There is some bit of wisdom, some rule of nature, some law-like pattern, either grand or small, that you've noticed in the universe that might as well be named after you. Gordon Moore has one; Johannes Kepler and Michael Faraday, too. So does Murphy.
Since you are so bright, you probably have at least two you can articulate. Send me two laws based on your empirical work and observations you would not mind having tagged with your name. Stick to science and to those scientific areas where you have expertise. Avoid flippancy. Remember, your name will be attached to your law.
you have been FnoRded, may the farce be with you..
Re: virus: What's your law?
« Reply #1 on: 2004-01-16 13:09:19 »
[athenonrex in his brittish voice]
please, my good chaps, forgive the tonality of my voice. today is the first day for me in a week long "Accent a Day" marathon.
but i must know, is this bloody proposal right out? surely somewhere they say that they're alluding to a joke?
%%%%%%%%%%%%% ############################################# #~every villan is the hero of his own story~# ############################################# %%%%%%%%%%%%%
There is some bit of wisdom, some rule of nature, some law-like pattern, either grand or small, that you've noticed in the universe that might as well be named after you. Gordon Moore has one; Johannes Kepler and Michael Faraday, too. So does Murphy.
Since you are so bright, you probably have at least two you can articulate. Send me two laws based on your empirical work and observations you would not mind having tagged with your name. Stick to science and to those scientific areas where you have expertise. Avoid flippancy. Remember, your name will be attached to your law.
_____________________________________________________________ --->Get your free email @godisdead.com Made possible by Fade to Black Comedy Magazine --- To unsubscribe from the Virus list go to <http://www.lucifer.com/cgi-bin/virus-l>
Re: virus: What's your law?
« Reply #2 on: 2004-01-16 23:47:17 »
> Since you are so bright, you probably have at least two you can articulate. Send me two laws based on your empirical work and observations you would not mind having tagged with your name. Stick to science and to those scientific areas where you have expertise. Avoid flippancy. Remember, your name will be attached to your law.
My first stab at some laws...
The Law of the Lurkers: Given an online community, 90% of the members are lurkers.
The Law of Software Schedules: The amount of time remaining until completion of a software project always follows a lognormal distribution.
1st Corollary: If the project is going well, the standard deviation of the distribution will decrease over time.
2nd Corollary: It is much easier to underestimate than overestimate the time remaining.
The Paradox of Rationality: In an average debate, committing to rationality will weaken your position.
The Paradox of Knowledge: The more you know, the less certain you are.
Corollary: In an average debate, the most strident participants tend to be the most ignorant.
The Paradox of Libertarians: The more committed you are to individual liberty, the less likely you are to impose your political views on others.
The Paradox of Interpretation: Given two or more possible interpretations of some text, the readers tends to choose the one they would disagree with most.
Re: virus: What's your law?
« Reply #3 on: 2004-01-17 08:13:34 »
> Since you are so bright, you probably have at least two you can articulate. > Send me two laws based on your empirical work and > observations you would not mind having tagged with your name.
A couple more...
The Law of Value Anything worth having is worth paying for. (In other words, it doesn't make sense to say you value something but at the same time say that it isn't worth any of your time, effort, property or other resources.)
The Law of the Game (or Lucifer's First Law) Those who are doing best in life are playing it like a game.
you have been FnoRded, may the farce be with you..
Re: virus: What's your law?
« Reply #5 on: 2004-01-18 04:07:50 »
[David McFadzean]
The Law of the Game (or Lucifer's First Law) Those who are doing best in life are playing it like a game.
[athenonrex] nicely put. i've actually written quite a long passage, a few of them, corollating life and games as a whole. it's part of my self-styled discordian text, 555 Sleeping Penguins.
<snip> "life is a game, thus much we have said. but this is where most people that have made it this far get lost. it is a game, therefore there is an opponent...logical enough. but most assume that the "opponent" is their fellow man. some go so far as to say that life as a whole is the "opponent". absurdum pro absurdium? by far!
"one could just as easily say that the biggest opponent for every "player" in this Game Of Life(tm) is his own opponent. the last of these notions seems most often the case, and at the least, the most poetic...
"life is a Game: Play Discordianly." <snip>
okay, so i'm blowing my own horn. get over it.
i'm gonna go drink a little more, the warmth is starting to fade.
Warmest Regards, though getting Chilly, athenonrex
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Re: virus: What's your law?
« Reply #6 on: 2004-01-18 12:32:36 »
Two ways of looking at it. Tell me which you prefer:
Clearly, a game must have rules. This is the definition of a game. Without rules, it is not a game.
To be a game, life must have a finite number of rules. Surely, there must be rules, and science and philosophy hasve attempted to unearth more and more of them. Still, since we do not know all the rules, then it follows that we do not know the game. Life may, indeed, be a game but we do not know that for certain.
Another analysis is this: there are no rules in war. War is part of life. Thus although there may be many games in life, life is not entirely a game.
Another is this: love is not a game. If love is part of life, then life is not entirely a game.
We can, however make rules, and therefore games, out of love and war.
But the opponent for whom war is not a game has a great advantage. He can take any action, outside of any rules, to win.
RE: virus: What's your law?
« Reply #9 on: 2004-01-18 16:01:25 »
I think what David means by "playing life as a game", means that one defines their own "winning" condition- or winning conditions, and seeks to optimize moves in order to obtain it.
For instance- my winning condition for today is to finish writing my statement of purpose. My moves (so far) have consisted of waking up at noon, getting breakfast, doing laundry, working on the statement a little, and writing this. If I can focus on the statement and finish it tonight, then I've done what I set out to do, and I've won for today. Another good example is Mermaid's Virian Fitness Boot Camp.
Goals can consist of anything, and if you can accomplish them, you'll feel venerated and feel like you are doing the best in life. It is totally relative and subjective.
I wholeheartedly disagree with the notion that a game must have a finite number of rules. Consider this very simple game, you choose a positive natural number, and if it is one of 2,4,6,8,10,... Then you win, otherwise you lose. This may be thought of countably many rules, but it also is equivalent to a single rule- if the number you choose is even then you win, and you lose otherwise.
You might not agree that this example is a game, but that line of argument reqires a more formal definition of what a game actually is. There are other more theoretic and pathological types of games in which the players don't know what the rules are, and other wierder situations arise. I'd need some time to find some examples, though.
But those are just my observations. David can correct me if I've got the wrong idea :]
Re: virus: What's your law?
« Reply #10 on: 2004-01-18 22:01:15 »
[simul] What do you mean by “the best in life”...?
[Lucifer] It was deliberately vague because the law holds for all reasonable interpretations of "the best in life". I also deliberately avoided saying that life *is* a game because that depends entirely on how "game" is defined and I didn't see a need to get into a discussion of semantics.
Happily lurking for many years. I check in every one or two, just to break the "Law".
The Law of Statements: "For everything that's said, the opposite is also true".
Hence, I don't have much to say here. I do enjoy lurking though.
I'm off to lurk in Thailand and Bali again where few speak English. It's as close to heaven as I ever get. Friendly people, (my fiancé lives there) the best food, and....drum roll please... fantastic exchange rate (for now).
Re:What's your law?
« Reply #13 on: 2004-01-21 07:08:26 »
The Law of the Game (or Lucifer's First Law) Those who are doing best in life are playing it like a game.
[Mermaid]this is vague to me. it begs the question of what 'best in life' really means...apparently, one is a winner if one decides that he has won and when he will win the game. its like playing poker with oneself?
[Mermaid]On the other hand, if we are to assume that all of us are playing the same "game of life", what are the rules of the game? If you really think about it, people who want to play the same games form groups and play against each other. e.g. All the employees of a corporation play a game within the confined by the corporate rules.
[Mermaid]Pushing it further, can you play games with people whose rules are different in a playing field where anything goes? People who play the same game form teams and play against those teams which follow different rules. e.g. the xians vs moslems. Sometimes, groups with ruthless mores may appear to win. Think israel. Or the Arab terrrorist groups, if you are from the other side of the camp. Obviously, you cannot win in a game if your opponent's rules are different. Why would anyone want to mate an elephant with an ant?
[Mermaid]If I can alter Lucifer's First Law, I would say that those who do best in life are those who play the game after they pick their team and opponents well.
Re: virus: Re:What's your law?
« Reply #14 on: 2004-01-21 10:34:11 »
Those who do best in life create games and convince others to play them. --- To unsubscribe from the Virus list go to <http://www.lucifer.com/cgi-bin/virus-l>
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