in the shell

Hello all !

I didn't came back on this forum since all the crashes happened, so I'm glad to see that it's not dead

It's weird because I tried to come back on here just after I read this article http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3735372.stm (actually, I read it on a french website but I found the equivalent in english) which made me wander if the authors of the 2nd GIG scenario did base the 11 individualists story on this.

What do you think (except that it's quite sad) ?

...

Now that I'm thinking about it, I posted this thread in the SAC forum, as it''s related to the 11 individualists, but it could also be in the Philosophy forum, as it's quite ironic that those people, mostly geeks living their whole time in front of a computer, try to die outside with other people. It's like their trying to go back to a "normal" (analogic ???) life just one last time...

After all, it's clearly shown in the movies that we can't really know what life is without knowing what death is...

THYREN wrote:Hello all !



Now that I'm thinking about it, I posted this thread in the SAC forum, as it''s related to the 11 individualists, but it could also be in the Philosophy forum, as it's quite ironic that those people, mostly geeks living their whole time in front of a computer, try to die outside with other people. It's like their trying to go back to a "normal" (analogic ???) life just one last time...

Wow, interesting take on it.
I think its a really interesting turn of events for an increasingly internet centered world.

As for the individual 11, i think its quite possible that this could be the basis for the storyline of 2nd gig. The nets creation of people with a isolated mindset would lend itself to a Gouda type character leading the lost into creating a political statement. I mean they led each other into making the suicide pact, a strong personality could certainly create them into his own politcal statement.

Welcome back THYREN! And come back with a bang you do. This is a very interesting article.... Although I can't see how strongly it would be related to the 2nd gig. The fact that suicides are on the rise (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/3737072.stm) in Japan is interesting, but suicides are not rare or unheard of.

Could they're motives have anything to do with Asian Refugees?

Black Mamba wrote:Welcome back THYREN! And come back with a bang you do.

thx

Black Mamba wrote:This is a very interesting article.... Although I can't see how strongly it would be related to the 2nd gig.

Well, I thought it could be related to it by the fact that usually, people (who live a "normal" life "outside") commit suicide in a place where other people can't see them, whereas those ones (who live a secluded life) choose to gather outside for their last moments. And because the gather using the net, I compared this phenomenon to the individualist virus (even if it's just a metaphoric point of view )

THYREN wrote: Well, I thought it could be related to it by the fact that usually, people (who live a "normal" life "outside") commit suicide in a place where other people can't see them, whereas those ones (who live a secluded life) choose to gather outside for their last moments. And because the gather using the net, I compared this phenomenon to the individualist virus (even if it's just a metaphoric point of view )

But these people weren't trying to relay any ideal to the public - they just wanted to go with a bang, so to speak - they certainly weren't trying to inspire other people to take any kind of action or even mimic theirs. I don't think the cases are compareable, although there are some external similarities.

Lightice wrote:... although there are some external similarities.

That's all I was saying : that maybe the authors got inspired by this "trend" and added the rest.

Lightice wrote:But these people weren't trying to relay any ideal to the public

On a similar note, I also thought about the Rafik Hariri's assasination: could the libanese people have killed their own ex-prime minister (who was a real icon in that country) ?

After all, the political impact and the riots that followed this tragedy managed to get an end (more or less) to the old Syrian occupation ... and it has been done by a unknown-before muslim group. Moreover, I read a lot of articles saying that it can't be the culpability of Syria, as it would be way too obvious.

Anyway, that's only pure speculations...

Even though this is AGAIN only similarities, and that this assasination took place probably after the 2nd GIG scenario writing, it just made me think about the 2nd GIG's plot again. Do you really think that this kind of "sacrifice" did (could?) happen in real life ???

could the libanese people have killed their own ex-prime minister

They way you say it, it sounds like you are talking about the Lebanese people as a whole.

By my understanding of that particular incedent in Lebanon, the ex-prime minister was pro-democracy and he was probably assasinated by the pro-islamic rule group hezbola. The political situation in Lebanon is pretty screwed up, they have all of the trappings of a democratic government, but they are really a puppet state to Syria. Ironicly Lebanon used to be a true democracy and a rather pleasant place at that (it was a tourist destination), but then Israel invaded in the 60s unprovoked and sent the country into turmoil from which it has never recovered.