InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Silly customer!"

Hemingway. (ernestoic) wrote in compass_network,
@ 2013-10-27 16:50:00

Entry tags:

!open, steve rogers, ~abigail knightly

If a scream of horror was enough to stop war, there would be no more war.

Given what we know about mankind, is it even wise to have children?

No matter how many books you read, no matter how much you live, there are some things in this world that you will never, ever understand. And perhaps you wouldn't want to.

This island is a prison. And my mind is one.

(Post a new comment)

	harry_dresden_ 2013-10-27 02:14 pm UTC (link)
	Didn't you just have a kid? (Reply to this) (Thread)

	ernestoic 2013-10-27 02:20 pm UTC (link)
	By island trickery, it would seem to be so, yes. Does it change the validity of the question? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	harry_dresden_ 2013-10-27 02:22 pm UTC (link)
	Yes, you don't question the world once you have children, you try to change it for the better (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	ernestoic 2013-10-27 04:33 pm UTC (link)
	You cannot change the world without questioning it. Also, I already had a child. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	abigailknightly 2013-10-27 03:26 pm UTC (link)
	Your mind inspires millions, Mr Hemingway. It inspires me. In that sense, it'll never be a prison. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	ernestoic 2013-10-27 04:50 pm UTC (link)
	It is a prison to me. When you have nowhere to escape but into your own mind, and your own mind is an unpleasant place to be- you are a prisoner. But I am glad I have inspired you. Perhaps it is enough. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	abigailknightly 2013-10-27 04:59 pm UTC (link)
	I hope it is. I aspire to be like you, an incredible intellect. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

ernestoic
2013-10-27 05:07 pm UTC (link)

To be like me? No, you must aspire to be very much yourself. Find your own truth. Read avidly. Live fully. Question everything. You may not come to the same conclusions, but your ideas will be your own, and that is important. Declare yourself to be the best, and you will be. Believe it, believe in your own truth. Or if you can't, pretend you do. There is little difference.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	abigailknightly 2013-10-27 07:33 pm UTC (link)
	Every man's life ends the same way. It is only the details of how he lived and how he died that distinguish one man from another. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	ernestoic 2013-10-28 04:59 am UTC (link)
	Yes, exactly. Wait- is that me? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

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Abigail -

ernestoic, 2013-11-03 11:49 am UTC

Mr Hemingway -

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ernestoic, 2013-11-03 05:28 pm UTC

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ernestoic, 2013-11-03 06:17 pm UTC

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ernestoic, 2013-11-03 06:52 pm UTC

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ernestoic, 2013-11-03 07:01 pm UTC

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ernestoic, 2013-11-03 07:08 pm UTC

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ernestoic, 2013-11-03 07:17 pm UTC

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ernestoic, 2013-11-03 07:24 pm UTC

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ernestoic, 2013-11-04 08:22 am UTC

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ernestoic, 2013-11-07 05:21 pm UTC

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ernestoic, 2013-11-07 05:26 pm UTC

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ernestoic, 2013-11-07 05:33 pm UTC

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Re: Mr Hemingway -

ernestoic, 2013-11-07 06:00 pm UTC

Mr Hemingway -

abigailknightly, 2013-11-07 06:02 pm UTC

Abigail -

ernestoic, 2013-11-07 06:03 pm UTC

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Re: Abigail -

abigailknightly, 2013-11-07 06:52 pm UTC

	macleod1518 2013-10-27 03:27 pm UTC (link)
	To quote Jurassic Park: Nature finds a way. Even with modern contraception you're never going to eliminate babies as long as people have sex. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	ernestoic 2013-10-27 04:54 pm UTC (link)
	I'm not proposing some sort of mass sterilisation. I know that it is not literally possible. I simply wonder wha we are bringing children into. If they will resent us for the world we leave them. If it is cruel to make them endure this world. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	macleod1518 2013-10-27 05:03 pm UTC (link)
	It will be normal for them, they won't know anything different. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	ernestoic 2013-10-27 05:08 pm UTC (link)
	True enough. But how sad, to know only this. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	macleod1518 2013-10-27 05:13 pm UTC (link)
	No sadder than the people of my village in the 1500s, how much of the world did they know about? Humanity just is, Hemingway. When you get down to it we're just slightly more intelligent animals than the rest. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

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ernestoic, 2013-10-27 05:17 pm UTC

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	puddlejumppilot 2013-10-27 04:06 pm UTC (link)
	Every planet's an island, in a sea of space. And if you don't have kids, the species dies. And I can tell you that that doesn't always end up so pretty either. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	ernestoic 2013-10-27 04:35 pm UTC (link)
	Yes. A bit hamlet, but the world is a prison. Are humanity worth preserving? We do more harm than good. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	puddlejumppilot 2013-10-27 04:40 pm UTC (link)
	It wasn't actually humanity. It was the Asgard, and they were a race of super-intelligent beings who stopped having babies, and ended up almost wiping out a whole galaxy of people to try and survive as the clones they'd become. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	ernestoic 2013-10-27 04:53 pm UTC (link)
	Hmm. Not as intelligent as they might imagine, then. I suppose then the need to survive outweighs rational thinking. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

puddlejumppilot
2013-10-27 05:02 pm UTC (link)

Oh believe me, they were intelligent, it's their technology that saved us plenty of times. Just not so much smart when it came to keeping themselves going. And yeah, the need to survive is part of the primal brain, rational thinking, notsomuch in my experience. Probably just as well, because if we'd depended on rational thinking to keep us alive, we'd have been dead more times over than I want to think about.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

tenth_doc
2013-10-27 05:10 pm UTC (link)

Humans, the most adaptable species in the Universe.

War isn't just a product of humanity. Is it always bad? Bloodshed is always bad, but if people do not stand up for what they believe in then you risk living a life where nothing changes, where no one learns from their mistakes... To err is human. As is to question. It is often humanity's children that change what is considered 'wrong' in the past.

Believe me, I have seen many truly horrible, disturbing and soul-breaking things but, do you know what? It's you, you little humans, in your wonderfully short but brilliant lives, that keep me going. Keep me grounded. Humanity is wonderful. Be proud of it. Even the flaws, because that's how you learn and adapt and spread out over the Universe. Indomitable! That's the human race, indomitable!

Something is only a prison if you let it be.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

ernestoic
2013-10-27 05:21 pm UTC (link)

What other creatures- oh. Of course. It takes some getting used to, the idea of other planets, other species of intelligent beings, other wars on other planets- tricky.

How the hell did you get to be so- optimistic? With all you have seen? I can hardly understand how humanity could be cheering to anyone. It makes me wonder what else is out there, and how terrible it must be.

And how do I stop it? "Positive mental attitude"?

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

tenth_doc
2013-10-27 06:02 pm UTC (link)

Is it really that tricky? Life on Earth evolved from single-celled organisms and the right chemical reactions, triggers etc... What's to stop that happening somewhere else in the vast expanse of the Universe?

Oh, believe me, I used to be old and grumpy when I was younger. When you get to see humanity as a whole, over many years, from the beginning to the end, to where you have branched out across the Universe to populate other worlds... it's a different perspective. You probably don't want to know.

Just live life. You have a family? Be with them, do things with them, be a family. This island is a paradox, treat it like a free pass, live. Question, yes, you should always question but don't let that be all you do. Enjoy the chance of life you have now... some of us don't get the chance to live how we want.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

	captain_srogers 2013-10-27 07:33 pm UTC (link)
	If we teach them right, maybe our children will be the ones to make the world better. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	ernestoic 2013-10-28 04:57 am UTC (link)
	We can hope, yes. I must also look at how much the world has changed since my own time. Perhaps the good balances out the bad. (Reply to this) (Parent)