truth or dare - readers' answers

1/Sep/97

Curiosity towards celebrities is a naturally selected property of a human. True or false?

2/Sep/97

The whole United Kingdom is responsible for the death of the princess. True or false?

I tend to think it's true. They call her the people's princess, but they treated her as the people's plaything.
Kenji

3/Sep/97

God is easier to understand than a human. True or false?

True. God is a human invention and represents the human nature. A human is a natural being and represents the nature. The human nature is easier to understand than the nature.
Kenji

4/Sep/97

Science has definitive answers while art does not. True or false?

False. Science doesn't have definitive answers because it's a challenge to understand the nature, and the nature is unlike a human whom the scientists' brains are designed to understand. An art has a definitive answer, because whatever the artist felt was certain during the creation of the art, must have been definitive to him or her.
The above, of course, is a viewpoint opposite from what people would normally see. Switch science and art in the above sentences and you will get the normal viewpoint.
Kenji

5/Sep/97

A human language can be duplex (simultaneously spoken from both sides and understood). True or false?

True. One example is a sign language.
Kenji

6/Sep/97

Racism represents the nature. True or false?

True, as it's against humanity.
Kenji

7/Sep/97

Being yourself is more beneficial to you than being somebody else. True or false?

True. I don't have to explain that, do I?
Kenji

8/Sep/97

Eating another human being is a horrible idea. True or false?

Of course there are certain circumstances (survival, etc. . .) where one would need to or even want to eat another human being; however, it feels like it would be a terrible thing to actually eat another human as opposed to another animal because of the genetic and social links that we experience with other humans. Besides, we are not on our own food chain as "desired pray" are we?
ZaborRowe@aol.com

False. We tend to think it's horrible because we connect eating with killing and also human naked bodies are usually hidden from our eyes (so that they would look different from other animals). If there is a culture in which the flesh and blood of the dead are shared by those who were close to the person, I would see no problem there, as many of you know what bread and wine mean in Christianity.
Kenji

9/Sep/97

A plastinated human anatomy sample is a human. True or false?

True. It's a representative of human being.
Kenji

10/Sep/97

Music exists for a handful of geniuses. True or false?

I don't know if these should be called geniuses, but certainly it takes a discipline to appreciate music and the number of people with such a discipline is limited.
Kenji

11/Sep/97

The future is present. True or false?

True. First of all, the future is a process happening right now in our brains, and second, these thoughts about the future are recorded to exist at present by the name of schedules.
Kenji

12/Sep/97

You are only virtually physical. True or false?

True. I am a process running on this physicality, and a process has no substance.
Kenji

13/Sep/97

Thinking is useless. True or false?

False. It fills time.
Kenji

14/Sep/97

Beautiful things are ugly. True or false?

Beautiful things are not ugly by definition, but there are things intended to be beautiful and turned out to be awfully ugly. Creators of such things often think lightly of complexity and randomness which are essential properties of nature and in which humans see beauty.
Kenji

15/Sep/97

Dead or alive is a relative matter. True or false?

True. Deadness and liveness depend upon the relationship between the observer and the subjects. I'm sure you can make a list of deadness/liveness of your acquaintances - someone can be more dead and less alive to you if his or her presence feels weaker to you.
Kenji

16/Sep/97

Your voice does not have a flavour. True or false?

Any two senses can be interconnected so that someone smelling something upon hearing my voice is a possibility.
Kenji

17/Sep/97

You are responsible for millions of deaths. True or false?

True. Millions of cells in my body have to die everyday in order to keep me alive.
Kenji

18/Sep/97

All you do can be connected to sex. True or false?

True. It can also be connected to eating or any other things which drive my living.
Kenji

19/Sep/97

There is nothing to learn from paranormal phenomena. True or false?

False. We can learn what is easier for people to think than what science tells them. It reveals to some extent how our brains are hard-wired.
Kenji

20/Sep/97

You can fall in love with a robot. True or false?

Absolutely. I mean, a robot is a human.
Kenji

21/Sep/97

There is something which can complete your life. True or false?

False. There is no notion of completion in my life, which I regard as a process. Death, for example, is a stop to me.
Kenji

22/Sep/97

Science can be understood by anyone. True or false?

True. The language of science is mathematics, and it is based on how our brains are hard-wired. So potentially, everyone shares the same understanding.
Kenji

23/Sep/97

Our languages are so common. True or false?

True. As if there is a common phrase generator in each human brain, we often end up with the same expressions in different languages. Day by day, de jour en jour, hini hini,... they mean the same and their structures are the same. I think this is a small evidence of the existence of a common human logic.
Kenji

24/Sep/97

What it takes to be a good musician is what it takes to be a good comedian. True or false?

True because they are both entertainment.
Kenji

25/Sep/97

Your flesh is stupid. True or false?

False. I believe my flesh includes my immune system, which shows a very good ability to learn.
Kenji

26/Sep/97

If you time travel and touch your other self, it will cause a problem. True or false?

It may certainly cause some social problem, but nothing more.
Kenji

27/Sep/97

Your brain is real to you. True or false?

False. I've never seen it or touched it myself. It is still a conceptual entity to me. However, I've weighed a plastinated brain in an exhibition, and I think that experience helps.
Kenji

28/Sep/97

You are made of alphabets. True or false?

False. There is an alphabet in my genetic information. But I feel that my other information systems within, including the immune system, are not that alphabetical.
Kenji

29/Sep/97

The reason why the sun is the centre of the solar system may lie within you. True or false?

True. Nature doesn't come with the concept of "being centre." It's a human invention. Perhaps it's related to our primate life style where there is always a boss in a group.
Kenji

30/Sep/97

Your country is run by a fortune telling. True or false?

True. Economy is a complex system and is unpredictable, but the government is pretending it isn't.
Kenji