I'm looking for a word related to the physical actions of thousands transcending those of the individual.
I want to use the word metaphysical, because it sounds like it fits, but I don't think its the right word, because it has religious connotations. I'm speaking purely in the physical sense.
Does anyone know the word I'm looking for? Jun?
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"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."
President Eisenhower
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/10/2009 05:12AM by Kairos.
It really is important to get the right word here...
Its either gregariotransmorphic hyperoptimalism or no one knows what the hell I'm talking about.
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"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."
President Eisenhower
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/10/2009 05:15AM by Kairos.
There's an open source version called the uncyclopedia. Its a wiki of bogus information. Some of the articles are actually very funny like this Tarkovsky article:
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"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."
“Forget the war between the sexes. If being equal means we have fight and have the 50% chance of divorce for every marriage we have, forget it. Let's respect each other for what we are and try to get along with more respect. "Equality" might be an illusory goal, since we've each got different equipment, inside and out, but respect and compassion are eternal.” — Barack Obama
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"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."
I wrote a few articles for them ages ago, but then everyone else ruined them by editing out the bits only I thought were funny.
“Forget the war between the sexes. If being equal means we have fight and have the 50% chance of divorce for every marriage we have, forget it. Let's respect each other for what we are and try to get along with more respect. "Equality" might be an illusory goal, since we've each got different equipment, inside and out, but respect and compassion are eternal.” — Barack Obama
Kairos Wrote:
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> I'm looking for a word related to the physical
> actions of thousands transcending those of the
> individual.
>
> I want to use the word metaphysical, because it
> sounds like it fits, but I don't think its the
> right word, because it has religious connotations.
> I'm speaking purely in the physical sense.
> Does anyone know the word I'm looking for? Jun?
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He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.
Ok I'll give the context. I'm trying to describe Tolstoy's view of history being not a question of individual actions, because in Tolstoy's view the individual had very little real power and was confined by the zeitgeist or the movements of thousands of people which the people in power are really only a symptom of. So Tolstoy's view of the process of history was a question of free will, which didn't really seem to exist. It functioned more like the weather or tectonic movements outside of the our control.
So I'm looking for a word to sum that up. I want to say metaphysical like "Tolstoy's view of history was a sort of metaphysical question of free will involving the actions of thousands transcending the individual's conscious decision,", but I'm not even quite sure what metaphysical means and often it has a religious context.
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"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."
President Eisenhower
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/10/2009 08:55PM by Kairos.
If you're implying that Tolstoy saw people (individuals and groups) as being manipulated by some outside force like a god, then metaphysical might describe his viewpoint but I don't think that's what you're trying to say, is it? More the view that a society is an entity in and of itself where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts and being such an animal, it has its own personality, drive and dynamic. I think a good word for that would be transindividuation.
If you're implying that Tolstoy saw people (individuals and groups) as being manipulated by some outside force like a god, then metaphysical might describe his viewpoint but I don't think that's what you're trying to say, is it?
No its not what I'm trying to say. Although Tolstoy was deeply religious his view of the process of history was very mechanical and certainly didn't imply god's intervention as he himself was horrified by it not the least bit probably came from his own experiences in the Crimean war.
Quote:
More the view that a society is an entity in and of itself where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts and being such an animal, it has its own personality, drive and dynamic. I think a good word for that would be transindividuation.
You get what I'm saying exactly. Transindividuation wow! Did you just invent the word or is it already a word?
I should expand that Tolstoy didn't just view history as transcending the individual to large groups, but that the whole thing was set in motion by vast amounts of matter moving since the beginning of time. That's why I gravitated toward the term metaphysical although not in the religious sense...
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"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."
President Eisenhower
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 09/12/2009 07:56AM by Kairos.
Thought so it works well though. I'm thinking of using it.
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"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."
Be my guest. Seems related to hive or herd mentality. Perhaps some reading about that would score a REAL word for what you're trying to describe? I must disagree with his view that some outside force is at work, however. It's really just social dynamics.
Its related to hive or herd mentality in that its descriptive of the masses. I have read a few books about that, but there's more to it than just the human dynamic. His view isn't that some outside force is at work per se and definitely not in the religious sense. The outside force is merely the large amount of matter floating around since the beginning of time. Hard to argue with that. Really what hes getting at is that no one is really in control, or if we are not nearly as much as we'd like to think again not talking about religion, just physics. The ones who we do think are in control are merely in the right place at the right time, but again have very little real control.
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"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."
President Eisenhower
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/12/2009 08:26PM by Kairos.
