What defines a monster?

[Ravening]

Trying to get closer to the theme of this site here..

How do you define monstrous?  What makes you a monster, if you are one?

Certainly those others mentioned in this section could easily be described as monstrous.

Nietzsche once wrote: Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster.  Is that true, that monster-hunters end up being worthy of becoming prey of other monster-hunters because the original monster-hunter turns into a monster?  Or is Nietzsche's quote not always true: a monster-hunter can hunt without becoming a monster?

To answer my question first, I think sociopaths are at least somewhat monstrous to a degree though, of course, there is a whole spectrum of "sociopath" ranging from those who are sociopathic in thought only, and not in deed, to the sort of sociopath who becomes a serial killer.

I wouldn't say monsters are merely effed up humans or sick humans.  It is a choice to remain monstrous.

Can the wolves live amongst the sheep and the two manage to have a sort of equilibrium and harmony with each other or will the monsters consume all of the "food," if you will?

[hannibal]

Monsters can give you a job...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monster_%28website%29

Monster.com is one of the largest employment websites in the world, owned and operated by Monster Worldwide, Inc. Monster is one of the 20 most visited websites out of 100 million worldwide, according to comScore Media Metrics (November 2006). It was created in 1999 by the merger of The Monster Board (TMB) and Online Career Center (OCC), which were two of the first and most popular career web sites on the Internet. Monster is primarily used to help those seeking work to find job openings that match their skills and location.

[chaoticpsyche]

Monsters can give you a job...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monster_%28website%29

Monster.com is one of the largest employment websites in the world, owned and operated by Monster Worldwide, Inc. Monster is one of the 20 most visited websites out of 100 million worldwide, according to comScore Media Metrics (November 2006). It was created in 1999 by the merger of The Monster Board (TMB) and Online Career Center (OCC), which were two of the first and most popular career web sites on the Internet. Monster is primarily used to help those seeking work to find job openings that match their skills and location.

Nice comeback!

[Ravening]

Hannibal you wouldn't know a monster if it jumped into your address bar.

[hannibal]

Hannibal you wouldn't know a monster if it jumped into your address bar.

Monsters will sneak up on you...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFVlzUAZkHY

[Ravening]

Nice.  You decided to post a video of your girlfriend.

[hannibal]

Nice.  You decided to post a video of your girlfriend.

Monsters prefer natural  biotechnology but the singulartity of artificial technology is fast approachng. What is a monster to do?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Kaczynski

http://cyber.eserver.org/unabom.txt

171. But suppose now that industrial society does survive the next
   several decade and that the bugs do eventually get worked out of the
   system, so that it functions smoothly. What kind of system will it be?
   We will consider several possibilities.
   
   172. First let us postulate that the computer scientists succeed in
   developing intelligent machines that can do all things better that
   human beings can do them. In that case presumably all work will be
   done by vast, highly organized systems of machines and no human effort
   will be necessary. Either of two cases might occur. The machines might
   be permitted to make all of their own decisions without human
   oversight, or else human control over the machines might be retained.
   
   173. If the machines are permitted to make all their own decisions, we
   can't make any conjectures as to the results, because it is impossible
   to guess how such machines might behave. We only point out that the
   fate of the human race would be at the mercy of the machines. It might
   be argued that the human race would never be foolish enough to hand
   over all the power to the machines. But we are suggesting neither that
   the human race would voluntarily turn power over to the machines nor
   that the machines would willfully seize power. What we do suggest is
   that the human race might easily permit itself to drift into a
   position of such dependence on the machines that it would have no
   practical choice but to accept all of the machines decisions. As
   society and the problems that face it become more and more complex and
   machines become more and more intelligent, people will let machines
   make more of their decision for them, simply because machine-made
   decisions will bring better result than man-made ones. Eventually a
   stage may be reached at which the decisions necessary to keep the
   system running will be so complex that human beings will be incapable
   of making them intelligently. At that stage the machines will be in
   effective control. People won't be able to just turn the machines off,
   because they will be so dependent on them that turning them off would
   amount to suicide.
   
   174. On the other hand it is possible that human control over the
   machines may be retained. In that case the average man may have
   control over certain private machines of his own, such as his car of
   his personal computer, but control over large systems of machines will
   be in the hands of a tiny elite -- just as it is today, but with two
   difference. Due to improved techniques the elite will have greater
   control over the masses; and because human work will no longer be
   necessary the masses will be superfluous, a useless burden on the
   system. If the elite is ruthless the may simply decide to exterminate
   the mass of humanity. If they are humane they may use propaganda or
   other psychological or biological techniques to reduce the birth rate
   until the mass of humanity becomes extinct, leaving the world to the
   elite. Or, if the elite consist of soft-hearted liberals, they may
   decide to play the role of good shepherds to the rest of the human
   race. They will see to it that everyone's physical needs are
   satisfied, that all children are raised under psychologically hygienic
   conditions, that everyone has a wholesome hobby to keep him busy, and
   that anyone who may become dissatisfied undergoes "treatment" to cure
   his "problem." Of course, life will be so purposeless that people will
   have to be biologically or psychologically engineered either to remove
   their need for the power process or to make them "sublimate" their
   drive for power into some harmless hobby. These engineered human
   beings may be happy in such a society, but they most certainly will
   not be free. They will have been reduced to the status of domestic
   animals.

[Ravening]

Teddy wasn't a monster.  No cage could hold a monster.

[hannibal]

Teddy wasn't a monster.  No cage could hold a monster.

I would like to see more deep thoughts from you Ravening. Your one liners are occasionally good for comic relief but enough is enough. 

Do you consider yourself a monster, or do you see yourself as being a slightly advanced troll on the verge of full monsterhood?

What are the true monster equations? A perspective of events is just a subset of a collection of all events that could possibly exist and the so called "flow" of time is a highly individualized status quo of personification. The undeniability of conscious experience sweeps through the slices of spatio-temporal exponentiation in a monstrous illumination of the power of consciousness. Perceptual change feels like a flow but is not. Domains of existence are metrically relativised in a mathematical hierarchy of poetic justice, forever beholden to the Godelian logic loop of eternal continuity.

The topological spaces are manifested as a dualistic emancipation of co-containment in a non-rigid world of computative infrastructure. Every finite set of elements has the exponential powers of 2 subsets, including the original sets and the empty set, and, conclusively, it follows that the descriptive and topological duality permits a function of a universal set to exist, also.

Fractal groupings can also be arranged in a natural hierarchy of co-containment, beholden to the music of reality.

[Ravening]

Teddy wasn't a monster.  No cage could hold a monster.

I would like to see more deep thoughts from you Ravening. Your one liners are occasionally good for comic relief but enough is enough. 

Do you consider yourself a monster, or do you see yourself as being a slightly advanced troll on the verge of full monsterhood?

Monsterhood?  Is that like an achievement?  Wearing all black and slicing your wrists does not a monster make.

What are the true monster equations? A perspective of events is just a subset of a collection of all events that could possibly exist and the so called "flow" of time is a highly individualized status quo of personification. The undeniability of conscious experience sweeps through the slices of spatio-temporal exponentiation in a monstrous illumination of the power of consciousness. Perceptual change feels like a flow but is not. Domains of existence are metrically relativised in a mathematical hierarchy of poetic justice, forever beholden to the Godelian logic loop of eternal continuity.

Is there a real question in there or are you just going to keep babbling?

The topological spaces are manifested as a dualistic emancipation of co-containment in a non-rigid world of computative infrastructure. Every finite set of elements has the exponential powers of 2 subsets, including the original sets and the empty set, and, conclusively, it follows that the descriptive and topological duality permits a function of a universal set to exist, also.

I think that the continuum hypothesis has something to do with the half-iterate of the powers of 2. Does that answer your question?
Universal sets can exist without the axiom of comprehension and foundedness but I fail to see how Cantor was a monster just because he was institutionalized.

Fractal groupings can also be arranged in a natural hierarchy of co-containment, beholden to the music of reality.

What is a fractal grouping?

[hannibal]

Fractal groupings are some very advanced math. Too bad you can't keep up... 

[Ravening]

Fractal groupings are some very advanced math. Too bad you can't keep up... 

But what does that have to do with monstrosity?

[hannibal]

Fractal groupings are some very advanced math. Too bad you can't keep up... 

But what does that have to do with monstrosity?

It has everything to do with monstrosity, the science of monstrosity. You appeaer to only reply with one sentence at a time. Does that mean you are a pseudointellectuial?

Hard to say but I was hoping that you could share your own original thoughts instead of sniping commentary.

What are YOUR thoughts Ravening.

[Ravening]

You don't want to know my thoughts; they are too monstrous for you to handle.

[hannibal]

You don't want to know my thoughts; they are too monstrous for you to handle.

Do you feed on the life force of others Ravening?

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2050385/are_vampires_walking_among_us.html

According to people who call themselves real vampires, they are very different from vampires of novels and movies. Real vampires have almost none of the characteristics we are familiar with. They don't burn up in the sun, cringe at the sight of religious objects, or have a particular fear of garlic. They don't sparkle either. A real vampire is human in every way except for their distinct need to absorb life force energy from outside sources. This life force energy, they claim, is all around us. Normal human beings have no problem drawing on this energy and using it. Vampires on the other hand have damaged chakras or a soul that is separate from the flesh body that prevents them from drawing life force energy from the universal source. According to vampires they are required to get the energy from humans who do not have this energy deficiency.