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castironOct 21: Ignoring all financial considerations, would you rather spend the next 5 years confined to an urban mecca (e.g. New York City, London, etc) or a beautiful, isolated coastal town somewhere? If there's still a pandemic, the isolated coastal town, assuming I don't have to worry about rising sea levels before the end of the five years. If I'm able to actually get out and about, the city.
Oct 22: How would you react if you learned that a sad and beautiful poem that touched you deeply had been written by a computer? I'd be impressed.
Oct 23: What is a character trait you despise in others, but you know you also have that same trait? I'm not sure I'd say there's a trait I despise -- it's what the person does with those traits that matters. I'm also reminded here of the Father Brown line to the effect of "I realized I was exactly like the murderer, except for final consent to the act".
Now recalling a discussion of the Vorkosiverse in which someone was arguing that there was no situation where lying was acceptable and therefore Miles's ability to lie was inherently bad. I didn't get involved in the discussion, but I remember thinking that if I'm about to send my troops into a hopeless situation, convincing them that there's a small chance of success might make a difference in how well they carry out the objective. And if I'm watching a play or movie, part of why I'm there is to watch people convincingly lie about who they are and what they are to each other, so that I can experience an interesting story and take in greater truths.
Oct 24: What is the most serious law you've broken doing something you thought was morally right, wouldn't hurt anyone, or was no one's business but yours? How bad would the punishment have been if you'd been caught and given the maximum sentence? When we were still married, on a trip that took us through Virginia, my ex and I performed certain acts that were illegal there at the time, though Lawrence v. Texas invalidated those laws a few years later.
Oct 25: If you were on a jury, would you be willing to convict a person for something you didn't think should be considered a crime? Tough call. My overall inclination would be to convict (and then to write to the relevant legislators saying "hey! this shouldn't be the law!"), but it'd depend on the penalty -- are we talking a $500 fine, prison time, or execution? And possibly on the defendant -- the higher up in social and economic class they are, the more likely I am to convict, because when the rich and upper class are affected by a bad law it's more likely to be changed.
(And yes re: Oct 24, if Ex and I had been caught and charged, I would've expected the jury to convict. And then there could've been a lot of publicity over the state interfering with what a married couple does in private, and possibly some shifting of opinion on the validity of the law.)
Oct 26: If your heart were damaged beyond repair, but you could regain your health for a few more years by getting a heart transplant from a genetically engineered pig, would you? Sure, as long as the rest of the pig is butchered and goes in my freezer or gets donated to a food bank.
Oct 27: What is your favorite question to ask people? People I know, or people I've just met? With people I've know a while, it's either the generic "how's it going?" or a question about something I know to be going on in their life. With someone I've just met, it's either a question about how they ended up in the place we're meeting ("How do you know our hosts?" "Have you been doing (activity) long?" etc.) or a variant on "So, what other things do you do when you're not here?"
Oct 22: How would you react if you learned that a sad and beautiful poem that touched you deeply had been written by a computer? I'd be impressed.
Oct 23: What is a character trait you despise in others, but you know you also have that same trait? I'm not sure I'd say there's a trait I despise -- it's what the person does with those traits that matters. I'm also reminded here of the Father Brown line to the effect of "I realized I was exactly like the murderer, except for final consent to the act".
Now recalling a discussion of the Vorkosiverse in which someone was arguing that there was no situation where lying was acceptable and therefore Miles's ability to lie was inherently bad. I didn't get involved in the discussion, but I remember thinking that if I'm about to send my troops into a hopeless situation, convincing them that there's a small chance of success might make a difference in how well they carry out the objective. And if I'm watching a play or movie, part of why I'm there is to watch people convincingly lie about who they are and what they are to each other, so that I can experience an interesting story and take in greater truths.
Oct 24: What is the most serious law you've broken doing something you thought was morally right, wouldn't hurt anyone, or was no one's business but yours? How bad would the punishment have been if you'd been caught and given the maximum sentence? When we were still married, on a trip that took us through Virginia, my ex and I performed certain acts that were illegal there at the time, though Lawrence v. Texas invalidated those laws a few years later.
Oct 25: If you were on a jury, would you be willing to convict a person for something you didn't think should be considered a crime? Tough call. My overall inclination would be to convict (and then to write to the relevant legislators saying "hey! this shouldn't be the law!"), but it'd depend on the penalty -- are we talking a $500 fine, prison time, or execution? And possibly on the defendant -- the higher up in social and economic class they are, the more likely I am to convict, because when the rich and upper class are affected by a bad law it's more likely to be changed.
(And yes re: Oct 24, if Ex and I had been caught and charged, I would've expected the jury to convict. And then there could've been a lot of publicity over the state interfering with what a married couple does in private, and possibly some shifting of opinion on the validity of the law.)
Oct 26: If your heart were damaged beyond repair, but you could regain your health for a few more years by getting a heart transplant from a genetically engineered pig, would you? Sure, as long as the rest of the pig is butchered and goes in my freezer or gets donated to a food bank.
Oct 27: What is your favorite question to ask people? People I know, or people I've just met? With people I've know a while, it's either the generic "how's it going?" or a question about something I know to be going on in their life. With someone I've just met, it's either a question about how they ended up in the place we're meeting ("How do you know our hosts?" "Have you been doing (activity) long?" etc.) or a variant on "So, what other things do you do when you're not here?"