Practical Philosophy, Monday

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Today, class was meeting... in the Danger Shop. Ender had programmed it with a simulation of a nice, cool forest clearing, though otherwise his setup was unchanged.

"I suppose this week is as good a week as any to talk about nurture," he said wryly, sitting down. "Specifically, what effect does the environment you grew up in - or exist in - have on you personally? Has it helped define you, or does it define you entirely, or are most of your traits inborn?"

He spread his arms.

"It's an issue on which scientists and philosophers have quarreled for centuries," he said. "When a child gets born to a family in the desert, are they instilled with a resistance to heat on a biological level, or is it that they grow up accustomed to it? Is a child born cheerful, or is that a mechanism they build as they explore how their interaction affects the world around them? And so forth, and so on. I don't want to really talk about other people, though. I want to talk about you."

He took a sip of water.

"So tell me about where you come from, in as much detail - or lack thereof - as you like," he said. "How much of an effect do you think it's had on who you are?"

Comments

Sign In!

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Hot.

Re: Sign In!

[era_two_triangle]

Peridot

Re: Sign In!

[boneyard_girl]

Ada Miller

Re: Sign In!

[giveherahand]

Mara Jade

Listen to the Lecture

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Or just enjoy not being out in the heat.

Re: Listen to the Lecture

[era_two_triangle]

Peridot didn't personally see the point in coming inside just to sit in a re-creation of an outside again, but then, Peridot's body also automatically adapted to most planets that she found herself on. So if it was hot out there, she didn't much notice.

Then again, that could have been because she was too busy being pleased to have her foot back. Maybe she'd be okay with being the Gremlin Queen to that little group of minions for a little longer.

Talk.

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"So tell me about where you come from, in as much detail - or lack thereof - as you like. How much of an effect do you think it's had on who you are?"

Re: Talk.

[era_two_triangle]

"I was who I was meant to become back when I was created," Peridot replied, wryly. "When Gems are made, we are what we're going to be for as long as we exist. I don't think 'nurture' has much to do with it."

... Peridot really hadn't had a chance to get to know Steven yet, clearly.

"We don't... grow. We aren't meant to change."

Re: Talk.

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"But you do change," Ender said slowly, "Don't you?"

Re: Talk.

[era_two_triangle]

Peridot's shoulders hiked up a bit.

"We can learn," she offered, "but things like heat resistance and personality... we just... have. Our bodies automatically adjust to different physical conditions to suit our environments, so that part definitely doesn't apply."

Re: Talk.

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"Then I won't waste words on your physical body," Ender said, "But you don't consider learning to be a form of change? Most human behaviors are learned over time, too - we're just not given as much of a starter pack as you clearly are."

Re: Talk.

[era_two_triangle]

Peridot hesitated for a moment before speaking again. Ender was making points that seemed valid, but they were at odds with everything she knew from Homeworld.

"Learning... is a form of change," she allowed. "But Homeworld doesn't encourage Gems to learn anything that isn't immediately relevant to their purpose or their mission. We're resources from a world that is running low on them. If a Gem can come to... grow... the way you're suggesting..."

She frowned.

"We shouldn't," she settled on. "It would be an insult to our intended purpose."

It would start wars. It would get millions of Gems broken or corrupted or harvested to be repurposed into something else. Change killed.

Re: Talk.

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Ender tilted his head.

He studied her, considering her words for a moment or two.

"Why?" he asked. Neutrally.

Re: Talk.

[boneyard_girl]

"It's kinda what the weekend without memories showed us," Ada said thoughtfully. "I was fundamentally th' same person, even though I didn't remember nothin' about where I came from or what I was like."

Except for the whole 'able to have an emotionally-committed relationship thing.' But Ada'd always suspected her aversion to relationships stemmed from the way she'd grown up; that weekend just confirmed it.

Re: Talk.

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"That weekend still tends to leave us with certain skills and assumptions, though," Ender noted. "Our lizard brain, so to speak."

At least, that had always been his interpretation.

"But that aside - are you saying your memories don't play much of a role at all into being who you are?"

Re: Talk.

[boneyard_girl]

"Ain't lizard brains what we're born with anyway?" Ada pointed out. "But more like-- okay, I wasn't me. I am my memories." Which she understood probably better than most people. "She was, I dunno, almost a different Ada, one who'd grown up somewhere else, almost. Different-- environment?" That was the word he'd used, right? "But her favorite color was still red an' she still liked strawberries with cream for breakfast an' wanted to climb every tree she saw."

"My Uncle Chester says some things are just bred in th' bone, ain't no gettin' rid of what makes you, you."

Re: Talk.

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"Okay, lizard brain was the wrong word," Ender said wryly. "Unless you stretch that definition to include things from your culture and your community as well, like language and knowing what strawberries and cream are."

He took a sip of his water.

"What was different about this other Ada?" he asked. "You don't have to mention anything big or personal. Just something that gives me an idea."

Re: Talk.

[boneyard_girl]

Ada weighed her words for a second then; "Ain't so cautious 'bout strangers or th' island strangeness," she decided, picking that as the least-incriminating thing possible. "She ain't learned no better yet."

Re: Talk.

[giveherahand]

"There's not much to tell," Mara said with a bright, false, smile. "I was sent to Imperial Center as a small child because I showed promise as a dancer. I've been in private schooling almost ever since. I came here because my mentor felt it was important for me to experience other cultures."

Re: Talk.

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"So do you feel your experiences in private schooling set you apart from everyone else?" Ender said. "At least those at a more public institution like this one?"

Re: Talk.

[giveherahand]

Mara bit her lower lip. "Perhaps," she said. "It's part of why I'm not good at small talk."

Re: Talk.

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"They didn't socialize much at your old school?" Ender asked.

Re: Talk.

[giveherahand]

Mara parsed her words carefully. "Not without consequence. It was never...purely social?"

Talk to the Teacher

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If that's your jam.

OOC

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I've got a busy day today, so I might be slow - apologies!


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