[FRIAM] the cancellation arc

[Steve Smith]

NST -
>
> Well, Steve,
>
>  
>
> Again I ask,  What exactly are you seeking.  And why are you seeking
> THAT? 
>
I'll take this as a literal question, directed specifically *to* me
based on the text I just shared.    The simple, glib answer is "I don't
know" to both questions.   A similarly simplified but not as glib answer
is that I am seeking A) pain/discomfort relief for myself, using the
device as marketed.; B) an operative/intuitive understanding of the
basic effects of high frequency/low voltage stimulation of the
skin/musculature/ligature/fascia out of curiosity and a hope to be more
efficient with A for myself and others such as Mary who is the one
having acute issues right now; C) A professional/academic interest in
simulated sensoria.  

Most here seem happy enough with visual stimulation, and in general the
most blunt of visual tricks.  Others  may also be familiar/experienced
with audioscapes, etc.  Gamers likely experience visual/auditory
simulated experiences with interaction (within a
narrative/setting/character framework).   Advanced/avante-garde games my
also indulge the gamer in world-building (again, within a framework).   
"cheap" haptics like simple vibration of a mouse/controller or holding
other props in one's hand such that impingement between body parts and
props or props and props (e.g. chopsticks) are an interesting start, but
the various e-stim electrode arrays (mostly for performance/toning
enhancement) would seem to provide an entree to full-body simulacra. 
The various (I'll avoid the acronyms) *sensors* coupled with
*activators* seem like they might, for example, support being able to
*feel* the air currents under my avatar-Raven's wings whilst allowing me
to tweak my pin and tailfeathers to trim my glide/soar all while in VR. 
Maybe this will be no better than the lucid-dream versions of this, I
don't know, but it is one of the many things that compels me.


>  Just TO head off the usual, this is NOT for me a kinky question but a
> very abstract one.  And, to be honest, it is a bit rhetorical; ie. I
> already have the arrogance to think that I know the answer.  I think
> there is a sense in which the search is the “goal”, and if you provide
> the goal, without a search, you will obliterate it.   
>
>  
>
> Occasionally, when I try to raise an issue on FRIAM I get dragged into
> kink as a kind of raillery, and I think, distraction.  The best
> example was Doug who completely short-sheeted my attempt to discuss
> vortexes and entropy by talking about “Swirlies”  (NOT Shirleys, to be
> clear).   
>
I do find that episode in the Doug-with-a-bone show, now most of a
decade behind us, quite seminal in the Friam-Weave...   I am mildly
abashed at having encouraged Doug to dive down that particular
rat-hole.  I can't find any compensating value to his "swirlies" tangent
beyond being a rude caricature of your fascination (at the time) with
vortex formation/maintenance.  I agree that those kinds of tangents
*are* a distraction almost exclusively.  On the other hand, this group
is so diverse (within our narrow techno-centric,  white-male-mostly,
academic-ish spectrum) that we each bring our own parallaxical mirror to
the party.   A few months back Marcus threatened to write a
text-generator that simulated some of the more obvious personalities
here which implies that we are all *quite* predictable (at least
en-caricature), and all the attempts at straw/steelmanning here seems to
include a skinning or stylization intended to reflect the
recipient/subject of said steel/straw-man.
>
>
> Let’s take an example that cannot be kinkified. 
>
>  
>
> Let’s take, Getting the Giggles.  The Giggles is, for me, one of the
> holiest states one can achieve.  I know also that it can be produced
> when a group of people, familiar and comfortable with one another,
> happen on a bit of silliness together.  I know also that it can be
> produced by smoking pot.  So, why bother with the people and the
> silliness.  Why not just take the drug?  To which my answer is,
> */Why/* take the drug? 
>
I'm not big on chemical mood-altering myself... even coffee/alcohol are
things I avoid (ab)using often.   I like me a cup of coffee in the
morning and a swig of rye or wine or beer occasionally and they *do*
alter my mood/metabolism in ways that I find convenient/desireable, but
it has been decades since I deliberately tried to use either to kick me
into an entirely different modality.   The trope of mean/sloppy/sappy
drunk or of caffiene-wired/deprived aren't very interesting to me.   The
"harder" drugs don't appeal to me either (by extension) particularly?  
Same for non-chem tech...   while I am very interested/practiced in
VR/AR I'm not really aiming for a psychedelic experience and in fact
would generally avoid those as available (how different is cybersickness
from the disorienting/nauseating experiences attributed to amatoxins and
alkaloids in psychedelic/entheogenic  substances?)

That said, I think you are asking roughly about the metaphysics of
shortcuts and proxies and simulacra?   I think that would be a good
discussion to have here, but not clear I can even stimulate one much
less lead it.

Anecdotally responding to your question of "the Giggles", early in my
professional career, my best boss/team ever was having a small technical
meeting (6 around a table) when the team leader made the observation:
"well, this isn't set in concrete or anything, maybe silly-putty, but
not concrete". 

Silly Putty being in the pantheon of ubiquitous childhood toys
(Slinky/Etch-a-Sketch/Hula Hoop/GyroTop/etc) of the 60's and having
unique visual/tactile/olfactory bindings (who else knows the smell, the
unique way it went from "fluid" to snappable/bounceable-solid, the
uncanny-flesh-not-flesh color and the quality of being able to
(seemingly without corruption) transfer newsprint forever?), I started
cross-binding those qualities with the topic of the meeting (somehow
trying to nail down a specification for a subsystem of the big system we
were developing/maintaining).   The emotional-cognitive dissonance was
wycked... I started giggling and after a few minutes of trying to stifle
it I left the room, only to return and start again.  Nobody else was
effected by these giggles, though I could tell my incessant giggling
(not my style one whit) *was* fascinating to the others.   It has been
most of 40 years and I doubt anyone else remembers that incident, but it
was the worst/most-unanticipated  experience of involuntary response to
something higher than what is normally considered autonomic (hiccoughs,
sneezes, knee-jerks, blinking, etc.)

I endured too many parties where I was the only one in the room who was
(absolutely/relatively) sober/straight.   I was mildly envious of those
who seemed to find *everything* heyelarious, both individually and
collectively, and yet... really?   For the longest time I thought I was
just wired wrong/different, but now I realize it just reflects the
paradox of how much we are all alike in entirely different ways. Or is
it vice-versa?


>  
>
> Nick
>
>  
>
> Nick Thompson
>
> ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com <mailto:ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com>
>
> https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/
> <https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/>
>
>  
>
> *From:* Friam <friam-bounces at redfish.com> *On Behalf Of *Steve Smith
> *Sent:* Thursday, September 16, 2021 2:41 PM
> *To:* friam at redfish.com
> *Subject:* Re: [FRIAM] the cancellation arc
>
>  
>
> Marcus  wrote:
>
>     Why did the big bang occur?  Was it because God had an orgasm?  Jesus.
>
> The unfolding universe *is* the orgasm?
>
>         ... induced by the meta-Goddess-as-Dominatrix wielding
> Dark-Energy-Stim?
>
> I *was* aware of the sex-application, though I would question Dave's
> 10,000x purchases compared to medical relief/rehab and performance
> enhancement.   When shopping for the (ultimately $30 device) i tripped
> over the whole range of applications including a wide range of sexual
> kink it would seem.
>
> I believe electrostim has been used by horse (and maybe more
> importantly cattle) breeding for many decades to collect semen for the
> turkey-baster work (to be crude)?  I hate to guess what the scene
> looked liked *developing* this technology... I think that kind of
> behaviour would be illegal in most states today.
>
> The closest I came to "biting" on that application was the conductive
> gloves designed to morph amongst traditional
> electro-stim/massage/accupuncture...  but most of the "unique"
> electrode types cost many times the stim unit itself (I suspect it is
> just a compact CPU with some D/A converters... probably running
> Linux...  there are probably DIY Arduino builds or even amplifier
> circuits to drive these electrodes from the headphone output of a
> smartphone.   For my more general interests in synthetic sensoria,  I
> should check the options of what can in fact be driven from the
> headphone jack in consumer HMDs (e.g. Oculus Quest).  
>
>  
>
>  
>
>  
>
>  
>
>  
>
>
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