Trying to live alone
Wind below my wings
A daily grind and fling
Something I should atone
God is surely with me
In the light and dark
Here I lay my mark
Over the wide blue sea
Friends come and go away
Peace and quiet still my heart
Missing you while we're apart
Now I live day by day
Friday, April 7, 2017
Saturday, April 1, 2017
Poem: April Fool's Day
April Fool's Day!
What is it that you say?
I got engaged!
Then I am enraged.
Twas a joke oft repeated.
Tissue paper rolls strewn about.
Do you really want to go this route?
Silly string, hot sauce on food,
You pranksters really ruin the mood,
When on a whoopee cushion I am seated.
When my vengeance comes,
You will regret what you have done.
I will put insects in your crumbs,
Spiders crawling out of your bun.
I hope to see you this day conceded.
April Fool's Day!
It's all just a fun game!
Just don't hurt people, I say.
Because that is really lame.
My need for attention is sated.
What is it that you say?
I got engaged!
Then I am enraged.
Twas a joke oft repeated.
Tissue paper rolls strewn about.
Do you really want to go this route?
Silly string, hot sauce on food,
You pranksters really ruin the mood,
When on a whoopee cushion I am seated.
When my vengeance comes,
You will regret what you have done.
I will put insects in your crumbs,
Spiders crawling out of your bun.
I hope to see you this day conceded.
April Fool's Day!
It's all just a fun game!
Just don't hurt people, I say.
Because that is really lame.
My need for attention is sated.
Friday, January 6, 2017
Short Story: The Mandala Effect
"The Mandala Effect refers to a phenomenon in which a large number of people share false memories of past events, referred to as confabulation in psychiatry. Some have speculated that the memories are caused by parallel universes spilling into our own, while others explain the phenomenon as a failure of collective memory."
"In psychiatry, confabulation (verb: confabulate) is a disturbance of memory, defined as the production of fabricated, distorted or misinterpreted memories about oneself or the world, without the conscious intention to deceive.[1] Individuals who confabulate present incorrect memories ranging from "subtle alterations to bizarre fabrications", and are generally very confident about their recollections, despite contradictory evidence."
"In 2010, blogger Fiona Broome coined the term 'Mandala Effect' to describe a collective false memory she discovered at the Symposium in Toronto, where many others believed that the Dalai Lama died during a Tibetan revolt in Communist China in the 1960s. A healing sand mandala was prepared by Tibetan monks to welcome the Dalai Lama's visit. That year, Broome launched the site MandalaEffect.com to document various examples of the phenomenon."
"A mandala (Sanskrit: मण्डल, lit, circle) is a spiritual and ritual symbol in Hinduism, representing the universe. In common use, "mandala" has become a generic term for any diagram, chart or geometric pattern that represents the cosmos metaphysically or symbolically; a microcosm of the universe.
The basic form of most mandalas is a square with four gates containing a circle with a center point. Each gate is in the general shape of a T. Mandalas often exhibit radial balance."
"Many people who visit the Mandala Effect website have fond memories of the Berenstain Bears books. They read them as children, or family members read them aloud. It’s a cherished childhood memory.
However, the books in this timestream are Berenstein Bears. E, not A, in last syllable."
External References:
MandalaEffect.Com
Know Your Meme
Wikipedia
Wattpad
Friday, December 9, 2016
MindWrap: Roko's Basilisk and the Folly of Transhumanist Atheism
"A thought experiment called 'Roko's Basilisk' takes the notion of world-ending artificial intelligence to a new extreme, suggesting that all-powerful robots may one day torture those who didn't help them come into existence sooner." Business Insider
"Roko's basilisk is a thought experiment about the potential risks involved in developing artificial intelligence. The experiment's premise is that an all-powerful artificial intelligence from the future could retroactively punish those who did not help bring about its existence, including those who merely knew about the possible development of such a being. It resembles a futurist version of Pascal's wager, in that it suggests people should weigh possible punishment versus reward and as a result accept particular singularitarian ideas or financially support their development." Rational Wiki
What is the Roko's basilisk? It's an idea that if somehow we were to create a smarter-than-humans AI, which will in turn create an even smarter AI, and so on until it becomes close to omniscient and godlike, that it will create a simulations of all of the previous humans that didn't take part in advancing it, and then punishing them.
Why would it punish them in a simulation? Arguably, said AI would be the best thing ever, as it will solve humanity's problems if it was created to be friendly. However, since humanity has suffered before it was born, so to speak, those humans that didn't advance the AI will be punished because reasons. Those reasons include existential risk or some other.
One put it that 151,600 people die each day before said AI manifested, so the AI has a reason to exact revenge on those that didn't help it come back to save humanity.
To be fair, not all transhumanists hold these belief, as it is just a thought experiment. You'd have to accept the premise that AI would find existential crisis compelling enough to punish simulations of you far in the future, in addition to the already faulty transhumanist assumptions.
If one does accept the premise, these are the problems with that line of thinking.
That is,
1. Atheism says there is no God
1a. If there was a God, He is evil for reasons, including the following: sending people to hell for not following Him, the existence of evil, people suffering, etc.
1b. God sees Himself as the ultimate good
2. We are most likely simulations by an AI
3. If we are simulations, then AI is basically a god in all practices and purposes
3a. Thus if said AI runs this simulated universe, it is the god of this universe
Thus if Roko's Basilisk is true,
A. There is a god
B. That god is evil for sending the current simulations of who don't to an existential hell, allowing evil to exist in the simulated universe, allowing suffering of simulations, etc.
C. That AI considers itself the ultimate good, and with objective measure
D. We are already simulations of said AI god
E. Atheism is false, at least in this simulated universe
So if Roko's Basilisk is possible, atheism is false. Do note I don't believe in Roko's Basilisk or atheism, I used their reasoning.
Tuesday, November 15, 2016
The Catholic-Orthodox-Protestant Christianity Classification System Needs To Be Replaced
For centuries after the Reformation, Christianity has been classified into three so-called branches:
Roman Catholicism: the largest sect of so-called Christians. (The term "so-called" is only reference to the title, ie, someone who believes his religion is based on Christ's teachings, not being born again or other definitions)
Greek (or Eastern) Orthodoxy: a half split from Roman Catholicism.
Protestantism: "protesting" from the Catholic Church, a result of the Reformation and another split from Catholicism.
Protestants sometimes add a fourth category: Cults.
Cults would include Mormonism and Jehovah Witnesses and others.
However, this does not fix any of the underlying and fundamental problems of the system. And Catholics consider these cults to be part of Protestantism.
This system is outdated, revisionist, and over simplistic.
How so?
This system was invented by Catholics in relation to them. While them being the largest name holder of Christianity does give them some credence in setting up the classification, it fails to accurately predict the nuances.
In other words, by using this classification system, we play along the Catholic view of history. And there are obvious reasons why we shouldn't go along with the revisionists.
For example, all the classifications are based on its relation to Catholicism.
Either you're
1. Catholic (Roman Catholicism) OR
2. Pretty much like Catholic no matter how much you pretend you aren't (Greek Orthodoxy) OR
3. Not a Catholic and protesting away from it, making Catholicism the "mother" (Protestantism)
It's all based on how Catholic you are! As I noted, Catholics consider Jehovah Witnesses and Mormons to be Protestants.
Catholics view all non-Catholic Christianity as rebellious and prodigal children to be subjugated under her wing as the "Mother of Christianity". I kid you not. I talk to a lot of Catholics, and this is what they tell me.
I know the classification system is entrenched in our textbooks in seminaries, history books, and such, The victor does write history. But for one, I refuse church history to be written by and from the point of view of the instigators of the Inquisition. It makes as much sense for the history of Jews to be written by Nazi Germany.
There are plenty of ways to categorize Christianity. I propose such a system:
1. Hierarchical Christianity
2. Common Christianity
3. Middle Christianity
4. Cultic Christianity
Hierarchical Christianity would be marked by the following things:
Roman Catholicism and Greek Orthodoxy would fall under Hierarchical Christianity. The Chinese state church and other state churches would fall underneath Hierarchical.
Common Christianity would be marked by the following things:
Most Baptistic denominations would fall under Common Christianity, along with non-denominational, and Church of Christ, and others.
Middle Christianity would be marked by the following things:
Most Protestant denominations would fall under Middle Christianity. The reasoning is that Protestants protested from the Catholic Church, and so would dilute their doctrines and traditions. Much of Common Christianity were never part of the Catholic Church and thus not should not be considered Protestants.
Cultic Christianity would be marked by the following things:
As noted, Mormonism and Jehovah's Witnesses would be in this category.
Will it catch on? Probably not. Does it suffer some problems from the previous classification system? In some parts, yes. However, it is a struggle to keep it simple while also covering a lot of systems.
Roman Catholicism: the largest sect of so-called Christians. (The term "so-called" is only reference to the title, ie, someone who believes his religion is based on Christ's teachings, not being born again or other definitions)
Greek (or Eastern) Orthodoxy: a half split from Roman Catholicism.
Protestantism: "protesting" from the Catholic Church, a result of the Reformation and another split from Catholicism.
Protestants sometimes add a fourth category: Cults.
Cults would include Mormonism and Jehovah Witnesses and others.
However, this does not fix any of the underlying and fundamental problems of the system. And Catholics consider these cults to be part of Protestantism.
This system is outdated, revisionist, and over simplistic.
How so?
This system was invented by Catholics in relation to them. While them being the largest name holder of Christianity does give them some credence in setting up the classification, it fails to accurately predict the nuances.
In other words, by using this classification system, we play along the Catholic view of history. And there are obvious reasons why we shouldn't go along with the revisionists.
For example, all the classifications are based on its relation to Catholicism.
Either you're
1. Catholic (Roman Catholicism) OR
2. Pretty much like Catholic no matter how much you pretend you aren't (Greek Orthodoxy) OR
3. Not a Catholic and protesting away from it, making Catholicism the "mother" (Protestantism)
It's all based on how Catholic you are! As I noted, Catholics consider Jehovah Witnesses and Mormons to be Protestants.
Catholics view all non-Catholic Christianity as rebellious and prodigal children to be subjugated under her wing as the "Mother of Christianity". I kid you not. I talk to a lot of Catholics, and this is what they tell me.
I know the classification system is entrenched in our textbooks in seminaries, history books, and such, The victor does write history. But for one, I refuse church history to be written by and from the point of view of the instigators of the Inquisition. It makes as much sense for the history of Jews to be written by Nazi Germany.
There are plenty of ways to categorize Christianity. I propose such a system:
1. Hierarchical Christianity
2. Common Christianity
3. Middle Christianity
4. Cultic Christianity
Hierarchical Christianity would be marked by the following things:
- A priesthood apart from the lay people.
- A priesthood with a patriarchal figure. The Pope and the Patriarch of Orthodoxy, amongst others.
- Emphasis on infant baptism.
- Emphasis on tradition.
- Emphasis on church authority as final. May manifest as a catechism.
- Emphasis on images, statues, icons, or other physical embodiments.
- Emphasis on saints and angelic beings.
- Emphasis on sacraments. May be seen, rightly or wrongly, as works salvation.
- No separation of church and state. Sometimes, the church is the state. Theocracy.
- Major in size.
Roman Catholicism and Greek Orthodoxy would fall under Hierarchical Christianity. The Chinese state church and other state churches would fall underneath Hierarchical.
Common Christianity would be marked by the following things:
- No priesthood apart from the lay people. The lay people are the priesthood.
- An adherence to the Bible and the Bible only as their rule for faith and religion. This does not mean they are free from errors of interpretations or conflict.
- Emphasis on believer's baptism.
- Emphasis on Bible's authority as final.
- Emphasis on separation of church and state.
- No images, statues, icons, or other physical embodiments, possibly except symbols such as the Cross.
- No emphasis on saints or angelic beings.
Most Baptistic denominations would fall under Common Christianity, along with non-denominational, and Church of Christ, and others.
Middle Christianity would be marked by the following things:
- A compromise between Hierarchical and Common.
- A conflict between a separate priesthood and priesthood of the believer. Presbyterians.
- A conflict between infant and believer's baptism. Presbyterians, again.
- A conflict between separation of church and state and theocracy. The Lutheran and Calvinistic state churches, for example.
- Emphasis on theologians and confessions. Calvinists, Lutherans, and such fall here.
- Basically, mix and match with Common Christianity, and you'll have Middle Christianity.
Most Protestant denominations would fall under Middle Christianity. The reasoning is that Protestants protested from the Catholic Church, and so would dilute their doctrines and traditions. Much of Common Christianity were never part of the Catholic Church and thus not should not be considered Protestants.
Cultic Christianity would be marked by the following things:
- A clear denial of the Trinity. This is the main difference between Hierarchical and Cultic, as Hierarchical usually does believe in the Trinity.
- A denial of other key components of the faith.
- Additional books of revelation. The Book of Mormon and the Watchtower, for instance.
- Minor in size.
As noted, Mormonism and Jehovah's Witnesses would be in this category.
Will it catch on? Probably not. Does it suffer some problems from the previous classification system? In some parts, yes. However, it is a struggle to keep it simple while also covering a lot of systems.
Wednesday, October 26, 2016
Game Design: The Inky Darkness, A Horror Real Time Strategy Game (subject to change)
Originally from Faction Calculus, my blog about Real Time Strategy games.
As my bio states, I am a game developer of sorts. I often do game jams occasionally, where one will try to make a game in under a prescribed time limit. Not a lot nowadays, but I used to.
So, with Asylum Jam coming up from Game Jolt with the theme of psychological horror or mental issues outside of a context of an asylum (which makes the name ironic), I had a lot of ideas: A game based on writer's block; a game based on the Five Stages of Grief; a 2-D version of Luigi's Mansion; etc.
I recently was playing around with an unfinished RTS engine of mine on Game Maker, and so I thought, maybe I should create a small horror RTS. RTSes are hard to make, but I have done them at least twice for different game jams. Also, I've been fascinated by Lovecraft recently.
Introducing, the Inky Darkness RTS concept!
Story:
You are a commander of a small military base outside a settlement. Whether suddenly or with warning, a dark fog has covered the lands and is increasingly darker and darker. In the fog are terrible, slithering things, and areas covered with the fog are impenetrable. The few that come back from the fog have been reduced to one babbling with insanity... or worse. Escape, get rescued, turn back the fog, or succumb.
Setting:
Deciding whether Victorian steampunk, World War I, Cold War, or the modern era.
Cold War has the advantages of the Soviet Red Menace atmosphere, and earlier wars such as the Vietnam War as a backdrop for flashbacks.
World War I has gritty trench warfare and gray drab atmosphere. Since chemical warfare was commonplace, the Fog is not out of place.
Modern era can be molded to anything, but has no context to history. Technology such as drones would be available.
Victorian steampunk is just cool, and fits the Lovecraftian sensibilities.
Gameplay:
The Fog of War is your enemy. Literally. Once it is thick enough, you can shoot at the fog which might grow shadowy tentacles and hold it back until you run out of ammunition.
Strong lights can also hold back the fog. The fog is more of a "liquid" fog than an airy fog that covers everything. Think of Zerg creep or the Creeper World creep combined with a Fog of War.
The thicker the fog gets, the more aggressive the enemies it spawns will be and your range will get smaller.
You will have limited ammo, limited fuel, limited supplies, and limited men. You may venture out in your own peril to find supplies and survivors.
There will be a day/night system, though a thick fog will make daylight very scarce. Your men, and yourself, will need sleep. And sleep causes nightmares, not only on your men, but on you.
Units can hide or take cover behind something to ambush or not.
You and your men are affected by insanity as determined by the thickness of the fog; eldritch horrors each men has encountered; loss of morale, supply and troops; and nightmares at night.
Sort-of fourth wall breaks as evidenced by the insanity and the monsters in-game.
Some sort of random generation for characters and other things. Small bios for the characters to relate to.
Enemies include lumbering Lovecraftian zombies/mutants, lots of tentacles, and other cosmic horror. Enemies can corrupt your infantry units and even vehicles.
Insanity might also be an infestation/corruption meter, or separate.
Sort-of open world sandbox RTS as there is a city nearby for looting and other landmarks.
Flashbacks of previous wars. Maybe the commander has PTSD. Increases the hallucinations. Flashbacks are interactive and playable. Provides practice for player commander for warfare.
Instead of a bird's eye view like a satellite uplink, there will be only surveillance cameras. Or even, the increasing activity destroys the satellite uplink and that player now has to rely on surveillance cameras.
Insanity affecting the landscape. Things will become more out of place as time passes by. Might flash into an alternate dimension.
Commander being attacked in the command station. Structures are not small, but huge enough to warrant firefights inside. Indoor gameplay.
Base-building is standard RTS building, however, structures have interiors aforementioned, sort of like Prison Architect with preset building layouts.
Planned rhythm. To shake off predictability, squads may be sent missions to check on completely harmless things. And the harmless things may clue in to a darkness coming, or actually something completely random comes out that is not harmless.
Undertale-type 4th wall breaks and game hacking.
Risks and Challenges:
The trick is how to make a strategy game scary. The survival part should theoretically lend to that idea.
Inspiration:
Call of Cthulu: Wasted Land
Fear Equation, Deadnauts, Zafehouse: Diaries
XCOM: Enemy Unknown
Darkest Dungeon
Creepy World series
Don't Starve
Escape from Aliens from Outer Space!
Nullpoint
Blood Roofs
Undertale
Other games which I do not remember the name of.
Useful Links:
https://www.quora.com/Im-creating-a-horror-game-and-want-to-know-What-elements-make-games-scary-Good-ideas-will-get-you-a-free-copy-when-I-release-it
http://thefederalist.com/2015/03/03/six-elements-that-make-for-a-quality-survival-horror-game/
http://tay.kinja.com/six-things-the-new-silent-hill-needs-to-have-to-succeed-1626630082
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/223931/game_design_deep_dive_amnesias_.php
http://tay.kinja.com/what-makes-the-perfect-horror-game-1619847904
As my bio states, I am a game developer of sorts. I often do game jams occasionally, where one will try to make a game in under a prescribed time limit. Not a lot nowadays, but I used to.
So, with Asylum Jam coming up from Game Jolt with the theme of psychological horror or mental issues outside of a context of an asylum (which makes the name ironic), I had a lot of ideas: A game based on writer's block; a game based on the Five Stages of Grief; a 2-D version of Luigi's Mansion; etc.
I recently was playing around with an unfinished RTS engine of mine on Game Maker, and so I thought, maybe I should create a small horror RTS. RTSes are hard to make, but I have done them at least twice for different game jams. Also, I've been fascinated by Lovecraft recently.
Introducing, the Inky Darkness RTS concept!
Story:
You are a commander of a small military base outside a settlement. Whether suddenly or with warning, a dark fog has covered the lands and is increasingly darker and darker. In the fog are terrible, slithering things, and areas covered with the fog are impenetrable. The few that come back from the fog have been reduced to one babbling with insanity... or worse. Escape, get rescued, turn back the fog, or succumb.
Setting:
Deciding whether Victorian steampunk, World War I, Cold War, or the modern era.
Cold War has the advantages of the Soviet Red Menace atmosphere, and earlier wars such as the Vietnam War as a backdrop for flashbacks.
World War I has gritty trench warfare and gray drab atmosphere. Since chemical warfare was commonplace, the Fog is not out of place.
Modern era can be molded to anything, but has no context to history. Technology such as drones would be available.
Victorian steampunk is just cool, and fits the Lovecraftian sensibilities.
Gameplay:
The Fog of War is your enemy. Literally. Once it is thick enough, you can shoot at the fog which might grow shadowy tentacles and hold it back until you run out of ammunition.
Strong lights can also hold back the fog. The fog is more of a "liquid" fog than an airy fog that covers everything. Think of Zerg creep or the Creeper World creep combined with a Fog of War.
The thicker the fog gets, the more aggressive the enemies it spawns will be and your range will get smaller.
You will have limited ammo, limited fuel, limited supplies, and limited men. You may venture out in your own peril to find supplies and survivors.
There will be a day/night system, though a thick fog will make daylight very scarce. Your men, and yourself, will need sleep. And sleep causes nightmares, not only on your men, but on you.
Units can hide or take cover behind something to ambush or not.
You and your men are affected by insanity as determined by the thickness of the fog; eldritch horrors each men has encountered; loss of morale, supply and troops; and nightmares at night.
Sort-of fourth wall breaks as evidenced by the insanity and the monsters in-game.
Some sort of random generation for characters and other things. Small bios for the characters to relate to.
Enemies include lumbering Lovecraftian zombies/mutants, lots of tentacles, and other cosmic horror. Enemies can corrupt your infantry units and even vehicles.
Insanity might also be an infestation/corruption meter, or separate.
Sort-of open world sandbox RTS as there is a city nearby for looting and other landmarks.
Flashbacks of previous wars. Maybe the commander has PTSD. Increases the hallucinations. Flashbacks are interactive and playable. Provides practice for player commander for warfare.
Instead of a bird's eye view like a satellite uplink, there will be only surveillance cameras. Or even, the increasing activity destroys the satellite uplink and that player now has to rely on surveillance cameras.
Insanity affecting the landscape. Things will become more out of place as time passes by. Might flash into an alternate dimension.
Commander being attacked in the command station. Structures are not small, but huge enough to warrant firefights inside. Indoor gameplay.
Base-building is standard RTS building, however, structures have interiors aforementioned, sort of like Prison Architect with preset building layouts.
Planned rhythm. To shake off predictability, squads may be sent missions to check on completely harmless things. And the harmless things may clue in to a darkness coming, or actually something completely random comes out that is not harmless.
Undertale-type 4th wall breaks and game hacking.
Risks and Challenges:
The trick is how to make a strategy game scary. The survival part should theoretically lend to that idea.
Inspiration:
Call of Cthulu: Wasted Land
Fear Equation, Deadnauts, Zafehouse: Diaries
XCOM: Enemy Unknown
Darkest Dungeon
Creepy World series
Don't Starve
Escape from Aliens from Outer Space!
Nullpoint
Blood Roofs
Undertale
Other games which I do not remember the name of.
Useful Links:
https://www.quora.com/Im-creating-a-horror-game-and-want-to-know-What-elements-make-games-scary-Good-ideas-will-get-you-a-free-copy-when-I-release-it
http://thefederalist.com/2015/03/03/six-elements-that-make-for-a-quality-survival-horror-game/
http://tay.kinja.com/six-things-the-new-silent-hill-needs-to-have-to-succeed-1626630082
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/223931/game_design_deep_dive_amnesias_.php
http://tay.kinja.com/what-makes-the-perfect-horror-game-1619847904
Tuesday, September 6, 2016
Short Story: A Multiverse of Answers
I loved her. I loved her so much.
But she didn't. I don't think she did. I though she did. But she does not now.
I made too many mistakes. But I don't even know what they were. It was way too sudden.
I need answers. Why did you leave me? Why did you not want me anymore?
But how do I regain her back?
I don't.
Travel to the past is impossible. The past is finished and closed.
Yet, there are many other universes where it all turned out differently.
Many other instances of her flitting around.
So I traveled to another present.
I met her again in one dimension.
She had no chronic illness.
She shied from me.
I met her again in the next.
She moved up north.
She approached me.
But was she really her?
Was she really the one I loved?
I need answers.
I must go back to her. I must.
And the many universes bubbled and frothed in the great sea of possibilities we call God's foreknowledge.
But she didn't. I don't think she did. I though she did. But she does not now.
I made too many mistakes. But I don't even know what they were. It was way too sudden.
I need answers. Why did you leave me? Why did you not want me anymore?
But how do I regain her back?
I don't.
Travel to the past is impossible. The past is finished and closed.
Yet, there are many other universes where it all turned out differently.
Many other instances of her flitting around.
So I traveled to another present.
I met her again in one dimension.
She had no chronic illness.
She shied from me.
I met her again in the next.
She moved up north.
She approached me.
But was she really her?
Was she really the one I loved?
I need answers.
I must go back to her. I must.
And the many universes bubbled and frothed in the great sea of possibilities we call God's foreknowledge.
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