On Tue, 12 Feb 2008 20:28:44 -0500, Someone Else
<someone.else@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>I believe that all of the threads started by Wildepad have been
>psychology experiments, rather than requests for information. He
>asks about something that could be SFnal, but is not likely to be
>part of a story. He gets defensive if you question his
>assumptions. He seems to be more interested in continuing the
>conversations than in the answers he's supposedly seeking.
Well, his most recent example had a number of people responding
with, "if someone were to say such a thing, they're more likely
conducting a psychology experiment than telling the truth", so
I certainly understand where you're coming from. And his common
"how would you react if...?" shtick is certainly consistent with
such a hypothesis.
But, Heinleinian cheap shots at "fuzzy subjects" notwithstanding,
psychology is a somewhat rigorous subject that even involves a bit
of math, and what Wildepad is doing here wouldn't cut it in even
the shoddiest college pyschiatry departments.
And, recalling a broader range of his proposals than just the last
few, there have been many that didn't fit the "how would you react
if...?" pattern, and/or were clearly SFnal rather than psychological
in nature.
So I do think he is sincerely trying to explore SFnal possibilities,
and doing so for the fun of it more than anything else. I also think
he fails to understand how un-fun it is for the rest of us to conduct
the subsequent discussion under his rigorous "nobody may ever question
the premise!" rules.
Some of his scenarios are interesting enough in their own right,
though, and there's nothing wrong with taking them and running with
them. Running far, far away from him and never looking back, maybe...
--
*John Schilling * "Anything worth doing, *
*Member:AIAA,NRA,ACLU,SAS,LP * is worth doing for money" *
*Chief Scientist & General Partner * -13th Rule of Acquisition *
*White Elephant Research, LLC * "There is no substitute *
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