On Jan 3, 10:23 am, John Clark <[email protected]> wrote: > On Sun, Jan 1, 2012 Craig Weinberg <[email protected]> wrote: > > > The effect isn't limited to human beings or facial cues though. Taxidermy > > and wax museums elicit the same response." > > The creepy thing about wax museums is that the lifelike 3D depictions of > apparently healthy people don't move.
Yes, not moving is one of the signs of being dead. I think that's what makes it creepy. > > > > It's a second level of deception which perceives a hint of an unholy > > motive that defiles the sanctity of living flesh. > > It's a curious fact that never in my life have I seen the word "sanctity" > used in defense of anything I agreed with, perhaps there is a way it could > be but I just haven't seen it; "unholy" isn't one of my favorite words > either, I don't think I've ever used it. These kinds of words evoke a pre-scientific worldview. I am not suggesting that they accurately refer to the reality of corporeal existence, I'm showing how these themes arise subconsciously and have been defined in the past in religious terms. > > > The creepiness of HAL arises not from carnal blasphemy, but > > And I could say the same thing about the word "blasphemy", I have used it > but only as a joke. Yes, I'm using these terms intentionally. These are the folk judgments transmitted to modern culture through inherited mythology. I'm talking about irrational fears which are nonetheless psychologically potent and revealing. > > > > This is invariably interpreted to mean the loss of soul, damnation, > > black magic, Satan, Frankenstein etc. > > In other words this interpretation is pure superstitious baloney. Superstitious yes, but that's irrelevant. I'm talking about super- signifying associations - sensorimotive themes which are amplified through fictional hyper-presentation. People feel that zombies are scary for a reason - not a rational, empirically valid reason, but a reason worth understanding nonetheless. > > > Remember the imposter android crew member in the movie Alien? > > Hey I liked that movie a lot too, I even bought the DVD; but do you > "really" expect to gain deep philosophical insights from Hollywood? I can gain deep philosophical insights from anything. If you can't gain them from Hollywood, you have no business bothering with philosophy. Craig -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en.
