Only a Game

Changing the Game

Advance notice that I am moving my philosophical basecamp to Stranger Worlds and How To Live In Them over at Substack, although the Game is not yet concluded.

Dear Players of the Game,

It has been seventeen years, and during that time this blog has transformed in many ways. Remember in the early days when it was all about games...? That seems forever ago now. I marvel at the volume of material I have thrown into this blog over the years, but I am unsatisfied these days with the disparity between the time spent writing essays and the volume of discussion generated, which has become exceedingly low.

Partly, the downturn in discussion reflects what has happened in traditional blogs as reading has more and more been captured by services (Medium, perhaps, foreshadowed what was to come, although Twitter is an important part of the story too). Partly, however, I fear the lack of discussion here results from reaching a point whereby the intersection of people who feel confident enough to discuss my chosen topics with me and those with the time and inclination to do so is close to a null set. Mostly, however, I am certain that the Age of Distraction has continued to intensify, and even my efforts to promote Only a Game on Twitter, which represented a substantial additional investment on top of the blog itself, are not having any noticeable impact.

My experiences with WAMTNG have encouraged me to begin another project at Substack. This is Stranger Worlds and How To Live In Them, which you can discover yourself by following the link. In brief, it's a philosophy blog focussing on principles for life, building upon my philosophy books without requiring anyone to have read them. It starts tomorrow. Primarily, the purpose of beginning this project is to have a Substack where only paid subscribers can comment. I have some hope that this format has sufficient psychological impact to break through the forces of distraction amassed against the few defenders of equality. Even if it does not, I cannot pretend that the Game still plays the way it did. Golden ages never return, and their glittering sheen arises chiefly from nostalgia. As such, beginning something new feels appropriate to my circumstances, especially since my fifth international move is imminent.

I am not done putting essays on Only a Game, but I see no point continuing to put 30-40 essays a year here. I'm expecting it to end up with more like one a month, but I have no specific plan. More than posting here less frequently, however, I am decamping from here. This has been my writing basecamp - whatever I have done elsewhere, I have posted links to it here. But I see no reason to continue doing this (although if you do, please do let me know - this matters to me greatly!). Rather, Only a Game will become home to my longer philosophical essays just as ihobo.com became home to my writings on games. But neither will be 'my blog', and both will become 'one of my blogs'.

As ever, I offer my enormous gratitude to every Player of the Game, past and present, and I am still happy to hear from you whenever you are willing to take the time to write, here, there, or anywhere else. Your time here has been very special to me. But if discourse with me matters, or if you just like to read my ramblings from time to time, please join me at Stranger Worlds. 

With unlimited love and respect,

Chris.

The new Substack, Stranger Worlds and How To Live In Them begins tomorrow.

Sabbatical

Dear friends of the Game,

It is almost time for my Autumnal Social Media Break, but this year I have no plans to come back in December. The philosophical landscape hangs in the balance... I need to know if we are going to rescue our ideals of democracy, free speech, and open scientific discourse, or if those that seek this are to be forced underground into an ethical resistance to the New Empire that has seized control of the planet in a quite remarkable coup. I find it is too difficult to write philosophy without knowing if I should be preserving the ideals I have lived for all my life, or whether I need to be adapting to these 'new dark ages' by forming new trust networks outside and beyond the reach of imperial censorship. By early 2023, I expect this will become quite clear.

So I am taking a longer than usual sabbatical from my philosophical essays this Winter, although WAMTNG will keep boldly going where we've all been before... just slightly differently. I still would love to hear from you, so please feel free to comment on anything here at Only a Game - we have seventeen years of essays to talk about. I am still open for blog letters, as usual, I just probably won't be writing replies any time soon. And if you liked anything I wrote this year, I'd love to hear from you. It's always good to know when I am 'hitting the spot', and philosophy is a lonely enough vocation as it is, even without being a renegade philosopher such as myself.

I leave you with the hope of a human solidarity that truly delights in the unbounded diversity of human existence.

With unlimited love,

Chris.

Only a Game will return in the Gregorian New Year.

When I Grow Up

Dear Players of the Game,

Forgive me for being somewhat fixated on political philosophy recently... the scope of the injustice we have just endured has been so great I could not remain silent without feeling that I had failed in my task as a human being, as a philosopher, and as one who has sworn fealty to the now-fallen notion of human rights. But likewise, I cannot go on like this indefinitely. Hopefully, we are approaching a turning point that can bring some kind of restitution and I can let this go. But all I can really do now is see what happens.

In the meantime, my escape has been WAMTNG, which is helping me write about something other than the nonsense and its aftermath. And I am enjoying Substack as a platform too... it is easy to work with, and I get paid for it. Yes, despite only a few dozen followers, I am already making money writing WAMTNG instead of losing it, as I have been doing here for seventeen years. I'm not actually that motivated by the money... but it certainly makes it easier to justify the time when it is paid for!

So I'd like to write another Substack, but I don't know what it would be. It would need to be something that people wanted to read, and it would need to be something I would be happy to write about. Going back to writing about games seems unlikely... I spend forty or more hours a week doing this as my paid job - by the time I down tools at the end of my day, I'm spent on games. But then, I don't want to start a second Substack if it isn't going to be something that some proportion of people would pay for, not because I need or want the money, but because the decision of others to support my writing with their own money helps to justify the time I spend writing it. So I need to know where the balance point is between what interests me, and what people will support. I would prefer it not be games... but I would consider it.

I welcome your thoughts on this. I'm not planning to give up Only a Game - but I do feel I could stand to write fewer of these kinds of essays and more of something else. It's just I don't know what would be the right something else.

With unlimited love,

Chris.

17 Today

Today, Only a game is an astonishing 17 years old. That's old enough to drive in some places in the world, although actually, there are many countries where nobody regulates driving, so I guess any age would be old enough to drive somewhere. It's been a long strange journey, and it's still a long strange journey, and who knows how long this long strange journey will continue. Thanks to everyone who has read the blog over its long history, and most especially to everyone who has commented - it is always good to know there is still something approaching intelligent life on our planet.

Weird Tidal Forces

With my Spring social media break behind me, I'm back to writing. However, there's little I can do with my philosophy right now. The conditions for 'thinking together' have been disrupted so radically that even if I were to make the attempt to work through the immediate problems, it's not clear anyone would be able to join me on that journey. This problem is wider than myself, it is a problem for philosophy as a whole - one tied up with the 'end of continental philosophy', which is in itself part of a far greater problem in contemporary human thought... There has been a break in the continuity of knowledge that might already be beyond repair, although the possibility endures as long as our books and libraries remain.

And yet, I need to write. So with this in mind, I have decided to undertake a side project that empowers me look back fondly on the era of human rights (1948-2011) while basking in the fading glow of an optimism for humanity's future that still heartens my soul. So I invite everyone with any familiarity with Star Trek: The Next Generation to join me for WAM TNG, a weekly substack that boldly goes where we've already been... only slightly differently. Here's an extract from the welcome page:

I'm going to write about TNG from a perspective that is all about the production of the show, with a focus on three aspects:

W is for Words, the words being used in the script and spoken aloud have a meaning in the world of the story - words like 'transporters', 'shields', and 'Q Continuum' all mean something specific in the world of TNG. Word like this are exceptionally important in science fiction, in a way that they are not important to comedy and drama of most other kinds.

A is for Acting Roles, the people who speak the words, and who ask us to imagine characters in the fictional world of the story. So important are the people to what we imagine, that a Star Wars movie feels legitimate just because it has hired the right cast to perform it. We, the nerdy viewers, are interpreting what they do in the world of the story - but they are just performing the script and reacting to the other actors and actresses.

M is for Models, Make-up, and Mattes, these SFX props do most of the work of crafting a sci-fi setting. For a Star Trek show, they create the races and locations that provide the great deal of the dramatic tension and interest in what's unfolding. Every spaceship model, every latex make-up design, and every matte painting has a vital role in each story they appear within.

In addition to WAM TNG, I will continue posting content to ihobo.com and Only a Game - I have three scheduled already, one of them (gasp!) about games! - but I have no plans to undertake a large campaign like 100 Cyborgs or Magical Science again, nor do I currently have any further plans for books or video content (although this will change eventually). However, I absolutely welcome comments on anything and everything that has ever run on any of my blogs, and I invite anyone and everyone who wants a discussion about any topic I have ever written about to start a conversation wherever they wish. I would especially welcome engagement with the Ascenturian Saga, but all topics are now and forever open for discourse.

New eclectic essays follow in the weeks ahead.

Enjoy the Silence

Off on my Spring Social Media Break now, and won't be back before June at the earliest. Feel free to leave comments while I'm away, as I will respond when I get back to blogging at the start of the Summer months. I am planning to do more game posts over at ihobo.com when I get back, so it might be quiet for a while on Only a Game... or I may not be able to keep my mouth shut, we'll see!  (Long-time readers can probably guess which it will be...) Either way, there's a vast back catalogue of philosophical nonsense here that you're welcome to peruse, and if you haven't done so already, I heartily recommend this year's Ascenturian Saga for a rollicking read.

Be good to one another when you can. Your disagreements with others cannot be proof of their evil, but they are opportunities to learn about those others we are sharing this planet with. Go in peace, look with compassion, listen in love, speak your truth, and own your mistakes whenever you can. 

With unlimited love,

Chris

The game will return later this year. 

Welcome Back to the Green Room

Every time I finish a campaign at Only a Game, I like to say that I have 'gone to the Green Room' i.e. written a post to mark the end of the collection of themed of essays. We were first there in September 2006 for the Metaphysics Campaign, then again in February 2008 for the Ethics Campaign that ran for nearly a year, then there was a long break until the two-year epic that was 100 Cyborgs, which finished up in the Green Room in August 2020. Now here we are again after the Magical Science Campaign, a 16-month affair that started as just a few remarks about pseudoscience, and ended up a critique of the dire state of scientific discourse and the damage caused by this collective failure.

In the early days, when blogs were still a lively source of community, I'd have more than fifty people to thank for their sustained engagement; nowadays I'm lucky if I get a single comment to any piece. However, it has not been a complete comment-desert this campaign and I would like to extend grateful thanks to Chris Billows, Babette Babich, Ian Tyrell, Ari Cheslow, José Zagal, the Reverend Ian Tattum, Nicholas Lovell, Rob Briggs, Sree, Nathan Frost, Tobias, Joaquín Ágreda, Thomas Olsen, Michael Pereira, Psuke, Erlend Grefsrud, Rob Hewson, Anwen Fryer Burrows, Yehuda Berlinger, Sébastien Chaume, Sean Payne, Paul Gestwicki, and the always excellent Matt Mower, along with anyone else who shared their thoughts at some point in the proceedings, either here or in the culture battleground that is Twitter. 

That's all from me for now, as I will be off on my Social Media Break next week, with my last connected day being some unspecified point before 5th May. In the meantime, I leave you all with my unlimited love and respect, and please do drop off a comment in the Green room if you found any part of the Magical Science campaign engaging, thought-provoking, or illuminating.

Thanks for playing!

The game continues later this year.

Concluding the Magical Science Campaign

Next Tuesday, Only a Game returns for the final set of pieces before my Spring Social Media Break in May. There are six in all, exploring utopias, cultural disarmament, gender wars, viruses, public health colonialism, and finally, scientific truth and political reconciliation. These eclectic essays conclude the Magical Science Campaign that began over a year ago in January 2021. Thanks to everyone who has been joining me on this journey!

Introducing... Doctor Multiverse

It gives me great pleasure to introduce you to my ludicrous superheroic alter ego Doctor Multiverse, appearing in a series of 15-minute videos on Doug Lain's Diet Soap Media starting Saturday 19th February! From Balrogs and Daleks to thought experiments and science fiction, Doctor Multiverse: Renegade Philosopher is a mind-melting journey into the moral multiverse, with yours truly as your guide.

I've been writing essays at Only a Game for nearly 17 years, and I have never come close of running out of things to write about. But I've been mindful for some time that the zeitgeist for the exchange of ideas is now video. There are disturbing costs to this transition that we do not acknowledge or indeed yet understand, but there are also remarkable possibilities, and it is with these potentialities that I hope to now supplement the power of my essays to foster understanding and forge peace.

Four episodes will run in this first series, and I shall not be posting new essays until they are over - but fret not, my philosophical nonsense resumes in writing once again on March 15th, and I plan to link the Doctor Multiverse episodes here in the meantime. I welcome discussion on these or anything else you'd care to engage on.

Tune in this Saturday for the debut of Doctor Multiverse: Renegade Philosopher!

Towards Peace

Dear friends,

It's been rather a long social media break this time... partly, I have simply been too busy to attend to this side of my affairs, and partly I have not desired this kind of contact since it has not entailed much if any productive discourse recently, and so is merely aggravation and abuse, which I can understandably do without. But I cannot hide forever. There are matters at hand that need attending to.

What is coming up, you might reasonably ask...? Well, starting next Tuesday (11th January), a new five-part serial begins. Nicknamed "The Ascenturian Saga", it is not officially part of the Magical Science Campaign, but that campaign is not officially over either; rather, I see what is about to happen this year as a coda to Magical Science that is also its own mini-campaign on cultural disarmament. This will be followed in mid-February with my video debut as Doctor Multiverse: Renegade Philosopher on Diet Soap Media, about which there will be more anon.

All my philosophical projects this year are aiming at peace through cultural disarmament, and I have two specific fault lines I am targeting: the pro-vaxxer/anti-vaxxer fault line that fuels the nonsense, and the trans activist/lesbian feminist fault line that fuels the culture war. As ever, there are severe problems with aiming for peace in these particular battlegrounds...

For the nonsense, peace might potentially be obtained by putting the pro-vaxxers and the evidence-based medical research community back into discourse (the genuine anti-vaxxers are largely tangential to peace here, and were never truly the root problem). Alas, this is a path made excruciatingly difficult by now-ubiquitous censorship on these issues in both traditional media and social media. But because pro-vaxxers are emotionally committed to the sciences, being merely temporarily divorced from the research community and its essential disagreements as a consequence of the ongoing censorship, there is perhaps some hope for reconciliation here once the fear begins to subside.

However, since the nonsense has been turbo-charged by the blue-red fault line in the United States, the Senate Midterms are both an opportunity and an enormous risk. De-escalation without reconciliation will mean worse to come in the future... I hope to contribute in some small way to restoring medical discourse and thus the old ideals of clinical medicine and informed consent, and if that's not possible I will fall back to defending 'underground science' as long as is necessary. But I dread the harms on this path, which have already been horrific, particularly in Africa and southern Asia, although not for the reasons that are usually assumed by 'Westerners'.

For the culture wars, peace is hampered by the absence of recognisable spokespeople for the trans activists. This makes the hunt for gender armistice exceptionally tricky. On the plus side, the red-blue fault line is tangential here - this is a war fought internally to the 'left', although oft exacerbated by the tactless remarks made by denizens of 'red' States. I desperately wish for peace and a restoration of the Rainbow Alliance, but the attitudes of non-compromise that have grown up around this fault line make it exceptionally challenging to attain any kind of armistice now. But I could not live with myself if I did not at least try to broker peace here, although it will be walking upon a path of thorns to be sure.

Not everyone wants peace, alas, but such is always my goal. To that end, I leave you with a quote from Immanuel Kant's optimistic treatise of 1795, Towards Perpetual Peace:

One cannot expect that kings philosophize or that philosophers become kings. Nor is this desirable, for holding power unavoidably corrupts the free judgment of reason. Yet both kings and king-like peoples (those which rule over themselves in accordance with laws of equality), should not allow the class of philosophers to diminish or fall silent, but rather should have them speak publicly, for this enlightens the business of government, and, because by its very nature it is incapable of forming mobs and clubs, this class is beyond suspicion of being mere propagandists.

With unlimited love to you all,

Chris.