So they got married and lived hapilly ever after

Back by popular demand here is the latest Thoughts editorial.

Today I'd like to stream a little about mating. No not sex in particular, but selecting and staying with "that special someone". Some of you already know my view about love (I might post my argument from Long Beach Philosophy about love as an illusion later for those who are unclear). But my first post about free will should explains it also. Essentially love is just what we call the biological drive to mate and procreate. The only reason we experience this sensation of love is to ensure that life goes on. Still with me? Good. Now, I like to imagine what life would be like if we were all robots. That is to say, not having an organic body that is hindered by the need for sleep, food, and sex. I think you can see where Im heading with this. If there's no need for sex, then does the whole monogamous (and even polygamous) mating thing fall apart? I'm probably making this more difficult than it needs to be, but my whole point is why do we mate? Why do we marry?

For as long as I can remember it seems that society has deemed marriage (or at least mating for life) as something everyone needs to forever be seeking. Teens are encouraged to date and beyond that you need to be always seeking your soul mate. That special someone that you have to spend the rest of your life with. That special person of the opposite gender (I would like clarify again that I am not sexually attracted to men, and if you recall I'm actually trying to kill my sex drive). Why does your one-and-only have to be of the other sex? If there is anything that I took away from my philosophy classes at Long Beach its that I need to think for myself and analyze why I believe the things I do. In this case, mating and marriage. Now you may say that marriage is a good thing to work towards because if it wasn't it would have been abandoned long ago. And rightly so. Studies have proven that time and time again married couples provide a batter environment for raising children. And thats great. I'm all for happiness and raising children in a good environment. However, my problem with marriage is that far too many people don't know why they strive to attain it. It seems like most people would say they do because its the normal thing to do.

I'm going to try to summarize and clarify a little now. But of course you probably won't agree if you don't follow the first premise.

Mind > Body (biology)
Sex depends on the body
Marriage (mating) is a direct product of sex
Therefore, mating is unnecessary.

Please note: This is just my own view and it is still in its infancy. I've only been toying with this for a few years now and I'm only twenty one. Things change, people change. This is where I'm at now.

Its just a matter of time

Sorry I didnt get around to writing a Thoughts monologue this week, but I've been busting my ass to finish my sculpture five days early because I'm leaving for Mexico in twenty minutes. So you probably wont hear too much from me til Monday night. What I am going to write about however is a major career concern of mine.

As you all should know by now, Im training to become a video game designer. Whats that? I'm on the top of the totem pole and tell the guys below me what to do. Its my job to plan out a game and see to it that all of my programmers and artists are working towards the same goal. I have a lot of good ideas that I want to implement and show the world but by biggest concern is that my unique and innovative ideas will have already been done by the time I have the resources to produce a big time game. Case in point recently: Mass Effect. This is a new game for the Xbox 360 coming out soon. Its a space shooter. Not really something I'm particularly interested in, but from cryptic statements from the producers, it seems that the game will offer a few distinct story arcs depending on a few key choices throughout the game. While this is nothing new, what they hinted at is that these decisions could carry over into the two planned sequels. I had been playing with this idea for a few years now and couldn't figure out why no one had done it yet. I guess it just takes time. Eventually everything will be done. I'm racing against the clock in an industry where I'm already behind.

However, I do have other (and better) ideas, but how long before someone beats me to them?

If it weren't for those meddling kids

I'm not a fan of Shrek. In my honest opinion its just not that great. The jokes are so-so, the animation looks like the Family Guy guys got a hold of it (actions are too fast), and the concept isn't as satirical as they want us to believe. Normally, I wouldn't have bothered to watch the third Shrek movie, but it happened to be playing on the way back from (or maybe it was to) China. I would just like to say that I've seen Scooby-Doo episodes with more original endings.