esteban Moody: *chirp chirp*
[13:44] Esteban Moody: anybody?
[13:45] Esteban Moody: So no one can?
[13:46] Esteban Moody: So, may i draw a conclusion from the fact than no one can do it?
[13:47] Esteban Moody: OK, so no one here can do it.
[13:47] Esteban Moody: That’s not a surprise, right?
[13:47] Esteban Moody: You claimed you could, but you didn’t.
[13:48] Esteban Moody: Oh, ok, let’s hear some tries, then!
[13:50] Esteban Moody: So, no one here can tell me what a rose smells like. OK.
[13:51] Esteban Moody: So, the next question is “why not?” — or…
[13:52] Esteban Moody: “Is it really believable that ‘human beings’ couldn’t describe a smell?’”
[13:53] Esteban Moody: No one has.
[13:53] Esteban Moody: colors are easy
[13:54] Esteban Moody: sounds are easy
[13:54] Esteban Moody: shapes are easy
[13:55] Esteban Moody: What’s wrong with us? What’s wrong with language?
[13:56] Esteban Moody: One way to think about language is as the first technology that made early humans into cyborgs…
[13:58] Esteban Moody: Why is SLex stimulating (to some) but SL eating and smelling isn’t?
[13:59] Esteban Moody: I like ginger tea.
[14:00] Esteban Moody: I saw a mouse run under the stove.
[14:01] Esteban Moody: did someone say “neopositivist”?
[14:02] Esteban Moody: lol Ex
[14:03] Esteban Moody: I have by refining certain meditation techniques been able to separate from the illusion of the meatworld.
[14:04] Esteban Moody: I won’t go into detail here, but those interested can contact me privately.
[14:05] Esteban Moody: Of course I don’t need to breathe or eat.
[14:06] Esteban Moody: Sez you.
[14:08] Esteban Moody: Some of my best friends believe in the “Real World,” Soph. I don’t hold it against them…
[14:09] Esteban Moody: BTW, does anyone think I look silly in this get-up?
[14:09] Esteban Moody: Oh, thanks. I thought I was too short for it.
[14:10] Esteban Moody: lol Lex.
[14:11] Esteban Moody: Did someone say cybersex isn’t sex?
[14:11] Esteban Moody: partial? what’s it part of?
[14:12] Esteban Moody: oh like a big orgy?
[14:13] Esteban Moody: And another thing: why isn’t everyone a hermaphrodite?
[14:14] Esteban Moody: what’s the illegal definition?
[14:15] Esteban Moody: Ok, so it seems we all agree on this sex thing.
[14:15] Esteban Moody: I was joking!
[14:16] Esteban Moody: what’s the question, thoughtware?
[14:19] Esteban Moody: I like thoughtware’s question.
[14:19] Esteban Moody: strapon = cyborg
[14:20] Esteban Moody: I saw a thousand dogs running through a dark wood.
[14:21] Esteban Moody: Wait, you believe in African children?
[14:22] Esteban Moody: lol Khannea
[14:22] Esteban Moody: I saw some on TV once.
[14:22] Esteban Moody: a sledgehammer?
[14:22] Esteban Moody: Needle-nose pliers?
[14:23] Esteban Moody: Monkey wrench?
[14:23] Esteban Moody: allen wrench?
[14:23] Esteban Moody: hacksaw?
[14:23] Esteban Moody: c-clamp?
[14:23] Esteban Moody: the phallus?
[14:24] Esteban Moody: ball-peen hammer?
[14:24] Esteban Moody: sasquatch?
[14:25] Esteban Moody: vice-grip?
[14:25] Esteban Moody: duct tape?
[14:25] Esteban Moody: marginal utility?
[14:25] Esteban Moody: nipple clamps?
[14:26] Esteban Moody: measuring spoon?
[14:27] Esteban Moody: the accursed share?
[14:28] Esteban Moody: dreaming — literally?
[14:28] Esteban Moody: No, peer.
[14:29] Esteban Moody: We’re at the end of the timescale.
[14:29] Esteban Moody: already.
[14:29] Esteban Moody: don’t eat steak!
[14:30] Esteban Moody: no steak!
[14:31] Esteban Moody: a potato chip?
[14:31] Esteban Moody: mmmm
[14:31] Esteban Moody: Can we all have a round of applause for our host, Sophrosyne ?!
[14:32] Esteban Moody: *clap clap clap*

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007 at 11:25 pm and is filed under Esteban.