This is a response to a comment by tealterror weeks ago.
Edit: I did not read the chapter before posting this!! All of those are true. The fact remains that the rewards you get from a human/human relationship are of a much different kind than those you get from a human/cat relationship, which is all I was arguing. (And while I loved my cat, I have to say my human relationships were far more important to me.)
Agreed. But I'm with Alexandra on this one - her mother is NOT a cat. If nothing else, she can still speak and have short-term memories.
(Was that last meant to be in past tense?)
It is indeed hard to do scientific experiments in this area, lol. But yeah, except for differences in the relationship due to whatever differences the children might have (sex, looks, whatever impacts biology has on personality, etc.), I think the relationship would be the same. There's no real point arguing this - I'm sure you can cherry-pick nature-nurture proofs at least as well as I can.
To be fair to Claudia, she does try to find out what's bothering Alex--she just gives up when Alex refuses to indulge. But I'm not sure that lots of hugs and kisses and deep emotional conversations are necessary to have a family be "bonded the way they should be"...
Right, she gives up. Now I am not a mother, but if a close friend or sibling was sulking for over 3 days, I would insist on finding out what is wrong. Maybe you're right, and there are plenty of less than involved mothers around, who would ignore it. So fine, perhaps Claudia is just not the best mother figure. But I personally think she has the potential to be an excellent mother, but lacks this bond with Alex who she always knew was not truly hers (particularly when she began displaying her magic). I wouldn't experience something as family if it didn't include a certain level of warmth, but as you pointed out, maybe other families work differently.
I thought I wanted to go to law school, and it was suggested that I pick an analytic minor so I could appear well-rounded. Then I decided I didn't want to go to law school after all, but by then it was too late lol. I get that. (thought I wanted to go into clinical neuroscience, ended up only liking the research part, got research experience, thrived on statistics, and ended up in statistics-focused research field.)
Unfortunately I live by myself so that option is closed for me. :( Well that and I do almost all my work on my computer so...
I have two computers: my netbook, for fun, and my work computer. I can't let myself use one for the other.
I actually don't think a person's memories make them who they are; Aisaacs might, but I think it's far more complicated than that. However in the case of amnesia, the entire question is whether "inventing the printing press" was an action done by the post-amnesia Gutenberg too, or whether it was only done by the pre-amnesia Gutenberg.
Your philosophical hairsplitting is confusing me. :) I think my point is that a person's memories are not the only thing that make them who they are, even according to you. I believe a person's actions make them who they are, but of course they are based on memories. So we both get to the same point by opposite directions. Did that make sense?
See you in a few weeks! I hope you accomplish everything you want to accomplish during your break from the internet. :)
Thanks, yes I did, my workload is now reduced to below crisis proportions.
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Date: 2012-04-27 04:59 pm (UTC)Edit: I did not read the chapter before posting this!!
All of those are true. The fact remains that the rewards you get from a human/human relationship are of a much different kind than those you get from a human/cat relationship, which is all I was arguing. (And while I loved my cat, I have to say my human relationships were far more important to me.)
Agreed. But I'm with Alexandra on this one - her mother is NOT a cat. If nothing else, she can still speak and have short-term memories.
(Was that last meant to be in past tense?)
It is indeed hard to do scientific experiments in this area, lol. But yeah, except for differences in the relationship due to whatever differences the children might have (sex, looks, whatever impacts biology has on personality, etc.), I think the relationship would be the same.
There's no real point arguing this - I'm sure you can cherry-pick nature-nurture proofs at least as well as I can.
To be fair to Claudia, she does try to find out what's bothering Alex--she just gives up when Alex refuses to indulge. But I'm not sure that lots of hugs and kisses and deep emotional conversations are necessary to have a family be "bonded the way they should be"...
Right, she gives up. Now I am not a mother, but if a close friend or sibling was sulking for over 3 days, I would insist on finding out what is wrong. Maybe you're right, and there are plenty of less than involved mothers around, who would ignore it. So fine, perhaps Claudia is just not the best mother figure. But I personally think she has the potential to be an excellent mother, but lacks this bond with Alex who she always knew was not truly hers (particularly when she began displaying her magic).
I wouldn't experience something as family if it didn't include a certain level of warmth, but as you pointed out, maybe other families work differently.
I thought I wanted to go to law school, and it was suggested that I pick an analytic minor so I could appear well-rounded. Then I decided I didn't want to go to law school after all, but by then it was too late lol.
I get that. (thought I wanted to go into clinical neuroscience, ended up only liking the research part, got research experience, thrived on statistics, and ended up in statistics-focused research field.)
Unfortunately I live by myself so that option is closed for me. :( Well that and I do almost all my work on my computer so...
I have two computers: my netbook, for fun, and my work computer. I can't let myself use one for the other.
I actually don't think a person's memories make them who they are; Aisaacs might, but I think it's far more complicated than that. However in the case of amnesia, the entire question is whether "inventing the printing press" was an action done by the post-amnesia Gutenberg too, or whether it was only done by the pre-amnesia Gutenberg.
Your philosophical hairsplitting is confusing me. :) I think my point is that a person's memories are not the only thing that make them who they are, even according to you. I believe a person's actions make them who they are, but of course they are based on memories. So we both get to the same point by opposite directions. Did that make sense?
See you in a few weeks! I hope you accomplish everything you want to accomplish during your break from the internet. :)
Thanks, yes I did, my workload is now reduced to below crisis proportions.