[Gossamer's Scrapbook] The Ethereal Canyon I

[Ball]

Totally glad yer enjoying your new hours! Its good that ya are having time now to spend with family and friends ya need it!

[Gossamer]

. Profound Realization Have you ever had one of these? I did today. So I'm an avid listener of the radio. I listen all day long sometimes upwards of ten or twelve hours. I listen to talk, science, even some coast to coast alien/conspiracy/new science and metaphysics stuff. My brain constantly thinks, dreams, and asks why. I'm just one of those people that died a little of happiness when I got my first smart phone with the ability to say "Hello Galaxy... google this thing." And have goggle pop up with a wealth of information at my fingertips. Recently, I've been talking with the guys at work a lot about the past. How computers changed everything and how much the world changed from the time my grandmother was born to the time she died. It is the anniversary of her death, so this was on my mind. And in listening to the radio today, I finally realized what was going to change so drastically in my lifetime. It's not computers, universal healthcare, or the cure for say something as dramatic as cancer. No.. I was listening to a science program where some astrobiologists and astrophysicists were doing interviews about the new generation of telescopes going up in the next ten years. Do you know we are building a telescope that is 30x's as powerful as The Hubble? Do you know we have five more that have fantastical projected arrays that will let us look at places like Jupiter's moons like we are staring at them with binoculars? There are no less than ten of these monsters being planned. Some are land based like the E-ELT being constructed in Chile and some are going to be released into the atmosphere. We have the Giant Magellan Telescope being built in Papau New Guinea. Check out the James Web Space Mirror. And we have a dozen more fully funded with projected finish dates of circal 2022-25. Do you guys realize what these things will mean to mankind? Listening to this program, it hit me hard what is going to change humanity in my lifespan. They didn't talk about this... because people don't talk about this on radio programs that are funded by organizations like NPR and PRI. But its there, hovering, unspoken. And its coming fast... within the next ten years twenty max. Mankind is going to find life on other planets. Mankind will find life in the universe besides themselves. Mathematicians and hard core scientists around the world have said its statistically impossible to NOT find it. But yet we haven't yet. These tools.. these huge beautiful impossibly powerful tools will allow us to finally do so. And that will change us all. .

[Sira]

Won't change me. I've always believed in life on other planets. It will only change me if that life decides to come interact with us (conquer, share technology, whatever), because even if we find it, we certainly don't have the technology to reach them in my lifetime.

[Xira Hezmek]

I totally get what you mean. Finding life on other planets will change everything. Religion, philosophy, science. All the major belief centers will be upturned because mankind will no longer get to say that the universe narcissistically revolves around them. Similar to how the planets revolve around Sol rather than the earth. How we view ourselves will change as well. Can we really view ourselves as anything but another animal on a blue watery rock in the depths of space?

Intellectually it's an interesting question: Is there life out there? No matter if we never find proof, the lack of evidence can't prove that there isn't life out there... somewhere. But if we find proof that life is out there, it puts the question to rest. In a sense, it is like religion's question: Is there life after death? It doesn't matter if there is no proof, one can only confirm it. If there was proof, then... you get the picture.

[Kaie]

I won't lie to you, your final line gave me chills. Good kind of chills. I feel as though its a possibility everyone has talked about and toyed with it in the media and what not, but it's quite another thing entirely when there's a very real opportunity to find out if new discoveries will finally answer our questions. Naturally there always comes the argument that there's a chance any life that is discovered is nothing more than a microorganism rather than multi-cellular, intelligent life. Nonetheless I'm more interested in how society might react to it than anything else. How will people handle it? The conspiracy theorists will definitely be basking in that light, but what about everyone else? I think we all have a pretty clear idea of what our collective reaction would be like.

Then again we may find nothing at all within the next several decades. Whether it's because there's nothing to be found or we just don't have the technology to find doesn't really matter. We'll keep chasing anyways, always wondering if the kill will for once be more thrilling than the hunt itself. Personally, I think it's almost arrogant to believe we're all alone out here. I should add I'm not one to really investigate and ponder the possibilities on this frontier, but I won't deny the unknown elements about it are really interesting. I think you gave us something really cool to think about!

[None]

I think whatever we find will be less advanced than us, because otherwise, they would have found us, right? Of course, something could've found us already and most people just might not know it yet. I even have a professor who thinks that (believes the Reptilians from Alpha Draconis are conspiring behind the scenes). Whether it's more or less advanced doesn't matter to me though, even if it's just bacteria that's another sample of life that doesn't come from Earth, and I think that's cool.

I've already resolved that I'm retiring to Titan, though.

[Gossamer]

It's the highest form of cowardness in my mind to give up on your dreams or goals based on what you THINK other people might think or want.

[Gossamer]

Predetermined Gnosis Marks & Threads

Just so you are all forewarned. If anyone ever poses the scenario that got posed to me today, the answer is going to be don't let the door hit you in the ass.

I will never guarantee you can acquire enough gnosis marks to be a Champion, no matter what God we are talking about. Marks are awarded on the basis of merit and circumstance at the time of the thread. Marks are awarded based on roleplay effort, time put in, and a whole host of other factors. No Staffer, myself included, and on down to a lowly JrST can ever guarantee you anything unless you've already earned it in thread. If you put in the work, you can go as far as you want in MIzahar. However, if you have a track record of not earning things and admittedly not earning them, then you have to work twice as hard as everyone else just to prove that you are made of the stuff that merits special roles like Champion.

This also goes for the predetermination of thread outcomes too. What in the hell fun is knowing how the thread is going to end? What is the point in any of it? We write here for fun. PMing someone and demanding to know if you should stay or leave based on if they will give you something or not has no place in any of Mizahar's scenario. No place!

I hope everyone understands that. I would have thought that would have been a given.

[Annalisa Marin]

Hear hear and well said. Guarantees and people demanding guarantees tend to suck the fun out of Mizahar for me. I've had a few threads where the outcome was predetermined and they always felt... off. When plotting with someone it seems best to get a basis of where you are going to start down and then letting it flow from there, let it go naturally and don't try to force something down the other person's throat. I mean, honestly isn't half the fun when you are reading a story not knowing what the end will be? Give other players a chance to surprise you and you might find that what you thought you wanted, was not actually what you really wanted.

As for earning things, effort and time put into threads, blood sweat and tears going into your character's development. Being given things can suck the fun out, you don't get that same feeling that you accomplished something if there aren't bumps on the road to get it. Its not about the destination after all, but the journey in which we take to reach it.

[Estrellir Konrath]

I totally understand what you mean. Threads shouldn't be a means to an end (reward), but a whole experience of their own. Still, STs ask you what you want out of a thread or if you've any plot suggestions. And we as PCs (at least I'm guilty of that) come to STs asking for threads in which gnosis marks can be acquired. Of course, I understand you're talking about the fine line between asking for a quest and asking for a mark. There lies the real problem.

It reminded me of that first thread you modded for Malia in Syliras. I was expecting nothing - and suddenly I had a gnosis mark. Maybe it's because STs are busier with the game having grown so much and so many different PCs to cater to. But I miss that kind of freedom in thread purpose, rewards and punishments. [/nostalgia]

I do think we need less predetermined threads.