Practical Philosophy, Monday

[endsthegame]

Another nice day, another class outside. Ender had brought two pitchers of lemonade and some cups to go along with the sandwiches - he was thirsty, and he assumed the students might tend towards the same, even if it had cooled off a little bit in comparison to last week.

"I hope none of you were hurt during the shark attacks yesterday," he said, settling down on his end of the circle. "For all that it does to twist our minds and bodies, sometimes Fandom likes to settle for more old-fashioned terrors."

He pulled up his legs. "Some of us are used to this," he said. "I don't mean here, but out in our home dimensions. I'm not, but my boyfriend is. We react to these events accordingly. My first instinct is to stay indoors and minimize the risk I might be running by going outside. His is to fight and protect. Neither of these approaches is wrong, even if his is more dangerous than mine. They're determined by the way we've been conditioned to respond to danger."

"Most people have probably heard of fight or flight responses," he added. "When confronted with danger, the average human will choose to either stand his ground and fight, or run away so he can fight another day. Part of the choice are rational concerns: is this danger likely to come back and trouble me again if I leave? How high are the chances of me surviving this fight? Mostly, though, it's an instinctive choice."

"I was raised in a military school. While there were threats from my peers occasionally, most of our trouble was psychological. You had a reasonable expectation that you wouldn't be physically harmed, and you were not expected to have to physically harm anyone to get out of a dangerous situation." Except for Ender, at times, but they didn't need to know that. "What aggression we did have was channeled into competitive games. Ben, on the other hand, was raised in the full expectation that he would have to go out and fight, and his enemies would not care too greatly about his personal well-being. He was taken out into the world to find and confront those enemies. His instincts are active: he seeks out conflict so he can fight it head-on and rid himself of it. Mine are passive: I won't fight until I'm actively forced into a fight-or-flight situation."

His mouth quirked briefly. You had to know him pretty well to detect it wasn't a happy smile. "I would have fought, if I'd gone out into that shark rain," he said. "So it's not a perfect example. But my instincts told me to stay inside, to minimize the risk that I had to fight. At the same time, I learned at my school that you can't flee from your peers - that if a danger was actively posed, there was no way to out-flee it, so the best choice was to minimize the chance it popped up. What were your instincts? Why do you have them?"

Comments

Before Class

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Settle in, enjoy the sun, discuss something without your teacher watching.

Re: Before Class

[nothornlessrose.livejournal.com]

Cassidy poured some lemonade and grabbed a sandwich.

Sign In!

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Fight or flight.

Re: Sign In!

[nothornlessrose.livejournal.com]

Cassidy

Re: Sign In!

[arsenicmauls]

Gertrude Yorkes

Re: Sign In!

[myownface]

Sparkle

Listen to the Lecture

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It's a longer one this time, but at least there's lemonade.

Talk.

[endsthegame]

Risks, fight or flight, instincts.

Or just 'wtf shark rain'.

Re: Talk.

[myownface]

"Around here, with shit that makes no sense like falling sharks, I'll usually run," Sparkle admitted, wrinkling his nose. "Unless I have no other choice, or I know I can't win. I might throw a punch or something out of spite, but I'm not about to get my ass eaten by a bunch of toothy fucking fish if I can help it."

A beat.

"Kicking that hammerhead in the eye was satisfying, though. And going out there again with Cade's blaster. And even then I was close to the Demon Marcus door just in case."

Re: Talk.

[endsthegame]

"Do you think your instincts are adjusting?" Ender asked. "I mean, with the experiences you've had."

Re: Talk.

[myownface]

"Some, maybe, but that's not necessarily a good thing," Sparkle replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "I'd sooner keep running here than go back to Toronto where the rules are completely different and end up with a fight instinct getting me killed by the wrong guy with a gun along a shitty street in the dark. I mean, the gut reaction I have, I have for a reason."

Re: Talk.

[flickofthewrist]

"Stayed inside. I didn't wanna die. Guess that was my instinct," Flick said, shrugging. He'd tried confrontation before and it hadn't really served him well. "I took some footage with my phone to commemorate the event. Figured I'd maybe send it off to some trash news show and see what they think. Maybe make some money."

Re: Talk.

[endsthegame]

"Avoidance, then practicality," Ender mused. "They're not half-bad tactics."

Re: Talk.

[notacokeperson.livejournal.com]

Okay, so most of her opinion on this matter was summed up by 'wtf shark rain' because how could it not be? Still...

"I stayed inside, since that was safer," Karina said, shrugging. "But if I'd noticed someone trying to make their way to the dorms and needing help, I'd have gone out to help them, I guess."

There was no 'I guess' about it, since she'd totally would have, but as if Karina was going to just straight up admit that.

"I don't know what that says about my instincts."

Re: Talk.

[endsthegame]

"That you have both a reasonable sense of self-preservation but also an inclination towards altruism," Ender noted. "From an evolutionary perspective, at least, that's ideal for our species."

Re: Talk.

[makemyownway.livejournal.com]

"So they were called sharks?"

Cade's priorities were special. "I shot a bunch of them. It was fun but I didn't do it to protect anyone."

Force forbid anyone think he cared about anyone else.

Re: Talk.

[endsthegame]

"They're called sharks," Ender agreed dryly. "And thank you for clarifying, Cade. Specifically."

Re: Talk.

[spin_kick_snap]

"It wasn't really instinct that kept me inside," Kathy said. "It was common sense. Unless sharks are weak against rhythm gymnastics, I'm not going to be much use against them."

Re: Talk.

[myownface]

"I got caught in it on my way to work," Sparkle groused. "It was just a bit of wind and rain, and then, bam, suddenly there are these fucking sharks falling from the sky."

So he was a bit jealous of the way your common sense persevered, Kathy.

Talk to the TA

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Who's hopefully not too traumatized.

Re: Talk to the TA

[myownface]

Sparkle wasn't too traumatized, though he was kind of sitting there and making faces right up to the moment class was let out.

He was still not a fan of this island, for the record.

Talk to the Teacher

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Ender's hanging around after class as he usually does, for anyone who wants to discuss something privately.

OOC

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God, I love Saint Bernards.

Re: OOC

[arsenicmauls]

I'm considering making this Saint Bernard my desktop background just so I never have to stop looking at the cuteness. Good plan or best plan?

Re: OOC

[endsthegame]

Bestttt plan ever. I just want to reach out and cuddle him and then make him pose with Sarah.