If
real violence couldn't create that kind of effect, how come video violence is supposed to be a surefire violence trigger?
I think the difference is in the reality of killing in a war vs. the reality of killing in a computer game. As realistic as the graphics and sound of computer games get, can they really simulate the experience of knowing that you have killed a fellow human being? I think that both in video games and movies, violence is often stylized such that killing people simply looks cool. Consider the lobby scene in The Matrix. Neo and Trinity have lots of guns. There are lots of bad guys with guns. Then in a very slick scene, they "kill" all the bad guys. Now just take a moment to think about killing someone you know. You are alive; He/she is alive. And say, with a knife, you stab them until they are dead. Just writing this is repulsive to me, but I think it expresses my point. To a mature individual, just a moment of thought and imagination is sufficient to know that the idea of killing another person is abhorrent. Now, for someone who is not mature enough to realize this and disconnect the idea of killing people with the fun of running around and shooting bad guys, they can become confused and think that actually holding a gun and shooting people is no different than shooting bad guys in the video game. I think that is how video violence can go wrong.
I'm not sure exactly what you are saying, but let me take a stab at it:
Trading the pair of shoes that I made to my neighbor in exchange for a bag a wheat is easy. In the end I have a bag of wheat and he has a pair of shoes.
This is different than if I exchange a book on how to make shoes for a bag of wheat. The knowledge of shoe making is more flexible and can radically change in value than a simple bag of wheat or a pair of shoes.
(excuse me if that was a gross misinterpretation, but that's how I read it)
Just looking at computers today, I'm not sure I agree. How much is a cutting edge Pentium 4 going to cost me today? How much is that same computer going to cost me next year? Within a short time that object significantly loses value. The same goes for ideas/books. What about the value of a book on how to operate my computer? For most people, it will be worthless in a few years. For my grandparents, however, should they have to pay a ridiculous amount for something that is valuable to them but worthless to everyone people? Or worse yet, what if this book is out of print? Take another book: The Lord of the Rings. As great literature, it will never be worthless.
Both ideas and physical objects can radically change in value. What's great about this is that those books that are worthless to nearly everyone, including the author(s), can be availible to those that do value them.
I'm sorry, but it seems that wherever I go on/. there are these "In Soviet Russia..." comments. Is it just me, or are the majority of these comments as extremely unfunny and pointless as the first post comments? Where did they even start?
Slashdot Mirror
I believe that would be "Habeo Mirrorum." hehe.
I'm not sure exactly what you are saying, but let me take a stab at it:
Trading the pair of shoes that I made to my neighbor in exchange for a bag a wheat is easy. In the end I have a bag of wheat and he has a pair of shoes.
This is different than if I exchange a book on how to make shoes for a bag of wheat. The knowledge of shoe making is more flexible and can radically change in value than a simple bag of wheat or a pair of shoes.
(excuse me if that was a gross misinterpretation, but that's how I read it)
Just looking at computers today, I'm not sure I agree. How much is a cutting edge Pentium 4 going to cost me today? How much is that same computer going to cost me next year? Within a short time that object significantly loses value. The same goes for ideas/books. What about the value of a book on how to operate my computer? For most people, it will be worthless in a few years. For my grandparents, however, should they have to pay a ridiculous amount for something that is valuable to them but worthless to everyone people? Or worse yet, what if this book is out of print? Take another book: The Lord of the Rings. As great literature, it will never be worthless.
Both ideas and physical objects can radically change in value. What's great about this is that those books that are worthless to nearly everyone, including the author(s), can be availible to those that do value them.
I'm sorry, but it seems that wherever I go on /. there are these "In Soviet Russia..." comments. Is it just me, or are the majority of these comments as extremely unfunny and pointless as the first post comments? Where did they even start?