Comments on: Remember that one time? http://www.chrishardie.com/blog/2009/03/remember-that-one-time.html Personal Blog for James Christopher Hardie Thu, 02 Sep 2010 18:56:15 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9 hourly 1 By: Adam Bee http://www.chrishardie.com/blog/2009/03/remember-that-one-time.html/comment-page-1#comment-87612 Adam Bee Mon, 15 Jun 2009 04:16:44 +0000 http://www.chrishardie.com/blog/?p=621#comment-87612 Well, maybe that is as good a definition of getting old as any I've seen, then? Weeping for the future, hanging onto the past? I, for one, can't wait for life to get much less real, especially when it comes to sickness and war. Did you know that anesthesia was not used for centuries after it was invented b/c doctors were worried it wasn't keeping it real enough? http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/08/is-pain-a-moral-good/ Right now there is still a big argument going on about whether to hang onto the old notions of what a constitutes a "real" childbirth. My personal opinion is that unless you're delivering Lucy in an Ethiopian savanna it's not real, so save the lectures on authenticity. Just one possible view out of many, though. Well, maybe that is as good a definition of getting old as any I've seen, then? Weeping for the future, hanging onto the past?

I, for one, can't wait for life to get much less real, especially when it comes to sickness and war. Did you know that anesthesia was not used for centuries after it was invented b/c doctors were worried it wasn't keeping it real enough?
http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/08/is-pain-a-moral-good/

Right now there is still a big argument going on about whether to hang onto the old notions of what a constitutes a "real" childbirth. My personal opinion is that unless you're delivering Lucy in an Ethiopian savanna it's not real, so save the lectures on authenticity.

Just one possible view out of many, though.

]]> By: Chris http://www.chrishardie.com/blog/2009/03/remember-that-one-time.html/comment-page-1#comment-87610 Chris Mon, 15 Jun 2009 03:37:28 +0000 http://www.chrishardie.com/blog/?p=621#comment-87610 Adam: I weep for the future. Adam: I weep for the future.

]]> By: Adam Bee http://www.chrishardie.com/blog/2009/03/remember-that-one-time.html/comment-page-1#comment-87609 Adam Bee Mon, 15 Jun 2009 03:36:12 +0000 http://www.chrishardie.com/blog/?p=621#comment-87609 I was being sarcastic about your getting old, though. I think you have more than enough time left to see your error! ;) I was being sarcastic about your getting old, though. I think you have more than enough time left to see your error! ;)

]]> By: Adam Bee http://www.chrishardie.com/blog/2009/03/remember-that-one-time.html/comment-page-1#comment-87608 Adam Bee Mon, 15 Jun 2009 03:30:41 +0000 http://www.chrishardie.com/blog/?p=621#comment-87608 Nope, n/k. "Reality" has always been redefined for each successive generation. Nothing you listed is really real, from the perspective of even 100 years ago. "Hiking" is an invented concept; the verb "hike" was invented in 1809 and the noun in 1865. Sickness, death, traveling, and raising a child are all now much less real than they were 100 years ago. What it's meant "historically" to share the world together has changed dramatically over time. Even today it's vastly different spatially between cultures. What part of my response is confusing to you? Don't you think it's just a *little* presumptuous to try to define which experiences "have a substantial impact on who we are"? Maybe you, but not we. Have I eased your worries? :) Nope, n/k. "Reality" has always been redefined for each successive generation. Nothing you listed is really real, from the perspective of even 100 years ago. "Hiking" is an invented concept; the verb "hike" was invented in 1809 and the noun in 1865. Sickness, death, traveling, and raising a child are all now much less real than they were 100 years ago.

What it's meant "historically" to share the world together has changed dramatically over time. Even today it's vastly different spatially between cultures.

What part of my response is confusing to you? Don't you think it's just a *little* presumptuous to try to define which experiences "have a substantial impact on who we are"? Maybe you, but not we.

Have I eased your worries? :)

]]> By: Chris http://www.chrishardie.com/blog/2009/03/remember-that-one-time.html/comment-page-1#comment-87607 Chris Mon, 15 Jun 2009 02:25:40 +0000 http://www.chrishardie.com/blog/?p=621#comment-87607 Wait, Adam, are you being sarcastic? Please tell me you were being sarcastic. Wait, Adam, are you being sarcastic?
Please tell me you were being sarcastic.

]]> By: JCamasto http://www.chrishardie.com/blog/2009/03/remember-that-one-time.html/comment-page-1#comment-87457 JCamasto Wed, 01 Apr 2009 02:09:33 +0000 http://www.chrishardie.com/blog/?p=621#comment-87457 Until the power goes out... Until the power goes out...

]]> By: Adam Bee http://www.chrishardie.com/blog/2009/03/remember-that-one-time.html/comment-page-1#comment-87439 Adam Bee Fri, 27 Mar 2009 05:30:04 +0000 http://www.chrishardie.com/blog/?p=621#comment-87439 You're just getting old. ;) Seriously: How is sharing Facebook any less real than sharing silence? There is no real world anyway, just sensory perceptions modified by a cultural lens. A hike in a wildlife reserve isn't much different from a hike in Disney, and that's not any more real than Facebook. Heck you live in a 21st-century city--can you imagine how not "real" that is compared to the distant past? When was the last time you ate raw meat that you killed with your bare hands? When was the last time your child died of dysentery? Let's get REAL here. Going for a walk is not really "real" either. You live and breathe a constructed fantasyland 24/7, totally removed from the state of nature that you don't have any platform to lecture from. Experiences in the "virtual" world can be as meaningful and legitimate as experiences in the "real" world. Someday when we're all plugged into the matrix you'll read this post and wonder how you could have been so wrong-headed. Facebook is a step towards reality, not away from it. Just a different one than you're used to. You're just getting old. ;)

Seriously: How is sharing Facebook any less real than sharing silence? There is no real world anyway, just sensory perceptions modified by a cultural lens. A hike in a wildlife reserve isn't much different from a hike in Disney, and that's not any more real than Facebook. Heck you live in a 21st-century city--can you imagine how not "real" that is compared to the distant past? When was the last time you ate raw meat that you killed with your bare hands? When was the last time your child died of dysentery? Let's get REAL here. Going for a walk is not really "real" either. You live and breathe a constructed fantasyland 24/7, totally removed from the state of nature that you don't have any platform to lecture from.

Experiences in the "virtual" world can be as meaningful and legitimate as experiences in the "real" world. Someday when we're all plugged into the matrix you'll read this post and wonder how you could have been so wrong-headed. Facebook is a step towards reality, not away from it. Just a different one than you're used to.

]]> By: Doug http://www.chrishardie.com/blog/2009/03/remember-that-one-time.html/comment-page-1#comment-87433 Doug Thu, 26 Mar 2009 00:46:33 +0000 http://www.chrishardie.com/blog/?p=621#comment-87433 Interesting thought. I wonder if it's the underlying experience that matters or the simply the fact that it's shared -- whether there is an inherent difference between seeing a waterfall together and seeing a picture of a waterfall together. And is that difference marked by the "realness" of the experience or by the difficulty of the experience -- would it matter if, say, two people had to crack through some tough security together to see the picture of the waterfall? Interesting thought. I wonder if it's the underlying experience that matters or the simply the fact that it's shared -- whether there is an inherent difference between seeing a waterfall together and seeing a picture of a waterfall together.

And is that difference marked by the "realness" of the experience or by the difficulty of the experience -- would it matter if, say, two people had to crack through some tough security together to see the picture of the waterfall?

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