Philosophy of Games Industrializing

Too often I find myself criticizing things on the screen. Take for example, the red lines underneath the words I am writing (parce-que je n'écris pas souvent en français!)

Materialistically speaking, I think it would be a smart business move if there was more reunification of ideas in the peripheral world. I.e. I think that there are far too many standards that each compete for market fame. Why not a service that sets up custom-fitted keybinds for a tailored experience in launching retro games?

I want to play The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion on this smart machine. I know it's not a smart decision, because I could be doing something more productive, and yet I want to sit in front of a screen and play my favorite single-player RPG of last decade with a Steam Controller and I wonder if I can without getting lost in an an endless ocean of mods, each created individualistically and with a singular purpose: to make more money, to be retalked about more often, and I just want to play!

Anyway, I started this post with the intention of sending a hello out to any of you out there still around and still somewhat sane. University is hell, and it's a slog, and I'm still getting through it. My way. With a Presto pass.

 

2026 edit: added bold text at end of 2nd paragraph

THANK YOU!

Hi Everyone!!
I just want to thank you for a truly wonderful semester. I think that you are the most amazing group of people, and I am so fortunate to have had the privilege of teaching you. I will remember each one of you for those amazing moments when you opened up and challenged yourself, one another, and me, in profound ways.
To those of who were able to make it out to Future's last night, thanks for a wonderful time. I hope you all had as good a time as I did. And I hope we can do it again!
Yours truly,
-H. Darby

Illusions and Reality

Descartes was skeptical of what we could ever really be sure of. He took away and invalidated things one by one until he determined that he could only be sure that he existed as a thinking thing. I really disliked what he had to say, in my mind I had judged him to be a nutbar with some good written communication skills and that was it. However, after taking a second look at what he wrote, I found myself letting go of my previous judgment. His idea was so far fetched that I couldn't accept it. Now I'm thinking about it, surely there are times when our reality is an illusion. Say you have a really high fever, or get knocked in the head. You can see stars, your vision might blur, you could even have hallucinations. At the point that your mind is altered you still are a thinking thing, even without full use of your scenes. While I don't agree that everything could be an illusion, there is something very real about the physical world, I think Descartes managed to bring humanity to its core. By nature (or design if that's your belief) humans are thinking things. That why are able to create so much in this world, we think all the time.

Nihilism :D

A cheery topic that on one seems to have touched upon.

Nihilism is a philosophy that covers many branches of philosophy which denies the possibility of any truth, absolute moral values, and intrinsic meanings to life. This may seem depressing for some, but for me it rather makes a lot of sense and here's why.

If one extreme end of existentialism claims that everything matters, and we are all one, then wouldn't it only make sense to say that anything we do IS pointless? How could the choice of whether or not for me to push you over in the snow for entertainment purposes with a chance hurting you possibly matter at all if you, me, the snow, and the very act of pushing is within, and IS the system?

In physics, there is a law that states every force has an equal and opposite reaction. Then wouldn't it make sense that all lifeFORCE would eventually and naturally die out to achieve a state of equilibrium? Or maybe life itself is only a temporary glitch in this great system, and in the end acted as an unwittingly participant that helped to facslitate this process of balancing, and the animals/plants we digest and the fossil fuels we burn and everything else we do are meant to take that concentrated energy, whether its a lump of coal or a dead bird, and spreading it evenly throughout the cosmos.

With this in mind, perhaps the the key to a happier life is to accept our meaninglessness and realize that through all of this we're all but one, and to ignore the boulder that is our lives like Sisyphus and fixate on the present. Carpe diem.

feel like this has happened before??

So i was thinking about history the other day, no particular history in general, but i was having a discussion with my two buddies and we were talking about wars. We talked about how countries have always invaded or conquered other country's which obviously lead to armed conflicts which in turn lead to war.
So, roughly, it started with the Greeks and Romans right? They went around conquering Asia and the Middle East, sparking conflict everywhere. Then it was the English in the middle ages, the British Empire conquered countries all over the world, which in turn cause more conflict and fighting as nations would resist occupation and being conquered. Then, jumping forward in time, there were the first and second world wars, although the second was ignited by a assignation it still ended up that Germany ( or the third Reich ) was trying to take over Europe. Jumping forward yet again, there were the most recent Iraq wars, were the United States invaded Iraq, for there natural resources. What can be next in our future? obviously more fighting, will there be a Galactic Empire (united states i would guess) that takes over all the planets, and have to fight against a small band of Rebels (excuse the star wars reference, but it does make sense when you think about it). So the point that i seem to be getting at is that all throughout time the country or nation that has been in the position of power has always tried to conquer everything around it. Could this be because of our instinctive evolutionary behaviour of being savage and aggressive has just never left, that no matter how much we evolve we just cant shake that 'caveman attitude' that is buried deep down in our very core. I'll use an example i got from the news paper this morning. In Haiti after being utterly brought to its knees by that earthquake, people have started looting for supplies, one man was caught by the people and was bound with rope, beaten by a crowd then set on fire and left in the street. This pretty much shows that if us as humans can be broken down enough, we will show our instinctual aggression.

And if you look at it in a different picture, of things happening already at different times, our weather goes through cycles, were it gets warmer and colder than normal, like the ice age etc. just not to the extent of all the chemicals that are being released into our atmosphere. This sparks one more question. What if civilization already happened before and ended up destroying its self, like 2012 happened for them, which brought them back down to the stone age. Then we developed as humans. But that's a question for another time

p.s. excuse the historical inaccuracy,

THE VALUE OF PHILOSOPHY...

The beginning of the class we study about he value of philosophy. Most of the people like manu students of science, engineering, business, education, abd even arts who would contend that philosophy is useless and effectively powerless in the modern world. It is seen in the light of the disciplines which today extended academic life. these are disciplines which are largely concered with contributing toward a specific career. they exist each to fill a particular role in society, to established purpose and to further explain that purpose, without necessarily expanding it. However, they think philosophy operates much differently. it has no established purpose, and represents mo exclusive career and they disregard the values of philosophy. well i don't think we should give only importance to science, and other careers. we also should study philosopy and understand what is its value in our life. Because i think the study of philosophy helps students develop their capacity to understand, criticize, and bulid arguments, to analyze and solve problems, and to expand their ides and present them in a clear, meaningful, and well-organized form.
SO people my question to you is what are the values of philoosphy in your life? DO you think it is valuable to study philosophy or it is useless?.

Exploring Bad Faith

As theorized by Sartre, living in "bad faith" is a form of self-deception that most generally means that one defines him/herself's existence through the social circumstances and appearances that surround them. When we judge ourselves relative to existence based on what Sartre believes to be the trivialities of life and that which we seemingly cannot surmount...we are classified as being of especially bad faith. If we score well on a philosophy test, and are positively overjoyed to have done so well--we are living in bad faith. When we don't do well, and begin to approach that failing grade...and the depressing thoughts begin to wallow within our minds--we are too living in bad faith.

Ultimately, Sartre suggests that the only way to escape "bad faith" is to realize that perception and existence are separate.

Does being in "bad faith", however, inevitably to a morose life of unhappiness? Does the rich banker care if his life is entirely based on his earnings if he's always in the top bracket? What of the poor McDonalds manager who places the same emphasis on money but conversely suffers a distinct lack of it?

Does Sartre's theory have any basis in modern society for you? How would you personally go about living in better faith?