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deathpixie) wrote2001-06-22 08:29 pm
deathpixie) wrote2001-06-22 08:29 pm
Woah.
Ever have one of those conversations/revelations that just makes you stop for a moment, thinking about it? And isn't that just an amazing feeling?
I was telling BRM about this fic idea I had yesterday, about this mutant with true powers of persuasion (an idea planted by Maelstrom, thank you very much!), and he told me about a philosophic principle called "The Ring Of Gyges". The basic story is that Gyges is a shepherd who finds a ring with the power to make himself invisible. With the ability to do whatever he wants without being caught, he seduces the queen of the land and kills the king and becomes the ruler himself. This story is told to Socrates, who is posed with this dilemma: when given the powers of a god, it is a logical imperative that a person will use those powers unethically to achieve personal gain, because that is human nature. The answer Socrates (and Plato, in The Republic) gave was long and complex, but he ultimately convinced the person posing the question (a bloke by the name of Glaucon - interesting, I wonder if that's where glaucoma, a type of blindness, comes from?) that acting rightly is the only way to be truly happy. Peter Singer doesn't find the argument convincing, but it's still a damn interesting question: if we had the power to do anything what would we do with it?
In the book (How Are We To Live?) BRM showed me the story in, Peter Singer suggests that until we put to ourselves the questions Socrates faced, the ones about why we choose to act ethically, we have not chosen how we are to live, we are simply following the status quo.
Hence the "woah" moment.
So now I have another story idea, which makes two in the last tewnty-four hours. Biggish ideas, too. And I've been prompted to work on a certain fic a certain ficcer sent to me as a birthday present. Very sneaky, giving me half a story and getting me all interested and then getting me to write the rest. ;) Damn, but I'm feeling creative at the moment. :) Ideas popping out of my head all the time. Gotta start writing them down or I'll lose them.
I was telling BRM about this fic idea I had yesterday, about this mutant with true powers of persuasion (an idea planted by Maelstrom, thank you very much!), and he told me about a philosophic principle called "The Ring Of Gyges". The basic story is that Gyges is a shepherd who finds a ring with the power to make himself invisible. With the ability to do whatever he wants without being caught, he seduces the queen of the land and kills the king and becomes the ruler himself. This story is told to Socrates, who is posed with this dilemma: when given the powers of a god, it is a logical imperative that a person will use those powers unethically to achieve personal gain, because that is human nature. The answer Socrates (and Plato, in The Republic) gave was long and complex, but he ultimately convinced the person posing the question (a bloke by the name of Glaucon - interesting, I wonder if that's where glaucoma, a type of blindness, comes from?) that acting rightly is the only way to be truly happy. Peter Singer doesn't find the argument convincing, but it's still a damn interesting question: if we had the power to do anything what would we do with it?
In the book (How Are We To Live?) BRM showed me the story in, Peter Singer suggests that until we put to ourselves the questions Socrates faced, the ones about why we choose to act ethically, we have not chosen how we are to live, we are simply following the status quo.
Hence the "woah" moment.
So now I have another story idea, which makes two in the last tewnty-four hours. Biggish ideas, too. And I've been prompted to work on a certain fic a certain ficcer sent to me as a birthday present. Very sneaky, giving me half a story and getting me all interested and then getting me to write the rest. ;) Damn, but I'm feeling creative at the moment. :) Ideas popping out of my head all the time. Gotta start writing them down or I'll lose them.