un: xspire

[synthsized]

At what point does something get the right to be called a person? What do they need to do to deserve that?

Has anyone ever thought about it?

Comments

[synthsized]

As long as you're okay with it who cares, right?

[synthsized]

Nah, I'm just curious. Seems like the kind of thing people here would deal with a lot.

[synthsized]

Well today is your lucky day! Seems there's a lot of non-persons running around and you can find out who they are.

[imitationsoul]

[ Just a thumbs-up emoji.]

[taiyounoyou]

Which one? The person doing the creating, or the person being created?

[nevernoaction]

There has been a lot dealing with creatures, but even then, not every creature from the Outland is bad.

I guess if something thought it should be a person then...it probably is one. And if it doesn't want to hurt anyone, then that's fine by me.

[synthsized]

Both.

[taiyounoyou]

Well...

I don't think the person who did the creating would ever stop being responsible for what comes from that. When you put something into the world, whether that person was born or created or whichever, they'll always in some way be your responsibility. That's just how parenthood works, I think.

For the person that was created... I guess there would be a grace period? Sort of like how we don't expect children to be responsible for doing things that they don't understand.

And before you ask, I don't know how long that would be!! For children, it varies. Even for some adults, it varies. It all depends on when they're taught what it means to be responsible.

[medaling]

a bit less so in many daemonic cultures.
definitely not to this extent.
were it not for adaptability and desire, humans would have been wiped out long ago for this soft mentality...

[imitationsoul]

That's certainly true. In the Outlands, some simply ritualize the pain or 'outsource' it to other species. Their societies may work not because they select against the desire for pain but because they place the burden of it on those different from them.

In its morbid way, it's smart.

[medaling]

does accepting one's way of life have to be seen as morbid? as you said, there are clear merits to it on an evolutionary level, and it means desires, for pain or otherwise, aren't looked down on as weaknesses or something perverse. greed is a natural part of being alive, and pursuit of it can lead to satisfaction. is that not better than repressing it and causing it to grow out of control?

[imitationsoul]

It is morbid when you're speaking from the pain-receiving end.

But that's the paradox any society can only dream of solving. For one person to live freely, they must harm another. Letting everyone live safely means suppression, inevitably. And then it is as you said - though I think it is a lot more common for it to suffocate its bearer rather than to make them rampage.

[medaling]

that all sounds like not my problem, really.

un: xspire

[synthsized]

You're right and you should say it.

[medaling]

[...]

I...did?

[synthsized]

[..................


sighs.]

Never mind.

[imitationsoul]

That's the right attitude to have.

[synthsized]

Do you think you have the right to decide whether something is or isn't a person?

[synthsized]

I see...

So if I fuck shit up, just blame my dad, because he should have known better than to make me.

[That is...completely not the point she was trying to make and they know it.]

[taiyounoyou]

Well, no! Not exactly!

You sound old enough to understand responsibility to me, if you're asking things like "What is personhood?"

[preppedandloaded]

You're one of these non-persons I'm guessing?

[nevernoaction]

[He considers this question thoughtfully so he's silent for a few minutes.]

Honestly? I'm not sure I do. It's not much of an answer, but it's all I can come up with.

[aibolition]

Now there's an interesting way to put it.

[Violent in its forced benevolence. He doesn't disapprove of her summary.]

I find "people" a vague term. Something that is not an object or a place might be defined as a person. But what then of objects who gain sentience? Or sentient beings who become objects? What about either in a case where only some people can perceive the sentience and others can't? Do splintered minds count as one or many people? And in that case, to what level is a body or mind the sole means to define a person? Does someone who steps away from society surrender humanity?

I could go on, as could every person who's taken to this thing.

But I'm going to stick by my own rule. You can choose to say you're not a person. I can choose to believe you are one. Since I can have a conversation with you and I don't particularly consider you a pain in the ass, I'd say you're person enough for me. Doesn't have to be true. When you're hardly a person, the lines get even more blurred for everyone else.

[heromedal]

To waste time?

[synthsized]

And to spark some debate.