from "Deep Conversation Topics"
1. In the distant past, a person's life was very similar to their grandparents' and grandchildren's lives. How has the rapid pace of technological advancement changed society?
mobility made the difference. Once people could move, their work could move, and so the people moved to follow the work rather than staying home and making it.
2. What are the pros and cons of colonizing other planets? How could this help or hurt the human race?
pro: relieve congestion problems and all the other issues related to too many people in one place.
con: taking over another planet because we have screwed up the one we have is no great solution.
One of the major problems that we face is a disconnect from other people. (Yes, that is ironic given the issues of being too close together.) Colonizing another planet or planets would hardly relieve that. If anything, it would lead to "us v. them" traumas that are likely beyond imagining.
3. What is the most beneficial emotion? How about the most destructive?
according to a UC-Berkeley study, there are 27 discrete emotions. Of those listed, I think that the most beneficial (in the universal sense) is interest, and the most destructive is anger.
4. How do you think you will die?
in bed. When it happens, what I'm doing, who I'm with--that will be the fun part, to be revealed...
5. What makes people believe absurd conspiracy theories?
fear of the unknown, embarrassment at their lack of knowledge, desperation for answers in the face of overwhelming experiences
6. What is a miracle that happens every day?
sunrise, kitty purrs, the burst of a raspberry drupelet on the tongue (that's what the little balls that make up a raspberry are called!). Hearing a good song.
7. Who do you know who is living life to the fullest?
I briefly went out with a guy named Clint (who used to go by "Rowdy" here on the blog). He was a part-time seasonal roofer (or maybe a gutter-hanger? something that involved ladders, anyway). The rest of the year (and, to be honest, a decent chunk of the time when he was allegedly working), he spent in one of the following pursuits: rollerblading, playing hacky-sack, reading graphic novels, or smoking heaps of pot.
This may seem an odd choice to answer this question, but it's true. Nothing could have made Clint happier. He had absolutely no further aim. (And, in fact, thought I was "ruthlessly, relentlessly ambitious," which still makes me laugh - if he only knew some of my current colleagues!) He was living the life of his dreams. How else to define living life to the fullest?
8. Will humans as a species ever be able to work together as a whole to achieve a goal? What is holding humans back from working together on a global scale?
Humans could not work together to decide the sky is blue. I have zero faith in their ability to do anything for "the common good." What holds them back? Self-interest, politics, religion, xenophobia, communication, arrogance, fear. Thousands of years of history.
9. Is taking a life ever justified? If so, where is the line? When is a person's life considered forfeit?
yes. The line moves. "Forfeit" is not a word that I would use under the circumstances.
10. What does honor mean to you? How important is it to you? Does your culture value honor? What exemplifies honor in your culture?
honor is integrity, ethics, decency. Doing the right thing.
• How important is it? Very much so - only, like so many things, I see it as relative rather than an absolute. My integrity is personal. My ethics are internal. Decency depends on the circumstances.
• Does my culture value honor? Not if its political hierarchy is any example of it
• What exemplifies honor in my culture? Individual people behaving decently, usually toward other individuals
[from here, cherry-picked in no particular order; the title quotation is attributed to Plato]
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