On Mon, Jul 08, 2002 at 12:20:06AM -0500, Ronn Blankenship wrote: > Which do you think the so-called "suicide bombers" are doing?
I think there is little doubt that they are deluded followers who haven't spent any time thinking about the larger consequences of their beliefs nor have they studied the beliefs of others. I just thought of a metaphor for the concept that I've been trying to explain. Most good science fiction stories make a few assumptions which are unproven (sometimes even counter to our reality) and then proceed to develop a world from those concepts that seems real and consistent to us. And most stories have different assumptions. But the good stories still manage to create a real-seeming world. One of the things I like about science fiction is that it allows us to explore in detail the consequences of various assumptions, and the type of world that could result from those assumptions. For example, I would much rather live in Iain Banks' Culture than I would in Stephenson's Snow Crash. Some of this is technological, but a lot of it is attitude and beliefs. Similarly, when I choose my own real-life axioms (beliefs), I try to consider the consequences such that if many people had the same axioms (beliefs), then the world would be a place that I find pleasant to be a part of (for my definition of pleasant, of course, there is no absolute possible here). -- "Erik Reuter" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.erikreuter.net/
