Post B1vlbu2asu9m8WrTiC by larrybiggs@infosec.exchange
(DIR) More posts by larrybiggs@infosec.exchange
(DIR) Post #B1vknmqnLNarMCRgSe by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-04T04:48:02Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
Jesus does this thing where he says "take some of this bread, it's my body""take this wine it's my blood"Taking common humble objects and ascribing greater significance. (Or saying they transform if you like)It's *odd* that everyone gets obsessed with the *particular* cup used on this occasion. (But long after the fact.)Kind of feels like it is missing the point? Couldn't ANY cup be the holy grail? Just like ANY bread can be the body of Christ.
(DIR) Post #B1vl9NWCD1j7A46dkm by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-04T04:51:55Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
And why is it just the cup? No one cares about the holy plate? The holy table? The holy olive oil bottle? (they had olive oil to go on the bread I'd think)I mean in a way all of those things could also be relics. And maybe they are?Many things are relics. Like famous paintings and limited edition sneaker drops. An identical replacement with a different history is still "fake."
(DIR) Post #B1vlMdRKKCFYJ09MHo by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-04T04:54:18Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
Consider some objects that are precious that you'd never throw away. A gift of jewelry from a friend or lover. A special drawing by a child. A poem written by hand by someone who passed away. If that object were replaces with an *identical* copy would you feel loss? Knowing that you just had a perfect copy?I want to say "no I would not care" but this is a big fat lie I think.
(DIR) Post #B1vlbu2asu9m8WrTiC by larrybiggs@infosec.exchange
2026-01-04T04:57:04Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@futurebird i wonder as to the energy imbued into the original object that would never be able to be duplicated.
(DIR) Post #B1vm9bGJD5NHk0LQcC by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-04T05:03:11Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@larrybiggs I don't know about any energy. But I think knowing the original is gone, or that someone else has it, or it's destroyed makes me sad. It's a little stab of grief because I don't think anyone else would understand why these little bits of junk matter. And maybe they don't understand and that's also sad. Having the same object represents a struggle to keep an object ... it represents people caring.
(DIR) Post #B1vmE0AOYbr88ig3nc by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-04T05:03:51Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@jamey The ship isn't as upsetting. Because people cared about it and repaired it so it's still there.
(DIR) Post #B1vmEaaBADs55719zE by jannem@fosstodon.org
2026-01-04T05:04:05Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@futurebird I would. The value doesn't lie in the object, but in the act of giving and receiving. A different object - even if identical - wasn't the one given.
(DIR) Post #B1vmJJUI9MG1VhW5zM by larrybiggs@infosec.exchange
2026-01-04T05:04:56Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@futurebird agree 100 percent
(DIR) Post #B1vmNlk72WuIIh2cy0 by dlakelan@mastodon.sdf.org
2026-01-04T05:05:42Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@futurebirdThe fondue pot of Christ sounds like a good eerie mystery novel... maybe some sort of 3 investigators reboot.
(DIR) Post #B1vmv7F67orqXMR3jc by lina@eientei.org
2026-01-04T05:11:49.707211Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
@futurebird only a nigger could compare sneakers to famous paintings
(DIR) Post #B1vnBrZBf3hMqFol9s by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-04T05:14:47Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
@jamey In fact I take the radical position that the more people repair and replace part of the ship... the MORE it's "The Ship of Theseus" because of that investment of time and of defining what it is. If it were buried in the sand and perfectly preserved by forgotten? Then it might just be "a ship" with no name.
(DIR) Post #B1vnJdi347BOBJfdtA by thedesert@privacysafe.social
2026-01-04T05:16:10Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@futurebird something is always lost in repetition
(DIR) Post #B1vnWDGMhiV7vKiY1w by vga256@mastodon.tomodori.net
2026-01-04T05:12:56Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
@futurebird so this ends up being kind of a tricky and subtle psychology that i've gotten to practice firsthand i grew up playing a lot of DOS/PC games as a kid. i owned a dozen of them, all bought with summer jobs and allowance money from ages 12-17in my late teens, i got rid of a bunch of them. tossed some, sold others.in my late 20s, i became intensely sentimental about that dozen games i owned as a kid. i deeply regretted getting rid of them, and spent the next 10+ years tracking down copies of each game.now here's the interesting part: common sense is that these aren't really "my" games that i grew up with. they don't have my teacup stain on the cover, the same kidscrawl on the back of the manual, or the dozen of other details that made them "mine". and for a long time that was true - they were just anonymous copies of the same game that i bought from someone elseand then another ten years passed. i could no longer remember whether or not these were my "real" copies from when i was a kid, or ebay replacements i had bought decades later. as soon as they entered that grey zone, they suddenly became mine again. i've seen the same thing happen with books and cd's and old electronics. they don't possess souls or magic or spirits. they're ultimately things that become the foci of memories, but possess nothing inherently.sure, this has limits - some things can't have copies like a parent's ashes - but i suspect most people's memories are for surprisingly commonplace (and not-unique) things.
(DIR) Post #B1vo2LRDqQnUXr7LVo by mw@toot.community
2026-01-04T05:24:15Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@futurebird What if someone "shuffled" the original and duplicate so you don't know which was which, but you know one of them is the original. Do you now cherish them both equally? Personally I would say I cherish each one a _little_ less, but definitely not half as much.
(DIR) Post #B1vo8kQvpFSHnv2Dg0 by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-04T05:25:27Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@mw I'd destroy one and keep going. Decide I had the original for absolutely no rational reason.
(DIR) Post #B1voJ7jG4HAqwxYR0q by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-04T05:27:13Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@CptSuperlative I have a student who is obsessed with early explorers... wonder if he knows about it?
(DIR) Post #B1voOJxw02EyLithaq by mw@toot.community
2026-01-04T05:28:15Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@futurebird đI think I'd approach it as "I now have twice as many cherished possessions!". Could give one away to a close friend.
(DIR) Post #B1voQdCPSdmsa1lmVc by busterb@infosec.exchange
2026-01-04T05:28:40Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@futurebird my brother likes to gift copies of old toys and things we had as kids that he finds in thrift stores, and they're just as special. It's the reminder of the memories and experiences and not the physical things that are important.I made fun of my mom 30 years ago when she bought a brand new chest and called it a family heirloom. How could it be, it's brand new! But now that she's passed and I'm looking at it in my closet, I see what she meant.
(DIR) Post #B1voWLzEMzBEvxKlkm by rainynight65@aus.social
2026-01-04T05:29:41Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@futurebird I would definitely care. When I acquired Australian citizenship, I was given a seedling of a domestic plant at the ceremony. I had the opposite of a green thumb but I wanted to try and maintain that plant. Unfortunately during some very stressful weeks I just... forgot to water it one time too many and it died. I ca easily get another seedling of the same plant type from the council nursery - and I will - but it won't be the plant I was given at my citizenship ceremony.
(DIR) Post #B1voXlNhRFRlz2S2TI by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-04T05:29:55Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@jamey I do have a connection to sailboats as it happens.But I tend to care most that they are in working order and that the rest of the crew can cover the things I can't do. And boats are replaced "all at once" when they can't be saved. People often given them the same name, and end up thinking of it as the same as more time passes?
(DIR) Post #B1vpYzW4TDL44AW4ki by utopiarte@tupambae.org
2026-01-04T05:28:22Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@futurebirdSry, this might sound a bit harsh but the point of view expressed is kinda childish, to direct. In any case all of this are metaphors and "the church", the priests by enacting all that precious ritual around it are actually just transforming it into some sort of total pagan heresy of symbolic idolatry.Interesting in the case of a specific object could be the concept of quantum physics.
(DIR) Post #B1vpZ0iW0Qt3n3LWmu by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-04T05:41:03Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@utopiarte Everyone does idolatry. That's kind of my second point. Or at least I think almost everyone will do something that *someone else* could call "idolatry" -- Though I think I can explain why it's not irrational. At the same time, I thought that the unimportantance of particular material artifacts was part of the big point Jesus was making. But I often badly misunderstand Bible stories. Or that is what I'm told.
(DIR) Post #B1vpdkQG12yKhZ469A by Life_is@no-pony.farm
2026-01-04T05:37:54Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@futurebird@sauropods.win Durch die Wandlung kann jeder Becher zum wahren Kelch werden. Ein wichtiges Reliqium sind die Splitter des Kreuzes an dem Jesus so gehangen hat. Aus den heute noch erhaltenen Splittern könnten 3452 Kreuze an denen Jesus gehangen hat rekonstruiert werden. Mit dem Blut, das Statuen von Jesus bluten, werden jedes Jahr 348 verunglĂŒckte Motorradfahrer mit Blutkonserven versorgt.
(DIR) Post #B1vpdlaver6QKx48Q4 by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-04T05:42:11Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@Life_is If magic is real we should put it to work right away.
(DIR) Post #B1vpeAoxroBUZipCGe by Mkagle@sfba.social
2026-01-04T05:42:19Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@futurebird I think we're getting into Ship of Theseus territory.
(DIR) Post #B1vqLKFig01YHKupqy by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-04T05:50:08Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
@Mkagle Yeah we're already on that one already. Listen. Let's say I wrote a fan fiction where I describe a romance that isn't in the cannon, but then someone rewrites it so that one of the two people in the relationship is different, then another person rewrites it so that the other one is also different and now the relationship *is* cannon. Is it still a ship?
(DIR) Post #B1vqRNDYZ671DDmu2q by australopithecus@mastodon.social
2026-01-04T05:51:10Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@futurebird The answer is that the Arthurian Holy Grail was not originally associated with the Christian holy chalice; the Holy Grail was just a magical cup with healing powers, and the Jesus stuff was ret-conned in later. The holy chalice just inherited this pre-existing significance, and then the English colonized everybody.
(DIR) Post #B1vqcsXOSUdFXDYJSC by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-04T05:53:18Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@australopithecus Oh. Well that would explain a lot. It's odd how there was a fixation on the cup, but that makes more sense.
(DIR) Post #B1vrhZ7q9y8WjOOnCq by amenonsen@mastodon.social
2026-01-04T06:05:18Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@futurebird @Mkagle Where on the ship's deck is this cannon mounted?
(DIR) Post #B1vtrh6HZ270GjcyKO by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-04T06:29:36Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@amenonsen @Mkagle You light the way. This joke can be made so much worse.
(DIR) Post #B1vuf4unoGJeJpo2Xw by yonder@spacey.space
2026-01-04T06:38:28Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@futurebird The Ship of Theseus idea reminds me when I hear it, that the water of Earth cycles, and mixes over the ages such that our bodies, contain a number of water molecules from all living people & creatures beyond a certain point in the past. A couple of thousand years might be a good benchmark...@jamey
(DIR) Post #B1vuhEYmvAKKoMXLpw by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-04T06:38:56Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@yonder @jamey So everything is a relic.
(DIR) Post #B1w9gzb43KnXiRwd16 by dahukanna@mastodon.social
2026-01-04T09:26:51Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@futurebirdâemotional (bio-chemical cascade) meaningâ is associated and retrieved by means of the object presence. You only need one object to trigger and retrieve that reaction.Nothing irrational about that.@mw
(DIR) Post #B1wAerdCnU7GO1Uki0 by david_chisnall@infosec.exchange
2026-01-04T09:37:45Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@futurebird We have a couple of things that are replacements for gifts my late mother in law gave us. The thing of value in the gift was not the object, but the idea that we needed or would enjoy the object. That idea is still present in the replacement.
(DIR) Post #B1wFiDuIvrZU74ujdw by knowuh@mastodon.social
2026-01-04T10:34:19Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@futurebird I enjoyed reading âTransfiguration of the Commonplaceâ (ISBN 9780674903463) as an undergrad. It is a fun exploration of the ontological meaning of (art) objects. It was an important book for me.You might like it!
(DIR) Post #B1wHAqubbfWX9BGoj2 by lienrag@mastodon.tedomum.net
2026-01-04T10:50:37Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@futurebird But maybe the Grail was an anchovy jar ?
(DIR) Post #B1wV2ioDFTT33cIUK0 by thierna@mastodon.green
2026-01-04T13:26:08Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@futurebird at my current mood, I'd feel that I had lost all. Because without knowing which one is the original, I'd be without the real object.Might end up giving both away, cos looking at a potential un-real one would just remind me of the loss. Or stash both away to deal with at another time.
(DIR) Post #B1wVfjBXmcrbWBoGOG by TheLastOfHisName@beige.party
2026-01-04T13:33:10Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@futurebird I jave a well-loved copy of "Walden" by Henry David Thoreau that was gifted to me by a dear friend who is no longer with us. There is no replacing that.
(DIR) Post #B1wXLywTgnbkVKTVKq by epicdemiologist@wandering.shop
2026-01-04T13:52:01Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@futurebird Someone in my family attempted to "replace" an heirloom I had DELIBERATELY CHOSEN to give to a new family member. It made me FURIOUS.
(DIR) Post #B1wZARfDHG24131g1I by Phosphenes@mastodon.social
2026-01-04T14:12:23Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@futurebird Quest for the Holy Spork.
(DIR) Post #B1wsfHslanfDmlmmXI by eramosb@mementomori.social
2026-01-04T17:50:47Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@futurebird @amenonsen @Mkagle this reminds me of the short story by Borges where he imagined the Quixote being written centuries later by somebody else and what that would mean. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Menard,_Author_of_the_Quixote?wprov=sfti1
(DIR) Post #B1x8xT8w3vqFBo2YbI by timtfj@mastodon.social
2026-01-04T20:53:23Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@futurebird The copy doesn't have continuity with the original. What's important with many of these things isn't the physical detail, but the history which connects you with something special. For example the knowledge that you're holding something that was made by someone important to you, or your memories of all the ways you've used it.Even if the replacement is physically identical, I'll know that it isn't the one they made or that I used. That knowledge is what makes it different.
(DIR) Post #B1x9ZBpes9DMVM0gmu by timtfj@mastodon.social
2026-01-04T21:00:11Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@futurebird Who is the "everyone" here? To me (UK Methodist background) that obsession is quite alienâfor a start, it puts Christ firmly in the past, and focuses on physical objects rather than a spiritual encounter in the present moment.