h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Nice to hear from you. Any hot conversational topics or threads it would help me to see?

I'm afraid theres not much here at all
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Topics For Discussion:




...passing philosophy on "lessons in manners"... ...the 17th and 18th century standard, evolving through the 19th century into the twentieth century percept of "teach by example"...

...evolutions in morals plays over time...




Unpleasant topics to be discussed:




Ethics of use of force:

Degree of force: To be plotted on the X - axis.

I. Presence. 1. Being there or standing in the way. 2. Not being there; standing out of the way.

II. Assault. Escalated threat behavior short of laying hands on.

III. Battery. Laying hands on short of inflicting irreparable bodily harm.

IV. Mayhem. Inflicting lasting bodily harm short of that which will produce death.

V. Murder. An application of force which produces death.

Rules:

Responding with force in an equal or greater degree to that one is responding to is escalatory. Escalation is to be avoided.




Scope of application of force: To be plotted on the Y - axis.

Micro level to macro level on the ordinary sociological scale.

Micro level: personal targeting.

Macro level: targeting of the entire society or subculture of which the offending individual is a representative.

Rules:

Displacement of aggression is unethical, uncultivated and bestial. There is always an aspect of prejudice to macro level targeting. Applications of prejudice are always escalatory.

One's personal honor should never be accepted as foundation or basis for coercion or blackmail. An attempt to apply it so is gravely offensive.




This is an art, not a perfect science. The tools of science are nontheless helpful for development and application of the art.




Tools:

>>>Flowcharting

>>>Vector Analysis

>>>Choreography




Rules:

Applications of force to resolve a conflict situation should always be in the least degree and scope necessary to do it.

you seem like the philosophical sort

That and a touch of the chronic disease.

I've herd theres somewhat of an epidemic going round

Could be. As a matter of fact, I haven't been able to actually put my foot in my mouth or scratch myself between the ears with my toenails since I was in my twenties... and still worse, I didn't have my full growth of toenails in yet, that long ago. Just one of life's disappointments.

there are lots of things you loose the ability to do
but since I'm technically still young



actually i wonder if there is an upper age limit to youth

So do I sometimes.

well since I'm guessing that your slightly older than i am
if you find it let me know since your likely to do so first

I've always been a firm believer in the proposition that letting nature take its course is the single most surefire prescription for disaster possible. http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/brunel/F48874?thread=5563691 BBC - h2g2 - A Conversation Forum A current peer review listing. Any comments? Reminds of the time I tracked down the fountaint of youth (one of them anyway, there's more than one) only to find it buried in trash. Perhaps an idea of the old cyclops guarding the place to keep the unwary safe from its hazards. (You don't drink the stuff, it can kill you. Instead you bathe in it, which rejuvenates.) ...then, returning after 20 years absence finding the old cyclops hadn't aged a day. (He wrestled me on tht occasion and I came away from the encounter with a broken leg, but when I went back, found acceptance and a measure of guidance. A pretty decent sort if one if one talks to him right and treats him with a proper respect.) Or the classical "elixer of life" of the alchemists. That you can either drink or bathe in and are supposed to drink, after all only a somewhat higher energy allotrope of water you can find advertised in the Old Farmer's Almanac under a rather less florid and more prosaic product description. Easier than pie if you know how.

I dont have any moral objections to a long life
but i don't think it would be as enjoyable as first perseved

Most people I talk to about that tell me they're reconciled to death and don't want to fight it. Sometimes they talk to me about reincarnation hopes. I'd rather fight it.

I'm fairly religious
someday i do hope to learn the meaning of it all
and if i have to be dead first thats no skin off my noise

*nose

not noise nose

i think

An old thread of some months past with some relevance, posted not without some misgivings: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/brunel/F59446?thread=4942704 Meanwhile with only two or three incarnations to go that I can slough if I want before I'm done, I'm not in any hurry to check out on this one.

well no I'm quite happy to keep trudging through life
after all Its not that bad if you think about it

Of old testament authors, I think that Isaiah is quite my favorite... from the heights of elation to the depths of despair...

The one I like least is Nehemiah, strikingly similar in his character to Robespierre.