SF Interviews - Nomination for #38

[Makaze]

1. most remote area you'd like to visit?

2. your greatest passion? why?

3. how hyped or not hyped are you for the new fe?

4. do you enjoy math? what's your favorite topic (eg, algebra, calculus, complex, linear alg., etc.)

5. first and current impressions of me?

1. I don't know. Someplace that hasn't been explored yet.

2. Logic/Philosophy. It fascinates me as the closest thing we can get to absolute truth.

3. I'm in the middle. I am excited to play it, but not hopeful about good design decisions.

4. Yes. Algebra is my favourite.

5.

First: Who dares pick up the name of an Ace Attorney? Must be some pretentious wannabe.

Current: Has a head on his shoulders. Respects evidence and reason. No criticism for choosing the name now; he's doing alright with it.

Edited February 20, 2015 by Makaze

[peener weener]

1. I don't know. Someplace that hasn't been explored yet.

2. Logic/Philosophy. It fascinates me as the closest thing we can get to absolute truth.

3. I'm in the middle. I am excited to play it, but not hopeful about good design decisions.

4. Yes. Algebra is my favourite.

5.

First: Who dares pick up the name of an Ace Detective? Must be some pretentious wannabe.

Current: Has a head on his shoulders. Respects evidence and reason. No criticism for choosing the name now; he's doing alright with it.

attorney. ace attorney

[Makaze]

attorney. ace attorney

Right. My bad. Why did I think of Ace Detective? Must have been the pretentiousness of Luke Atmey spreading.

[Original Alear]

Right. My bad. Why did I think of Ace Detective? Must have been the pretentiousness of Luke Atmey spreading.

So you mistook an ace attorney for an ace detective.

Phoenix: Mistook...you say?

Atmey: That's right. "Mistook". Coming from the Old Norse "mistaka" meaning "to take in error".

Edited February 20, 2015 by Severlan

[Makaze]

You can keep that joke.

[Original Alear]

It's the one line from Luke Atmey I can remember clearly, aside from dozens of zvarris.

[euklyd]

4. Yes. Algebra is my favourite.

n+5) out of?

i.e., what maths are you familiar with? (formal education or otherwise)

EDIT:

n+6) What do you look for in a programming language?

Edited February 20, 2015 by Euklyd

[buttmuncher.ops]

1. are you single

2. what's your sign

3. would you like a drink

4. whats your number

5. want to take this party back to my place

[Makaze]

n+5) out of?

i.e., what maths are you familiar with? (formal education or otherwise)

EDIT:

n+6) What do you look for in a programming language?

n+5. Everything up to Calculus. Not super confident in my Calculus knowledge though.

n+6. Minimalism and flexibility. Languages that can do a lot with a minimum of code are generally better. For example, jQuery's minimal methods are far better than raw JavaScript. Elegance saves a lot of programming time.

1. are you single

2. what's your sign

3. would you like a drink

4. whats your number

5. want to take this party back to my place

1. No.

2. Gemini.

3. Sure. I'll take strawberry milk.

4. 5.

5. No thanks. You're obnoxious as it is.

[euklyd]

sounds like not a lot of calc, then

n+6. Minimalism and flexibility. Languages that can do a lot with a minimum of code are generally better. For example, jQuery's minimal methods are far better than raw JavaScript. Elegance saves a lot of programming time.

n+7) actually, what languages are you familiar with?

[Makaze]

sounds like not a lot of calc, then

n+7) actually, what languages are you familiar with?

n+7. JavaScript, PHP, Bash, Perl

Pretty much it. I haven't had to code anything else except when helping people with general debugging or learning a concept. Never written a "real" program.

Edited February 20, 2015 by Makaze

[euklyd]

n+8) Do you code just for fun / as a hobby, or could you see yourself making a career of it?

possibly n+9) If the latter, in what capacity?

[Julius Nepos]

1. Which languages can you understand or speak?

2. Do you have any interest in playing or have you played the oldest Fire Emblem games?

3. Which do you value higher: liberty or equality?

4. First and current impressions of me?

[HK Motendra]

2. Are you into Kingdom Hearts by any chance? A lot of times I feel that I'm the only one who does on this site

3. Any impressions of me at all?

4. What is your life philosophy and how did you obtain/create it?

5. Do you believe that there is both a good and evil within every one? If so, how well do you balance yours?

6. Do you see yourself as having a morally good, bad, balance of both , or neutral soul?

7. You say that you're more logical than emotional. With that in mind, don't you think that there are some things that you'll fail to experience or comprehend due to them not having an explanation?

[Makaze]

n+8) Do you code just for fun / as a hobby, or could you see yourself making a career of it?

possibly n+9) If the latter, in what capacity?

n+8. I can see myself making a career out of it, but for now it's a hobby.

n+9. Whatever capacity I am capable of. I want to work on projects, not maintenance.

1. Which languages can you understand or speak?

2. Do you have any interest in playing or have you played the oldest Fire Emblem games?

3. Which do you value higher: liberty or equality?

4. First and current impressions of me?

1. Just English, unfortunately.

2. Somewhat, and no.

3. Liberty. While I like equality, I value essential happiness more. Equality can be a misleading concept. People can lead equally miserable lives. I do not want to be miserable.

4.

First: Not many people choose names or avatars of ancient nobles. Must be an interesting person.

Current: Is an interesting person. Intelligent and thoughtful with an appreciation for history.

2. Are you into Kingdom Hearts by any chance? A lot of times I feel that I'm the only one who does on this site

3. Any impressions of me at all?

4. What is your life philosophy and how did you obtain/create it?

5. Do you believe that there is both a good and evil within every one? If so, how well do you balance yours?

6. Do you see yourself as having a morally good, bad, balance of both , or neutral soul?

7. You say that you're more logical than emotional. With that in mind, don't you think that there are some things that you'll fail to experience or comprehend due to them not having an explanation?

2. Yes.

3. No.

4. Good question.

My meta-ethical philosophy is moral relativism. Morals cannot be objectively correct. There is no right answer to what is good and what is bad. Everyone has their own moral compass and they act to make others abide by it. That is all there is.

My decision making philosophy is hedonism. Whatever brings me the greatest pleasure is good and whatever brings me the most misery is bad. While that sounds simple, I have to calculate what will lead to the most pleasure. Sometimes I have to choose misery to experience greater pleasure later on.

My political and economic philosophy is a form of anarcho-socialism.

I was once a goody-two-shoes kid who took everything on faith and believed what I was taught without reservation. I was raised in an evangelical Christian home with god-fearing parents who took me to church and made sure I was on the path from a young age. While I wasn't taught blind trust for the government, I was taught that I was to respect the authorities that be because they were appointed by God. The Bible taught me those things. To disrespect them was to disrespect God.

I had run-ins with authority figures who were blatantly unfair and judgmental towards younger people during my teens. People always assumed I was up to no good because of my age. A lot of these run-ins happened with security guards at my church. I didn't know it at the time, but these run-ins had a huge effect on my trust of authority and the teachings in the Bible about authority figures. If I couldn't trust authority figures in the church, how could I trust authority figures in the secular world?

When I was 13, I told my mother that I didn't follow God because I agree with God. He agreed with me. If I found out that God and I didn't align on something, that would be where our paths split.

As I grew older and became more curious, I was introduced to books like The Giver and Animal Farm. When I was first introduced to Animal Farm, my mother told me it was about Russian politics. Disgusted, I said, "But I hate politics!" I find that hilarious now.

Unlike many of my peers, who took Animal Farm as a cautionary tale about Communism, I took Animal Farm as Orwell intended it and gained a newfound hatred for those who seek power. The ideals of socialism were good. Kept to the letter, they would have led to a happy and prosperous society for the animals. Power changed everything.

Books like The Giver helped me solidify my ideas about the value of freedom. Concepts of societies without choice, where everything is safely off-limits, made me very unhappy. I came to realize that I valued freedom over safety. I came to see the desire for power as the ultimate cause of social inequality and institutionalized suffering. I became a minarchist: someone who believes that a bare minimum of federal power is necessary to run a successful society. I saw the original US and its Constitution as a paragon of my ideals. If only we could go back to those, everything would be okay. I was 15.

The more I learned about the world and its history, the more I realized that minarchy was a pipe dream. All those who seek power will inevitably seek to exploit the Constitution. It happened to the US once and would happen again if we could rewind time. This has happened in every single nation, to every constitution, to every society, to every town, to every city, to every community that has ever existed. Any group of people that allowed others to represent their interests in the entire history of our race have been exploited for their efforts. There has never been a government that kept to its ideals for more than a decade. I learned that nearly all of the history I had been taught, from Lincoln freeing the slaves to the Constitution of the Unites States wielding absolute power, were revisionist lies made to make me respect the current pigs who had taken over the farm.

Through various situations, I and others I knew entrusted people to represent our interests on a larger scale. Some of them were forums like this one. It became clear that no matter which of us we voted into power, no one but the one in power could be represented. Even when everyone had a personal politician representing each person individually, the middle man could never replicate their charge's wishes perfectly.

Around the same time, I was presented with several arguments against an all-powerful, all-loving, all-knowing god that made me question the very basis of my faith. Unable to escape the logic, I still felt the way I had when I was 13, but had to make some kind of compromise to keep my intellectual integrity. I decided to believe that God was all-loving, but not all-powerful. I studied the Bible to confirm my thoughts and read the Old Testament for the first time in my life. I found out the God I believed in not only did not agree with me, but was one of the most brutal and barbaric beings I had heard of. A sexist, a rape apologist, a genocidal maniac, and someone who used the Stockholm syndrome to trick people to loving him again. A sadist fuck if I ever knew one.

I recognized something life changing. No one can represent me, but me.

I realized the idea of a democratic republic was worthless in principle. I lost all loyalty to the ideas of the US government and Christianity. I rejected my gods and my masters, and I was free.

Even after coming to the conclusion that a true democracy was preferable, I was faced with the argument that democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what's for dinner. That struck me as horribly wrong. I believe that the minority must not be exploited.

After hundreds of debates with people from all walks of life and other anarchists, I became a fully fledged anarcho-capitalist complete with my smug ideas about objective morality by age 17. I towed the line about the value of respecting property and contracts for a long time, believing in the value of a free market.

But all was not well.

The more I researched the free market, the more I came to realize that even without governments giving patents to the highest bidder/first customer and enforcing regulations that keep the little guy from starting his business, the same amoral incentives that lead people to exploit ideals of government lead them to exploit the power that a monopoly has over other market actors. If we allow even one company to gain control of the market, even by honest means, they will become a threat to everyone they touch. They can institute wage slavery and cut deals with other companies at the expense of the little guy. Like the Shinra Electric Power Company from FFVII, they can control the various private defense organizations to their own ends by buying them out and making them into their private armies. The corporation would become the government I hated in every way but name.

Then it hit me. A government is "a corporation you can believe in". Or you think it is, until it fucks you up like all monopolies do.

I became an anarcho-socialist because I came to recognize that all hierarchies, even voluntary ones, can be exploited to create the most harmful thing humans can create: An entity that does not face repercussions for its actions.

Feel free to ask again with more specificity.

5. I do not believe in good and evil. Everyone seeks things that they think will make them the happiest at the time. If I do things that others believe are good, it is because the things I do make them happy too.

6. Neutral. Moral judgments are made in error.

7. Yes. Subjective experiences will always be like this. You can only explain a feeling to someone else who has felt something similar. Even if they have felt something similar, you can't be sure that they have felt the exact same thing. Truly understanding how others feel is an illusion.

Edited February 22, 2015 by Makaze

[NTG]

You have interesting answers but I'm running out of questions.

101. In regards to your hedonism, what are your greatest pleasures?

102. Where do you see yourself in 10 years? (I know someone said 100 years but I forgot if anyone said 10. edit: OK no one did.)

103. You said your dream job was information brokering. What kind of information specifically? What type of people would your clients be?

Edited February 21, 2015 by NTG

[HK Motendra]

8.Quite the story you got there. With such a philosophy, wouldn't life get lonely or dull for you, knowing that few, if any at all, share that same view as yours? That's the most thought out philosophy I've ever heard, and doesn't sound like there's much room for enjoying the life you have, with so much to consider

9. You seem to show much detachment, that it almost comes off as inhuman. Does always (or nearly) being "the outlier" affect you at all and in any way?

10. Which KH is your favorite? Do you have a favorite character?

[Carmine Sword]

What are your views on Nihilists?

[Makaze]

You have interesting answers but I'm running out of questions.

101. In regards to your hedonism, what are your greatest pleasures?

102. Where do you see yourself in 10 years? (I know someone said 100 years but I forgot if anyone said 10. edit: OK no one did.)

103. You said your dream job was information brokering. What kind of information specifically? What type of people would your clients be?

101. Learning new things, playing games, sex, problem solving, and personal improvement. I also love helping others do or learn new things.

102. I couldn't tell you. The world is a rapidly changing place. I'd say that everyone who tries to predict these kinds of things is wrong without exception except by dumb luck.

103. Whatever information people wanted, meaning especially secrets. Anything from true identities to affairs and whereabouts of people in hiding. My resource would be my connections. People who bought information from me would have to give some information themselves as part the payment. I would probably get all kinds of clients, but if I got something big enough then the biggest income from would be people who didn't want the information sold.

It's a dangerous profession if my games of OC Mafia are anything to go by.

8.Quite the story you got there. With such a philosophy, wouldn't life get lonely or dull for you, knowing that few, if any at all, share that same view as yours? That's the most thought out philosophy I've ever heard, and doesn't sound like there's much room for enjoying the life you have, with so much to consider

9. You seem to show much detachment, that it almost comes off as inhuman. Does always (or nearly) being "the outlier" affect you at all and in any way?

10. Which KH is your favorite? Do you have a favorite character?

8. It does at times, but I find enough people I get along with to get by. I think that deep down, many people are anarchists who don't have the conviction to stand up to systemic injustice. It's not that hard to find people who jive with the motivations, at least.

9. Yes. People don't approach me very often and I tend to be outcast and hated by many. Not unlike Oberstein.

10. KHII. Roxas is my favourite character.

What are your views on Nihilists?

Nihilism is valid, but has some negative connotations, like that life is meaningless. I believe we give our lives meaning. Other nihilists and I have a lot in common, but I am probably more fulfilled than most of them. I have principles I live by even though I acknowledge that they are not objectively right and are just mine.

Edited February 22, 2015 by Makaze

[Starman]

how much did you expect people to ask you the impressions question if you became the interviewee?

[Makaze]

how much did you expect people to ask you the impressions question if you became the interviewee?

More than usual, but I expected a better judgment from people I don't know.

[Misses Elise-chan!]

1-How good are you at drawing?

2-Who is your least favorite character in Fire Emblem?

3-If you could become any fictional character, who would it be?

4-If you could run this site, what would you add or improve upon?

[Makaze]

1-How good are you at drawing?

2-Who is your least favorite character in Fire Emblem?

3-If you could become any fictional character, who would it be?

4-If you could run this site, what would you add or improve upon?

1. Not very.

2. So far... Ricken.

3. Kvothe from the Kingkiller Chronicle.

4. Change the forum software to something better. I would open design changes up for members to suggest and contribute to.

[Passionfruit Cappuccino]

1. Do you truly believe in trust?

2. If so, are there people that you can trust with utmost confidence?

3. Are you one to enforce ideas upon others?

4. Do you think that capital punishment is acceptable (with consideration of financial aspects as well as the moral ones etc.)

[Makaze]

1. Do you truly believe in trust?

2. If so, are there people that you can trust with utmost confidence?

3. Are you one to enforce ideas upon others?

4. Do you think that capital punishment is acceptable (with consideration of financial aspects as well as the moral ones etc.)

1. I believe that some people can be trusted because they desire to be trustworthy.

2. I do not know. I do not know anyone who is trustworthy in every area.

3. I am willing to enforce ideas on others if it will aid my goals. I do my best to eliminate ideas that are harmful.

4. Capital punishment is almost always unnecessary. It neither lowers crime rates nor makes the world a better place. It should be reserved for extreme cases where a person is incapable of rehabilitation. Not as a punishment, but as a protective measure for others.

Edited February 22, 2015 by Makaze