Happy Easter!!

I’ve been writing. Haven’t been playing WoW much, although no doubt I’ll be logged in for lots of the Easter holiday forcing my toons that haven’t got the title yet to hunter Easter eggs. And no, I’m not going to talk about what I’m writing (much), because people who talk about what they’re gonna write aren’t writers.

Also (a pet peeve of mine) people who aren’t typers aren’t writers either. They’re like carpenters who can’t use hammers, or cooks who can’t be bothered to turn on the oven. People who say things like “I’d be an awesome writer if I could just get someone to do all the typing because that’s hard work” are like me saying “Architects don’t know nothin’ because I can build a fabulous sim castle so I can do their job.” Which I wouldn’t say. Not even if I were drunk, assuming I drank.

But anyway. Having harped on for years about how postmodernism and Marxism and all that aughties stuff is full of stale and fail, and it’s going to be all about brains and evo psych, finally the NYT got around to vindicating me.

Took them long enough, and I had to deal with many a surly and ill humored deconstructor with their grubby fingers firmly clenched around the status quo. It’s also amusing because that’s in the vein of what I’m trying to write, something with a lot of presumptions going on in the backstory and very little 20th century pop psych. I mean, you didn’t think I’d be writing a weepy pseudoautobio about my tragic childhood sexual exploitation by demented fundamentalist penguins or some kind of crap like that, did you?

(Pause for a moment while I dance on postmodernism’s grave.)

So anyway, let me pause the writing and talking about writing for some brains, because brains are fashionable right now.
We have supertasker brains

and gamer brains

and no doubt “grumpy people who freak out about technology” brains, but they’re too scared to sit under the brain scanning machine to let anyone know what’s malfunctioning in their particular case.

And no, I am not a supertasker. I’m not good at combining audio with visual/motion. It took me over a decade to learn how to play guitar and sing at the same time, although I’m pretty good at both when I focus. I wouldn’t drive and talk on the phone, personally. I can’t even game and talk on the phone very well.
I’m pretty sure I have a gamer brain though, and I deliberately give it frequent workouts to reinforce it.

Now let’s just fantasize for a moment, and pretend that supertasking and gaming are marketable skills. Maybe in a few generations they will be. Can't supertask? No heavy equipment license for you.

And while we’re there, let’s just unplug the whole “all brains start life exactly alike and are made different by nutrition and experience” machine and hang a “do not resuscitate” sign on it. And assign all the new age gurus who promise that anybody’s brain can be made into a supertasking or gaming brain given enough vitamin supplements and chanting, as well as the old age preachers who promise that gay brains can be made into straight brains given enough behavioral conditioning and prayer. And all the other people who want to declare all the brains alike, rather than letting them bloom at their particular subspecialty.

Are the supertaskers going to decide that since they’re making the most creative use out of a kewl new form of technology, that they own the planet and will enslave us all? Possible. It’s happened before.

And will there be liberals to stand up for the averagetasker brains who get fired when a supertasker resume arrives with brain scan attached? Or conservatives insisting that if you were born rich in brain cellular activity, it must be because God likes you more and doesn’t want you to pay taxes, and people with non-supertasking brains should pull themselves up by their own medullae oblongata?

Because, ya know, all these post-Enlightenment theories about equality seem to imply we have a metaphysical *something* which is equivalent, and which both political parties agree should be constrained in some ways and given free reign in others.

It’s not the base chemicals in our bodies, because then fat people would be worth more. It's not the particular strain of DNA; the Enlightenment was a reaction against the tyranny inherent in a world where station was determined by birth. Are we heading back into one, where wee toddlers are scanned and then sent accordingly to Harvard or pre-rehab? How can you argue that people who can’t read a textbook have a right to study brain surgery? And maybe they shouldn't, but does that justify locking them in a poverty-level existence because their particular brainstyle is better at, say, troubleshooting obsolete assembly line machinery or hunting with bows and arrows than customer service? Or only giving medical insurance to the ones whose brains are harmonious with computer skills? Where is this subversion of both Rousseau's noble savages and Hobbes' natural wickedness going to lead?

If we’re not “scientifically” equal, any equivalence or commonality between us must be based on culture, philosophy or religion. Or art. Or facebook page. And these subjects are moving in very interesting new directions.

I realize a lot of people are still upset because postmarxstructuralism recently collapsed (), but I'm of the opinion that the advent of the virtual world has turned philosophy in an interesting sideways direction. And that's sort of what I’m wrapping my brain around these days, so I'm a little focused.

It’s a holiday for many. It’s specifically Easter. I’m fond of Easter, and I went by that handle for some enjoyable years.

Be nice to the bunnies, and don’t encourage the bastards who sell them to impulse buyers.

Because rabbits are awesome pets ONLY FOR INSANE PEOPLE WHO WANT TO HAVE EVERYTHING IN THEIR HOUSE GNAWED AND PEED ON WHILE PAYING ASTRONOMICAL VET BILLS (like me) (plus they disapprove of everything you do).

Have a very happy Easter, whether you spend it in church, playing WoW, doing heathen rites in the woods, sleeping late or eating chocolate.