Interesting Links for 10-1-2011

[andrewducker]

• The (probably) last Nazi trial descends into farce
  (tags: nazi wwii law)
• On the politics of blame. (Some people seem to think that you can't have personal _and_ societal responsibility. I don't see why...)
  (tags: politics terrorism nature nurture society)
• Addicts overestimate the pleasure they will gain from their addiction, due to dopamine dysfunction.
  (tags: addiction dopamine psychology)
• On arbitrariness in writing, Star Wars, and Dr Who
  (tags: movies starwars writing DrWho)
• Israel's stated aim is to keep Gaza on the brink of collapse.
  (tags: israel palestine)
• The circumstances under which I would be happy to see a politician shot
  (tags: politics violence terrorism)
• 1-year-old babies can detect meaning in spoken language, and process sounds the same way adults do.
  (tags: brains babies development)

Comments

[ciphergoth.livejournal.com]

The popular misconception that blame must sum to 1 seems to lead to endless confusion.

[call-waiting.livejournal.com]

The "arbitrariness" post is something that's been bugging me for a while, but it seems wrong to say that "arbitrariness" is the problem; there will always be arbitrary decisions and events in any well-written fiction. The problem is the lack of a cohesive plot. It's the difference between storytelling, and just Saying Some Stuff Happened.

There needs to be more storytelling in these things. That's the long and short of it.