Roderick

The nonidentity issue illuminated how as long as life is worth living, hardships and all, it is better than nonexistence. Therefore it isn't immoral to create life. I think that's a pretty smart and convincing answer, even if the nonidentity problem itself has a paradoxical nut still to crack.

I will tell you this: if they do a remaster of The Wind Waker, with all the scrapped content, in HD, for Wii U, I will buy the console. That's a system seller if I ever heard of one.

Very much looking forward to the Xbox361 and PS4. I actually expect that they'll just continu to do what they do well now: provide powerful machines for a reasonable price. There will be inbuilt support for Kinect/Move/Smartglass and whatever gimmick they'll come up with in the near future, but the core machines will be high spec luxury machines like they are now. I doubt either will go with some radical paradigm shift, like providing just a streaming box, or a casual thing, or download only. As for the GAEMS: Double Fine Adventure, Broken Sword 5, Europa (holy shit didn't even know this existed and now it's top list), GTA5, Bioshock Infinite, I want a sequel to Catherine, Heart of the Swarm, The website list is just for PC, so it inevitably misses a ton of fantastic games on other platforms. I'm thinking Professor Layton, some Marios, Phoenix Wright, a couple of JRPG's maybe or other Japanese gems.

Good luck, Ys!!

Well, now you're pulling the rug from under philosophy in general! The issue was worthwhile to discuss, in my opinion, because it provided a clear answer to the specific, if somewhat esoteric, question I started this topic with.

Don't listen to Toblix, who thinks everything is piracy.

Yeah, pretty much. I feel ambivalent about giving up, fortunately. I've got lots of games to play that will suit me better. Funny enough, my short experience with Blood Money has made me more interested in Absolution, to see if I would like it more now that the flow is more streamlined. If there's a demo, I'll get it.

I can totally live with that answer. As for LA, I can number a few reasons why clearing the smog up would be morally better: - Since we all agree that living in clear air is better than living in smog, it would show a level of consideration towards future generations to make their life as pleasant as we can. Leaving it smoggy when we know that is an undesirable state to be in (even if it is still more desirable than not existing!), would be callous and unkind. Not to any particular person, but in a general sense, relating to our moral fiber. - From a utilitarian perspective, the people existing in Clear LA will be happier than people from Smoggy LA. Clearing up the smog will create more happiness in the future world, which is moral. (Which isn't to say I don't understand the concept! I think it's very smart and would like to thank everyone contributing here. See, Nappi? That wasn't so hard )

I've watched a few runthroughs of the level on Youtube: - Wow, there are a lot of options to do the hit. You get free reign, which is good. - But I get the feeling you need to do a lot of exploring to find all those options. The problem is, that will include lots of dying and trial & error. Figuring out what to do should be the fun part, but I get the feeling it's more of a chore here. - I'm probably not going to play on.

Blood Money is just not clicking with me. The first real mission, in Chile bumping off drug dealers, and I'm not having fun. People shoot at me, I'm trying to be stealthy but it's not working. Am I playing this game wrong? Probably, but I wonder if I have the patience to play it right.

I love a good paradox. This is a great read, really fun. I think one thing we can be happy about is that even in this line of thinking (that future generations can't be mad at us for any decision, since it created the circumstances for their existence), from the perspective of the active agent (us), it is still morally superior to 'do the right thing'. Stop the smog in LA, save the environment, give to the poor. The reason is that no matter what you do, everything is a choice. Not stopping the smog in LA will create as much ripples and new circumstances as stopping the smog in LA. Since the latter is morally better because it creates more pleasant living conditions (following the lsit Luftmensch wrote down), it is morally better, period. So we can, at least, be happy that it's still good to do good things, and not become indifferent because folks down the line won't be in their right to get mad at us for screwing up. Maybe my view on life is a little pessimistic. I assure you I'm quite a cheerful person! But I do worry about the future, about future illnesses and general anxieties in life. Never to the point of not wanting to exist, but they are a concern. I think it's a good guideline to say; if you yourself want to live, perhaps it won't be too bad for your kid. Spinning the wheel of fortune is still a relevant objection to having children as a moral act, because no matter how small the possibility, there is inevitably the chance your kid will be clinically depressed and kill themselves. In that rare event, where a person actually acts upon the wish to not exist, creating them might not have been the right choice. Insofar as you can't know that beforehand, it's immoral only in the sense that you knew the possibility was there and took a gamble, knowing the odds were very much in your favor. I think that's as far as you can take this - it'll never be a completely binary thing in any Mass Effect sense, from pure Renegade to 100% Paragon. As far as I see it now, the answer to my question, in this discussion, seems to be: It is moral to have children, considering the vast chance that the child will appreciate its existence and was glad it was born, under the majority of circumstances. Also, my mind is still reeling from the Ted talks that, if they are to be believed, project that the world population will stabilize at a relatively managable size. That doesn't do the places any good that are already now rather over-populated (though even the Netherlands have plenty of regions that are sparsely populated), but it's a relief. Maybe it'll all be quite OK in the end.

The Wii, for me, is a console tainted by disappointment - which may not at all be very fair. The first two years were so exciting, it couldn't but fail to live up to the hype. After the glory of Galaxy and the novelty of the Wii Remote wore off, some awful things came into perspective: - Third party support was mainly relegated to shovelware of the worst kind, or flailing ports - The motion controls were hardly ever, not even by Nintendo, used in a meaningful way. Apart from a few on-rails shooters (Umbrella Chronicles!), there was little that couldn't have been accomplished with traditional controls. - The SD graphics turned sour extremely quickly. It didn't take long before it was painful to look at in comparison to Xbox 360 games. - The online aspect turned out of no interest. The Mii's and the 'always connected!' stuff disappointed. And so, the Wii left me hanging, is the overall feeling I have towards it. But if you actually look at the library of games, that seems a crazy stance! The Wii has so many amazing games, outshining almost easily the Gamecube. Metroid, Mario, Donkey Kong, Kirby, Zelda, they all had fantastic games on the Wii. This year alone saw three JRPG's on the console, which, if they weren't perhaps all brilliant, were all of them unique and interesting in various ways. So here is the crazy thing: if I had bought a Wii today, as a sort of 'retro' thing, I would have nothing but praise for it. I'd take the low resolution and failure to exploit the innovation for granted and just enjoy the amazing library of games. But since I went along for the ride and expected a console that would lead the way to the future, it disappointed emotionally. That's ultimately why I'm not diving into the Wii U at the moment. For the sake of context, I am a big fan of Nintendo, but have always been far more in love with their handhelds, which have offered some of the finest gaming experiences in any giving period.

It absolutely would be, but I doubt they'll ever spend the effort. MAYBE once the next handheld is out and Windwaker gets the '3D' upgrade. Until that time, they'll spend their energy on making new Zeldas. But Windwaker with the scrapped 40% of content (which was almost finished, which is the kicker!), would be amazing to a huge degree.

Yes, that's an excellent tactic! I would always buy dummy space for weapons and drones.

Happy new year, thumbs!

Oh man, Tycho delivers! Allow me to respond at the next convenience that isn't New Year's Eve. This is going in all sorts of amazing, correct directions. Also, I feel increasingly shallow, coming into contact with the level of philosophic thinking here.

As ever, I will be curious to read the outcome. In case of sort of non-public info down the line, do PM me.

Aha, this is interesting. You reason from a utilitarian perspective: it is moral to have children because it benefits society as a whole, by sustaining it, or families for that same reason. But what if you consider the issue from the point of view of the child? Morality may have evolved as a survival tactic, but in our current society the individual has long since taken center stage. Is it moral for a child as an individual? Nappi, your emphasis on how happy people are generally is a good one. Perhaps my views on it are skewed and I see the world as a less pleasant place than it is. I always knew you were a positive person! 50/50 wasn't in my mind as far as chances go, but I may have overstressed even the small chances of horrible things happening. They still can happen, though, and since you never know, no matter how small, you are gambling. Purely academically, I disagree with you on betting with nothing. The child exists as soon as you make it, because that is the aim of the endeavor. You are betting with a life that you create on the spot. How is that nothing?

TychoCelchuu, why the hell are you not in my topic? This question touches upon a lot of the core philosphy of justice. Justice is a tricky thing! I'm sure, Tycho, that a lot of people would actually not choose to hurt someone for the greater good, because not all people are utilitarian. I think most people here will get a kick out of the freely distributed Harvard class on Justice by Michael Sandel: It's a fantastic primer on the topic and will both answer a lot of questions and widen your horizon.

Thanks so far for the contributions, people, and animated GIF Maru. The reason for posting this is that my thinking on the matter has grinded to a halt at the train station I put down in the first post, and I hope that further ideas will jumpstart the locomotive. I had kind of predicted that this conversation could quickly evolve into two things: one being practical reasons not to have children (such as overpopulation and dwindling resources), the other a discussion on whether having children is a "selfish" thing, which Nappi briefly touched upon. Both are interesting discussions, but they have little to do with the inherent (im)morality of having kids. I'm not looking to convert, nor am I saying I will never have kids myself. Just want fresh ideas. Thunderpeel: when you say that you can't know what's best for someone else, that only illustrates how much of gamble you take by forcing existence on someone. You don't know whether they'll appreciate it in the first place. Once you do, it's too late to do anything about it. Nachimir: I am all too aware how blessed our lives are here, but no amount of luxury and comfort can alleviate certain kinds of suffering, which are real and universal: experiencing pain and anxiety. Those aren't first world problems, anyone can have them. Miffy: I understand that evolutionarily speaking, the idea of not procreating is a short-lived one: exactly one generation TED: Great talk on children. So, this Hans man uses statistics to predict a population of 10 billion and no more? That's a surprising, and new, number. I'd be very happy if that turns out to be the case!

Hey, whaddaya know, I hooked up the AV cable and this time Blood Money deigned my setup worthy enough to boot. In SD. It looks horrendous, like I put in an original Xbox title. This is, in effect, a previous gen game. It has a familiar sense of stiltedness about it. It's only six years old, but in those six years we got Assassin's Creed and it's amazing to see the progression in terms of animation and just expected functionality within a game. Blood Money has that annoying quality where it uses a different button for each weapon, like you're wrestling with three control schemes at once. I was able to activate weapons with X, but also the right shoulder button, and by clicking the right analogue stick. This really shouldn't happen. And then the difficulty is punishing, but not because it's hard per se. It's just obfuscatory. Hard to read. The game expects you (at least in the tutorial mission - which I had to restart six times on normal mode) to do all these things that you don't know how to do or do at all until it's too late. I had to strangle a guy but I shoved him. I had to push a dude but I syringed him. I knocked down someone that was supposed to be my human shield. This feels like a game from a time before prompts and QTE's and parkours. Hard to get into. I don't know yet if I'll persist, though I'll at least take in the next few stages. I still hear Rab's glowing recommendation in my ears, so he'd be disappointed if I quit too soon.

Let me just ask you a couple of questions, because on Easy it really shouldn't give you too much trouble to at least get to the final boss. (Defeating which will make you cry, by the way.) 1. Do you use pause a lot? You should. Before any encounter or situation, feel free to pause and think out your strategy. 2. Lasers are really good. Don't be afraid to just get some basic ones that fire 2 or 3 volleys. Don't spend all your effort on one big giant gun that costs a lot of energy. 3. You already focused on shields, which is good. For extra evasion, also upgrade your engines, though usually I trade off between the two. The differences are thus: shields soak up damage, engines avoid damages. Say that you are up against rockets, which bypass your shields (!), then it is a very good tactic to pause the game before the rockets hit, put all your energy from shields into engines, and hopefully evade the rockets completely. 4. Send your beginning staff to pilot, engines/shields and weapons. Get extra guys whenever you can. Rare is the occasion I wouldn't want a fully staffed ship, even when I'm not boarding. 5. Upgrade your doors. Seriously: this WON'T cost you energy and it's cheap, so this is a must-have. It'll hold back intruders and fire. If you stick to these basic rules, you will do fine. Once you get over the level 5 hump, you'll reach the final boss almost all the time. Just need to get the hang of it.

In the spirit of slaughtering nuns I tried once again to boot up Hitman: Blood Money, but once again it demands that I play it (on Xbox 360) with a 60 hz tv. That should be no problem, but when I look around it's a common problem. I should try the standard cable instead of the HDMI one. Why is Hitman such a pain in the ass? No other game has these weird specs.

Hey I don't care about looks, I'm all about personality! Jeremy, that's a tricky question. You definitely see stuff dangling, but it's blocked off. Butts galore though. I also forgot that K&L2 doesn't have boss encounters. Though, remembering the infamous bulldozer fight in K&L1, maybe that's for the best. I think it took me twenty times to down that one.

Tanu, lasers are really good and if you have a few they should see you through. Don't know what you're doing wrong - do you have autofire on? It's a good idea to switch it off, wait for all your lasers to load up and then (likely by pausing) UNLEASHING everything at once. You will down most shields and get in a few good hits. As for boarding, which is arguably the best part of the game, you will want some strong fighters (Mantis) or some beefy meatshields like Rock People. Try to employ some basic techniques like beaming two guys on board into a small room, kill a dude, then retreat. Rinse and repeat. Watch out for med bays: they will heal the 'home team' if they're in it, so you will die if you attempt to attack there.