Steve Cooper's Personal Blog

Thought and speech are intimately bound up. Although not everyone does this, I think entirely in an ‘inner dialogue’ – that is, the process of thinking is just the process of talking to myself. Ideas like the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis* suggest that thought is either totally, or largely, the manipulation of language.

So, how do we go about reasoning with language?

Well, one way is to write. We start writing about a subject not to expound on it, but to explore it. We don’t know at the top of the paragraph what we’re going to say at the end.

For a while, I’ve used a journal or computer as a supplement to my memory and as a thinking aid. I find I can reason further with a pen and paper than I can just talking to myself. The act of writing something down is an act of clarification; stuff on the page often makes more sense than stuff in my head because I have to use decent grammar and finish sentences and paragraphs. Things get interesting when you want to see how lots of your ideas work together. Let’s say, for example, that I’ve written a bunch of stuff on philosophy and on games. Imagine that I have written notes entitled

• Why I am a utilitarian*
• Why I am an existentialist*
• Ain’t games fun?
• Sportsmanship

And let’s say I’ve recognised some possible connections between those notes; the fun from games relates the the ‘greatest happiness’ principle of utilitarianism, and fun games to sportsmanship, and sportsmanship to the responsibility of existentialism. F’r’instance.

How can I connect these up? Maybe these might form the basis for a larger piece of thought, if these atomic pieces of thought could be bound up into ‘molecular’ essays.

Anyway, I’ve rambled from one subject straight into another. Damn language.

Links:

• Sapir-Whorf: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapir-Whorf_Hypothesis
• Utilitarianism: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utilitarianism
• Existentialism: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Existentialism

This is the start of a new blog for me. First, if you’re reading on LJ, this blog is now available at http://www.stevecooper.org/?action=rss. If you’re reading it on my website, it’s also on livejournal.

So, what’s the new blog about? Well, I hope to cover some ideas about the way we deal with large amounts of interrelated information, about the way we write and about the way we reason.

As you may know, I’m putting together a computer program for writers. But it’s important to me to figure out how normal people (not computer types like me) go about organising their information, how they use writing as a tool for thinking, and how they integrate, say, their research, their own documents, their private notes, and whatever else they use. Then, my idea is to create a program to help them do all that in such a way that the computer can show a picture of how all these things relate.

Anyway, on with the blog…

Hi, All. This is an invitation to join a new list for discussing LARP ideas and theories.

Here is my idea; I want to share ideas about LARPing, about what you can do with the medium, about how to write fantastic games that are very powerful experiences. I’m interested in some specific subjects, but the list is going to be open to everyone to discuss quality LARPing.

Some example topics I’d like to cover include;

* Stealing techniques from actors, screenwriters, costumiers, and effects people.
* Scandinavian-style LRP
* Creating player-led games
* Immersion in LRP
* Theories of System design
* LRP as a form of art
* Improvisation in LRP
* LRP as a creative outlet
* Systemless and freeform LRP
* Plot-seeding in large games
* LRP and storytelling
* Running high-quality small games (<50 players)

If you're interested, please give me a shout with your email address and I'll get you on to the list.

Steve

Does it take a certain kind of person to enjoy work, or is there a perfect job out there for everyone, do you think?

I see work as a way of funding the enjoyable bits of my life – It’s a bit dull, but they give me cash. Other people see their work as an incredibly satisfying endeavor – but is that only possible if you have a certain personality type? What’s the trick? Any ideas welcome.

[edit] Inspired by , some extra ideas and questions.

Fundamentally, I’d like the quality of my work to have a direct input on my income. So I don’t get paid for hours worked, but results. It’s then to my benefit to work really hard for short periods of time. You know how many days often have slack in them? If there was a point to compressing all the work down into, say, just the morning, I could have my afternoons free. Also, good ideas often lead to saving time and effort, so a job that rewarded results would encourage good ideas. Anyone suggest well-paying jobs that pay by results rather than time?

Can anyone recommend any good mailing lists or forums for writers? Ideally, people dealing with large projects like novels and screenplays, rather than short stories, and particularly groups who talk about theory and structure?

Some of you know (because I’ve been going on and on about it for the last few months) that I’m writing a piece of software for storytellers. So, I’m gonna tell you a bit more about it, and hope there are some ideas y’all can suggest…

Ariadne, the writer’s software