Date: Tue, 27 Aug 2002 15:29:38 -0700 From: Terry Lambert <tlambert2@mindspring.com> To: Dave Hayes <dave@jetcafe.org> Cc: Lawrence Sica <lomifeh@earthlink.net>, Giorgos Keramidas <keramida@ceid.upatras.gr>, Ceri Davies <setantae@submonkey.net>, chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Why did evolution fail? Message-ID: <3D6BFD52.72E15626@mindspring.com> References: <200208272146.g7RLkF195761@hokkshideh2.jetcafe.org>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
Dave Hayes wrote: > >> The only zen you need is the zen you think about. > > A strange sentiment, > > Sentiments are only strange in reference to a standard of normalcy. > To which standard do you refer? The Zen. > > for someone who quotes Ch'an Master Yangqui, > > Who? Dave Hayes wrote: | Mind is the faculty, phenomena are the data; both are like | scratches in a mirror. When there are no scratches or dust, | the clarity of the mirror shows. When mind and phenomena are | both forgotten, then your nature is real. -- Ch'an Master Yangqui(992-1049) > > does not attribute the quote, > > I apologize to your ego for not doing a complete search on what I had > to say, lest my ego be embarassed that someone else said it before I > did. =) > > Did you want to continue assuming that knowledge must be attributed > to a source, or did you want to examine the knowledge itself? On the contrary, your lack of recognition of the source of the quote in your own signature informs me of where you obtained it, as well as your actual level of familiarity with your subject. > > and yet claims that there exists a ying/yang relationship between > > communities and trolls. > > By the use of "claims", I see you mean to drag me into a logical > argument about what is not logical. If you want to do this dance, > I shall, but since I recognize it is ultimately futile and you have > a chance of seeing this...can we not do this? ;) It's you who's ascribing the Aristotilian mean to the issue of trolls as "anti-contributors", rather than allowing for the possibility of an excluded middle category... wherein trolls are neither "contributors" or "anti-contributors", but are instead some third thing. > > The freedom to speak is not a guarantee of an audience, > > The freedom to speak is the freedom to speak. It implies or > follows nothing about itself other than itself. It is something > most every human has, regardless of those who wish to assert to the > contrary. If the human has a brain, a mouth, and fingers...they are > generally capable of speaking, writing, or typing. > > There is nothing you can really do about this. Sure there is. You can always close the valve at the source. Texas, to take one example, has a long and glorious history of dealing with anti-social behaviour that way. The state may terminate the speaker, thus terminating his speech. > Most audiences generally presume that they are forced to listen; if > you'll examine your mail reader closely you'll find that is not the > case at all. =) > > nor is life zero-sum, such that one must tolerate fools gladly in > > order to walk the eightfold path. > > It is not possible to walk the eightfold path if you are carrying a > fool in this manner. You will exhaust yourself. The word "nor" negates the statement; the use of the comma was as a conjunction. You are merely repeating what I have already said. > > It seems to me that trolls are people who believe in zero-sum > > games being the norm, to the point that they believe that for > > their advocated position to win, all other positions must lose. > > Can you not see that this is true of most of the community as well? "Majority makes right". It is the function of any socity to be normative. If you dislike this idea, do not elect yourself a member of a society whose norms you hold against. Admittedly, this is rather difficult, with each society trying to grab as much territory as possible. Perhaps you can buy a decommissioned oil rig in the North Atlantic. -- Terry To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?3D6BFD52.72E15626>