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The Barstool Experiment

Started by LHX, June 13, 2006, 05:31:36 PM

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Wolfpoet

Quote from: vexati0n on April 17, 2007, 06:08:15 AM
funny, 'enlightenment by self-sacrifice and accepting fate (for the masses)' is the title of the book Dick Cheney's going to release as soon as he leaves office.

He wouldn't know what self-sacrifice if it bit his cock off.
It's not so much that we fear the Wolf that howls outside, we fear the Wolf that howls within our soul.

Paladin, Iman, Rabbi and Fa Shih of the Erisian revival.

There are 3 sides to any conflict, winners, losers and arms dealers. Eris does a damn good deal at competitive prices.

tyrannosaurus vex

that's why he's the perfect person to write about it.
Evil and Unfeeling Arse-Flenser From The City of the Damned.

St John the Blasphemist

#152
Just in case you haven't seen it--the barstool experiment carried out (thanks for the pointer, Lysergic).
QuoteThis X-ray image shows the leg of a chair embedded into the eye socket of a Melbourne teenager who miraculously survived a random attack outside a city nightclub earlier this year.


Full story with x-ray pics here.

St John the Blasphemist
Saint of (more) Chair Legs

saint aini

Used the Barstool Experiment on jesus freaks yesterday... The results were as desired: they gave up on the causality arguement they were trying to push.

I need to rework Panzer AG's "Filth God" into the third person for them next time.
Mary: Let me ask you something.
[Grabs his hand]
Mary: Why are you alive?
John Preston: [Breaks free] I'm alive... I live... to safeguard the continuity of this great society. To serve Libria.
Mary: It's circular. You exist to continue your existence. What's the point?
John Preston: What's the point of your existence?
Mary: To feel. 'Cause you've never done it, you can never know it. But it's as vital as breath. And without it, without love, without anger, without sorrow, breath is just a clock... ticking.

LMNO

QuoteOnce upon a time, two Serious Minded people were in their local pub, having a few pints, and talking about the nature of Universe.

Bill pointed out that most of what we consider ,Äúmatter,Äù is made up of empty space.  ,ÄúThe distance between a nucleus, its electrons, and the nearest adjacent atom is comparatively large; why, that barstool over there shouldn't even be considered a solid!,Äù

Joe responded, ,Äúbut wait,Ķ As far as we can actually prove, that barstool might simply be a hallucination, for we're not actually seeing the barstool, we're processing electric signals in our heads generated by our optic nerves.  And all they are doing is claiming certain wavelengths of light have bounced off an object.  But what if the nerves are misfiring, which we all know happen quite often?  So, we can,Äôt really say whether or not the barstool even exists!,Äù

Just then, a man approached them and said, ,ÄúI couldn,Äôt help but overhear you two talking.  If I may, I have an experiment for you.  Purely in the interest of a Deeper Understanding of the Universe.,Äù

He then proceeded to pick up the barstool and pummel both Bill and Joe squarely about the head and torso, because they were so obviously pretentious assholes who deserved a beatdown.

Thus, they were enlightened.


So, what does this metaphor mean?

First off, it does not mean the use of violence against stupid, or willfully ignorant people.

What it does mean is not to forget the idea of pragmatism in any sort of philosophical discussion that deals with the way we interact with the universe.

Our imaginations can hold a lot of ideas, and we can build upon these ideas immensely.  We can even do this if the initial ideas are complete bullshit.

The barstool is a metaphor for telling you that your grand castle in the sky that you build after sleepless nights and too much LSD is, in fact, completely worthless.


I would suggest another metaphor be created that represents the ,Äúwhack to the head,Äù of the willfully ignorant or stupid.

I suggest ,Äúclawhammer.,Äù

P3nT4gR4m

Barstool story is perfect!

I've loved that one since I first saw it. Who the hell wrote that anyroad?

I'm up to my arse in Brexit Numpties, but I want more.  Target-rich environments are the new sexy.
Not actually a meat product.
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Awful and Bent Behemothic Results of Last Night's Painful Squat.
High Altitude Haggis-Filled Sex Bucket From Beyond Time and Space.
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Octomom Auxillary Heat Exchanger Repairman
walking the fine line line between genius and batshit fucking crazy

"computation is a pattern in the spacetime arrangement of particles, and it's not the particles but the pattern that really matters! Matter doesn't matter." -- Max Tegmark

LMNO

It was Cain's idea, but I wrote the above quoted version.

P3nT4gR4m

I've actually gotten IRL Lulz with that tale - the scientist and the philosopher gag

I'm up to my arse in Brexit Numpties, but I want more.  Target-rich environments are the new sexy.
Not actually a meat product.
Ass-Kicking & Foot-Stomping Ancient Master of SHIT FUCK FUCK FUCK
Awful and Bent Behemothic Results of Last Night's Painful Squat.
High Altitude Haggis-Filled Sex Bucket From Beyond Time and Space.
Internet Monkey Person of Filthy and Immoral Pygmy-Porn Wart Contagion
Octomom Auxillary Heat Exchanger Repairman
walking the fine line line between genius and batshit fucking crazy

"computation is a pattern in the spacetime arrangement of particles, and it's not the particles but the pattern that really matters! Matter doesn't matter." -- Max Tegmark

Payne

This was one of the first things I read in here. I'm always reminded of one of the pub regulars  who insists on telling me that "glass is technically a liquid", usually at a rate of once every couple days.

Triple Zero

Quote from: LMNO on April 24, 2007, 07:46:57 PMI would suggest another metaphor be created that represents the “whack to the head” of the willfully ignorant or stupid.

I suggest “clawhammer.”

ah so that's what you meant with clawhammer in the other thread?

mind that i was then really (trying to) use the barstool-metaphore in the "pragmatism yay" kind of fashion, not for simply bashing the ignorant.

sometimes the barstool is useful for both, but never for just bashing the stupid.
Ex-Soviet Bloc Sexual Attack Swede of Tomorrow™
e-prime disclaimer: let it seem fairly unclear I understand the apparent subjectivity of the above statements. maybe.

INFORMATION SO POWERFUL, YOU ACTUALLY NEED LESS.

LMNO

Yeah, I still have to write a parable of the Clawhammer.

Jenne

HA!    :D

I'm glad you're going to do that.

Triple Zero

i was reading Terry Pratchett's Thief of Time last night, and came across this quote. it's a very different story than the barstool experiment, but i think it somehow covers the same sentiments:

  'The poet Hoha once dreamed he was a butterfly, and then he awoke and said, "Am I a man who dreamed he was a butterfly, or am I a butterfly dreaming he is a man?" ', said Lobsang, trying to join in.
  'Really?', said Susan briskly. 'And which was he?'
  'What? Well . . . who knows?'
  'How did he write his poems?' said Susan.
  'With a brush, of course.'
  'He didn't flap around making information-rich patterns in the air or laying eggs on cabbage leaves?'
  'No-one ever mentioned it.'
  'Then he was probably a man.' said Susan.

Ex-Soviet Bloc Sexual Attack Swede of Tomorrow™
e-prime disclaimer: let it seem fairly unclear I understand the apparent subjectivity of the above statements. maybe.

INFORMATION SO POWERFUL, YOU ACTUALLY NEED LESS.

LMNO


Cain

Still the most Discordian book done by him so far. 

I have to email him with thanks and my suggestion for an Errata based storyline (Errata being the Discworld's Eris).