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Old 10-30-2010, 01:37 PM   #121
Flyndaran
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Default Re: Would a 9 lb sapient spider producing 1/10 lb of silk a day suspend your disbelie

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Originally Posted by combatmedic View Post
Indeed- but would your players actually care about the nitty gritty details of these sapient spider critters and their ability to produce a relatively large quantity of silk? Or is this more of an excercise in plausible species-building for your own satisfaction? Whose SOD is in question?
When discussing gurps it's always for my own satisfaction. :) I have yet to get over my anxiety disorder enough to game for very long. It is ironic that building gurps-y stuff relaxes me.
I like to categorize my musings into gritty realism, low fantasy, and over the top everything goes world hopping adventure.
I suppose large but unusually sociable spiders works for the realism. Now I'm trying to figure out how to make a low fantasy spider-like PC race.
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Old 10-30-2010, 01:38 PM   #122
Flyndaran
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Default Re: Would a 9 lb sapient spider producing 1/10 lb of silk a day suspend your disbelie

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Originally Posted by sir_pudding View Post
You think that working magic is somehow objectively more plausible than big smart spiders-creatures?
Magic is often about adding forces, while big smart spiders might be about subtracting known forces of biology and physics. A subtle distinction.
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Old 10-30-2010, 01:41 PM   #123
combatmedic
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Default Re: Would a 9 lb sapient spider producing 1/10 lb of silk a day suspend your disbelie

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Originally Posted by Flyndaran View Post
If an answer is unprovable, then it is opinion. You may consider the opinion useful, or believe it with all your heart, but that doesn't magically make it anything more than an opinion.
You are assuming that a human being's subjective experience of reality is only valid when it is understood/experienced/explained through a scientific-materialist lens. That opinion of yours is no more 'magically' made objectively true by you believing it than is any other person's opinion made objectively true by his belief.


But we are drifting...If you'd like a discussion of worldviews, I suggest a new thread in genchat.
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Old 10-30-2010, 01:46 PM   #124
combatmedic
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Default Re: Would a 9 lb sapient spider producing 1/10 lb of silk a day suspend your disbelie

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Originally Posted by Flyndaran View Post
When discussing gurps it's always for my own satisfaction. :) I have yet to get over my anxiety disorder enough to game for very long. It is ironic that building gurps-y stuff relaxes me.
I like to categorize my musings into gritty realism, low fantasy, and over the top everything goes world hopping adventure.
I suppose large but unusually sociable spiders works for the realism. Now I'm trying to figure out how to make a low fantasy spider-like PC race.
That makes sense to me, Flyndaran.
The genre may demand more or less attention to scientific details, after all.
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Old 10-30-2010, 01:46 PM   #125
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Default Re: Would a 9 lb sapient spider producing 1/10 lb of silk a day suspend your disbelie

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Originally Posted by combatmedic View Post
Oh, my issue isn't with the scientists- it's with scientism. Some people seem to believe that 'science will answer everything', which strikes me as both presumptuous and silly.
In the broader context of the search for ultimate truth or meaning, of course scientific empiricism exists alongside with other epistemological methods. Its focus on objective measurement is a deliberate restriction on its domain of discourse. However, it does have a tendency to expand into other domains, by improving the reach of its measurements, and by rephrasing metaphysical questions as empirical ones.

Thus, science may never give an answer to "What is Love?", but it can (and probably will) answer the questions "What neurological processes correspond to the feeling of Love? Can we predict the circumstances where these will occur? Can we reliably create those circumstances?". To the extent that people find the empirical questions more useful or relevant in their lives than the metaphysical ones, this represents a form of "creeping scientism".

TeV
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Old 10-30-2010, 01:48 PM   #126
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Default Re: Would a 9 lb sapient spider producing 1/10 lb of silk a day suspend your disbelie

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Originally Posted by combatmedic View Post
But we are drifting...If you'd like a discussion of worldviews, I suggest a new thread in genchat.
Yeah it doesn't seem to have much to do with silk production anymore...

TeV
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Old 10-30-2010, 01:58 PM   #127
combatmedic
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Default Re: Would a 9 lb sapient spider producing 1/10 lb of silk a day suspend your disbelie

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Originally Posted by teviet View Post
In the broader context of the search for ultimate truth or meaning, of course scientific empiricism exists alongside with other epistemological methods. Its focus on objective measurement is a deliberate restriction on its domain of discourse. However, it does have a tendency to expand into other domains, by improving the reach of its measurements, and by rephrasing metaphysical questions as empirical ones.

Thus, science may never give an answer to "What is Love?", but it can (and probably will) answer the questions "What neurological processes correspond to the feeling of Love? Can we predict the circumstances where these will occur? Can we reliably create those circumstances?". To the extent that people find the empirical questions more useful or relevant in their lives than the metaphysical ones, this represents a form of "creeping scientism".

TeV
I disagree with parts of your last paragraph, but the rest of this strikes me as sensible.

We should start a new thread, methinks. if you wish to discuss our respective worldviews. That sort of thread isn't likely to reach any kind of consensus, of course. :)
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