Ask Chaos Anything!

[Chaos he/him]

What advice do you have for someone coping with the fact that free will is an illusion?

 

Serious question: why does it matter?

Let us say for a moment that free will exists. Am I going to cook chili tonight? Yes, because that sounds delicious and it gives me a lot of delicious leftovers for future meals. That sounds like synergy. I could also microwave up some terrible garbage out of laziness instead of making said chili. Laziness is highly appealing, too. This is a crossroads. It's a decision. You have the power.

Now, if there was some entity who predetermined everything and could see the exact future that occurred, well, does that invalidate my choice? This entity knew I would choose chili billions of years ago. That might sound disheartening, but I didn't know that would be the outcome. Since I cannot see this predestined future, my lack of foresight actually gives me power to act. You don't know what is to come. You are creating your destiny, because you didn't know that destiny. Who cares if some deity or alien knows the future. Unless you've talked with such an entity, there's no practical difference between true free will and the illusion of free will.

I might also not be the best person to ask on this, though. I am not a person particularly interested in philosophy. Philosophical questions that can't be answered or are poorly-posed questions are kind of a waste of time. So I don't think about things like "what is the meaning of life." Maybe that's the scientist in me, but I like actual well-posed questions that have actual answers.

And to this I say - AMEN.

 

@Chaos: Would you say that your life is musically oriented? If you could break down your entire existence into 10 songs (or any number of them really), what songs would you pick and why?

Not at all. Though I listen to music a lot, I am fairly music illiterate. I don't know many artists and I have a hard time finding new music I like. I don't really listen to lyrics--my brain has a hard time even comprehending them. I can really only comprehend lyrics if they are written out in front of me. Other people I know can remember all the lyrics to many songs they listen to. I'd have to listen a hundred times to get close. I do have favorite artists, but I am afraid I just don't think that way.

I have a lot of respect for people who are musically inclined or can play music well, because it is totally alien to me. (Not totally; in middle school I did play an instrument but I have no talent for it.)

[+Slowswift]

Ooh! Which instrument?

[Chaos he/him]

Alto sax. I wasn't very good at it.

Perhaps later in life I'll try the violin. String instruments are way better

[Sunbird she/her]

Alto sax. I wasn't very good at it.

Perhaps later in life I'll try the violin. String instruments are way better

 

As someone who has played oboe and attempted to play violin, I believe that stringed instruments have a significantly steeper learning curve than, say, woodwinds. I really struggled with the utter precision of finger placement required to get a note in tune on the violin. On an oboe, it's easier to get your pitch closer in tune just by pressing all the right keys.

[Kaymyth she/her]

As someone who has played oboe and attempted to play violin, I believe that stringed instruments have a significantly steeper learning curve than, say, woodwinds. I really struggled with the utter precision of finger placement required to get a note in tune on the violin. On an oboe, it's easier to get your pitch closer in tune just by pressing all the right keys.

 

(Full disclosure:  I spent enough years as a music major to have gone through tech courses on every family of instrument.  I know the basics on how to play just about anything.  I'm not necessarily going to be good at every instrument, but I understand how they work.  I have played the piano for nearly all of my rememberable life, and consider my skills to be excellent on flute and borderline-professional on oboe.)

 

Eh.  Of all of the woodwind instruments, oboe is actually the toughest one to play well and in tune.  See, most instruments you can tune pretty easily by adjusting the mouthpiece/headjoint to the proper place, and then most of your notes will be on pitch.

 

Not the oboe.

 

First - the only mouthpiece is the reed.  Two tiny, delicate bits of cane pressed together.  And you can't pull the cork out any without messing with the tonal stability of the instrument.  The end result is that you have to adjust your embouchure and the position of your lips on the reed in order to play in tune.

 

Second - different notes require further adjustments of your lips in order to hit on pitch.  This means that not only must you have some good muscle control of your lips, but you MUST have a good enough sense of pitch to be able to hear whether you are in tune and whether you need to adjust sharp or flat.  And these adjustments are constant.

 

So in reality the oboe requires every bit as much focus and concentration as the string family, if not more.

 

And this is why the orchestra tunes to the first chair oboist.

[Sunbird she/her]

(Full disclosure:  I spent enough years as a music major to have gone through tech courses on every family of instrument.  I know the basics on how to play just about anything.  I'm not necessarily going to be good at every instrument, but I understand how they work.  I have played the piano for nearly all of my rememberable life, and consider my skills to be excellent on flute and borderline-professional on oboe.)

 

Eh.  Of all of the woodwind instruments, oboe is actually the toughest one to play well and in tune.  See, most instruments you can tune pretty easily by adjusting the mouthpiece/headjoint to the proper place, and then most of your notes will be on pitch.

 

Not the oboe.

 

First - the only mouthpiece is the reed.  Two tiny, delicate bits of cane pressed together.  And you can't pull the cork out any without messing with the tonal stability of the instrument.  The end result is that you have to adjust your embouchure and the position of your lips on the reed in order to play in tune.

 

Second - different notes require further adjustments of your lips in order to hit on pitch.  This means that not only must you have some good muscle control of your lips, but you MUST have a good enough sense of pitch to be able to hear whether you are in tune and whether you need to adjust sharp or flat.  And these adjustments are constant.

 

So in reality the oboe requires every bit as much focus and concentration as the string family, if not more.

 

And this is why the orchestra tunes to the first chair oboist.

 

All of this is true. Maybe I just felt like violin was harder because I'd already been playing oboe for two years when I tried to pick up violin.

[+Slowswift]

Have you ever seen NUMB3RS?

[Mestiv he/him]

Will the updated site have a different mobile version?

[Haelbarde he/him]

Is there an emote that you wish the forum had (as in something that you might type out, but doesn't get replaced with a fancy picture)?

[Chaos he/him]

Oboes always looked ridiculously difficult with their reeds.

Have you ever seen NUMB3RS?

Yes! Great show.

 

Will the updated site have a different mobile version?

This is one of the primary benefits for us upgrading. The new site doesn't have a mobile skin, per se. It uses responsive design. Though some things vanish in the mobile view because they are not relevant, it's the same editor and same features. It's really great looking.

 

Is there an emote that you wish the forum had (as in something that you might type out, but doesn't get replaced with a fancy picture)?

I've been watching a lot of Twitch, so I'd probably want some Twitch emotes. I want my Kappas, EleGiggles, PogChamps, Kreygasms, and ResidentSleepers.

[Silverblade5 he/him]

Do you use rate my professor or similar sites?

[Chaos he/him]

Do you use rate my professor or similar sites?

I don't use them, but I hear I have a profile on there.

[Mailliw73 he/him]

I don't use them, but I hear I have a profile on there.

You do, and a pretty good one, apparently. 

[Delightful]

Nargles or Fizzing Whizbees?

[Chaos he/him]

You do, and a pretty good one, apparently.

One guy really hated me in the Learning Center though. Oh well.

 

Nargles or Fizzing Whizbees?

Nargles.

[Mailliw73 he/him]

On occasion, I'll be quoted, but not get a notification for it, like in that last post. Do you know why? It's fine most times, but every once in a while, it doesn't tell me.

[Chaos he/him]

On occasion, I'll be quoted, but not get a notification for it, like in that last post. Do you know why? It's fine most times, but every once in a while, it doesn't tell me.

I don't have things set on my account where I get notified when I am quoted, but perhaps it has something to do with me using Multiquote in that last one. Do you get notified for this one?

[Mailliw73 he/him]

I don't have things set on my account where I get notified when I am quoted, but perhaps it has something to do with me using Multiquote in that last one. Do you get notified for this one?

Nope, not that one either.

Scratch that. Apparently if I'm following a topic(which I haven't done in a while), I don't get notified for quotes there.

Edited June 11, 2016 by Mailliw73

[Chaos he/him]

Could also be I don't use the rich text editor. This will be basically irrelevant on the new site as it will work differently.

[Sunbird she/her]

Ok, so now I'm curious about the mechanics of getting recordings of Brandon answering questions at all his signings. Do you admins take turns going to signings that are in your respective localities to record, and if so, what do you do when he goes to like the UAE or somewhere way out of the way? Or is there a member of his publication/editorial team who is always at his signings whose job it is to record when there's not a Shard admin there to do it?

[Haelbarde he/him]

Could also be I don't use the rich text editor. This will be basically irrelevant on the new site as it will work differently.

Isn't the plain text editor going away?

[Chaos he/him]

Ok, so now I'm curious about the mechanics of getting recordings of Brandon answering questions at all his signings. Do you admins take turns going to signings that are in your respective localities to record, and if so, what do you do when he goes to like the UAE or somewhere way out of the way? Or is there a member of his publication/editorial team who is always at his signings whose job it is to record when there's not a Shard admin there to do it?

It's not really anything formal. He tends to not mind Sharders recording the Q&As. I know we did that at SpoCon way back when. Though, I'm sure he expects it more in these local signings.

Anyone can do it, and if no one you know is coming to a signing you're going to, feel free to record it!

It was great meeting you at the signing

 

Isn't the plain text editor going away?

That's right, but typing BBCode will still render as you would expect. It's just things aren't stored as BBCode--it's stored as HTML--so there's no BBCode view anymore.

[Haelbarde he/him]

That's right, but typing BBCode will still render as you would expect. It's just things aren't stored as BBCode--it's stored as HTML--so there's no BBCode view anymore.

I thought the BBCode got stored as HTML anyway. So while you'll be able to compose a post with BBcode, you won't be able to edit the BBcode when editing the post afterwards?

[Jo and the Bush all/any]

That's disappointing. I've been learning the BBC code. Will there be a way to enable it?

[Haelbarde he/him]

That's disappointing. I've been learning the BBC code. Will there be a way to enable it?

It's a matter of the default text editor has been changed to a different type since our current version of IP.Board. I believe there are mods/plugins for the editor which could reintroduce the editor, but that sorta thing requires configuration and testing and such like, which would only make the update take longer to arrive. But hey, you'll be able to do callouts, so that people get notifications when they're mentioned in a post!