Is the comic dead?

[gaerzi]

There used to be a WIP thread, but it's been replaced by Patreon, which makes sense. Though obviously now, you don't see activity when checking the forum, you need to check Patreon instead.

[Bamax]

The older I get the more I appreciate how wise the merovingian was in the matrix.

He is arguably the smartest character in the entire series and his words apply to so much in life... even this I think.

[spacewhale]

[Bamax]

The merovingian believes that we do not have full control of our own lives.... and he is right.

No one chooses to be come into the world... they are forced in.

Neither do we choose the day we die if we live and die of aging.

The merovingian also understands that nothing is truly a coincidence but rather a consequence of multiple compounding factors... which is why he wants to know the why for a given matter to understand it.

Chance can be risk but to the merovingian it is merely the cost of doing business and something he already expects and also will accept.

No matter how much we try, we cannot totally eliminate chance nor consequence and he understood that.

[boldilocks]

No one chooses to be come into the world... they are forced in.

No-one is forced into the world.

[Snoofman]

No one chooses to be come into the world... they are forced in.

No-one is forced into the world.

Not to turn this into a heated, philosophical debate, but I got to agree with Bamax... no one chose to be born.......

..... not that I'm complaining about being alive.

[Arioch]

"I didn't choose to come to life, but I definitely prefer it." - Galio

[spacewhale]

Not to turn this into a heated, philosophical debate, but I got to agree with Bamax... no one chose to be born.......

..... not that I'm complaining about being alive.

Weird, you didn't get the New Game+ dialog choice?

[Snoofman]

Not to turn this into a heated, philosophical debate, but I got to agree with Bamax... no one chose to be born.......

..... not that I'm complaining about being alive.

Weird, you didn't get the New Game+ dialog choice?

Sorry, as a fetus I was little more preoccupied with leveling up my stats. Wasn't really aware that dialogue choice was a... thing.

[Bamax]

Well Beryl and Alex are in the hangar of the Umiak ship now... those lights look like the ceiling of a warehouse.

Alex looks clueless and is looking at Beryl for cues for what to do next, and Beryl looks like a woman on a mission... because she is.

[boldilocks]

No one chooses to be come into the world... they are forced in.

No-one is forced into the world.

Not to turn this into a heated, philosophical debate, but I got to agree with Bamax... no one chose to be born.......

..... not that I'm complaining about being alive.

Not choosing to be born is not the same as being forced into the world.

[Arioch]

Not choosing to be born is not the same as being forced into the world.

How is that not the same?

[spacewhale]

Being forced into the world sounds edgier, like some barbarian woman giving birth in the middle of a battle.

[Bamax]

Being forced into the world sounds edgier, like some barbarian woman giving birth in the middle of a battle.

I used the expression 'forced' because will some say "I did not ask to be born."

I know I said that to my parents before when I lived with them.

Not that I wanted death... just was saying that if it were up to me, I would have been born in a better family than the one in my original timeline.

[Snoofman]

Being forced into the world sounds edgier, like some barbarian woman giving birth in the middle of a battle.

I used the expression 'forced' because will some say "I did not ask to be born."

I know I said that to my parents before when I lived with them.

Not that I wanted death... just was saying that if it were up to me, I would have been born in a better family than the one in my original timeline.

Yeah we can all feel that way from time to time. I sometimes wonder if I could be a child again if Inwould have made different choices. But then again the choices and circumstances of my life made me who I am. I can only imagine what you must have gone through… how tough it must have been. But could you have been the man you are without your past?

In the words of Eminem, “Don’t let ‘em say you ain’t beautiful. They can all get f@$#ed. just stay true to you.”

[G. Janssen]

I sometimes wonder if I could be a child again if Inwould have made different choices.

I would. My pocket money would be spent on Microsoft shares instead of modelkits.

And I would definitely not have bought a book on C++ for 100 bitcoin, back when they were worth 50 cents and only a pizzeria in France, a petshop in Germany and a bookstore in Switzerland accepted them.

Yeah... I hate that f*cking book. I still have it.

[boldilocks]

Not choosing to be born is not the same as being forced into the world.

How is that not the same?

One suggests that there was a membrane between being in the world and not being in the world, and you were on one side of it until someone grabbed you and pushed you through it into the other side.
The other does not.

Pick a random tree in a forest and ask yourself if it makes sense to say that the tree was "forced into the world". It is a view of the world that is extremely narcissistic while at the same time ascribing a level of malevolent agency to the universe that there is scant evidence for.

Even a fruit tree planted by a farmer is not forced into the world, because the farmer had no intention of bringing into the world any specific tree. He planted a seed and a tree grew from it.

[Snoofman]

Not choosing to be born is not the same as being forced into the world.

How is that not the same?

One suggests that there was a membrane between being in the world and not being in the world, and you were on one side of it until someone grabbed you and pushed you through it into the other side.
The other does not.

Pick a random tree in a forest and ask yourself if it makes sense to say that the tree was "forced into the world". It is a view of the world that is extremely narcissistic while at the same time ascribing a level of malevolent agency to the universe that there is scant evidence for.

Even a fruit tree planted by a farmer is not forced into the world, because the farmer had no intention of bringing into the world any specific tree. He planted a seed and a tree grew from it.

Perhaps but the farmer plants a seed because he expects it to grow. The seed does not choose whether to grow or not. That depends on many environmental and genetic factors. The seed grows not because it chose to. Because it is compelled by genetic programming and triggered by environmental factors. The farmer just reaps the benefits that a seed provides.

Whether seeds, cells or genes have a choice is another debate entirely. But here is food for thought: they are pockets or order organizing themselves within a boundless sea of chaos and entropy trying to rip them apart or to be absorbed by other pockets of order trying to fuel and expand their own organization. We call this an organism. They do not have a choice because they are forced by their programming. But we, the conscious product of these systems, are aware and in spite of our impulses or compulsions, have the choice whether to give into our drives or resist them.

The farmer himself is not driven by malevolence or narcissism to force a seed into this world. He just expects a seed to beget a plant that in turn will beget food. Food that he needs to survive or sell to survive. And he can choose what kind of seed he wants and expects to grow. But that tree will grow in ways he cannot control.

Perhaps the same principle can be applied to people. We did not choose. We were not forced. But we were expected to come into this world. And expected to abide by its natural laws. Either by the people who conceived us knowingly to have children or by the physical forces that govern nature.

Interesting that you describe conception or coming into existence as crossing a membrane. Very interesting indeed.

Perhaps this membrane is the barrier from which the loroi draw upon their power.

[boldilocks]

How is that not the same?

One suggests that there was a membrane between being in the world and not being in the world, and you were on one side of it until someone grabbed you and pushed you through it into the other side.
The other does not.

Pick a random tree in a forest and ask yourself if it makes sense to say that the tree was "forced into the world". It is a view of the world that is extremely narcissistic while at the same time ascribing a level of malevolent agency to the universe that there is scant evidence for.

Even a fruit tree planted by a farmer is not forced into the world, because the farmer had no intention of bringing into the world any specific tree. He planted a seed and a tree grew from it.

Perhaps but the farmer plants a seed because he expects it to grow. The seed does not choose whether to grow or not. That depends on many environmental and genetic factors. The seed grows not because it chose to. Because it is compelled by genetic programming and triggered by environmental factors. The farmer just reaps the benefits that a seed provides.

Whether seeds, cells or genes have a choice is another debate entirely. But here is food for thought: they are pockets or order organizing themselves within a boundless sea of chaos and entropy trying to rip them apart or to be absorbed by other pockets of order trying to fuel and expand their own organization. We call this an organism. They do not have a choice because they are forced by their programming. But we, the conscious product of these systems, are aware and in spite of our impulses or compulsions, have the choice whether to give into our drives or resist them.

The farmer himself is not driven by malevolence or narcissism to force a seed into this world. He just expects a seed to beget a plant that in turn will beget food. Food that he needs to survive or sell to survive. And he can choose what kind of seed he wants and expects to grow. But that tree will grow in ways he cannot control.

Perhaps the same principle can be applied to people. We did not choose. We were not forced. But we were expected to come into this world. And expected to abide by its natural laws. Either by the people who conceived us knowingly to have children or by the physical forces that govern nature.

Interesting that you describe conception or coming into existence as crossing a membrane. Very interesting indeed.

Perhaps this membrane is the barrier from which the loroi draw upon their power.

The farmer expects a seed to grow into a tree. The seed doesn't choose to grow, but it isn't forced to either.
We don't really have willful control over the workings of our cells, at best we could deny them sustenance in an act of self-immolation.

We're not expected to abide by the natural laws of the world. The laws of the world are the laws. If you were capable of defying them there would be no real expectation that you wouldn't do so.

That's the thing, I don't think of people coming into the world as passing through a membrane because I don't conceptualize people coming into the world at all, but instead growing out of it the same way that plants grow out of it.

[Felixscout]

Even a fruit tree planted by a farmer is not forced into the world, because the farmer had no intention of bringing into the world any specific tree. He planted a seed and a tree grew from it.

As a gardener I highly disagree with this.

I pick a type of seed out of thousands of options, most of which will never be planted and after a time become nonviable.
I winnow those seeds for possible non viable examples.
I then plants those seeds in a starter with food, warmth, moisture and most if not all of them sprout.
I thin those aggressively looking for the best plants to permit to grow to maturity.
And then transplant them into the soil.

I provide optimal conditions for plants to sprout and they are compelled to sprout if their needs fit those conditions or they were non viable. I basically force them to grow.