Tim and Alan--
It was interesting that Alan asked the question about HW when he did. Just
a couple weeks ago I didn't remember that we had assigned the example for
the PE setting to HIWG, and was thinking, "we defined PEs as a TNE
setting, but I'm not even sure that we included a PE in the book, boy that
would suck if we left that out." Gradually with the various discussions
about HIWG, CofS, etc., it came back to me, the day before Alan's
question.
Since I frequently bemoan issues of memory, I will point out the new
memory observation HW provided, along with a couple previous realizations
related to it.
1. (New) I had very little immediate memory of the HW. I consider this to
be an example of the "Someone Else's Problem Field" from "Hitchhikers
Guide to the Galaxy" (one of the later books, I think, a scene on a
Cricket field). Since it was HIWG's baby it was out of my direct mind for
long periods. The part that I did remember was the stress/concern, "did we
remember to do that/do it right?" and more specifically, "HW was a little
on the large and powerful side, probably not the best example to put out
there," and my replies last night detailed that.
2. Memories (also learning which depends on memory processing) works best
when it is "branded in" by an emotional component, the more powerful the
emotion, the better the memory. Since the "Someone Else's Problem Field"
was operating on the HW sub-project at the time, that real-time
invisibility translated into not very many memories being laid down. The
memories that were laid down more clearly were those when it DID become my
problem, i.e., "is this an instructive example, do we need to do re-work
on it, will that defeat the purpose of working with HIWG?" and also the
subsequent memories of concern, "I don't know that the PE example was as
representative as it should have been, I hope it didn't set a bad
example," which was the first PE memory that bubbled up.
3. Related to 2, spending a lot of mental effort determining courses of
action and deciding among them may not be thought of as an "emotion" per
se, but it works the same way in terms of laying down memories, i.e., lots
of brain activity, whether emotional or intellectual, is what feeds the
memory formation process. An example of this is the way I will usually
better remember the consideration of possible alternatives than I do the
final decision we wrote down. The alternative consideration requires more
thought, but the final act of typing up the decision is almost nothing.
You collapse the quantum wave down to the single eigenstate and it's like,
"is that all there is to a decision?" I actually need the publication in
question to remember what we actually wrote down, because all I remember
is the competition of ideas before that. One might imagine that the act of
making a decision would induce an emotional burst of triumph or
satisfaction that would lay down a good memory. The fact that in my case
it clearly does not indicates to me that the decision functions as a
release/loss of energy (like grounding out a static electrical charge) and
not as an emotional event in itself. I guess my brain is thinking,
"Decision made, cross that off the list, move onto the next thing."
Here ends the latest of my occasional journeys into "human" psychology,
where I call "human" into question as I am performing these observations
on myself.
> Interesting and more. I have almost no knowledge of the OTU, and i was
> totally unaware of the Hub World's history (both real world that Dave
> just shared or in game). I chose Massilia sector as the backdrop for my
> TNE campaign because it was on the Vampire highway, and it was (sort of)
> out of the main two campaign areas of Regency and RCS. It was only after
> I started to dig that I saw this Hub worlds group in sector A, and
> decided they are one of the antagonists (note: NOT bad guys, necessarily,
> but the group with goals most likely in conflict with the PCs) for the
> area.
>
> This new insight into their origins will be helpful, thanks Dave.
>
> Regards,
> Tim aka bardbear
>
It was interesting that Alan asked the question about HW when he did. Just
a couple weeks ago I didn't remember that we had assigned the example for
the PE setting to HIWG, and was thinking, "we defined PEs as a TNE
setting, but I'm not even sure that we included a PE in the book, boy that
would suck if we left that out." Gradually with the various discussions
about HIWG, CofS, etc., it came back to me, the day before Alan's
question.
Since I frequently bemoan issues of memory, I will point out the new
memory observation HW provided, along with a couple previous realizations
related to it.
1. (New) I had very little immediate memory of the HW. I consider this to
be an example of the "Someone Else's Problem Field" from "Hitchhikers
Guide to the Galaxy" (one of the later books, I think, a scene on a
Cricket field). Since it was HIWG's baby it was out of my direct mind for
long periods. The part that I did remember was the stress/concern, "did we
remember to do that/do it right?" and more specifically, "HW was a little
on the large and powerful side, probably not the best example to put out
there," and my replies last night detailed that.
2. Memories (also learning which depends on memory processing) works best
when it is "branded in" by an emotional component, the more powerful the
emotion, the better the memory. Since the "Someone Else's Problem Field"
was operating on the HW sub-project at the time, that real-time
invisibility translated into not very many memories being laid down. The
memories that were laid down more clearly were those when it DID become my
problem, i.e., "is this an instructive example, do we need to do re-work
on it, will that defeat the purpose of working with HIWG?" and also the
subsequent memories of concern, "I don't know that the PE example was as
representative as it should have been, I hope it didn't set a bad
example," which was the first PE memory that bubbled up.
3. Related to 2, spending a lot of mental effort determining courses of
action and deciding among them may not be thought of as an "emotion" per
se, but it works the same way in terms of laying down memories, i.e., lots
of brain activity, whether emotional or intellectual, is what feeds the
memory formation process. An example of this is the way I will usually
better remember the consideration of possible alternatives than I do the
final decision we wrote down. The alternative consideration requires more
thought, but the final act of typing up the decision is almost nothing.
You collapse the quantum wave down to the single eigenstate and it's like,
"is that all there is to a decision?" I actually need the publication in
question to remember what we actually wrote down, because all I remember
is the competition of ideas before that. One might imagine that the act of
making a decision would induce an emotional burst of triumph or
satisfaction that would lay down a good memory. The fact that in my case
it clearly does not indicates to me that the decision functions as a
release/loss of energy (like grounding out a static electrical charge) and
not as an emotional event in itself. I guess my brain is thinking,
"Decision made, cross that off the list, move onto the next thing."
Here ends the latest of my occasional journeys into "human" psychology,
where I call "human" into question as I am performing these observations
on myself.
> Interesting and more. I have almost no knowledge of the OTU, and i was
> totally unaware of the Hub World's history (both real world that Dave
> just shared or in game). I chose Massilia sector as the backdrop for my
> TNE campaign because it was on the Vampire highway, and it was (sort of)
> out of the main two campaign areas of Regency and RCS. It was only after
> I started to dig that I saw this Hub worlds group in sector A, and
> decided they are one of the antagonists (note: NOT bad guys, necessarily,
> but the group with goals most likely in conflict with the PCs) for the
> area.
>
> This new insight into their origins will be helpful, thanks Dave.
>
> Regards,
> Tim aka bardbear
>