I'm more interested

[dougo]

A long while ago I decided on "programming languages", "board games", and "underground music" as the hobbies for my profile on some online dating service. Those somewhat broad categories pretty much cover most of what I do for fun, so I used them for the interests list on my LiveJournal profile. There are other things I'm interested in that aren't exactly hobbies, though, so in order to give a more rounded impression of what discussion topics might be found in my journal, I figured I ought to flesh out that list. Anyway, here's a little tour of the new additions:

• "Free software", "open culture", "copyright reform", "The Case Against IP": there's probably some redundancy here, but I view them as four separate facets.
  • "Free software" refers to the Free Software Foundation, and in particular I prefer that term (and that philosophy) to "open source software".
  • "Open culture" refers to OpenCulture.org, which unfortunately seems to be gone now; maybe I should point to Creative Commons instead, but OpenCulture was not just about licensing/copyright issues but also artist compensation: micropayments, patronage, etc.
  • "Copyright reform" is a term I saw on novalis's Orkut profile (but it doesn't seem to be in his LiveJournal interests list); even if you don't want to get rid of copyright law altogether, things like the Disney extensions and reduction of fair use are still worth fighting against.
  • "The Case Against Intellectual Property" refers to a paper (and a broader research project) by Boldrin and Levine, an academic study of intellectual property from an economics point of view.
• "Atheism", "agnosticism", "rationalism", "enlightened self-interest": also somewhat overlapping, but worth listing separately.
  • Depending on your definitions, atheism and agnosticism are either the same thing, mutually exclusive, or subcategories of each other. Literally speaking, I neither believe in God nor the absence of God, but practically speaking I act as if I believe there is no God. Depending on the definition of "believe" (and "act"), of course.
  • I've never actually studied the specific branch of philosophy known as rationalism, but I've heard Objectivism described as "warmed-over rationalism" so it seems like the right thing, given my deeply mixed feelings about Atlas Shrugged. I should follow up on this some day.
  • "Enlightened self-interest" is kind of a cliche, and often used derisively or ironically, but I'm using it for lack of a better term. To me it's just a practical justification for the Golden Rule as a basis for morality (in the absence of God or other superstitions), and so far that principle seems to make sense to me.
• "Electoral reform" is a catch-all term for several things I didn't feel like separating out: preference voting, full representation, and voting machines that run free software. There will probably be other things that will fall under this umbrella.
• "How The Mind Works" refers to the book by Steven Pinker and his theories about evolution and cognitive science. I'm also a fan of The Language Instinct but How The Mind Works is more provocative. Still haven't read The Blank Slate.
• "Strauss & Howe" refers to a pair of authors who have written several books about generations through American history and the predictions of their sociological model of a cycle of generational archetypes. I would have singled out their book Generations but it's sort of a generic term (and people would probably think I meant Star Trek).
• "Polyamory": more of a declaration than an interest; most of what I read about it seems to be written by people who have a very different conception of it than I do, so I tend to distance myself from that label. But I've been thinking about it recently, and have decided that it's a part of who I am and the way I'm wired up, even though it has only rarely come up in practice. I plan to write a longer essay about this at some point.
• "Science fiction": the number one common interest among my friends list. Way too broad a genre, but there isn't really a more specific category that I could come up with to describe the things I like to read/watch/dream. And I couldn't bring myself to include "fantasy", but I'm down with wizards and dragons and that stuff too. But only the good stuff.
• "Psychedelia": another broad genre that probably gives the wrong impressions to most people, but I do feel it's at the root of what draws me to any particular piece of music or art. But I stay far away from the Grateful Dead (except for that theme music for the Al Franken Show).
• "Tivo": well, it's taken up more than enough of my life. I resent the fact that I had to put the name of a corporation in my interests list, but I haven't gotten around to really looking into free software alternatives. Because I'm too busy watching "Two Guys and a Girl" reruns on the Women's Entertainment channel.
• "MIT Mystery Hunt": a convenient stand-in for "puzzles, but not jigsaws or crosswords, unless they're, you know, interesting". But I'm not about to join the National Puzzlers League; one marathon weekend a year is just about the right amount.

I'm sure I'll think of more, but inertia will probably prevent me from adding anything for a while. Meanwhile, comments and questions are welcome...

Comments

Re: Excellent

[cower2spb.livejournal.com]

"Science fiction"
"Psychedelia"
"Tivo"
"MIT Mystery Hunt"

Man. That's like 'bout me %)) heh...