#252394 - 23/03/2005 15:36
An exercise from my Psychology class
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addict
Registered: 11/01/2001
Posts: 579
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An exercise from my Psychology class I took years and years ago. I though it was kind of neat it was too-hip.
You are given a Magic box with five buttons on it, each time you press a button it will do something the box can be used five times with the following cavaots.
1. It can not create more magic boxes
2. It can not create life
3. It can not alter perceptions of other people (make XXX fall in love with you or make you ruler of the world etc.)
4. It can’t directly cause death
5. It does exactly what you tell it to do.
I.e. if you pushed button one and asked for a cheese Pizza from Shakies it would make one and you would have four buttons left. If you asked for a lifetime supply of cheese pizza from Shakies it would do that and you would also have four buttons left.
So what you would do.
There are no right or wrong answers but after a week or two I will tell you want my teacher told my class and you might be surprised. If you have already done this exercise please don’t give away the ending.
This exercise has been around in different ways for years and years it has been in movies and books a variant of it was at the end of the Book “the time machine” where he came back and took three books but which books did he take.
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#252395 - 23/03/2005 20:09
Re: An exercise from my Psychology class
[Re: belezeebub]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 19/01/2002
Posts: 3584
Loc: Columbus, OH
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Quote:
It can not create life
Does this mean it can't give you the body of a 25 yr. old forever?
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~ John
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#252396 - 23/03/2005 20:26
Re: An exercise from my Psychology class
[Re: JBjorgen]
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addict
Registered: 11/01/2001
Posts: 579
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Nope it could give you the body of a 25 year old in fact it could give you the eyes of redford, the shoulders of Mr. Swartzniggar, the legs of rambo and the sholong of king kong (phrase from a movie) but that would still leave you 4 buttons to push.
when I say it can't create life I mean it can't clone 25 jeri ryans to be your love monkies. but you could augment your self or for that matter augment every person in the world, IE Push button and say I wish all the women in the world were 44-26-38 with red hair and green eyes, perfectly tan bodies of a 25 year old. ( the box can't make them love you but it could make them look like that)
Edited by belezeebub (23/03/2005 20:39)
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#252397 - 23/03/2005 20:26
Re: An exercise from my Psychology class
[Re: JBjorgen]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 15/08/2000
Posts: 4859
Loc: New Jersey, USA
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<mild shudder>
Who would want to live forever??? Ugh!
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Paul Grzelak
200GB with 48MB RAM, Illuminated Buttons and Digital Outputs
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#252398 - 23/03/2005 20:33
Re: An exercise from my Psychology class
[Re: pgrzelak]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 25/08/2000
Posts: 2413
Loc: NH USA
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Very true Mr. Mercury.
I'd use the first button to wish the box out of existance and just skip the dreadfully re-hashed plotlines about wishing.
-Zeke
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#252399 - 23/03/2005 20:49
Re: An exercise from my Psychology class
[Re: Ezekiel]
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Registered: 11/01/2001
Posts: 579
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Wishing the Box destroyed it a valid option.
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#252400 - 23/03/2005 21:00
Re: An exercise from my Psychology class
[Re: Ezekiel]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 15/08/2000
Posts: 4859
Loc: New Jersey, USA
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Mr. Mercury? Oh. Yes. Uh, not an intentional reference to either Queen or anything Highlander.
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Paul Grzelak
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#252402 - 24/03/2005 16:16
Re: An exercise from my Psychology class
[Re: belezeebub]
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old hand
Registered: 17/01/2003
Posts: 998
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I always like the old Twilight Zone episode where a lady (I think) was given a magic box with one button on it. She would get a million dollars if she pressed the button. However, when she pressed it someone she did not know and would never meet would die. She opened the box, nothing inside, did some soul searching (for 20 minutes, lots of filler in old Twilight Zones), and then finally pressed the button. As soon as she did the door bell rang and the guy was standing there with a million dollars. He then took the box and said it would be reset and then would be given to...... "someone she did not know and would never meet ." ... do, do,do dooo....
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#252403 - 24/03/2005 21:48
Re: An exercise from my Psychology class
[Re: Redrum]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 15/08/2000
Posts: 4859
Loc: New Jersey, USA
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There was a variation on this with a husband and wife. They were told that the person that died would not be someone that the presser knew. The husband would not press it and told his wife that they would give the box back. His wife pressed it, person shows up reporting the husband dead and that his insurance policy came in. She, horrified asked why someone she knew died. The reply was "Did you really know your husband?"...
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Paul Grzelak
200GB with 48MB RAM, Illuminated Buttons and Digital Outputs
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#252404 - 24/03/2005 22:33
Re: An exercise from my Psychology class
[Re: pgrzelak]
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enthusiast
Registered: 31/05/2002
Posts: 352
Loc: santa cruz,ca
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1. an invisible protective bubble that would protect all children from harm and abuse
2. a glowing icon (ala 'the sims') would float over any (all) corrupt, lying, sack of muck politicians / leaders.
3. the ability to communicate with animals.
4. a new and improved spine to replace my old and busted one.
5. less spam.
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#252405 - 24/03/2005 22:35
Re: An exercise from my Psychology class
[Re: lastdan]
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addict
Registered: 02/08/2004
Posts: 434
Loc: Helsinki, Finland
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I wish for a new button to appear after every button I press.
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#252406 - 25/03/2005 00:45
Re: An exercise from my Psychology class
[Re: belezeebub]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 17/12/2000
Posts: 2665
Loc: Manteca, California
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Quote:
and say I wish all the women in the world were 44-26-38 with red hair and green eyes, perfectly tan bodies of a 25 year old. ( the box can't make them love you but it could make them look like that)
I'd bet something like that would be sure to generate the opposite.
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Glenn
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#252407 - 25/03/2005 02:03
Re: An exercise from my Psychology class
[Re: Redrum]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 14/01/2002
Posts: 2858
Loc: Atlanta, GA
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Quote:
He then took the box and said it would be reset and then would be given to...... "someone she did not know and would never meet ." ... do, do,do dooo....
Ok, that's an awesome story. Wish I'd seen it- thanks for sharing.
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-Jeff
Rome did not create a great empire by having meetings; they did it by killing all those who opposed them.
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#252408 - 25/03/2005 11:03
Re: An exercise from my Psychology class
[Re: JeffS]
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old hand
Registered: 17/01/2003
Posts: 998
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Around the holidays the Sci-fi channel sometimes plays Twilight Zone marathons and runs all the old episodes. I think there’s like 56 of them. The old black and white one’s are the best. Once they went to color all their budget must have went into the color cameras because every other aspect of the shows sucked.
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#252409 - 25/03/2005 13:28
Re: An exercise from my Psychology class
[Re: petteri]
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addict
Registered: 11/01/2001
Posts: 579
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Quote:
I wish for a new button to appear after every button I press.
Sorry that falls under the box can't make more boxes option.
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#252410 - 25/03/2005 13:34
Re: An exercise from my Psychology class
[Re: belezeebub]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 29/08/2000
Posts: 14496
Loc: Canada
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Quote:
Quote:
I wish for a new button to appear after every button I press.
Sorry that falls under the box can't make more boxes option.
No, this wish should work just fine.
If the person wants to sit there pushing a button forever with no net effect, then why not?
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#252411 - 25/03/2005 13:37
Re: An exercise from my Psychology class
[Re: mlord]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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I don't know. You'd start to get a lot of buttons. And there'd not really be any guarantee where those buttons would appear.
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Bitt Faulk
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#252412 - 25/03/2005 14:20
Re: An exercise from my Psychology class
[Re: belezeebub]
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addict
Registered: 11/01/2001
Posts: 579
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Well this has been fun but its time to let the cat out of the bag, just like the last time I did this and just like in class no one pressed a button and wished to make enough food to feed the hungry or enough meds to cure the sick or even a clean burning source of energy. just about every single button was ME ME ME ME ME and only ME.
I personally wished for a Car a home and a trillion dollars so I fell for the same Id complex as most humans do back when I first did this lession.
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#252414 - 25/03/2005 14:54
Re: An exercise from my Psychology class
[Re: belezeebub]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 08/03/2000
Posts: 12341
Loc: Sterling, VA
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Quote:
and just like in class no one pressed a button and wished to make enough food to feed the hungry or enough meds to cure the sick
Well, there was this one:
Quote:
1. an invisible protective bubble that would protect all children from harm and abuse
2. a glowing icon (ala 'the sims') would float over any (all) corrupt, lying, sack of muck politicians / leaders.
I think the second would end up helping humanity even more than the first. We'd get a lot done if we could get the bullsh*tters out of the way.
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Matt
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#252415 - 25/03/2005 15:23
Re: An exercise from my Psychology class
[Re: belezeebub]
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addict
Registered: 11/01/2001
Posts: 579
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There were no right or wrong answers, like I said fifteen plus years ago when I did this I wanted much the same as everyone else, after we had to explain our button pushes in front of the class the teacher took a entire class to basically rip us apart for being so selfish I felt about three inches tall but he did in his overbearing way have a point.
My selfish wishes
1. A house on a hill with quad T-3 lines and a helicopter landing pad so I could fly into town hop in my truck do what I needed to do then fly home and never be bothered by other people.
2. The Money of course.
3. Ahh the truck it was a lifted black Suburban with eighteen 21” Polidex subs woofers with 10000 watts each Arranged on an amiable pivotal configuration like “Stalin’s organ” so I could Point it at people that annoyed me and blow them out of my way with a Wall of sound.
I forget what my last two where but some of the ones I remember from class were
1. Endless beer keg
2. Mile Long Joint
3. Aphrodisiac that really worked.
Etc…
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#252416 - 25/03/2005 15:50
Re: An exercise from my Psychology class
[Re: bonzi]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 13/07/2000
Posts: 4180
Loc: Cambridge, England
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Quote:
Although even obvious 'ethical' wishes need to be thorougly though out: should we wish just for cure for all diseases or go for immortality (with obvious implication of either overpopulation or stopping having children); for universal cornucopia or for a fair way to earn one (does not having to work lead to decadence, whatever one wants to mean by that) etc?
Yeah, I think an important part of being a god (which is what the box basically allowed) is knowing when to let go. The atheist messiah at the centre of the book Good Omens says something like "I could have 'saved the whales', but on the whole it's better if people learn that if they kill a whale, they've got a dead whale". If through civil wars, corruption, squandering of natural resources, etc., people end up in poverty, and then a god with a box comes along and clears it up, nobody's learned anything, and even if the problem of poverty stays divinely solved (infinite pizzas), the mindset that caused it will go on to cause other problems. Curing disease sounds like a more benevolent thing to do, though I bet the overwhelming majority of humankind's deaths from disease are from curable ones, and anyway if I'm not allowed to directly cause death I can't kill bacteria and viruses (though I guess I could render them sterile). "Curing" mortality does not sound like a benevolent thing to do.
The one thing I thought about wishing for was a solution to something we can't already solve for ourselves: blueprints for a starship, as a hedge against the finite resources of the single planet we currently occupy. But perhaps until we've sorted ourselves out a bit more (and I'm not allowed to directly change opinions), it's not the action of a benevolent god to unleash us on the rest of the universe.
Peter
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#252417 - 25/03/2005 15:53
Re: An exercise from my Psychology class
[Re: belezeebub]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 25/08/2000
Posts: 2413
Loc: NH USA
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I don't think my wishing the box out of existence benefitted me in any way. It didn't benefit anyone else either, so I don't think my response falls under either category, it was niether selfish nor benevolent.
-Zeke
ps: That people are primarily selfish is an insight? So what? Who doesn't know that? That's why capitalism works - harness the power of 'Me' motivation. What's more powerful than that? Anyway, that's the start of a whole other thread, so I'll just leave it at that.
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#252419 - 25/03/2005 16:28
Re: An exercise from my Psychology class
[Re: Ezekiel]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 13/09/1999
Posts: 2401
Loc: Croatia
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Quote:
That people are primarily selfish is an insight? So what? Who doesn't know that?
I don't know, Zeke... I think that this board shows that altruism has its moments, too (unless we consider satisfaction derived from a neat hack or FAQ used by a nice bunch of users also selfish, a notion that perhaps could be defended...) 
Quote:
That's why capitalism works
Well, kind of. Although it only had to show itself superior to travesties widely regarded as communist because they called themselves so. But, as you say, that's the matter of an entirely different thread.
FWIW, in fantasies like that one I usually with for myself the power (financial, if no other is available) to right the world's wrongs. Obviously, I don't think that the adage 'power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely' applies to me  .
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#252420 - 25/03/2005 17:02
Re: An exercise from my Psychology class
[Re: bonzi]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 25/08/2000
Posts: 2413
Loc: NH USA
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Quote:
Quote:
That people are primarily selfish is an insight? So what? Who doesn't know that?
I don't know, Zeke... I think that this board shows that altruism has its moments, too (unless we consider satisfaction derived from a neat hack or FAQ used by a nice bunch of users also selfish, a notion that perhaps could be defended...)
Well, that'd be my argument from a psyche-101 type standpoint  No, I'm not really that jaded...but there is a kernel of truth to that, if one expands the definition of 'benfit' wide enough to include one's own feelings of self worth. But I'm not one to argue such things; to misquote Bones: "Dammit Jim, I'm an engineer not a psychologist!"
Of course one could also make the argument that my 'wish away' wish was really just a selfish desire not to get into ridiculous life-altering wishes, if one had the desire to push the issue...
In the end though I really do believe that almost everyone's hard wired for self interest as a matter of genetic survival. That said, we and the other social mammals have developed this lovely layer on top of that which involves direct and indirect reciprocity which we house-apes call civilization, which I quite enjoy.
-Zeke
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#252422 - 25/03/2005 17:17
Re: An exercise from my Psychology class
[Re: belezeebub]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 14/01/2002
Posts: 2858
Loc: Atlanta, GA
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As I was thinking this through, my first thoughts were about things I wanted- healing for my wife, the chance to play music for a living etc. Then I paused and said, "wow, that's really selfish." So I started thinking of more universal things. I suppose I got the point of the exercise, which is to drive home how selfish I am. I mean, I know it intellectually, but I don't always realize it practially.
Not a shocking realization, but it illustrates a good point nonethelss.
Of course, if Ayn Rand had taken this test her response would probably be, "Exactly- now you're getting it!"
Jeff
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-Jeff
Rome did not create a great empire by having meetings; they did it by killing all those who opposed them.
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#252423 - 25/03/2005 17:25
Re: An exercise from my Psychology class
[Re: bonzi]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 15/08/2000
Posts: 4859
Loc: New Jersey, USA
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I personally have seen too many Twilight Zone episodes and read too many books involving badly phrased and destructive wishes. I only had three (1 selfish, 1 semi-useful, 1 defensive)...
a) Financial. I wish that any time I need to pay for anything that I can reach into whatever pocket or pack I have at the time and pull out the amount in cash (exact change and the appropriate currency) for that purchase for as long as I live. [This way, I avoid tax worries, theft worries, but still live and travel comfortably without having to worry about working for the rest of my life.]
b) Altruistic. I wish I had the power that once a day I could deliberately (not accidentally) touch anyone (including myself, if necessary) and heal whatever sickness they might have for as long as I live. [Doing a little good along the way, hopefully, or if I choose or need to heal an injury.]
c) I wish the box destroyed, so that other people would not do harm with it. [This thing is dangerous!!!]
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Paul Grzelak
200GB with 48MB RAM, Illuminated Buttons and Digital Outputs
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#252424 - 25/03/2005 18:26
Re: An exercise from my Psychology class
[Re: pgrzelak]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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I want to decide who lives and who dies.
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Bitt Faulk
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#252425 - 25/03/2005 18:29
Re: An exercise from my Psychology class
[Re: wfaulk]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 15/08/2000
Posts: 4859
Loc: New Jersey, USA
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Hmmm... A little extreme. I was thinking about it more from the point of one random person. If you start healing everyone you meet, you start to generate attention and crowds...
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Paul Grzelak
200GB with 48MB RAM, Illuminated Buttons and Digital Outputs
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#252426 - 25/03/2005 18:37
Re: An exercise from my Psychology class
[Re: pgrzelak]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 13/07/2000
Posts: 4180
Loc: Cambridge, England
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Quote:
If you start healing everyone you meet, you start to generate attention and crowds...
"Hey! I read about you! The one they call the American Messiah!"
Peter
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#252427 - 25/03/2005 18:54
Re: An exercise from my Psychology class
[Re: pgrzelak]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 14/01/2002
Posts: 2858
Loc: Atlanta, GA
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Quote:
I was thinking about it more from the point of one random person. If you start healing everyone you meet, you start to generate attention and crowds...
And do you think one miraculous healing wouldn't draw attention, and violent at that ("You should have healed my son!")?
Perhaps you could get away with it once, but more than that and you probably aren't going to be able to keep your power a secret.
Let no good deed go unpunished.
Edited by JeffS (25/03/2005 18:55)
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#252428 - 25/03/2005 19:04
Re: An exercise from my Psychology class
[Re: JeffS]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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Who said it had to be dramatic? Why not make it so he could heal someone across the globe just by thinking about it?
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Bitt Faulk
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#252429 - 25/03/2005 19:16
Re: An exercise from my Psychology class
[Re: wfaulk]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 14/01/2002
Posts: 2858
Loc: Atlanta, GA
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Quote:
Who said it had to be dramatic? Why not make it so he could heal someone across the globe just by thinking about it?
Well, he did say "touch", which would certainly be dramatic enough to garner attention.
_________________________
-Jeff
Rome did not create a great empire by having meetings; they did it by killing all those who opposed them.
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#252430 - 25/03/2005 19:25
Re: An exercise from my Psychology class
[Re: JeffS]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 15/08/2000
Posts: 4859
Loc: New Jersey, USA
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Valid points. I was more thinking about elevator in a hospital / ICU / emergency room. Somewhere that a person rushing through and brushing against / bumping into someone would not be noticed by anyone, including the one healed. Same talent, different application. Trust me - drama or theatrics is the least thing I would want if I could do that.
This also addresses that "I decide who lives or dies" situation. It is quick, not necessarily making a choice for or against anyone based on any predispositions.
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Paul Grzelak
200GB with 48MB RAM, Illuminated Buttons and Digital Outputs
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#252431 - 25/03/2005 20:08
Re: An exercise from my Psychology class
[Re: pgrzelak]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 25/08/2000
Posts: 2413
Loc: NH USA
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Anybody read the 'Worthing Saga' by O.S. Card? It was the first book I read by him, in an out of print edition called 'Worthing Chronicles'. Anyway, the device used by Card in this story is that there are a group of telepaths who ease human suffering telepathically (make a recent death a distant memory, take away pain etcetera). Their progenitor (Worthing) is revived after millenia of being in suspended animation and makes them stop. Most of the book is back story explaining exactly why. Essentialy in the end the reasoning is boiled down to: "without suffering there can be no joy". An interesting read, and the 'healing at a distance' thought made me think of it. Has anybody else here read this? I'm not sure I agree with the full line of thinking, but it's an interesting theoretical question: if you could stop suffering, at what point is it wrong to do so? -Zeke
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#252432 - 25/03/2005 20:16
Re: An exercise from my Psychology class
[Re: pgrzelak]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 19/01/2002
Posts: 3584
Loc: Columbus, OH
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Then you invite the "Superman complex" where you feel guilty for the people you had the ability to save, but didn't.
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~ John
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#252433 - 25/03/2005 20:23
Re: An exercise from my Psychology class
[Re: Ezekiel]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 14/01/2002
Posts: 2858
Loc: Atlanta, GA
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Quote:
Has anybody else here read this?
No, but it certainly sounds like Card from his books that I have read- I'm thinking of Speaker For The Dead. A different kind of issue, but still very weighty matters. Not my favorite read, but interesting.
Quote:
if you could stop suffering, at what point is it wrong to do so?
I think it probably has to do with what your real goals are. If it is your real goal to end suffering, then probably you should use your power to the fullest extent. If your goal is to make people happy, you have to be more careful about it. There are many, many goals people have with regards to their fellow man.
It should come as no surprise that I personally would look toward Christ and what I believe his goals were. If He really could heal the lame and stop suffering (as I believe he could), then why didn't he heal everyone? People debate this of course, but my belief is that every miracle was performed in to demonstrate something of God's truth rather than to simply end suffering. Much more could be said about that (and argued), but I suppose the bottom line for me is that I'd use such a power as long as it revealed God's truth to others.
Of course, clearly other people would have other goals or patterns for how to use such a power. That is just mine.
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-Jeff
Rome did not create a great empire by having meetings; they did it by killing all those who opposed them.
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#252434 - 25/03/2005 21:12
Re: An exercise from my Psychology class
[Re: Ezekiel]
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old hand
Registered: 15/07/2002
Posts: 828
Loc: Texas, USA
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I've read most of Card's stuff including the Worthing saga. IIRC, the twist was that the telepaths had been doing the healing for so long that no one alive remembered what pain was like so when the telepaths stopped, there was a major backlash. Overall, I didn't enjoy it as much as the Ender and Alvin Maker series. I felt he was trying to make the point that there are "reasons that God doesn't intervene when he has the power to do so even if we don't understand them". A little too preachy for me. He had another story (Lost Boys) that did the same thing.
Regarding the puzzle box, my first thought was "Dinosaurs...big fecking dinosaurs, the human race needs some more predators running around to put things in perspective". Then the paranoia set in. "Who the hell else has one of these things?!? and I pushed the second button and all the boxes were gone that ever existed now or in the future. I wonder what historical figures would have done with such a device? Say if Ghandi, Oppenheimer, or Tesla were given their own 5 button box.
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#252435 - 25/03/2005 21:19
Re: An exercise from my Psychology class
[Re: JeffS]
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journeyman
Registered: 02/04/2002
Posts: 56
Loc: Las Vegas
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Uh-oh, this is taking a religious turn. Quote:
Valid points. I was more thinking about elevator in a hospital / ICU / emergency room. Somewhere that a person rushing through and brushing against / bumping into someone would not be noticed by anyone, including the one healed. Same talent, different application. Trust me - drama or theatrics is the least thing I would want if I could do that.
Pessimistic viewpoint: There are security cameras in hospitals, you know. Do that a few times and you get to spend your remaining life in a cell somewhere, forced to heal whatever ailing dictator the CIA wants to keep in power under threat of torture.
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#252436 - 25/03/2005 21:41
Re: An exercise from my Psychology class
[Re: Mach]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 14/01/2002
Posts: 2858
Loc: Atlanta, GA
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I've heard that the more Card wrote, the more he tried to infuse his writings with his Mormon faith, which is why it comes of preachy. I could be wrong about that, though. Ender's Game and Speaker for the dead both came off as pretty secular to me, though clearly Speaker had more of a preachy edge to it. In Ender he was really just trying to set up a character and not preach anything, and this seemed to work a lot better.
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-Jeff
Rome did not create a great empire by having meetings; they did it by killing all those who opposed them.
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#252437 - 26/03/2005 01:00
Re: An exercise from my Psychology class
[Re: JeffS]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 25/08/2000
Posts: 2413
Loc: NH USA
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Worthing Chronicles was one of his earliest novels (1983), so the preachiness I think is more from lack of experience as an author. It was heady reading when I was 12 though! I think later on he manages to better segregate his faith from his writing, although I still think you can see it an almost all his works if you know to look. Personally I put Worthing Chronicles just behind Ender's Game in my ranking of Card books (which runs from pretty good/one step below Asimov to pure crap (Hart's Hope, Wyrms, the entire Homecoming series)).
-Zeke
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#252438 - 26/03/2005 01:05
Re: An exercise from my Psychology class
[Re: JeffS]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 29/08/2000
Posts: 14496
Loc: Canada
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OSC seems to have been a very sick fellow.. good stories, but.. about that preoccupation with children..
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#252439 - 26/03/2005 02:02
Re: An exercise from my Psychology class
[Re: Ezekiel]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 14/01/2002
Posts: 2858
Loc: Atlanta, GA
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Ender's Game is one of my favorite Sci-Fi novels ever. I think it's funny that he basically wrote it (or rather expanded a short story) to do nothing more but set up Ender's character for SFTD. In fact, origionally he was just going to do it as a foward to SFTD but he just couldn't jam the character development into so short a space.
Sometimes the by-product is better than the product itself!
Jeff
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-Jeff
Rome did not create a great empire by having meetings; they did it by killing all those who opposed them.
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#252440 - 26/03/2005 02:03
Re: An exercise from my Psychology class
[Re: Ezekiel]
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veteran
Registered: 21/01/2002
Posts: 1380
Loc: Erie, CO
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Quote:
Personally I put Worthing Chronicles just behind Ender's Game in my ranking of Card books (which runs from pretty good/one step below Asimov to pure crap (Hart's Hope, Wyrms, the entire Homecoming series)).
Grr.. the Homecoming series was crap. I have this strange need to read a series through once I start and I suffered through it because I liked Ender's Game and the rest of that series. Good premise, not enough sci-fi though.
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#252441 - 26/03/2005 07:18
Re: An exercise from my Psychology class
[Re: JeffS]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 13/09/1999
Posts: 2401
Loc: Croatia
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Agreed - I think that Ender's Game (the short story) is the best the guy ever wrote; SftD was good, but I could not make myself to wade through the rest (and my expectations were high based on the first encounter). I found the story in one of my all-time-favorute SF tomes, a locally-produced anthology also containing masterpieces like Daniel Keyes' Flowers for Algernon and quite satisfying prose like McIntyre's Dreamsnake. Sigh, like too many of books from my library, I lent it to someone and it never came back... 
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Dragi "Bonzi" Raos
Q#5196
MkII #080000376, 18GB green
MkIIa #040103247, 60GB blue
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#252442 - 26/03/2005 15:45
Re: An exercise from my Psychology class
[Re: bonzi]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 25/08/2000
Posts: 2413
Loc: NH USA
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One of the best things I read recently (last few years) was reading Norton's Anthology of Short Fiction cover to cover. It took a while (and I have to admit I couldn't bring myself to read all of Faulkner's 'The Bear'), but it was so pleasant. 100% good stuff, no clunkers whatsoever.
-Zeke
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#252443 - 26/03/2005 16:20
Re: An exercise from my Psychology class
[Re: Ezekiel]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 13/09/1999
Posts: 2401
Loc: Croatia
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Thank you for the pointer. I wasn't aware of this Norton series of anthologies and reference works; interesting one-stop-shop source. A bit expensive and Amazon does not ship second-hand stuff to Croatia, but I will try to find it elsewhere. Heh, browsing around I found another Northon anthology, The Norton Book of Science Fiction: North American Science Fiction, 1960-1990 (I don't like books with the word 'book' in their titles) edited by two of my favourite authors, Ursula K. Le Guin and Karen Joy Fowler. It seems that most of the reviewers don't particularly appreciate their selection criteria 
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Dragi "Bonzi" Raos
Q#5196
MkII #080000376, 18GB green
MkIIa #040103247, 60GB blue
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#252444 - 26/03/2005 19:08
Re: An exercise from my Psychology class
[Re: bonzi]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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The Norton books are often used as textbooks in University, and, occasionally, high school, classes.
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Bitt Faulk
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