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    21st Century Ideas: Where have all the bastards gone?

    Bastards themselves exiled?

    Started by: Prophessor Bedlam Raves:8

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    I woke this morning to a surprising event. An entire superstructure, more specifically the superstructure Bastards for a Better Tomorrow, had vanished overnight. Where did it go? Is there some sinister plot at work to keep the undesirables from congregating and working toward human survival? I wonder, but I will not rest until I get to the bottom of it. If you are one of our members, cut adrift from the moorings of the superstruct, or have some clue as to the whereabouts of my missing creation, let me know. - Prophessor Bedlam, Early Morning Investigations

    man, that's the same impression i have! Realists (or cycnicals) are not majority here, outnumbered by far by optmistic dudes that think man is good and we will all make it through without a sacrifice, and in the end we will even have a better ipod. A few thousand years of history are maybe a lesson too hard to learn for many. The other option, more likely but more dumb, is a sware bug...

    The Energeia discussion I started, and which was fairly well raved, has also vanished. It shows up on a search, but I cannot actually get to it (it is discussion 58 if you want to enter it manually into a web address)

    sveral postings in that area have vanished seemingly. At first i thought it was glitches of the system propagating itself. Is this a suggestion of an organized force? any more details?

    Despite my ongoing paranoia, I'm not prepared to pronounce that the Bastards have been the victims of some form of malevolence...Yet. However, I am going to rebuild it, hopefully stronger than before. - Prophessor Bedlam, My Own Worst Enemy

    Yeah, I take issue with you guys. You "cynics" or "realists" seem to think that the violent and "harsh" "realities" you read about in your histories are the sum total of human experience. You disregard the billions of loving mothers, kind and humble men, and wonderful people who have lived on Earth. They didn't blow shit up or make headlines but they've been here, kindly and lovingly living on Earth more successfully than any of your violent heroes, so get used to it.

    Foundation, I am neither a cynic, nor a realist, but you may feel free to take issue with me if you like. Loving mothers, kind and humble men, and wonderful people are exactly the sort of people I want to see live through the collapse. They are what make the whole affair worth having. That said, I want you to understand something: it may be entirely possible that not all of us are going to make it, and this does not bother me in the least, so long as some of us do. I realize that puts me in the minority, and I'm glad, because it means that a lot of the people contributing to the superstructures and discussions here are nicer than I am. It is of absolute importance that we consider solutions that involve improving conditions for everyone, but it's equally important that we consider every option, if those other options are effective. Your criteria are different, but essentially, we both want the same thing, and here we can work together, even if we can't work with each other. - Prophessor Bedlam, What's In Your Head?

    The Bastards for a Better Tomorrow live again at http://superstructgame.org/SuperstructView/271

    - Prophessor Bedlam, Reconstruction Worker

    Foundation, I agree with you 100%, but I also firmly believe that given what's facing our planet today, no idea should be off limits for discussion in principle.

    If Bastards is a bad idea, then it will lose in the marketplace of ideas. As long as we refrain from personal attacks, I don't see a problem.

    This is a very troubling development - censorship in a discussion forum that aims for an open discussion of how to make humanity survive or what we need to do to make it. I agree your submission might be construed as somewhat frivolous, but thats beside the point- you clearly claim that humanity will not make it into one piece anyhow, and we must resort to ruthlessness, maybe even largescale fascism, or embracing darwinism, to make it. For inspiration on how you may proceed, my humble suggestion is articles like these: "http://www.superstructgame.org/StoryView/295" which depict a fairly realistic picture of what you propose - that we live in a world where not all will make it - so let most die on order for only the DESERVING to survive. Guembe is the ultimate bastard, clearly.

    Hmm, while I disagree with the concepts put forward in the superstruct, I don't think we should censor. The whole point of discussion and finding ideas is to see all ideas, even ones you disagree with - if we keep it only to ideas that we (or "someone in charge") agree with, then we won't see any new ideas. Anything new, controversial, or "out there" will be removed (and I thought those were just the ideas we were looking for). I will continue to strongly disagree with the superstruct, but will continue to support it's right to be there.

    I don't know that we were censored per se, only that one morning the superstructure was gone. Officially, I've chalked it up to technical issues (though unofficially, I can think of several reasons why the moderators of this site would want to delete it). Thank you, Glimmerung, for your vote of support. I think we're almost essential to this place, even if only so other SEHIs can look at your ideas and say, "We'd better come up with something more effective, or we're going to wind up using one of theirs."

    Ruud, I don't know about deserving, but I get your point. I've always tended to assume that I'll be in the part that doesn't make it. Perhaps I haven't made it clear in the superstructure itself (the writing is a little shoddy, since I was on fire the first time. Expect some heavy edits in the next few days), but for me, what it's really about is an entirely different approach. People like Foundation start at the beginning, with everyone and try to keep them. That's fine. That's noble. But every person they lose from then on is a defeat. I'm starting at the end. In 2045, we're all dead. Young, old, rich, poor, black white, all of us. Dead. To me, every person the ideas in my or any other superstructure can snatch away from that death is a victory, plain and simple. Would I sacrifice a hundred thousand if it would save a million? Absolutely. Break every rule, written and unwritten to drag us in pairs and dozens back from the edge of oblivion? Without question. I created Bastards to see if I was the only one, and I wasn't. There were lots of us willing to do whatever it takes to make sure that, if we absolutely can't save all people, we still save some people.

    - Prophessor Bedlam, Sidewalk Shaman

    The bastard for a better tomorrow superstruct has been recreated.

    Agreed. Don't censor the bastards. We're looking for radical solutions and win, lose or draw - at least they are proposing an option.

    I was a bastard - and am trying to be a bastard with you bastards - but went to the new location and found no members, no join buttons, no nuttin'. Diabolical lunacy afoot methinks. Gol durn it all.

    When Jack the Ripper became active the newspapers were flooded by the nastiest most violent accounts sent by people claiming to be Jack. You are not realists. You are disaster tourists. Flirting with accounts of mayhem from the comfort of your homes. There is nothing wrong with that. Fear worked for Bush and it works for Superstruct too. The true picture out there may be that War and Superthreats are not very exiting when you are really in it. You are just sitting around in some cold place waiting for nothing. Nobody ever asks for your opinion or listens to it. And when you got out for a pee, you get shot by a sniper. Not very glorious is it. That's my fear, that our Superthreats may be demoralizing and lack any glory or excitement that might motivate or unite us.

    I have never claimed to be a realist, because I'm not. I can tell, because there are certain things I am, and certain things I'm not. I am mercurial, I hallucinate regularly, and I'm a professional insomniac. I am insatiably curious about the way things work, an avid reader, and sometimes I like to grab the top of my head and scream for no reason, even when there's nobody around. It's kind of calming.

    I am not regular people. I am not a fry cook, not a goldfish, or a professional golfer, and I am not a realist. Being a realist would imply that I have some kind of secret knowledge of the way things are and thus the right way to deal with them.

    I'll be honest, since I am. I don't. If I was a realist of great and terrible power, I would have some amazing realistic way to resolve things. I am no more than what I've claimed to be, a crazy bearded man with a philosophy degree, sitting in a cold room in a canvas lab coat and a pair of old welding goggles, typing on a laptop. Doing what I can to make things better. Trying to find a way for things to continue after 2046 which, as of now, seems to be the end of everything that's us.

    That said, you're right. It's not very exciting. It isn't television when it's in your house, when you can't just change the channel. I have to go outside to see things like that, and it's still not very exciting. Even back in 2008, in goddamn Canada, a first world country, I could see displaced and starving people on my morning run, and I'd know it was worse elsewhere. I can't speak for all bastards everywhere, and I don't know about Jack the Ripper, but everything I've seen here so far, from anyone, says that we all want pretty much the same thing, only certain people are willing to go farther and take more extreme measures to secure it.

    Prophessor Bedlam, The Future Isn't Now, it's Tomorrow

    I'll check out the superstruct. I had already suscribed to 'Base of Evils', which I think could be a great source of good.. by being evil. The whistleblowers, the small, controlled evil which makes the antibiotic. The Transparent evil - you see it coming and you can prepare for it. The Devil's advocates, the Black Hats. And yes, I am also in the 'Positive mentality' group. You can be Positive AND Evil. :)

    There is an unusual hatred here towards people who don't say things the way everyone wants to hear them.

    Hey the great thing about glitches is you can go back and re-rave old discussions like I just did here!

    Allo! I don't (unfortunately) think there's anything particularly unusual about "hatred towards people who don't say things the way everyone wants to hear them". Glad I found this though, I'm off to see if I can find the bastards struct. Mainly for the name...

    I don't think there is hatred for people who don't share the cooperative optimism of some of the players here. I know I don't harbour anything like that towards doomsayers. What I do feel is that negativity does not foster answers to the problems we face. Where are the solutions offered? If you think everything will go to shit and there's no hope why are you playing this game? This is about creating structures to extend our survival. It is about being a self empowered hopeful individual. I'm all for a bit of evil - green tags is all about that merry pranster subversive street action while at the same time directly fighting back at Ravenous. We mortals have to work from where we are. Griefing is a voice for the people. Get all that disenfranchised angry energy working towards a solution and we can topple the corporations through that chaotic multiplatform raging against the machine. The Potlatch Economy is the same kind of subversive action.




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