Profile for John S

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Displayed name	John S
Member number	5814
Title	Agent
Postcount	1115
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Registered	Sunday, May 15 2005 07:00

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THIS CANNOT BE!! YOU MUST CHECK THIS PAGE!! in General
John S Agent Member # 5814	written Sunday, July 30 2006 09:32 Profile #11 Chico, please stop using the word "damn". We have to protect the younger members, such as yourself, from being exposed to things like that. -------------------- quote: Originally written by Kelandon Well, I'm at least pretty Posts: 1115 \| Registered: Sunday, May 15 2005 07:00
Xylgham udwlnit skretcko!1!! in General
John S Agent Member # 5814	written Saturday, July 29 2006 17:27 Profile #428 I understand that your flawed self cannot hope to capture my masculinity nor charm, and so I forgive you for omitting them. -------------------- quote: Originally written by Kelandon Well, I'm at least pretty Posts: 1115 \| Registered: Sunday, May 15 2005 07:00
Shaper hypocrisy vs. Shaper tragedy (SPOILERS) in Geneforge Series
John S Agent Member # 5814	written Saturday, July 29 2006 09:08 Profile #47 quote: Originally written by Savage Ed Walcott: quote: I think that, if no third parties suffer, intelligent or dumb, then there is no problem with killing something or someone. If you shoot me in the head and convince everyone I know that it was for the best, then whatever. But if something wants to live and so do its buddies, then no deal. I find this attitude towards the value of life disturbing and honestly don't see what it has to do with the subject at hand. I assume this is supposed to be a reductio ad absurdum, but I can't be completely sure. If a tree falls in a forest and no one heard it, did it make a sound? More importantly, did anyone hear it make a sound? The reason this is relevant is because I'm saying that in some cases the destruction of sentient life can be justified independently of the sentient's personal thoughts on the matter. If that's not relevant, we have a problem. You obviously have no problem destroying sentient life, so what is so disturbing? That it's humans instead of machines? Why does that matter? Human life is no more sacred than machine life; you have yet to show otherwise. quote: Originally written by Savage Ed Walcott: quote: If the way that something was created is as irrelevant as you say, and only the purpose matters, then we have a lot of people on this world which need killing. Simply because a parent got drunk, had an unlucky and unprotected fling, and was unable to abort, are they now allowed to kill that child? What about a family which disowns their child? That child certainly no longer has a purpose. This is a gross misinterpretation of my words and a gleeful contortion into something I never said. I find it personally insulting that you would try to twist my words into something so ridiculous to try to prove your point, but I'll use both real world and Shaper logic to refute what I assume is an intentionally fallacious proposition: Real world: Of course not. First of all, the child will potentially develop into an intelligent, independent being. Second the purpose of childbirth, regardless of whether the parents intentionally made the choice or not, is continuance of the species. We as human beings aren't bound to fulfill a designated purpose, or function, or value, or utility. Whether you become a hobo or a billionaire is irrelevant since you owe no obligation to contribute to society. As long as you don't pose an immediate threat to those around you you're free to do whatever you please with your life within the bounds of the law. That and the only killing other humans things tends to be disruptive to society. Shaper: Of course not. Human lives cannnot be replaced and are not expendable commodities. A human child cannot be replaced as easily as the life of a servile, and even if so, the shaping and altering of humans is a severe violation of Shaper Code. It is the duty of Shapers to protect and defend the lives of humans and improve that quality of life to the farthest extent within the resident Shaper's power. Okay, so rather than correcting me about what I said you said, you'll disprove what I said you said. This is going somewhere, but I'm not sure it's the right direction. quote: Originally written by Savage Ed Walcott: You can stop trying to use killing babies or grown humans as an analogy. I've already explained the inherent difference between a genuine human and a magical (or technological) creation designed in lab by a human intelligence, especially if it was designed for some specific labor-intensive purpose. Machine, golem, servile, drakon, android, sentient program, I'm sorry but if it didn't pop out of a woman's legs and was crafted by human intelligence and design, it has some function in mind and was built to fit said function. If it doesn't, then it's back to the drawing board to design a new one. I personally think it would be dangerous and irresponsible to allow an uncontrolled man made creation to roam free, and it's definitely a drain on resources. You've already explained the inherent difference between a human and a sentient machine. You haven't yet shown why that difference matters. Retlaw May, you simply have to convince the intelligent serviles that their unintelligent cousins are a) happy doing what they're doing and b) not being trained to think that they are serving the Shapers. Then the intelligent serviles have no reason to meddle with the unintelligent serviles. -------------------- quote: Originally written by Kelandon Well, I'm at least pretty Posts: 1115 \| Registered: Sunday, May 15 2005 07:00
Shaper hypocrisy vs. Shaper tragedy (SPOILERS) in Geneforge Series
John S Agent Member # 5814	written Friday, July 28 2006 20:29 Profile #39 quote: Originally written by Retlaw May: quote: Originally written by MagmaDragoon: I'm starting to think that the promblem cannot be solved... Smart serviles are smart enough to understand what freedom is, but the dumb ones can't even understand what freedom is, because they are... dumb. Then, if we could shape a smart servile from a dumb one, he surely want freedom, because he can think about/what is it, though when he was dumb he only wanted to work, and the prespective of freedom scares him. Sure, we can make all serviles free, but the dumb ones will never be happy... So, what the solution can be? Finally someone recognizes what I have been saying and arguing. It seems to me that whenever someone does not agree with another and the other makes a thought provoking arguement, THEY IGNORE IT. Look, MOST SERVILES ARE DUMB AND THEY LIKE (NAY EVEN LOVE) SERVING THEIR MASTERS AND DOING THEIR JOBS. These serviles don't care that the others are happy, they shove everything down the throat of others. Remember that in G3 there were 2 occasions where the intellegent serviles ruined the lives of 2 perfectly happy and loyal serviles who just became angry and confused in the meeting that occured between them. *I already addressed this issue. I did not ignore it. Both of you ignored my post.* Savage Ed Walcott, I find the concept of a true, thinking robot to be hard to grasp. But that really doesn't matter. I think that, if no third parties suffer, intelligent or dumb, then there is no problem with killing something or someone. If you shoot me in the head and convince everyone I know that it was for the best, then whatever. But if something wants to live and so do its buddies, then no deal. If the way that something was created is as irrelevant as you say, and only the purpose matters, then we have a lot of people on this world which need killing. Simply because a parent got drunk, had an unlucky and unprotected fling, and was unable to abort, are they now allowed to kill that child? What about a family which disowns their child? That child certainly no longer has a purpose. I just find the idea of deciding who you can kill and who you can't kill according to purpose be silly, because it's totally random. You get no choice in the matter of what purpose you're assigned; a shaper might have had a floor-scrubber in mind when you were shaped, and god knows what parents were hoping for when their children were concieved. -------------------- quote: Originally written by Kelandon Well, I'm at least pretty Posts: 1115 \| Registered: Sunday, May 15 2005 07:00
Shaper hypocrisy vs. Shaper tragedy (SPOILERS) in Geneforge Series
John S Agent Member # 5814	written Friday, July 28 2006 16:35 Profile #31 quote: Originally written by Savage Ed Walcott: magically clean oil spills Don't quote me on this, but I believe that there already are bacteria which are devoted to consuming oil. quote: Originally written by Savage Ed Walcott: [We have a right to decide what happens to creations because we created them and they're unnatural.] And so what if they've been magically created? Why are they any less worthy? They still live, they still think, they still want to survive. Except for the nature of their creation (which has nothing to do with rights), they are no different from natural creatures. I'd like to know why the way you were created should cause such a drastic change in something totally irrelevant, or why it is relevant. Cars and robots do not have the same rights as humans because they cannot think. They can sense conditions and they can respond, but they must be set to respond and in what manner. They cannot reason; they can only see what is, check if they have been told to do, and then execute whatever command they've learned. Feral creatures need not be given the same consideration as humans because they would not notice, much less comprehend, the freedoms they had been given. -------------------- quote: Originally written by Kelandon Well, I'm at least pretty Posts: 1115 \| Registered: Sunday, May 15 2005 07:00
Shaper hypocrisy vs. Shaper tragedy (SPOILERS) in Geneforge Series
John S Agent Member # 5814	written Friday, July 28 2006 13:17 Profile #28 quote: Originally written by Retlaw May: What gives the intellegent serviles the right to destroy the happiness of so many of their own kind? Why would every single servile have to be freed if only some want to be? Those that want to be free should be free, and those who want to serve the Shapers can serve the Shapers. If they are simply raised from birth to think of themselves as equals, then they will never want to be anything but free. So the intelligent ones can be free and can train their children to want to be free, and the unintelligent ones can keep having children who think of themselves as being unworthy. -------------------- quote: Originally written by Kelandon Well, I'm at least pretty Posts: 1115 \| Registered: Sunday, May 15 2005 07:00
Shaper hypocrisy vs. Shaper tragedy (SPOILERS) in Geneforge Series
John S Agent Member # 5814	written Friday, July 28 2006 11:55 Profile #24 Right, so I had this great post written out. It pointed out puns, it had elegant quote-work, it had FYTs. It was beautiful. But when I tried to post it, "the connection timed out" and I lost everything. So this time, I'm just going to spell out the main point rather than answering every little detail individually. What gives humans the right to command and destroy creations? It's not their superior power, intelligence, or numbers. It's not their ability to rationalize or to organize themselves into societies and communities. It's not because they can shape. So what is it? -------------------- quote: Originally written by Kelandon Well, I'm at least pretty Posts: 1115 \| Registered: Sunday, May 15 2005 07:00
Shaper hypocrisy vs. Shaper tragedy (SPOILERS) in Geneforge Series
John S Agent Member # 5814	written Friday, July 28 2006 08:30 Profile #21 quote: Originally written by Retlaw May: I would sooner say that they were made from chimpanzees or something. Well, of course you would. That's the easy way out. It lets you continue to think the way you think, even though the only humanoids we've seen have been humans and creations. quote: Originally written by Dikiyoba: It's been hinted at the serviles were created by modifying humans. But it doesn't really matter if they were human, it matters whether they are human (enough) to be given the same freedoms that the ordinary humans have. Dikiyoba. They quite clearly are. You can argue that some serviles are less intelligent, and so don't deserve the same rights as a human, but I would like to stress the point that they can become intelligent when raised in the proper atmosphere. Much like the situation of women a few hundred years ago. -------------------- quote: Originally written by Kelandon Well, I'm at least pretty Posts: 1115 \| Registered: Sunday, May 15 2005 07:00
I'm a Runescape freak how about you? in General
John S Agent Member # 5814	written Thursday, July 27 2006 18:20 Profile #49 Right, so I finally reached my goal of entering the Crafting Guild. In that time I made about 30K. I bought myself a Fire staff, wore my Frog Prince outfit, crafted some bling, and changed my hair color, and generally was pimpin'. I was left with an extra 25K or so. I tried to give it away, but only the greedy, brave, and stupid actually responded to my offer. Everyone else called me a scammer. Rude, huh? Anyway, the point is that once you make sure your death is not impending, some of those too-good-to-be-true deals can be really good. -------------------- quote: Originally written by Kelandon Well, I'm at least pretty Posts: 1115 \| Registered: Sunday, May 15 2005 07:00
Any Game Wiz I need technical help with A Small Rebellion in Blades of Avernum
John S Agent Member # 5814	written Thursday, July 27 2006 18:10 Profile #4 When BoA encounters a bug, it sometimes stops running that script. It sounds like that's what happened here. As far as I know, the only surefire way to get rid of the problem would be to redownload and reinstall. -------------------- quote: Originally written by Kelandon Well, I'm at least pretty Posts: 1115 \| Registered: Sunday, May 15 2005 07:00
Web browsers in General
John S Agent Member # 5814	written Thursday, July 27 2006 11:43 Profile #18 I like how PCWorld criticises products for showing ads, then does the same thing. -------------------- quote: Originally written by Kelandon Well, I'm at least pretty Posts: 1115 \| Registered: Sunday, May 15 2005 07:00
G4 Highlight Predictor in Geneforge Series
John S Agent Member # 5814	written Thursday, July 27 2006 09:27 Profile #1 If I don't argue about something here, that means I agree. I doubt that we'll see a separate faction for the Awakened. First of all, because Jeff doesn't have the time to outdo G1 with its multiple factions. This is because now, he'll have to make NPCs respond differently based on whether the PC is a servile or human, as well as (I assume) G4 being larger than G1 and having more opportunities for such encounters. The second reason is because if there's going to be an all-out war, those who can't make up their mind generally are mistaken for the enemy by both sides. Being able to summon demons would be a pleasant change from Jeff's solid record of making basic, undepressing games. I would really appreciate a little more straying from the target market of 9-year-olds, but it's not going to happen. Too many nosy, fearful mothers (but not fathers, for some strange reason) trying to pass on their fear of fairy-tale monsters to their little dears. I don't understand what's meant by "super-artifact" and "super-creation". Do you mean creations like Ur-Drakons, or even stronger things? Do you mean artifacts like rechargeable blessing-and-hasting wands, or do you mean something like a Geneforge? The Shaper Council hasn't appeared except in the endings so far. If they did appear, they wouldn't be done justice because of the Geneforge engine's inability to display anything more detailed than a vaguely human-shaped figure. I would like something impressive and dramatic, and I know that all I'd get would be a color-shifted Shaper graphic. Learned Darian has appeared in every single Geneforge, right? And undergone a sex change, if I remember correctly. If that couldn't keep him down for just one sequel, nor could ravenous creations touch her, then there are few things that would be strong enough to take Darian down. [ Thursday, July 27, 2006 09:33: Message edited by: Your ad could be here- contact me. ] -------------------- quote: Originally written by Kelandon Well, I'm at least pretty Posts: 1115 \| Registered: Sunday, May 15 2005 07:00
I'm a Runescape freak how about you? in General
John S Agent Member # 5814	written Monday, July 24 2006 07:32 Profile #40 Thanks for the replies. I was wondering why I couldn't sell essence, even at half the former usual price. If prices are so low now, I think I'll move on to coal and gold. quote: Originally written by Drow: Just because I'm too lazy to read the faqs, what is pure essence and how do you obtain/produce/refine it? Rune essence is obtainable after completing the Rune Mysteries quest, which is given by Duke Horatio upstairs in Lumbridge Castle. Rune essence can be mined in an area which you must be teleported to; you'll know who teleports you after you finish the quest. If you are a member and have a mining level of 30 or above, you can mine pure essence instead of rune essence. Rune essence and pure essence allow a player to craft runes. Rune essence can only be used to craft Air, Body, Mind, Water, Earth, and Fire runes. Pure essence can craft anything. -------------------- quote: Originally written by Kelandon Well, I'm at least pretty Posts: 1115 \| Registered: Sunday, May 15 2005 07:00
I'm a Runescape freak how about you? in General
John S Agent Member # 5814	written Sunday, July 23 2006 11:46 Profile #35 Right, so all this talk made me try out several new MMORPGs. ROSE Online was a more cartoony and larger (in terms of GB) version of KalOnline, so I quit that right quick. I didn't want to download KalOnline either, so I started playing Runescape again. Can someone tell me how much you would pay for 100 rune essence? And also 1000 rune essence? -------------------- quote: Originally written by Kelandon Well, I'm at least pretty Posts: 1115 \| Registered: Sunday, May 15 2005 07:00
Please, spare my Karma! in General
John S Agent Member # 5814	written Sunday, July 23 2006 10:15 Profile #11 If I rate you all threes, there's no way I can lose. -------------------- quote: Originally written by Kelandon Well, I'm at least pretty Posts: 1115 \| Registered: Sunday, May 15 2005 07:00
Starting Charcoal in General
John S Agent Member # 5814	written Saturday, July 22 2006 19:25 Profile #10 quote: Originally written by Spring: EDIT: Don't even think about the saying the shrimp joke. Anyone. No worries, mate. -------------------- quote: Originally written by Kelandon Well, I'm at least pretty Posts: 1115 \| Registered: Sunday, May 15 2005 07:00
Mods of yesteryear in General
John S Agent Member # 5814	written Saturday, July 22 2006 07:51 Profile #9 Like Ash, except that TC is a mod. [ Saturday, July 22, 2006 08:11: Message edited by: 1984 ] -------------------- quote: Originally written by Kelandon Well, I'm at least pretty Posts: 1115 \| Registered: Sunday, May 15 2005 07:00
I'm a Runescape freak how about you? in General
John S Agent Member # 5814	written Friday, July 21 2006 18:01 Profile #10 I used to play Runescape. Then I quit. Then someone else recommended another MMORPG to me. It was KalOnline. The graphics are in actual 3D. Half the people are South Korean, so you don't have to deal with the English-speaking people being unable to communicate in their own language. And while the combat is boring, it's still even more engaging than Runescape's. The best part is, the game is pretty much free. They make their money by selling items which are targeted at hardcore gamers. It's not limited until you pay, unlike Runescape. Oh, and there's maps and a quest log too. The only real drag is how long it takes to start up and exit the program. [ Friday, July 21, 2006 18:05: Message edited by: 1984 ] -------------------- quote: Originally written by Kelandon Well, I'm at least pretty Posts: 1115 \| Registered: Sunday, May 15 2005 07:00
Stalking With a Vengance in General
John S Agent Member # 5814	written Thursday, July 20 2006 18:30 Profile #4 Well, he lied. It was obvious from the begining, but I still want to prove it beyond a nonexistant doubt. -------------------- quote: Originally written by Kelandon Well, I'm at least pretty Posts: 1115 \| Registered: Sunday, May 15 2005 07:00
Resistance and Stupid Characters in The Avernum Trilogy
John S Agent Member # 5814	written Thursday, July 20 2006 13:30 Profile #4 Well, you do save the surface and cast down the sworn enemy of the general human population. You just don't get any time to enjoy it. -------------------- quote: Originally written by Kelandon Well, I'm at least pretty Posts: 1115 \| Registered: Sunday, May 15 2005 07:00
Stalking With a Vengance in General
John S Agent Member # 5814	written Thursday, July 20 2006 13:25 Profile #0 Does anyone remember this member? As you can see from his PDN, he claimed to have at one point close to or more than 1000 posts. He said that it was under a different account which he had lost or forgotten the password to or something. He also said that he vaguely remembered his former account's PDN being something like The_Lost_King. Well, I found an ancient account which I'm sure is his. The point of all of this is that I'd like to find the post where he mentioned his old account. Sadly, the "Recent Posts" feature is failing me, mostly because he left; he got into several arguments, posted a fruity picture of himself, and then disappeared. I've tried just about every way (searching the boards, searching the archived boards, searching with Google) and I can't seem to dig up those 11 other posts. I don't think they were deleted, though. So if you know of some way these posts can be found, I'd like to hear. Then I can hopefully put this behind me, then find something new to obsess about for the next thirty minutes. -------------------- quote: Originally written by Kelandon Well, I'm at least pretty Posts: 1115 \| Registered: Sunday, May 15 2005 07:00
Summon Classes in Blades of Avernum Editor
John S Agent Member # 5814	written Wednesday, July 19 2006 15:27 Profile #3 Oh, I get it. I forgot that cr_summon_class existed. -------------------- quote: Originally written by Kelandon Well, I'm at least pretty Posts: 1115 \| Registered: Sunday, May 15 2005 07:00
Summon Classes in Blades of Avernum
John S Agent Member # 5814	written Wednesday, July 19 2006 15:27 Profile #3 Oh, I get it. I forgot that cr_summon_class existed. -------------------- quote: Originally written by Kelandon Well, I'm at least pretty Posts: 1115 \| Registered: Sunday, May 15 2005 07:00
Summon Classes in Blades of Avernum Editor
John S Agent Member # 5814	written Wednesday, July 19 2006 14:38 Profile #1 How do you determine the summon level of a spell? -------------------- quote: Originally written by Kelandon Well, I'm at least pretty Posts: 1115 \| Registered: Sunday, May 15 2005 07:00
Summon Classes in Blades of Avernum
John S Agent Member # 5814	written Wednesday, July 19 2006 14:38 Profile #1 How do you determine the summon level of a spell? -------------------- quote: Originally written by Kelandon Well, I'm at least pretty Posts: 1115 \| Registered: Sunday, May 15 2005 07:00

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