I entered an honest to God debate on why sucking dick or eating pussy are not lesser expressions of love than, say, pressing lips together, rubbing noses, or holding hands, and it came down to the belief that those things are ‘dirty’ or ‘naughty’ which, personal reasons for getting aroused aside, is about as convincing as saying that the words ‘fuck me’ are any less valid than the words ‘make love to me’. I considered pushing it as far as descriptive talk about BDSM, rimming, and so forth, but I stopped short out of courtesy which shows that even as I try to persuade someone toward my point of view I inhibit myself, and the fact is she had an innocent air about her and it was fucking hot to see someone so inhibited in her communication struggle to speak about the topic out in the open. It was a mirror of sorts, now that I think about it
Tag: communication
A mirror of sorts
I entered an honest to God debate on why sucking dick or eating pussy are not lesser expressions of love than, say, pressing lips together, rubbing noses, or holding hands, and it came down to the belief that those things are ‘dirty’ or ‘naughty’ which, personal reasons for getting aroused aside, is about as convincing as saying that the words ‘fuck me’ are any less valid than the words ‘make love to me’. I considered pushing it as far as descriptive talk about BDSM, rimming, and so forth, but I stopped short out of courtesy which shows that even as I try to persuade someone toward my point of view I inhibit myself, and the fact is she had an innocent air about her and it was fucking hot to see someone so inhibited in her communication struggle to speak about the topic out in the open. It was a mirror of sorts, now that I think about it
Inside the Mind of the Octopus
Only recently have scientists accorded chimpanzees, so closely related to humans we can share blood transfusions, the dignity of having a mind. But now, increasingly, researchers who study octopuses are convinced that these boneless, alien animals—creatures whose ancestors diverged from the lineage that would lead to ours roughly 500 to 700 million years ago—have developed intelligence, emotions, and individual personalities. Their findings are challenging our understanding of consciousness itself.
One of my favourite recent reads.
Great piece. What I loved is how the researchers all referred to the octopuses with pronouns like “someone” instead of “something”.
This is so cool.
The biggest problem I have with much of science fiction I’ve read/seen is the ease with which human beings communicate with other life forms. It takes us a long enough period of time just to learn each other’s languages, and we still don’t effectively communicate with other species on this planet. I understand that it may not seem like much of a story if it’s about two distinctly different beings who attempt and fail to communicate anything to one another, but isn’t this the goddamn point? Failure is the cornerstone of good fiction. We don’t accomplish anything with unbridled success.
Even more troubling is the certainty that some of the intelligent species accessible to us will simply cease to exist during our run of the planet. This will lead us to continually concentrate on the fictitious aliens among the stars and the dull escape of being effortlessly understood.
(Source: orionmagazine.com)
Inside the Mind of the Octopus
Only recently have scientists accorded chimpanzees, so closely related to humans we can share blood transfusions, the dignity of having a mind. But now, increasingly, researchers who study octopuses are convinced that these boneless, alien animals—creatures whose ancestors diverged from the lineage that would lead to ours roughly 500 to 700 million years ago—have developed intelligence, emotions, and individual personalities. Their findings are challenging our understanding of consciousness itself.
One of my favourite recent reads.
Great piece. What I loved is how the researchers all referred to the octopuses with pronouns like “someone” instead of “something”.
This is so cool.
The biggest problem I have with much of science fiction I’ve read/seen is the ease with which human beings communicate with other life forms. It takes us a long enough period of time just to learn each other’s languages, and we still don’t effectively communicate with other species on this planet. I understand that it may not seem like much of a story if it’s about two distinctly different beings who attempt and fail to communicate anything to one another, but isn’t this the goddamn point? Failure is the cornerstone of good fiction. We don’t accomplish anything with unbridled success.
Even more troubling is the certainty that some of the intelligent species accessible to us will simply cease to exist during our run of the planet. This will lead us to continually concentrate on the fictitious aliens among the stars and the dull escape of being effortlessly understood.
(Source: orionmagazine.com)