[ExI] outing myself

[William Flynn Wallace]

I think I had my say about essences awhile back, and I agree completely
with Bill K
UK and EU collectors also pay small fortunes for ordinary
objects that have a famous name attached to them. I just don't see the point
myself.  BillK
However, the pieces of the True Cross, which if collected would make a
sizable forest, were
thought to cure diseases, raise the dead, and so on.  People have strong
beliefs here.   Is there a dichotomy here? People who believe in souls and
essences and people who don't?  That would be very unusual.  The belief
itself, not the strength of it.  Most traits are distributed normally.

 Short version:  after Mama died I could not throw away any of her stuff,
even a bent spoon, which caused me to get into the idea of essences (which
I eventually discarded as irrational).  I think the idea of essences came
about through religion:  primitive tribes often apologized to the 'soul' of
a tree before cutting it down.  Ditto for animals they killed.  So the idea
that things could have souls arose.  Now some people think all things are
conscious. Where will this end?   All things are gods?

To me, the only value of thinking about essences is to stir memories of the
person or situation attached to them.  I decided that I had plenty of
things to remind me of Mama, so I tossed the spoon.  Eisenhower's pistol
just makes you think of him.  It has no other value - to me.  I cannot at
the moment (though I might stir up some help here) think of anything that a
copy thereof would not suit me just as well, and even better since it would
be cheaper.

bill w

On Wed, Oct 28, 2020 at 5:21 PM spike jones via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

>
> > ...> On Behalf Of BillK via extropy-chat
> > Subject: Re: [ExI] outing myself
> >
> > >...I have never appreciated that subjective value idea. To me a
> > >sidearm is just a sidearm, identical to thousands of other sidearms.
> > >The one owned by Eisenhower is no different to the one owned by Joe
> > >Smith down the road... I see no added value. BillK
> >
> >> ...OK perhaps it is an America thing.
> >
> > spike
> > ___________________________________________
> >
>
> >...Oh no!   UK and EU collectors also pay small fortunes for ordinary
> objects that have a famous name attached to them. I just don't see the
> point
> myself.  BillK
> _______________________________________________
>
>
> Hi BillK, ja no worries.  I see that kinda thing as a most harmless way to
> get money back into circulation rather than sit in bank accounts of people
> who own too much of it.  This is a good thing.
>
> Soooo BillK, does that hustle in the hedgerow business have any subjective
> meaning to ya?  What meaning?
>
> ...If there's a bustle in your hedgerow, don't be alarmed now, It's just a
> spring clean for the May queen.
> Yes, there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run There's still
> time to change the road you're on...
>
> My apologies for insisting, but inquiring minds want to know if there is
> anything to know.
>
> spike
>
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>
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