Barry Jones, Libertarians, Pendragon

[tcpip]

Last Sunday went to see Barry Jones, who spoke on Redefining Politics in an Age of Toxicity and Moral Vacuum, making the particularly important point that in much of the media that "opinion carries more weight than evidence". Also made the observation that if the make up the ABC board is changed and Fairfax media goes under, the mass media landscape in Australia will become a virtual monopoly. I spoke to him of the attempts to meet him in the past to discuss Sleepers, Wake! Technology and The Future of Work, including one effort with recumbenteer some fifteen years ago. That book provides a novel response to the increasing concentration of capital and the end of an economy of scarcity in necessities in a future post-service economy.

In recent days I've stumbled upon a group of Australian libertarians on Facebook and with various resulting debates. They found the idea of a libertarian left quite challenging, let alone libertarian socialism. Naturally enough there was the usual numbers of Ayn Rand followers, misattributed quotations, anthropgenic climate change deniers, voluntaryists without context, and a typical lack of the sort of economic literacy that includes anything as complex as pervasive externalities, elasticity in goods and services, imperfect competition, or the political-economy of class. They would be having an aneurysm with Stiglitz's latest paper to the Roosevelt Institute which advocates a widespread and heavy taxation on capitised wealth, especially (following Henry George) economic land and pollution.

In gaming news, on Thursday night ran a session of Pendragon, which was the final year of the tournament period. The scenario was recoving the items of Le Chevalier sans Mémoire, dealing with a Black Giant Dwarf and a White Dwarf Giant, and defeating a rather nasty surly giant (of "normal" 15ft size. The session witnessed the arrival of a new player _fustian, who hadn't played RPGs for many years. As we near the end, a reflection on the enormous scope of the The Great Pendragon campaign becomes inevitable. The massive difference in time scale from standard RPGs, the fact that player-characters can even retire of old age, all add to what will give the feel of a saga

Comments

[iris]

Wow, I have never heard of player characters actually retiring. That does really make it sound like a saga.

[tcpip]

The Great Pendragon Campaign starts in 485AD and ends in 565AD; it really is quite an extraordinary book, covering a year-by-year exposition of the story, plus periods of change, all wrapped in a mythic tale (including anarchronisms). It's even quite a scholarly study of the various sources that make up the Arthurian legend.

Given the time-frame it's not surprising that PCs do retire. A game session typically has a short scenario which become the adventure for the year. The most successful character retired in his fifties as the Duke of Essex, having previously built Oxford into a centre of learning.

[zenicurean.livejournal.com]

I find Facebook terrible for generally any sort of political discourse. There's just... something about that service that doesn't facilitate it very well, I think.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Oddly enough I think it might actually be the URL form and threading. LJ has every top-level post with it's own URL and threaded commentary. Responses are responses to something. FB doesn't do that, and to say the least the permalink URLs are not human-friendly.

The result is that discussions can very easily end up being poo-flinging rather than point-by-point responses.

[delphipsmith]

There's just... something about that [FB] that doesn't facilitate it very well

I would amend that to say, "There is NOTHING about Facebook that facilitates it very well." FB isn't about conversation, it's about notification. Anything that includes the ability to "poke" someone isn't about thoughtful conversation ;)

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

I think Livejournal had a precursor to the "poke".

http://www.livejournal.com/friends/nudge.bml

[delphipsmith]

Heh. Well, shows what I know, I guess :P

[the-shadow298.livejournal.com]

Never heard the term "voluntaryist" before. Looking it up & find it both interesting & impractical after a form.
But would form an interesting idea as part of a distopian future narrative.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Voluntaryism assumes accepting existing property rights (which is easy enough for self-ownership in most - but not all - cases). It also has an amazing ignorance of pervasive externalities, assuming the only people affected by a transaction are those directly involved.

[the-shadow298.livejournal.com]

yeah, saw that in my brief reading of the subject.
It's ignorant & selfish but can see why people would be drawn to it.

Yet another thing to look in for both fiction & academia at least. :)

I think it was also briefly touched on in the 1st BioShock game too because that was packed with the failing of Randian philosophy.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

I think it was also briefly touched on in the 1st BioShock game too because that was packed with the failing of Randian philosophy.

How about that? I had no idea. I've seen Bioshock being played and though "oh, very pretty", but as is my want I usually don't get around to playing console games for around ten years after they've been released. Which is partially a good screening system, I suppose.

I know Bioshock has a good plotline, but is the Randoid references implied or direct?

[the-shadow298.livejournal.com]

you can pick up BioShock 1 really cheaply on Steam right right.

The Rand references are threaded all through the game, from the names, to the philosophy of "build with one's own hands unfettered to the church or government" & how it all fails because everyone generates & dwells in their self interests unchecked, leading to Rapture's downfall & mutations into monstrousities.

Gameplay is bogstandard for an FPS but the story is very very sharp.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Cool, thanks for that. I'll see if I can pick up a second-hand physical copy. I deeply understand why people use Steam but it's probably not for me.

[the-shadow298.livejournal.com]

you should be able to buy the PC version brand new for about $15 or so (most likely online).
PC games are always lots cheapers than their console counterparts.

[delphipsmith]

"opinion carries more weight than evidence" - "the worst are full of sound and fury, while the best lack all conviction."

The Barry Jones book looks quite interesting, I have added it to my (admittedly bloated) to-read list. Have you read Jacques Ellul's The Technological Society? Intriguing.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, Jacques Ellul is on my "to read again" list, along with Harold Innis and Lewis Mumford. These is a rich philosophical history of technology which somehow skirts on the periphery of contemporary thinking that doesn't get as much attention as it deserves.

[goatunit.livejournal.com]

I had a fun night in that community, goading a particular tragic dude in an effort to just keep him talking. After that, though, I just felt discouraged at the level of discourse and had to cut it or get overwhelmed responding to everything.

It came as something of a shock, I have to admit. Here in the States, our Libertarians tend to be on the bright side. Wrong-headed, naturally--but intelligent. Would you say that facebook community was a fair representation of Australian Libertarians, in your experience?

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

I haven't actually had much experience with Australian libertarians; those I have encountered in the past have been of a higher quality.

I suspect it may have more to do with Facebook than anything else.