truth or dare - readers' answers

1/Jan/98

Fashion is a language. True or false?

true
boatman

Fashion can be seen as a symbol which defines an attribute of a human being as it is evident in uniforms. Therefore, true.
(translated from the original Japanese text.)
Makiko

True as any expression is a language.
Kenji

2/Jan/98

Science requires no discipline to attain it. True or false?

Mimicking is not understanding. Therefore, false.
Kenji

3/Jan/98

If everything is written, nothing would seem to be written there. True or false?

True as there can be no differentiation if everything is there. Let me rephrase it. Suppose there are infinite things and there is only a finite space to write. If everything is written, then the space will be completely covered with ink, making it illegible.
Kenji

4/Jan/98

Buddhism is not humanistic. True or false?

True. Buddhism is a system of thought about how human beings perceive their reality. It is a referrence to what it is to be human, and is a meta-logic to humanism. It is far from humanism itself.
Kenji

5/Jan/98

Gangsters way of living is very humanistic. True or false?

We in Japan often have this misconception. Yakuza think of themselves as modern samurai with a Robin Hood streak of concern for the poor and the weak. They like to see themselves as a brotherhood fighting for the ordinary people of Japan. Ha, Ha, Ha. As the English would say 'Dream on!'.
The Yakuza prey on people. They use people. They destroy lives. They make money from extortion, sex and drugs. None of these are 'social behaviour'. Those that stand in their way are crushed with violence. The Yakuza tempt young men into their world. Once in, they are trapped. Disaffected, delinquent youths who are looking for security, love, or just somewhere they can belong, find the 'family' ideal of the Yakuza attractive. The young men are looking for a life, a family, a place in the social system, and the Yakuza welcomes them with their fabled humanistic attitudes. But the young men are being exploited.
I could write more and more......
Jun

True. Gangsters typically form a group around their boss, just like any other primates would do. Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan showed in their book "Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors" that a description of the life of an early human being millions of years ago can be mistaken as that of a gangster today. The life style of gangsters represents our ancestors' way of living, and is closely related to the origin of human and the human nature. As humanism centres on human beings and their values, it has to face the gangsters' way of living, which is as human as it can be.
Kenji

False.
True, a gangster's way of living is like a primate, or our early ancestors: but this is hardly humanistic. To follow basic urges such as pack leadership, dominance by the strongest, and control by force or violence, is very animalistic; and denies the advances in human values through time. Gangsters are, perhaps, like early humans from millions of years ago; but are those humans closer to modern man, or, as I suspect, closer to the primates. True humanism centres on humans and their values; but the values we have developed to respect those around us. Aren't the values of the gangster more animalistic and self serving?
Kraig

6/Jan/98

The sun is a big telescope. True or false?

True although actually the sun is a big lens and the solar system (along its rim) can be made a big telescope. The sun with its heavy mass can work as a gravity lens and its focal length is very long.
Kenji

7/Jan/98

Humans only can hold grudges. True or false?

Anyone who has ever lived with other animals would answer false.
Kenji

8/Jan/98

Human body is not humanistic. True or false?

True. Human body is not a centralized system and each part is seeking its own benefit.
Kenji

9/Jan/98

Plants will destroy the human race. True or false?

As we depend upon the resources originated in plants and we are not paying back the cost, true.
Kenji

10/Jan/98

The third reality is coming. True or false?

I think there have been two kinds of realities: physical and mental ones. Physical reality being the world perceived through our bodily filters, for example the range of colours we can perceive. Mental reality being the world signified by our natural languages and cultures, for example the price we have to pay for each commodity in a store. I don't know if there exists the third kind of reality or if it's possible for a human being to perceive one.
Kenji

11/Jan/98

Cloning human beings is harmful to humanity. True or false?

This is asking the kind of impact to the society the existence of twins with an age difference would have. How can it be harmful?
Kenji

12/Jan/98

Your life has nothing to do with nuclear fusion. True or false?

False. My body is a byproduct of nuclear fusion occured billions of years ago in another solar system which no longer exists. Iron, for example, in my blood wouldn't exist if it were not for some fusion reaction, and if the sun which created the element didn't explode so as to form the Earth later out of its stardust. Therefore, if later in our civilization we should eliminate the necessity of the existence of the sun as the source of energy, we would still owe our very existence to nuclear fusion.
Kenji

13/Jan/98

Music is chaotic. True or false?

Music is subtle, and very little change would make a very different impression. In this sense, it is true.
Kenji

14/Jan/98

Becoming a mummy is indeed a way to achieve immortality. True or false?

True, in a sense that it would create a fame, and the person will be remembered for a long time.
Kenji

15/Jan/98

You have a faith. True or false?

I think I do. However, it's not a religious one.
Kenji

16/Jan/98

Immunity and enjoying music have something in common. True or false?

I think it's true. Enjoying a new kind of music is at first difficult, but exposure to such a music would in the end make the person immune to the stimulus and allow him or her to enjoy it. It is quite possible that the immune system and the nervous system share the same kind of mechanism to achieve this, as the nature is known to recycle designs.
Kenji

17/Jan/98

We are governed by primate animals. True or false?

True. Just like gangsters, politicians seem to be more concerned with their social positions than anything.
Kenji

18/Jan/98

The origin of languages is closely related to eroticism. True or false?

True. Eroticism is gained by dividing a human body, and languages divide semantic space.
Kenji

19/Jan/98

Music is fetish. True or false?

True. Liking certain sounds has no logical basis.
Kenji

20/Jan/98

It is a human nature to attach weak beings. True or false?

True. I think in which way the social hierarchies were enforced in the past.
Kenji

21/Jan/98

Audio and visual are symmetrical for a human brain. True or false?

I would tend not to believe so, but I have heard about a person who saw audios and heard visuals as the effects of LSD.
Kenji

22/Jan/98

Wearing a ring symbolizes cutting a finger off. True or false?

True. Cutting a finger off or being ready to do so seems to be an action to show fidelity, as it is apparent in some gang custom or a gesture common among at least Japanese children ("yubikiri"). On the other hand, wearing a ring is strongly connected with engagement and marriange in the western culture. Perhaps these two are strongly connected and one symbolizes another.
Kenji

23/Jan/98

Capitalism is driven by fetishism. True or false?

True. Many commodities are not directly connected with survival of the purchasers and should be considered as fetish.
Kenji

24/Jan/98

You are more ashamed of admitting you like watching TV than being naked in public. True or false?

False. But I'm beginning to see the point in being ashamed of watching TV. Watching TV is a way to get programmed and lose soundness of mind.
Kenji

25/Jan/98

Homosexuality is a revenge. True or false?

It is in a way that it opposes the type of sexuality his or her parents must have demonstrated (in many cases) in order for them to be born. Therefore it can be a revenge against the parents.
Kenji

False. For any action to be revenge, it must be an action (consciously?)taken to avenge a perceived wrong. A lot of homosexuals would deny that they choose homosexuality, and therefore have not chose it as a form of revenge. It is more likely that the hetrosexual might turn to homosexuality as a form of revenge against parents, wife etc. However, on a subconscious level, if a homosexual chose a gay lifestyle of cruising, sleeping around, or unsafe sex, this could be seen as revenge of the homosexual against his parents: as a reaction against a moral or repressive upbringing; or disaproving attitudes. Yet, for true revenge to work the victim (parents) must be fully aware of the situation and become hurt by it. i doubt that most parents are aware of the sexual activities of their sons, be they gay or straight.
james bedford

26/Jan/98

Separating what is clean and what is dirty is fascism. True or false?

True as it's an enforcement of a value system.
Kenji

27/Jan/98

Authority is fetish. True or false?

True, because becoming an authority was originally a means to obtain sex, food and many other things. Accordingly, money is fetish and so is language.
Kenji

29/Jan/98

There are only two kinds of people: gurus and believers. True or false?

True. Everyone is a believer of some sort. There must be something he or she takes for granted. It can be the concept of a nation, or that ESP exists. Among the believers are people who create new objects for others to believe in (whether intentionally or not), and they are called gurus.
Kenji

30/Jan/98

The Earth is a psychological phenomenon. True or false?

True. The boundary of the Earth is an artificial concept, because in molecular level, we cannot really tell where the Earth begins and where it ends. The boundary resides in our minds.
Kenji

31/Jan/98

TV is a bondage of sight. True or false?

For seeing people, true. Perhaps a blind person would act more freely in a room with a TV on.
Kenji