Ask Pyraxis anything

[Pyraxis]

You said you are studying sociology and politics. What do you think of people in the aggregate? I refer to the tendency of people to dissolve their individual identities into the group's and often by the same token absolve themselves of personal responsibility.

What I've been looking for mainly is how the patterns of people's behavior as individuals translate into the possible prediction of their behavior in groups. I want to see for example what a fight between spouses has in common with a war between nations.

I think people in the aggregate can get pretty deluded, and lurch around on tangents that have nothing to do with their stated goals. I think you can weed out people's potential by watching who they follow. I think that you can tweak groups in specific places to be more likely to get the results you want. I haven't found that it personally matters much whether the people around me think they're taking personal responsibility or not - their actions are still the same and have the same consequences.

[Lucifer]

bugger - there's that book about brownian motion and chaos or something, which won some award or other, and which sounds like that sort of thing.

* Lucifer racks brains...

i'll have a wander around amazon and get the title, before i explode with dementia, lol.

[Lucifer]

hurrah!  it's "critical mass...", etc., and you can find it here.

phew.

[Pyraxis]

Hey, thanks, Lucifer 

I'm familiar with brownian algorithms but only in the context of shader coding for 3d animation - mapping the patterns of dirt on the ground for example, or minor variations in color on a tree trunk. Somehow I'm not surprised it applies elsewhere also.

[lazarus]

Has the necromancer
-ever been in a knife fight?
-ever been cut?
Does the necromancer
-have an evil laugh IRL?
-wear silver?
Is the necromancer
-a 100 pound weakling?
-an dark, brooding, evil man?

If you answered any of these questions, how would you know?

[le travesti angelique]

Do you think that being selfish of oneself guarantees a better chance at finding happiness than to act selfless towards others?

[Pyraxis]

Damn. Have to answer the boring questions before I can get down to peegai's interesting one.

Has the necromancer
-ever been in a knife fight?
-ever been cut?

Yes and yes.

Does the necromancer
-have an evil laugh IRL?
-wear silver?

Only when he thinks no one's listening. And only when he wants people looking.

Is the necromancer
-a 100 pound weakling?
-an dark, brooding, evil man?

To the second one - yeah, in his dreams. To the first - maybe once upon a time.

If you answered any of these questions, how would you know?

Because I'm telepathic. Among other things.

[Leto729]

How has Pyraxis been doing?

[Pyraxis]

Do you think that being selfish of oneself guarantees a better chance at finding happiness than to act selfless towards others?

I think that selfishness has to come first, but too much of either one or the other will get you into trouble. If you have to choose one as dominant over the other, I say selfishness is more likely to get you happiness. There's a vicarious kick that comes out of helping others, but if you're doing things for yourself, it doesn't have to be vicarious. Heck you can even help others precisely because it makes you happy, and still call it selfishness.

Damnit, this question deserves a much longer answer than that. I might come back to it later.

[Leto729]

You forgot My question I hurt. 

[Pyraxis]

You forgot My question I hurt. 

Nope, just hadn't gotten to it yet. 

[Pyraxis]

How has Pyraxis been doing?

Damnit, why do people insist on asking such open-ended questions?

Narrow it down a little and I might actually give an interesting answer.

Otherwise - "Fine, thanks."

[Leto729]

How has Pyraxis been doing?

Damnit, why do people insist on asking such open-ended questions?

Narrow it down a little and I might actually give an interesting answer.

Otherwise - "Fine, thanks."

How are You doing right now this minute? Narrow enough?

[McGiver]

how is the job hunt?

[Pyraxis]

How are You doing right now this minute? Narrow enough?

I'm doing well, except I haven't gotten enough done today in my job search. I need to send some emails and rework my demo reel. So I'm kind of stressed out about that.