Ted Hoffman

3Dchizl
Which singularity do you wanna talk about? the one about humans one day being able to "conquer" physical universe, or the one about black holes?
Is there one universal meaning for the word?
I think the former singularity is possible.

Ism Schism

He may or may not be a madman. Is everyone who has a differance in ideology to the point of killing people over considered mad, or are some considered heros? Was the cold-war insanity? Vietnam War insanity? Spanish Inquisition? Crusades? Not that I agree with everything he says, but if he is mad, the whole world is mad right along with him. Why has organized religion not been defined as a delusion by psychologists, it holds many of the symptoms, or is it's 'usefulness' to 'society' more important then an accurate psychological portrayal of it?

I ask you: did God walk on earth?

I ask you: if ideological murder is a qualifier for insanity, are you a proud American?

cricket

LOL who are we talking about here? The unabomber isn't some kind of effective social reformer. Isn't even in Hayduke's league; remember.. at least the Monkey Wrench Gang did us some good for a while! Not the unabomber. He isn't even in the league of Butch Cassidy & Sundance!

Some madmen ARE considered heroes. Especially if they're underdogs who have achieved some measure of success for some beloved cause. But Ted K is a genius who slid so far into insanity that he had zero effect in advancing his causes. How can someone so brilliant; so passionate; so devoted -- fail to acheive even a modicum of success in his endeavors? Well, he's insane! He might as well have howled his message to the moon, for all the good it did. Raving idiots have managed to convey their message and make a difference; why couldn't our genius Teddy K? Because he's barking mad. With all his intellect he didn't make a dent of difference in this world, in terms of changing the things he wanted to change.

Kharakov

So if someone is not able to attain their desires, its because they are insane? I know many people who are brilliant. Some of them are so focused upon their ideas that they have little time for anything else such as learning to interact / communicate with other people. Their ideas will not make it very far unless they somehow learn to communicate their ideas to the general population. Ted K. did not understand how to bring about the changes that he wanted, not because he was insane, but because he did not understand that people must be dealt with in certain specific ways. This does not make him insane- it makes him human. Everybody has strengths and weaknesses. If you define mental weakness as madness every time you encounter it, that is your own special brand of madness.

Bill

I would agree that the question of what is sane and what is insane is rather a question of what aligns with (or against) one's own philosophy. In a community of anarchists, Ted K. would be king...... to the extent that any anarchists would even have such a thing in the first place!

Think of this as an example: if you wrote down an accurate description of exactly what the Jews were doing when they lived in Jerusalem about 2,000 years ago, with lots of bloody animal sacrifices in the Second Temple and so forth, and you put that out as your Manifesto of just how people ought to live their lives today, would you be viewed as sane or insane? And what would happen if you tried to gather together a few thousand folks who would volunteer to live exactly that way today?

Of course, all the folks from PETA through the local air quality board would be all over you the moment you threatened to start sacrificing bulls, goats, sheep, and so forth in a great fire on a high altar......

== Bill

cricket

Pooor Ted IS king; how could i have been so cruel to him. *biting tongue*

Kharakov,

No. 'someone' else may be unintelligent, uninspired, unlucky. It's Your Hero, in particular, who I'm calling insane.

Pooor Ted; he has so little time! I use that excuse too for a wide variety of failures. I never dreamt I could use it to excuse mail-bombings.

Why jail him; all he needs is a half-day seminar to brush up on communications / social graces. Oh and since you mentioned it, toss in a lesson on time management skills.

"...certain specific ways." 'Rationally'; 'kindly'; 'fairly'... are these among the 'specific ways'? 'Reasonably'; 'nicely'; how about 'ways that do not blow the people to bits'? Are these among the 'ways'?

Awwwwwwww. I am touched. *weeping*

ROFL <img src="graemlins/boohoo.gif" border="0" alt="[Boo Hoo]" />

Ism Schism

Cricket I think your applying too much emotional value into what we are saying.

I do not feel sorry for Ted K. at all, he knew the consequences and he killed anyway. I don't expect people to value killers, any killers: yours, theirs or others -- but people do. I read that expecting him to be insane, but as far as I can see it he isn't (at least in comparison to others who are considered sane.)

I am not an anarchist(unless you consider thinking for myself with no ready-made ideology an anarchist tendancy), or a primitivist, in fact my current position is in favor of moderate capitalism(probably not as centralized as our current model), and responsible leadership (if such a thing is possible), with people gaining some form(any at all) of "balance of power". The people mean nothing anymore, we are not a force -- we have NO say in this, what's worse is it seems people don't want a say in this. My how passive we have become, we barely even notice the danger coming from "higher places", and overiding ideologies. The people who represent us are the ones who crave power, IMO they are the worst of us -- the most irrational of us. We are entirely capable of causing our extinction and who does our thinking for us?

There is a certain amount of uniformity, and blind worship coming into being, and call me stark-raving mad, but I'm not going along for the ride.

"Freedom is a precious gift that one generation can pass to the next; it is a promise I intend to keep for our children."- Dubya (as I sign off)

Call me crazy again, but I don't believe a single word of it.

cricket

I was never impressed by the manifesto; I think it's a long rambling pointless mess. I suppose it's more impressive than the schizophrenic word-salad some might expect, for those who followed the arrest but didn't read the document until later. I'll also admit it's better than many 'normal' people can write, but that's not saying much.