,copyright 7,c7 #bjjb by ,lidija ,rangelovska4 ,moral ,deliberations in ,modern ,cinema #asst ,,edition ,sam ,vaknin1 ,ph4,d4 ,editing and ,design3 ,lidija ,rangelovska ,lidija ,rangelovska ,a ,narcissus ,publications ,imprint1 ,skopje #bjjc ,not for ,sale6 ,non-commercial edition4 #bjjb ,copyright ,lidija ,rangelovska4 ,all rights reserved4 ,this book1 or any part thereof1 may not be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission from3 ,lidija ,rangelovska - write to3 palmaunet4com4mk or to vakninlink4com4mk ,visit the ,author ,archive of ,dr4 ,sam ,vaknin in ,central ,europe ,review3 http3_/_/www4ce-review4org_/authorarchiv es_/vakninarchive_/vakninmain4htm l ,visit ,sam ,vaknin's ,united ,press ,international 7,,upi7 ,article ,archive -,click ,,here6 ,philosophical ,musings and ,essays http3_/_/samvak4tripod4com_/culture4html ,malignant ,self ,love - ,narcissism ,revisited http3_/_/samvak4tripod4com_/ ,created by3 ,,lidija ,,rangelovska ,,republic ,,of ,,macedonia ,c ,o ,n ,t ,e ,n ,t ,s ,i4 ,the ,talented ,mr4 ,ripley ,,ii4 ,the ,truman ,show ,,iii4 ,the ,matrix ,,iv4 ,shattered ,v4 ,titanic ,,vi4 ,being ,john ,malkovich ,,vii4 ,dreamcatcher - ,the ,myth of ,destructibility ,,viii4 ,the ,author ,,ix4 ,about ,after the ,rain ,the ,talented ,mr4 ,ripley ,by3 ,sam ,vaknin ,the ,talented ,mr4 ,ripley is an ,hitchcockian and blood-curdling study of the psychopath and his victims4 ,at the centre of this masterpiece1 set in the exquisitely decadent scapes of ,italy1 is a titanic encounter between ,ripley1 the aforementioned psychopath protagonist and young ,greenleaf1 a consummate narcissist4 ,ripley is a cartoonishly poor young adult whose overriding desire is to belong to a higher - or at least1 richer - social class4 ,while he waits upon the subjects of his not so hidden desires1 he receives an offer he cannot refuse3 to travel to ,italy to retrieve the spoiled and hedonistic son of a shipbuilding magnate1 ,greenleaf ,senior4 ,he embarks upon a study of ,junior's biography1 personality1 likes and hobbies4 ,in a chillingly detailed process1 he actually assumes ,greenleaf's identity4 ,disembarking from a luxurious ,cunard liner in his destination1 ,italy1 he confesses to a gullible textile-heiress that he is the young ,greenleaf1 travelling incognito4 ,thus1 we are subtly introduced to the two over-riding themes of the antisocial personality disorder 7still labelled by many professional authorities psychopathy and sociopathy73 an overwhelming dysphoria and an even more overweening drive to assuage this angst by belonging4 ,the psychopath is an unhappy person4 ,he is besieged by recurrent depression bouts1 hypochondria and an overpowering sense of alienation and drift4 ,he is bored with his own life and is permeated by a seething and explosive envy of the lucky1 the mighty1 the clever1 the have it alls1 the know it alls1 the handsome1 the happy - in short3 his opposites4 ,he feels discriminated against and dealt a poor hand in the great poker game called life4 ,he is driven obsessively to right these perceived wrongs and feels entirely justified in adopting whatever means he deems necessary in pursuing this goal4 ,ripley's reality test is maintained throughout the film4 ,in other words - while he gradually merges with the object of his admiring emulation1 the young ,greenleaf - ,ripley can always tell the difference4 ,after he kills ,greenleaf in self-defense1 he assumes his name1 wears his clothes1 cashes his checks and makes phone calls from his rooms4 ,but he also murders - or tries to murder - those who suspect the truth4 ,these acts of lethal self-preservation prove conclusively that he knows who he is and that he fully realizes that his acts are parlously illegal4 ,young ,greenleaf is young1 captivatingly energetic1 infinitely charming1 breathtakingly handsome and deceivingly emotional4 ,he lacks real talents - he know how to play only six jazz tunes1 can't make up his musical mind between his faithful sax and a newly alluring drum kit and1 an aspiring writer1 can't even spell4 ,these shortcomings and discrepancies are tucked under a glittering facade of non-chalance1 refreshing spontaneity1 an experimental spirit1 unrepressed sexuality and unrestrained adventurism4 ,but ,greenleaf ,jr4 is a garden variety narcissist4 ,he cheats on his lovely and loving girlfriend1 ,marge4 ,he refuses to lend money - of which he seems to have an unlimited supply1 courtesy his ever more disenchanted father - to a girl he impregnated4 ,she commits suicide and he blames the primitiveness of the emergency services1 sulks and kicks his precious record player4 ,in the midst of this infantile temper tantrum the rudiments of a conscience are visible4 ,he evidently feels guilty4 ,at least for a while4 ,greenleaf ,jr4 falls in and out of love and friendship in a predictable pendulous rhythm4 ,he idealizes his beaus and then devalues them4 ,he finds them to be the quiddity of fascination one moment - and the distilled essence of boredom the next4 ,and he is not shy about expressing his distaste and disenchantment4 ,he is savagely cruel as he calls ,ripley a leach who has taken over his life and his possessions 7having previously invited him to do so in no uncertain terms74 ,he says that he is relieved to see him go and he cancels off-handedly elaborate plans they made together4 ,greenleaf ,jr4 maintains a poor record of keeping promises and a rich record of violence1 as we discover towards the end of this suspenseful1 taut yarn4 ,ripley himself lacks an identity4 ,he is a binary automaton driven by a set of two instructions - become someone and overcome resistance4 ,he feels like a nobody and his overriding ambition is to be somebody1 even if he has to fake it1 or steal it4 ,his only talents1 he openly admits1 are to fake both personalities and papers4 ,he is a predator and he hunts for congruence1 cohesion and meaning4 ,he is in constant search of a family4 ,greenleaf ,jr41 he declares festively1 is the older brother he never had4 ,together with the long suffering fiancee in waiting1 ,marge1 they are a family4 ,hasn't ,greenleaf ,sr4 actually adopted him8 ,this identity disturbance1 which is at the psychodynamic root of both pathological narcissism and rapacious psychopathy1 is all-pervasive4 ,both ,ripley and ,greenleaf ,jr4 are not sure who they are4 ,ripley wants to be ,greenleaf ,jr4 - not because of the latter's admirable personality1 but because of his money4 ,greenleaf ,jr4 cultivates a ,false ,self of a jazz giant in the making and the author of the ,great ,american ,novel but he is neither and he bitterly knows it4 ,even their sexual identity is not fully formed4 ,ripley is at once homoerotic1 autoerotic and heteroerotic4 ,he has a succession of homosexual lovers 7though apparently only platonic ones74 ,yet1 he is attracted to women4 ,he falls desperately in love with ,greenleaf's ,false ,self and it is the revelation of the latter's dilapidated ,true ,self that leads to the atavistically bloody scene in the boat4 ,but ,ripley is a different -and more ominous - beast altogether4 ,he rambles on about the metaphorical dark chamber of his secrets1 the key to which he wishes to share with a loved one4 ,but this act of sharing 7which never materializes7 is intended merely to alleviate the constant pressure of the hot pursuit he is subjected to by the police and others4 ,he disposes with equal equanimity of both loved ones and the occasional prying acquaintance4 ,at least twice he utters words of love as he actually strangles his newfound inamorato and tries to slash an old and rekindled flame4 ,he hesitates not a split second when confronted with an offer to betray ,greenleaf ,sr41 his nominal employer and benefactor1 and abscond with his money4 ,he falsifies signatures with ease1 makes eye contact convincingly1 flashes the most heart rending smile when embarrassed or endangered4 ,he is a caricature of the ,american dream3 ambitious1 driven1 winsome1 well versed in the mantras of the bourgeoisie4 ,but beneath this thin veneer of hard learned1 self-conscious and uneasy civility - lurks a beast of prey best characterized by the ,,dsm ,,iv 7,diagnostic and ,statistics ,manual73 ,failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviour1 deceitfulness as indicated by repeated lying1 use of aliases1 or conning others to personal profit or pleasure1 impulsivity or failure to plan ahead444 reckless disregard for safety of self or others 4447and above all7 lack of remorse4 7,from the criteria of the ,antisocial ,personality ,disorder74 ,but perhaps the most intriguing portraits are those of the victims4 ,marge insists1 in the face of the most callous and abusive behaviour1 that there is something tender in ,greenleaf ,jr4 ,when she confronts the beguiling monster1 ,ripley1 she encounters the fate of all victims of psychopaths3 disbelief1 pity and ridicule4 ,the truth is too horrible to contemplate1 let alone comprehend4 ,psychopaths are inhuman in the most profound sense of this compounded word4 ,their emotions and conscience have been amputated and replaced by phantom imitations4 ,but it is rare to pierce their meticulously crafted facade4 ,they more often than not go on to great success and social acceptance while their detractors are relegated to the fringes of society4 ,both ,meredith and ,peter1 who had the misfortune of falling in deep1 unrequited love with ,ripley1 are punished4 ,one by losing his life1 the other by losing ,ripley time and again1 mysteriously1 capriciously1 cruelly4 ,thus1 ultimately1 the film is an intricate study of the pernicious ways of psychopathology4 ,mental disorder is a venom not confined to its source4 ,it spreads and affects its environment in a myriad surreptitiously subtle forms4 ,it is a hydra1 growing one hundred heads where one was severed4 ,its victims writhe and as abuse is piled upon trauma - they turn to stone1 the mute witnesses of horror1 the stalactites and stalagmites of pain untold and unrecountable4 ,for their tormentors are often as talented as ,mr4 ,ripley is and they are as helpless and as clueless as his victims are4 ,the ,truman ,show ,by3 ,sam ,vaknin ,the ,truman ,show is a profoundly disturbing movie4 ,on the surface1 it deals with the worn out issue of the intermingling of life and the media4 ,examples for such incestuous relationships abound3 ,ronald ,reagan1 the cinematic president was also a presidential movie star4 ,in another movie 7,the ,philadelphia ,experiment7 a defrosted ,rip ,van ,winkle exclaims upon seeing ,reagan on television 7#dj years after his forced hibernation started73 ,i know this guy1 he used to play ,cowboys in the movies4 ,candid cameras monitor the lives of webmasters 7website owners7 almost #bd hours a day4 ,the resulting images are continuously posted on the ,web and are available to anyone with a computer4 ,the last decade witnessed a spate of films1 all concerned with the confusion between life and the imitations of life1 the media4 ,the ingenious ,capitan ,fracasse1 ,capricorn ,one1 ,sliver1 ,wag the ,dog and many lesser films have all tried to tackle this 7un7fortunate state of things and its moral and practical implications4 ,the blurring line between life and its representation in the arts is arguably the main theme of ,the ,truman ,show4 ,the hero1 ,truman1 lives in an artificial world1 constructed especially for him4 ,he was born and raised there4 ,he knows no other place4 ,the people around him - unbeknownst to him - are all actors4 ,his life is monitored by #ejjj cameras and broadcast live to the world1 #bd hours a day1 every day4 ,he is spontaneous and funny because he is unaware of the monstrosity of which he is the main cogwheel4 ,but ,peter ,weir1 the movie's director1 takes this issue one step further by perpetrating a massive act of immorality on screen4 ,truman is lied to1 cheated1 deprived of his ability to make choices1 controlled and manipulated by sinister1 half-mad ,shylocks4 ,as ,i said1 he is unwittingly the only spontaneous1 non-scripted1 actor in the on-going soaper of his own life4 ,all the other figures in his life1 including his parents1 are actors4 ,hundreds of millions of viewers and voyeurs plug in to take a peep1 to intrude upon what ,truman innocently and honestly believes to be his privacy4 ,they are shown responding to various dramatic or anti-climactic events in ,truman's life4 ,that we are the moral equivalent of these viewers-voyeurs1 accomplices to the same crimes1 comes as a shocking realization to us4 ,we are 7live7 viewers and they are 7celluloid7 viewers4 ,we both enjoy ,truman's inadvertent1 non-consenting1 exhibitionism4 ,we know the truth about ,truman and so do they4 ,of course1 we are in a privileged moral position because we know it is a movie and they know it is a piece of raw life that they are watching4 ,but moviegoers throughout ,hollywood's history have willingly and insatiably participated in numerous ,truman ,shows4 ,the lives 7real or concocted7 of the studio stars were brutally exploited and incorporated in their films4 ,jean ,harlow1 ,barbara ,stanwyck1 ,james ,cagney all were forced to spill their guts in cathartic acts of on camera repentance and not so symbolic humiliation4 ,truman ,shows is the more common phenomenon in the movie industry4 ,then there is the question of the director of the movie as ,god and of ,god as the director of a movie4 ,the members of his team - technical and non-technical alike - obey ,christoff1 the director1 almost blindly4 ,they suspend their better moral judgement and succumb to his whims and to the brutal and vulgar aspects of his pervasive dishonesty and sadism4 ,the torturer loves his victims4 ,they define him and infuse his life with meaning4 ,caught in a narrative1 the movie says1 people act immorally4 7,,in7famous psychological experiments support this assertion4 ,students were led to administer what they thought were deadly electric shocks to their colleagues or to treat them bestially in simulated prisons4 ,they obeyed orders4 ,so did all the hideous genocidal criminals in history4 ,the ,director ,weir asks3 should ,god be allowed to be immoral or should he be bound by morality and ethics8 ,should his decisions and actions be constrained by an over-riding code of right and wrong8 ,should we obey his commandments blindly or should we exercise judgement8 ,if we do exercise judgement are we then being immoral because ,god 7and the ,director ,christoff7 know more 7about the world1 about us1 the viewers and about ,truman71 know better1 are omnipotent8 ,is the exercise of judgement the usurpation of divine powers and attributes8 ,isn't this act of rebelliousness bound to lead us down the path of apocalypse8 ,it all boils down to the question of free choice and free will versus the benevolent determinism imposed by an omniscient and omnipotent being4 ,what is better3 to have the choice and be damned 7almost inevitably1 as in the biblical narrative of the ,garden of ,eden7 - or to succumb to the superior wisdom of a supreme being8 ,a choice always involves a dilemma4 ,it is the conflict between two equivalent states1 two weighty decisions whose outcomes are equally desirable and two identically-preferable courses of action4 ,where there is no such equivalence - there is no choice1 merely the pre-ordained 7given full knowledge7 exercise of a preference or inclination4 ,bees do not choose to make honey4 ,a fan of football does not choose to watch a football game4 ,he is motivated by a clear inequity between the choices that he faces4 ,he can read a book or go to the game4 ,his decision is clear and pre-determined by his predilection and by the inevitable and invariable implementation of the principle of pleasure4 ,there is no choice here4 ,it is all rather automatic4 ,but compare this to the choice some victims had to make between two of their children in the face of ,nazi brutality4 ,which child to sentence to death - which one to sentence to life8 ,now1 this is a real choice4 ,it involves conflicting emotions of equal strength4 ,one must not confuse decisions1 opportunities and choice4 ,decisions are the mere selection of courses of action4 ,this selection can be the result of a choice or the result of a tendency 7conscious1 unconscious1 or biological-genetic74 ,opportunities are current states of the world1 which allow for a decision to be made and to affect the future state of the world4 ,choices are our conscious experience of moral or other dilemmas4 ,christoff finds it strange that ,truman - having discovered the truth - insists upon his right to make choices1 i4e41 upon his right to experience dilemmas4 ,to the ,director1 dilemmas are painful1 unnecessary1 destructive1 or at best disruptive4 ,his utopian world - the one he constructed for ,truman - is choice-free and dilemma-free4 ,truman is programmed not in the sense that his spontaneity is extinguished4 ,truman is wrong when1 in one of the scenes1 he keeps shouting3 ,be careful1 ,i am spontaneous4 ,the ,director and fat-cat capitalistic producers want him to be spontaneous1 they want him to make decisions4 ,but they do not want him to make choices4 ,so they influence his preferences and predilections by providing him with an absolutely totalitarian1 micro-controlled1 repetitive environment4 ,such an environment reduces the set of possible decisions so that there is only one favourable or acceptable decision 7outcome7 at any junction4 ,truman does decide whether to walk down a certain path or not4 ,but when he does decide to walk - only one path is available to him4 ,his world is constrained and limited - not his actions4 ,actually1 ,truman's only choice in the movie leads to an arguably immoral decision4 ,he abandons ship4 ,he walks out on the whole project4 ,he destroys an investment of billions of dollars1 people's lives and careers4 ,he turns his back on some of the actors who seem to really be emotionally attached to him4 ,he ignores the good and pleasure that the show has brought to the lives of millions of people 7the viewers74 ,he selfishly and vengefully goes away4 ,he knows all this4 ,by the time he makes his decision1 he is fully informed4 ,he knows that some people may commit suicide1 go bankrupt1 endure major depressive episodes1 do drugs4 ,but this massive landscape of resulting devastation does not deter him4 ,he prefers his narrow1 personal1 interest4 ,he walks4 ,but ,truman did not ask or choose to be put in his position4 ,he found himself responsible for all these people without being consulted4 ,there was no consent or act of choice involved4 ,how can anyone be responsible for the well-being and lives of other people - if he did not ,,choose to be so responsible8 ,moreover1 ,truman had the perfect moral right to think that these people wronged him4 ,are we morally responsible and accountable for the well-being and lives of those who wrong us8 ,true ,christians are1 for instance4 ,moreover1 most of us1 most of the time1 find ourselves in situations which we did not help mould by our decisions4 ,we are unwillingly cast into the world4 ,we do not provide prior consent to being born4 ,this fundamental decision is made for us1 forced upon us4 ,this pattern persists throughout our childhood and adolescence3 decisions are made elsewhere by others and influence our lives profoundly4 ,as adults we are the objects - often the victims - of the decisions of corrupt politicians1 mad scientists1 megalomaniac media barons1 gung-ho generals and demented artists4 ,this world is not of our making and our ability to shape and influence it is very limited and rather illusory4 ,we live in our own ,truman ,show4 ,does this mean that we are not morally responsible for others8 ,we are morally responsible even if we did not choose the circumstances and the parameters and characteristics of the universe that we inhabit4 ,the ,swedish ,count ,wallenberg imperilled his life 7and lost it7 smuggling hunted ,jews out of ,nazi occupied ,europe4 ,he did not choose1 or helped to shape ,nazi ,europe4 ,it was the brainchild of the deranged ,director ,hitler4 ,having found himself an unwilling participant in ,hitler's horror show1 ,wallenberg did not turn his back and opted out4 ,he remained within the bloody and horrific set and did his best4 ,truman should have done the same4 ,jesus said that he should have loved his enemies4 ,he should have felt and acted with responsibility towards his fellow human beings1 even towards those who wronged him greatly4 ,but this may be an inhuman demand4 ,such forgiveness and magnanimity are the reserve of ,god4 ,and the fact that ,truman's tormentors did not see themselves as such and believed that they were acting in his best interests and that they were catering to his every need - does not absolve them from their crimes4 ,truman should have maintained a fine balance between his responsibility to the show1 its creators and its viewers and his natural drive to get back at his tormentors4 ,the source of the dilemma 7which led to his act of choosing7 is that the two groups overlap4 ,truman found himself in the impossible position of being the sole guarantor of the well-being and lives of his tormentors4 ,to put the question in sharper relief3 are we morally obliged to save the life and livelihood of someone who greatly wronged us8 ,or is vengeance justified in such a case8 ,a very problematic figure in this respect is that of ,truman's best and childhood friend4 ,they grew up together1 shared secrets1 emotions and adventures4 ,yet he lies to ,truman constantly and under the ,director's instructions4 ,everything he says is part of a script4 ,it is this disinformation that convinces us that he is not ,truman's true friend4 ,a real friend is expected1 above all1 to provide us with full and true information and1 thereby1 to enhance our ability to choose4 ,truman's true love in the ,show tried to do it4 ,she paid the price3 she was ousted from the show4 ,but she tried to provide ,truman with a choice4 ,it is not sufficient to say the right things and make the right moves4 ,inner drive and motivation are required and the willingness to take risks 7such as the risk of providing ,truman with full information about his condition74 ,all the actors who played ,truman's parents1 loving wife1 friends and colleagues1 miserably failed on this score4 ,it is in this mimicry that the philosophical key to the whole movie rests4 ,a ,utopia cannot be faked4 ,captain ,nemo's utopian underwater city was a real ,utopia because everyone knew everything about it4 ,people were given a choice 7though an irreversible and irrevocable one74 ,they chose to become lifetime members of the reclusive ,captain's colony and to abide by its 7overly rational7 rules4 ,the ,utopia came closest to extinction when a group of stray survivors of a maritime accident were imprisoned in it against their expressed will4 ,in the absence of choice1 no utopia can exist4 ,in the absence of full1 timely and accurate information1 no choice can exist4 ,actually1 the availability of choice is so crucial that even when it is prevented by nature itself - and not by the designs of more or less sinister or monomaniac people - there can be no ,utopia4 ,in ,h4,g4 ,wells' book ,the ,time ,machine1 the hero wanders off to the third millennium only to come across a peaceful ,utopia4 ,its members are immortal1 don't have to work1 or think in order to survive4 ,sophisticated machines take care of all their needs4 ,no one forbids them to make choices4 ,there simply is no need to make them4 ,so the ,utopia is fake and indeed ends badly4 ,finally1 the ,truman ,show encapsulates the most virulent attack on capitalism in a long time4 ,greedy1 thoughtless money machines in the form of billionaire tycoon-producers exploit ,truman's life shamelessly and remorselessly in the ugliest display of human vices possible4 ,the ,director indulges in his control-mania4 ,the producers indulge in their monetary obsession4 ,the viewers 7on both sides of the silver screen7 indulge in voyeurism4 ,the actors vie and compete in the compulsive activity of furthering their petty careers4 ,it is a repulsive canvas of a disintegrating world4 ,perhaps ,christoff is right after al when he warns ,truman about the true nature of the world4 ,but ,truman chooses4 ,he chooses the exit door leading to the outer darkness over the false sunlight in the ,utopia that he leaves behind4 ,the ,matrix ,by3 ,sam ,vaknin ,it is easy to confuse the concepts of virtual reality and a computerized model of reality 7simulation74 ,the former is a self-contained ,universe1 replete with its laws of physics and logic4 ,it can bear resemblance to the real world or not4 ,it can be consistent or not4 ,it can interact with the real world or not4 ,in short1 it is an arbitrary environment4 ,in contrast1 a model of reality must have a direct and strong relationship to the world4 ,it must obey the rules of physics and of logic4 ,the absence of such a relationship renders it meaningless4 ,a flight simulator is not much good in a world without aeroplanes or if it ignores the laws of nature4 ,a technical analysis program is useless without a stock exchange or if its mathematically erroneous4 ,yet1 the two concepts are often confused because they are both mediated by and reside on computers4 ,the computer is a self-contained 7though not closed7 ,universe4 ,it incorporates the hardware1 the data and the instructions for the manipulation of the data 7software74 ,it is1 therefore1 by definition1 a virtual reality4 ,it is versatile and can correlate its reality with the world outside4 ,but it can also refrain from doing so4 ,this is the ominous what if in artificial intelligence 7,,ai74 ,what if a computer were to refuse to correlate its internal 7virtual7 reality with the reality of its makers8 ,what if it were to impose its own reality on us and make it the privileged one8 ,in the visually tantalizing movie1 ,the ,matrix1 a breed of ,,ai computers takes over the world4 ,it harvests human embryos in laboratories called fields4 ,it then feeds them through grim looking tubes and keeps them immersed in gelatinous liquid in cocoons4 ,this new machine species derives its energy needs from the electricity produced by the billions of human bodies thus preserved4 ,a sophisticated1 all-pervasive1 computer program called ,the ,matrix generates a world inhabited by the consciousness of the unfortunate human batteries4 ,ensconced in their shells1 they see themselves walking1 talking1 working and making love4 ,this is a tangible and olfactory phantasm masterfully created by the ,matrix4 ,its computing power is mind boggling4 ,it generates the minutest details and reams of data in a spectacularly successful effort to maintain the illusion4 ,a group of human miscreants succeeds to learn the secret of the ,matrix4 ,they form an underground and live aboard a ship1 loosely communicating with a halcyon city called ,zion1 the last bastion of resistance4 ,in one of the scenes1 ,cypher1 one of the rebels defects4 ,over a glass of 7illusory7 rubicund wine and 7spectral7 juicy steak1 he poses the main dilemma of the movie4 ,is it better to live happily in a perfectly detailed delusion - or to survive unhappily but free of its hold8 ,the ,matrix controls the minds of all the humans in the world4 ,it is a bridge between them1 they inter-connected through it4 ,it makes them share the same sights1 smells and textures4 ,they remember4 ,they compete4 ,they make decisions4 ,the ,matrix is sufficiently complex to allow for this apparent lack of determinism and ubiquity of free will4 ,the root question is3 is there any difference between making decisions and feeling certain of making them 7not having made them78 ,if one is unaware of the existence of the ,matrix1 the answer is no4 ,from the inside1 as a part of the ,matrix1 making decisions and appearing to be making them are identical states4 ,only an outside observer - one who in possession of full information regarding both the ,matrix and the humans - can tell the difference4 ,moreover1 if the ,matrix were a computer program of infinite complexity1 no observer 7finite or infinite7 would have been able to say with any certainty whose a decision was - the ,matrix's or the human's4 ,and because the ,matrix1 for all intents and purposes1 is infinite compared to the mind of any single1 tube-nourished1 individual - it is safe to say that the states of making a decision and appearing to be making a decision are subjectively indistinguishable4 ,no individual within the ,matrix would be able to tell the difference4 ,his or her life would seem to him or her as real as ours are to us4 ,the ,matrix may be deterministic - but this determinism is inaccessible to individual minds because of the complexity involved4 ,when faced with a trillion deterministic paths1 one would be justified to feel that he exercised free1 unconstrained will in choosing one of them4 ,free will and determinism are indistinguishable at a certain level of complexity4 ,yet1 we ,,know that the ,matrix is different to our world4 ,it is ,,not the same4 ,this is an intuitive kind of knowledge1 for sure1 but this does not detract from its firmness4 ,if there is no subjective difference between the ,matrix and our ,universe1 there must be an objective one4 ,another key sentence is uttered by ,morpheus1 the leader of the rebels4 ,he says to ,the ,chosen ,one 7the ,messiah7 that it is really the year #baii1 though the ,matrix gives the impression that it is #aiii4 ,this is where the ,matrix and reality diverge4 ,though a human who would experience both would find them indistinguishable - objectively they are different4 ,in one of them 7the ,matrix71 people have no objective ,,time 7though the ,matrix might have it74 ,the other 7reality7 is governed by it4 ,under the spell of the ,matrix1 people feel as though time goes by4 ,they have functioning watches4 ,the sun rises and sets4 ,seasons change4 ,they grow old and die4 ,this is not entirely an illusion4 ,their bodies do decay and die1 as ours do4 ,they are not exempt from the laws of nature4 ,but their ,,awareness of time is computer generated4 ,the ,matrix is sufficiently sophisticated and knowledgeable to maintain a close correlation between the physical state of the human 7his health and age7 and his consciousness of the passage of time4 ,the basic rules of time - for instance1 its asymmetry - are part of the program4 ,but this is precisely it4 ,time in the minds of these people is program-generated1 not reality-induced4 ,it is not the derivative of change and irreversible 7thermodynamic and other7 processes ,,out ,,there4 ,their minds are part of a computer program and the computer program is a part of their minds4 ,their bodies are static1 degenerating in their protective nests4 ,nothing happens to them except in their minds4 ,they have no physical effect on the world4 ,they effect no change4 ,these things set the ,matrix and reality apart4 ,to qualify as reality a two-way interaction must occur4 ,one flow of data is when reality influences the minds of people 7as does the ,matrix74 ,the obverse1 but equally necessary1 type of data flow is when people know reality and influence it4 ,the ,matrix triggers a time sensation in people the same way that the ,universe triggers a time sensation in us4 ,something does happen ,,out ,,there and it is called the ,matrix4 ,in this sense1 the ,matrix is real1 it is the reality of these humans4 ,it maintains the requirement of the first type of flow of data4 ,but it fails the second test3 people do not know that it exists or any of its attributes1 nor do they affect it irreversibly4 ,they do not change the ,matrix4 ,paradoxically1 the rebels do affect the ,matrix 7they almost destroy it74 ,in doing so1 they make it ,,real4 ,it is their ,,reality because they ,,know it and they irreversibly ,,change it4 ,applying this dual-track test1 virtual reality ,,is a reality1 albeit1 at this stage1 of a deterministic type4 ,it affects our minds1 we know that it exists and we affect it in return4 ,our choices and actions irreversibly alter the state of the system4 ,this altered state1 in turn1 affects our minds4 ,this interaction ,,is what we call reality4 ,with the advent of stochastic and quantum virtual reality generators - the distinction between real and virtual will fade4 ,the ,matrix thus is not impossible4 ,but that it is possible - does not make it real4 ,the ,shattered ,identity ,by3 ,sam ,vaknin ,read these essays first3 ,the ,habitual ,identity ,death1 ,meaning1 and ,identity ,fact and ,truth ,dreams - ,the ,metaphors of ,mind ,i4 ,exposition ,in the movie ,shattered 7#aiia71 ,dan ,merrick survives an accident and develops total amnesia regarding his past4 ,his battered face is reconstructed by plastic surgeons and1 with the help of his loving wife1 he gradually recovers his will to live4 ,but he never develops a proper sense of identity4 ,it is as though he is constantly ill at ease in his own body4 ,as the plot unravels1 ,dan is led to believe that he may have murdered his wife's lover1 ,jack4 ,this thriller offers additional twists and turns but1 throughout it all1 we face this question3 ,dan has no recollection of being ,dan4 ,dan does not remember murdering ,jack4 ,it seems as though ,dan's very identity has been erased4 ,yet1 ,dan is in sound mind and can tell right from wrong4 ,should ,dan be held 7morally and1 as a result1 perhaps legally as well7 accountable for ,jack's murder8 ,would the answer to this question still be the same had ,dan erased from his memory ,,only the crime -but recalled everything else 7in an act of selective dissociation78 ,do our moral and legal accountability and responsibility spring from the integrity of our memories8 ,if ,dan were to be punished for a crime he doesn't have the faintest recollection of committing - wouldn't he feel horribly wronged8 ,wouldn't he be justified in feeling so8 ,there are many states of consciousness that involve dissociation and selective amnesia3 hypnosis1 trance and possession1 hallucination1 illusion1 memory disorders 7like organic1 or functional amnesia71 depersonalization disorder1 dissociative fugue1 dreaming1 psychosis1 post traumatic stress disorder1 and drug-induced psychotomimetic states4 ,consider this1 for instance3 ,what if ,dan were the victim of a ,multiple ,personality ,disorder 7now known as ,dissociative ,identity ,disorder78 ,what if one of his alters 7i4e41 one of the multitude of identities sharing ,dan's mind and body7 committed the crime8 ,should ,dan still be held responsible8 ,what if the alter ,john committed the crime and then vanished1 leaving behind another alter 7let us say1 ,joseph7 in control8 ,should ,joseph be held responsible for the crime ,john committed8 ,what if ,john were to reappear #aj years after he vanished8 ,what if he were to reappear #ej years after he vanished8 ,what if he were to reappear for a period of #ij days - only to vanish again8 ,and what is ,dan's role in all this8 ,who1 exactly1 then1 is ,dan8 ,,ii4 ,who is ,dan8 ,buddhism compares ,man to a river4 ,both retain their identity despite the fact that their individual composition is different at different moments4 ,the possession of a body as the foundation of a self-identity is a dubious proposition4 ,bodies change drastically in time 7consider a baby compared to an adult74 ,almost all the cells in a human body are replaced every few years4 ,changing one's brain 7by transplantation7 - also changes one's identity1 even if the rest of the body remains the same4 ,thus1 the only thing that binds a person together 7i4e41 gives him a self and an identity7 is time1 or1 more precisely1 memory4 ,by memory ,i also mean3 personality1 skills1 habits1 retrospected emotions - in short3 all long term imprints and behavioural patterns4 ,the body is not an accidental and insignificant container1 of course4 ,it constitutes an important part of one's self-image1 self-esteem1 sense of self-worth1 and sense of existence 7spatial1 temporal1 and social74 ,but one can easily imagine a brain in vitro as having the same identity as when it resided in a body4 ,one cannot imagine a body without a brain 7or with a different brain7 as having the same identity it had before the brain was removed or replaced4 ,what if the brain in vitro 7in the above example7 could not communicate with us at all8 ,would we still think it is possessed of a self8 ,the biological functions of people in coma are maintained4 ,but do they have an identity1 a self8 ,if yes1 why do we pull the plug on them so often8 ,it would seem 7as it did to ,locke7 that we accept that someone has a self-identity if3 7a7 ,he has the same hardware as we do 7notably1 a brain7 and 7b7 ,he communicates his humanly recognizable and comprehensible inner world to us and manipulates his environment4 ,we accept that he has a given 7i4e41 the same continuous7 self-identity if 7c7 ,he shows consistent intentional 7i4e41 willed7 patterns 7memory7 in doing 7b7 for a long period of time4 ,it seems that we accept that we have a self-identity 7i4e41 we are self-conscious7 if 7a7 ,we discern 7usually through introspection7 long term consistent intentional 7i4e41 willed7 patterns 7memory7 in our manipulation 7relating to7 of our environment and 7b7 ,others accept that we have a self-identity 7,herbert ,mead1 ,feuerbach74 ,dan 7probably7 has the same hardware as we do 7a brain74 ,he communicates his 7humanly recognizable and comprehensible7 inner world to us 7which is how he manipulates us and his environment74 ,thus1 ,dan clearly has a self-identity4 ,but he is inconsistent4 ,his intentional 7willed7 patterns1 his memory1 are incompatible with those demonstrated by ,dan before the accident4 ,though he clearly is possessed of a self-identity1 we cannot say that he has the ,,same self-identity he possessed before the crash4 ,in other words1 we cannot say that he1 indeed1 is ,dan4 ,dan himself does not feel that he has a self-identity at all4 ,he discerns intentional 7willed7 patterns in his manipulation of his environment but1 due to his amnesia1 he cannot tell if these are consistent1 or long term4 ,in other words1 ,dan has no memory4 ,moreover1 others do not accept him as ,dan 7or have their doubts7 because they have no memory of ,dan as he is now4 ,interim conclusion3 ,having a memory is a necessary and sufficient condition for possessing a self-identity4 ,,iii4 ,repression ,yet1 resorting to memory to define identity may appear to be a circular 7even tautological7 argument4 ,when we postulate memory - don't we already presuppose the existence of a remembering agent with an established self-identity8 ,moreover1 we keep talking about discerning1 intentional1 or willed patterns4 ,but isn't a big part of our self 7in the form of the unconscious1 full of repressed memories7 unavailable to us8 ,don't we develop defence mechanisms against repressed memories and fantasies1 against unconscious content incongruent with our self-image8 ,even worse1 this hidden1 inaccessible1 dynamically active part of our self is thought responsible for our recurrent discernible patterns of behaviour4 ,the phenomenon of posthypnotic suggestion seems to indicate that this may be the case4 ,the existence of a self-identity is1 therefore1 determined through introspection 7by oneself7 and observation 7by others7 of merely the conscious part of the self4 ,but the unconscious is as much a part of one's self-identity as one's conscious4 ,what if1 due to a mishap1 the roles were reversed8 ,what if ,dan's conscious part were to become his unconscious and his unconscious part - his conscious8 ,what if all his conscious memories1 drives1 fears1 wishes1 fantasies1 and hopes - were to become unconscious while his repressed memories1 drives1 etc4 - were to become conscious8 ,would we still say that it is the same ,dan and that he retains his self-identity8 ,not very likely4 ,and yet1 one's 7unremembered7 unconscious - for instance1 the conflict between id and ego - determines one's personality and self-identity4 ,the main contribution of psychoanalysis and later psychodynamic schools is the understanding that self-identity is a dynamic1 evolving1 ever-changing construct - and not a static1 inertial1 and passive entity4 ,it casts doubt over the meaningfulness of the question with which we ended the exposition3 ,who1 exactly1 then1 is ,dan8 ,dan is different at different stages of his life 7,erikson7 and he constantly evolves in accordance with his innate nature 7,jung71 past history 7,adler71 drives 7,freud71 cultural milieu 7,horney71 upbringing 7,klein1 ,winnicott71 needs 7,murray71 or the interplay with his genetic makeup4 ,dan is not a thing - he is a process4 ,even ,dan's personality traits and cognitive style1 which may well be stable1 are often influenced by ,dan's social setting and by his social interactions4 ,it would seem that having a memory is a necessary but insufficient condition for possessing a self-identity4 ,one cannot remember one's unconscious states 7though one can remember their outcomes74 ,one often forgets events1 names1 and other information even if it was conscious at a given time in one's past4 ,yet1 one's 7unremembered7 unconscious is an integral and important part of one's identity and one's self4 ,the remembered as well as the unremembered constitute one's self-identity4 ,,iv4 ,the ,memory ,link ,hume said that to be considered in possession of a mind1 a creature needs to have a few states of consciousness linked by memory in a kind of narrative or personal mythology4 ,can this conjecture be equally applied to unconscious mental states 7e4g4 subliminal perceptions1 beliefs1 drives1 emotions1 desires1 etc478 ,in other words1 can we rephrase ,hume and say that to be considered in possession of a mind1 a creature needs to have a few states of consciousness and a few states of the unconscious - all linked by memory into a personal narrative8 ,isn't it a contradiction in terms to remember the unconscious8 ,the unconscious and the subliminal are instance of the general category of mental phenomena which are not states of consciousness 7i4e41 are not conscious74 ,sleep and hypnosis are two others4 ,but so are background mental phenomena - e4g41 one holds onto one's beliefs and knowledge even when one is not aware 7conscious7 of them at every given moment4 ,we know that an apple will fall towards the earth1 we know how to drive a car 7automatically71 and we believe that the sun will rise tomorrow1 even though we do not spend every second of our waking life consciously thinking about falling apples1 driving cars1 or the position of the sun4 ,yet1 the fact that knowledge and beliefs and other background mental phenomena are not constantly conscious - does not mean that they cannot be remembered4 ,they can be remembered either by an act of will1 or in 7sometimes an involuntary7 response to changes in the environment4 ,the same applies to all other unconscious content4 ,unconscious content can be recalled4 ,psychoanalysis1 for instance1 is about re-introducing repressed unconscious content to the patient's conscious memory and thus making it remembered4 ,in fact1 one's self-identity may be such a background mental phenomenon 7always there1 not always conscious1 not always remembered74 ,the acts of will which bring it to the surface are what we call memory and introspection4 ,this would seem to imply that having a self-identity is independent of having a memory 7or the ability to introspect74 ,memory is just the mechanism by which one becomes aware of one's background1 always-on1 and omnipresent 7all-pervasive7 self-identity4 ,self-identity is the object and predicate of memory and introspection4 ,it is as though self-identity were an emergent extensive parameter of the complex human system - measurable by the dual techniques of memory and introspection4 ,we1 therefore1 have to modify our previous conclusions3 ,having a memory is not a necessary nor a sufficient condition for possessing a self-identity4 ,we are back to square one4 ,the poor souls in ,oliver ,sacks' tome1 ,the ,man ,who ,mistook his ,wife for a ,hat are unable to create and retain memories4 ,they occupy an eternal present1 with no past4 ,they are thus unable to access 7or invoke7 their self-identity by remembering it4 ,their self-identity is unavailable to them 7though it is available to those who observe them over many years7 - but it exists for sure4 ,therapy often succeeds in restoring pre-amnesiac memories and self-identity4 ,v4 ,the ,incorrigible ,self ,self-identity is not only always-on and all-pervasive - but also incorrigible4 ,in other words1 no one - neither an observer1 nor the person himself - can disprove the existence of his self-identity4 ,no one can prove that a report about the existence of his 7or another's7 self-identity is mistaken4 ,is it equally safe to say that no one - neither an observer1 nor the person himself - can prove 7or disprove7 the non-existence of his self-identity8 ,would it be correct to say that no one can prove that a report about the non-existence of his 7or another's7 self-identity is true or false8 ,dan's criminal responsibility crucially depends on the answers to these questions4 ,dan cannot be held responsible for ,jack's murder if he can prove that he is ignorant of the facts of his action 7i4e41 if he can prove the non-existence of his self-identity74 ,if he has no access to his 7former7 self-identity - he can hardly be expected to be aware and cognizant of these facts4 ,what is in question is not ,dan's mens rea1 nor the application of the ,mc,naghten tests 7did ,dan know the nature and quality of his act or could he tell right from wrong7 to determine whether ,dan was insane when he committed the crime4 ,a much broader issue is at stake3 is it the same person8 ,is the murderous ,dan the same person as the current ,dan8 ,even though ,dan seems to own the same body and brain and is manifestly sane - he patently has no access to his 7former7 self-identity4 ,he has changed so drastically that it is arguable whether he is still the same person - he has been replaced4 ,finally1 we can try to unite all the strands of our discourse into this double definition3 ,it would seem that we accept that someone has a self-identity if3 7a7 ,he has the same hardware as we do 7notably1 a brain7 and1 by implication1 the same software as we do 7an all-pervasive1 omnipresent self-identity7 and 7b7 ,he communicates his humanly recognizable and comprehensible inner world to us and manipulates his environment4 ,we accept that he has a specific 7i4e41 the same continuous7 self-identity if 7c7 ,he shows consistent intentional 7i4e41 willed7 patterns 7memory7 in doing 7b7 for a long period of time4 ,it seems that we accept that we have a specific self-identity 7i4e41 we are self-conscious of a specific identity7 if 7a7 ,we discern 7usually through memory and introspection7 long term consistent intentional 7i4e41 willed7 patterns 7memory7 in our manipulation 7relating to7 of our environment and 7b7 ,others accept that we have a specific self-identity4 ,in conclusion3 ,dan undoubtedly has a self-identity 7being human and1 thus1 endowed with a brain74 ,equally undoubtedly1 this self-identity is not ,dan's 7but a new1 unfamiliar1 one74 ,such is the stuff of our nightmares - body snatching1 demonic possession1 waking up in a strange place1 not knowing who we are4 ,without a continuous personal history - we are not4 ,it is what binds our various bodies1 states of mind1 memories1 skills1 emotions1 and cognitions - into a coherent bundle of identity4 ,dan speaks1 drinks1 dances1 talks1 and makes love - but throughout that time1 he is not present because he does not remember ,dan and how it is to be ,dan4 ,he may have murdered ,jake - but1 by all philosophical and ethical criteria1 it was most definitely not his fault4 ,titanic1 or a ,moral ,deliberation ,by3 ,sam ,vaknin ,the film ,titanic is riddled with moral dilemmas4 ,in one of the scenes1 the owner of ,star ,line1 the shipping company that owned the now-sinking ,unsinkable1 joins a lowered life-boat4 ,the tortured expression on his face demonstrates that even he experiences more than unease at his own conduct4 ,prior to the disaster1 he instructs the captain to adopt a policy dangerous to the ship4 ,indeed1 it proves fatal4 ,a complicating factor was the fact that only women and children were allowed by the officers in charge into the lifeboats4 ,another was the discrimination against ,third ,class passengers4 ,the boats sufficed only to half the number of those on board and the ,first ,class1 ,high ,society passengers were preferred over the ,low-,life immigrants under deck4 ,why do we all feel that the owner should have stayed on and faced his inevitable death8 ,because we judge him responsible for the demise of the ship4 ,additionally1 his wrong instructions - motivated by greed and the pursuit of celebrity - were a crucial contributing factor4 ,the owner should have been punished 7in his future7 for things that he has done 7in his past74 ,this is intuitively appealing4 ,would we have rendered the same judgement had the ,titanic's fate been the outcome of accident and accident alone8 ,if the owner of the ship could have had no control over the circumstances of its horrible ending - would we have still condemned him for saving his life8 ,less severely1 perhaps4 ,so1 the fact that a moral entity has ,,acted 7or omitted1 or refrained from acting7 in its past is essential in dispensing with future rewards or punishments4 ,the product liability approach also fits here4 ,the owner 7and his long arms3 manufacturer1 engineers1 builders1 etc47 of the ,titanic were deemed responsible because they implicitly contracted with their passengers4 ,they made a representation 7which was explicit in their case but is implicit in most others73 ,this ship was constructed with knowledge and forethought4 ,the best design was employed to avoid danger4 ,the best materials to increase pleasure4 ,that the ,titanic sank was an irreversible breach of this contract4 ,in a way1 it was an act of abrogation of duties and obligations4 ,the owner_/manufacturer of a product must compensate the consumers should his product harm them in any manner that they were not explicitly1 clearly1 visibly and repeatedly warned against4 ,moreover1 he should even make amends if the product failed to meet the reasonable and justified expectations of consumers1 based on such warrants and representations4 ,the payment should be either in kind 7as in more ancient justice systems7 or in cash 7as in modern ,western civilization74 ,the product called ,titanic took away the lives of its end-users4 ,our gut justice tells us that the owner should have paid in kind4 ,faulty engineering1 insufficient number of lifeboats1 over-capacity1 hubris1 passengers and crew not drilled to face emergencies1 extravagant claims regarding the ship's resilience1 contravening the captain's professional judgement4 ,all these seem to be sufficient grounds to the death penalty4 ,and yet1 this is not the real question4 ,the serious problem is this 3 ,,why should anyone pay in his future for his actions in the past8 ,first1 there are some thorny issues to be eliminated4 ,such as determinism3 if there is no free will1 there can be no personal responsibility4 ,another is the preservation of personal identity3 are the person who committed the act and the person who is made to pay for it - one and the same8 ,if the answer is in the affirmative1 in which sense are they the same1 the physical1 the mental8 ,is the overlap only limited and probabilistic8 ,still1 we could assume1 for this discussion's sake1 that the personal identity is undeniably and absolutely preserved and that there is free will and1 therefore1 that people can predict the outcomes of their actions1 to a reasonable degree of accuracy and that they elect to accept these outcomes prior to the commission of their acts or to their omission4 ,all this does not answer the question that opened this paragraph4 ,even if there were a contract signed between the acting person and the world1 in which the person willingly1 consciously and intelligently 7without diminished responsibility7 accepted the future outcome of his acts1 the questions would remain3 ,,why should it be so8 ,why cannot we conceive of a world in which acts and outcomes are divorced8 ,it is because we cannot believe in an a-causal world4 ,causality is a relationship 7mostly between two things1 or1 rather1 events1 the cause and the effect74 ,something generates or produces another4 ,therefore1 it is the other's efficient cause and it acts upon it 7it acts to bring it about7 through the mechanism of efficient causation4 ,a cause can be a direct physical mechanism or an explanatory feature 7historical cause74 ,of ,aristotle's ,four ,causes 7,formal1 ,material1 ,efficient and ,final71 only the efficient cause creates something distinguishable from itself4 ,the causal discourse1 therefore1 is problematic 7how can a cause lead to an effect1 indistinguishable from itself874 ,singular ,paradigmatic ,causal ,statements 7,event ,a caused ,event ,b7 differ from ,general ones 7,event ,a causes ,event ,b74 ,both are inadequate in dealing with mundane1 routine1 causal statements because they do not reveal an ,,overt relation between the two events discussed4 ,moreover1 in daily usage we treat facts 7as well as events7 as causes4 ,not all the philosophers are in agreement regarding factual causation4 ,davidson1 for instance1 admits that facts can be ,,relevant to causal explanations but refuses to accept them ,,as reasons4 ,acts may be distinct from facts1 philosophically1 but not in day-to-day regular usage4 ,by laymen 7the vast majority of humanity1 that is71 though1 they are perceived to be the same4 ,pairs of events that are each other's cause and effect are accorded a special status4 ,but1 that one follows the other 7even if invariably7 is insufficient grounds to endow them with this status4 ,this is the famous ,post hoc1 ergo propter hoc fallacy4 ,other relations must be weighed and the possibility of common causation must be seriously contemplated4 ,such sequencing is1 conceptually1 not even necessary3 simultaneous causation and backwards causation are part of modern physics1 for instance4 ,time seems to be irrelevant to the status of events1 though both time and causation share an asymmetric structure 7,a causes ,b but ,b does not cause ,a74 ,the direction 7the asymmetry7 of the causal chain is not of the same type as the direction 7asymmetry7 of time4 ,the former is formal1 the latter1 presumably1 physical1 or mental4 ,a more serious problem1 to my mind1 is the converse3 what sets apart causal 7cause and effect7 pairs of events from other pairs in which both member-events are the outcomes of a common cause8 ,event ,b can invariably follow ,event ,a and still not be its effect4 ,both events could have been caused by a common cause4 ,a cause either necessitates the effect1 or is a sufficient condition for its occurrence4 ,the sequence is either inevitable1 or possible4 ,the meaninglessness of this sentence is evident4 ,here1 philosophers diverge4 ,some say 7following ,hume's reasoning and his constant conjunction relation between events7 that a necessary causal relation exists between events when one is the inevitable outcome 7follows7 the other4 ,others propound a weaker version3 the necessity of the effect is hypothetical or conditional1 given the laws of nature4 ,put differently3 to say that ,a necessitates 7causes7 ,b is no more than to say that it is a result of the laws of nature that when ,a happens1 so does ,b4 ,hempel generalized this approach4 ,he said that a statement of a fact 7whether a private or a general fact7 is explained only if deduced from other statements1 at least one of which is a statement of a general scientific law4 ,this is the ,covering ,law ,model and it implies a symmetry between explaining and predicting 7at least where private facts are concerned74 ,if an event can be explained1 it could have been predicted and vice versa4 ,needless to say that ,hempel's approach did not get us nearer to solving the problems of causal priority and of indeterministic causation4 ,the ,empiricists went a step further4 ,they stipulated that the laws of nature are contingencies and not necessary truths4 ,other chains of events are possible where the laws of nature are different4 ,this is the same tired regularity theory in a more exotic guise4 ,they are all descendants of ,hume's definition of causality3 ,an object followed by another and where all the objects that resemble the first are followed by objects that resemble the second4 ,nothing in the world is1 therefore1 a causal necessity1 events are only constantly conjoined4 ,regularities in our experience condition us to form the idea of causal necessity and to deduce that causes must generate events4 ,kant called this latter deduction ,a bastard of the imagination1 impregnated by experience with no legitimate application in the world4 ,it also constituted a theological impediment4 ,god is considered to be ,causa ,sui1 ,his own cause4 ,but any application of a causal chain or force1 already assumes the existence of a cause4 ,this existence cannot1 therefore1 be the outcome of the use made of it4 ,god had to be recast as the uncaused cause of the existence of all things contingent and ,his existence necessitated no cause because ,he1 himself1 is necessary4 ,this is flimsy stuff and it gets even flimsier when the issue of causal deviance is debated4 ,a causal deviance is an abnormal1 though causal1 relation between events or states of the world4 ,it mainly arises when we introduce intentional action and perception into the theory of causation4 ,let us revert to the much-maligned owner of the sinking ,titanic4 ,he intended to do one thing and another happened4 ,granted1 if he intended to do something and his intention was the cause of his doing so - then we could have said that he intentionally committed an act4 ,but what if he intended to do one thing and out came another8 ,and what if he intended to do something1 mistakenly did something else and1 still1 accidentally1 achieved what he set out to do8 ,the popular example is if someone intends to do something and gets so nervous that it happens even without an act being committed 7intends to refuse an invitation by his boss1 gets so nervous that he falls asleep and misses the party74 ,are these actions and intentions in their classical senses8 ,there is room for doubt4 ,davidson narrows down the demands4 ,to him1 thinking causes 7causally efficient propositional attitudes7 are nothing but causal relations between events with the right application of mental predicates which ascribe propositional attitudes supervening the right application of physical predicates4 ,this approach omits intention altogether1 not to mention the ascription of desire and belief4 ,but shouldn't have the hapless owner availed his precious place to women and children8 ,should not he have obeyed the captain's orders 7the marine law78 ,should we succumb to laws that put our lives at risk 7fight in a war1 sink with a ship78 ,the reason that women and children are preferred over men is that they represent the future4 ,they are either capable of bringing life to the world 7women7 - or of living longer 7children74 ,societal etiquette reflects the arithmetic of the species1 in this 7and in many another7 case4 ,but if this were entirely and exclusively so1 then young girls and female infants would have been preferred over all the other groups of passengers4 ,old women would have been left with the men1 to die4 ,that the actual 7and declared7 selection processes differed from our theoretical exercise says a lot about the vigorousness and applicability of our theories - and a lot about the real world out there4 ,the owner's behaviour may have been deplorable - but it1 definitely1 was natural4 ,he put his interests 7his survival7 above the concerns of his society and his species4 ,most of us would have done the same under the same circumstances4 ,the owner of the ship - though ,newly ,rich - undoubtedly belonged to the ,first ,class1 ,upper ,crust1 ,cream of ,society passengers4 ,these were treated to the lifeboats before the passengers of the lower classes and decks4 ,was this a morally right decision8 ,for sure1 it was not politically correct1 in today's terms4 ,class and money distinctions were formally abolished three decades ago in the enlightened ,west4 ,discrimination between human beings in now allowed only on the basis of merit 7on the basis of one's natural endowments74 ,why should we think one basis for discrimination preferable to another8 ,can we eliminate discrimination completely and if it were possible1 would it have been desirable8 ,the answers1 in my view1 are that no basis of discrimination can hold the moral high ground4 ,they are all morally problematic because they are deterministic and assign independent1 objective1 exogenous values to humans4 ,on the other hand1 we are not born equal1 nor do we proceed to develop equally1 or live under the same circumstances and conditions4 ,it is impossible to equate the unequal4 ,discrimination is not imposed by humans on an otherwise egalitarian world4 ,it is introduced by the world into human society4 ,and the elimination of discrimination would constitute a grave error4 ,the inequalities among humans and the ensuing conflicts are the fuel that feeds the engines of human development4 ,hopes1 desires1 aspirations and inspiration are all the derivatives of discrimination or of the wish to be favoured1 or preferred over others4 ,disparities of money create markets1 labour1 property1 planning1 wealth and capital4 ,mental inequalities lead to innovation and theory4 ,knowledge differentials are at the heart of educational institutions1 professionalism1 government and so on4 ,osmotic and diffusive forces in human society are all the results of incongruences1 disparities1 differences1 inequalities and the negative and positive emotions attached to them4 ,the passengers of the first class were preferred because they paid more for their tickets4 ,inevitably1 a tacit portion of the price went to amortize the costs of class insurance3 should anything bad happen to this boat1 persons who paid a superior price will be entitled to receive a superior treatment4 ,there is nothing morally wrong with this4 ,some people get to sit in the front rows of a theatre1 or to travel in luxury1 or to receive superior medical treatment 7or any medical treatment7 precisely because of this reason4 ,there is no practical or philosophical difference between an expensive liver transplant and a place in a life boat4 ,both are lifesavers4 ,a natural disaster is no ,great ,equalizer4 ,nothing is4 ,even the argument that money is external or accidental to the rich individual is weak4 ,often1 people who marry for money considerations are judged to be insincere or worse 7cunning1 conspiring1 evil74 ,he married her for her money1 we say1 as though the she-owner and the money were two separate things4 ,the equivalent sentence3 ,he married her for her youth or for her beauty sounds flawed4 ,but youth and beauty are more temporary and transient than money4 ,they are really accidental because the individual has no responsibility for or share in their generation and has no possibility to effect their long-term preservation4 ,money1 on the other hand1 is generated or preserved 7or both7 owing to the personality of its owner4 ,it is a better reflection of personality than youth1 beauty and many other 7transient or situation-dependent7 character traits4 ,money is an integral part of its owner and a reliable witness as to his mental disposition4 ,it is1 therefore1 a valid criterion for discrimination4 ,the other argument in favour of favouring the first class passengers is their contribution to society4 ,a rich person contributes more to his society in the shorter and medium term than a poor person4 ,vincent ,van ,gogh may have been a million times more valuable to humanity1 as a whole1 than his brother ,theo - in the long run4 ,but in the intermediate term1 ,theo made it possible for ,vincent and many others 7family1 employees1 suppliers1 their dependants and his country7 to survive by virtue of his wealth4 ,rich people feed and cloth poor people directly 7employment1 donations7 and indirectly 7taxation74 ,the opposite1 alas1 is not the case4 ,yet1 this argument is flawed because it does not take time into account4 ,we have no way to predict the future with any certainty4 ,each person carries the ,marshall's baton in his bag1 the painter's brush1 the author's fables4 ,it is the potential that should count4 ,a selection process1 which would have preferred ,theo to ,vincent would have been erroneous4 ,in the long run1 ,vincent proved more beneficial to human society and in more ways - including financially - then ,theo could have ever been4 ,being ,john ,malkovich ,by3 ,dr4 ,sam ,vaknin ,a quintessential loser1 an out-of-job puppeteer1 is hired by a firm1 whose offices are ensconced in a half floor 7literally4 ,the ceiling is about a metre high1 reminiscent of ,taniel's hallucinatory ,alice in ,wonderland illustrations74 ,by sheer accident1 he discovers a tunnel 7a portal1 in ,internet-age parlance71 which sucks its visitors into the mind of the celebrated actor1 ,john ,malkovich4 ,the movie is a tongue in cheek discourse of identity1 gender and passion in an age of languid promiscuity4 ,it poses all the right metaphysical riddles and presses the viewers' intellectual stimulation buttons4 ,a two line bit of dialogue1 though1 forms the axis of this nightmarishly chimerical film4 ,john ,malkovich 7played by himself71 enraged and bewildered by the unabashed commercial exploitation of the serendipitous portal to his mind1 insists that ,craig1 the aforementioned puppet master1 cease and desist with his activities4 ,it is ,,my brain - he screams and1 with a typical ,american finale1 ,i will see you in court4 ,craig responds3 ,but1 it was ,i who discovered the portal4 ,it is my livelihood4 ,this apparently innocuous exchange disguises a few very unsettling ethical dilemmas4 ,the basic question is whose brain is it1 anyway8 ,does ,john ,malkovich ,,own his brain8 ,is one's brain - one's ,,property8 ,property is usually acquired somehow4 ,is our brain acquired8 ,it is clear that we do not acquire the hardware 7neurones7 and software 7electrical and chemical pathways7 we are born with4 ,but it is equally clear that we do acquire both brain mass and the contents of our brains 7its wiring or irreversible chemical changes7 through learning and experience4 ,does this process of acquisition endow us with property rights8 ,it would seem that property rights pertaining to human bodies are fairly restricted4 ,we have no right to sell our kidneys1 for instance4 ,or to destroy our body through the use of drugs4 ,or to commit an abortion at will4 ,yet1 the law does recognize and strives to enforce copyrights1 patents and other forms of intellectual property rights4 ,this dichotomy is curious4 ,for what is intellectual property but a mere record of the brain's activities8 ,a book1 a painting1 an invention are the documentation and representation of brain waves4 ,they are mere shadows1 symbols of the real presence - our mind4 ,how can we reconcile this contradiction8 ,we are deemed by the law to be capable of holding full and unmitigated rights to the ,,products of our brain activity1 to the recording and documentation of our brain waves4 ,but we hold only partial rights to the brain itself1 their originator4 ,this can be somewhat understood if we were to consider this article1 for instance4 ,it is composed on a word processor4 ,i do not own full rights to the word processing software 7merely a licence71 nor is the laptop ,i use my property - but ,i posses and can exercise and enforce full rights regarding this article4 ,admittedly1 it is a partial parallel1 at best3 the computer and word processing software are passive elements4 ,it is my brain that does the authoring4 ,and so1 the mystery remains3 how can ,i own the article - but not my brain8 ,why do ,i have the right to ruin the article at will - but not to annihilate my brain at whim8 ,another angle of philosophical attack is to say that we rarely hold rights to nature or to life4 ,we can copyright a photograph we take of a forest - but not the forest4 ,to reduce it to the absurd3 we can own a sunset captured on film - but never the phenomenon thus documented4 ,the brain is natural and life's pivot - could this be why we cannot fully own it8 ,wrong premises inevitably lead to wrong conclusions4 ,we often own natural objects and manifestations1 including those related to human life directly4 ,we even issue patents for sequences of human ,,dna4 ,and people do own forests and rivers and the specific views of sunsets4 ,some scholars raise the issues of exclusivity and scarcity as the precursors of property rights4 ,my brain can be accessed only by myself and its is one of a kind 7sui generis74 ,true but not relevant4 ,one cannot rigorously derive from these properties of our brain a right to deny others access to them 7should this become technologically feasible7 - or even to set a price on such granted access4 ,in other words1 exclusivity and scarcity do not constitute property rights or even lead to their establishment4 ,other rights may be at play 7the right to privacy1 for instance7 - but not the right to own property and to derive economic benefits from such ownership4 ,on the contrary1 it is surprisingly easy to think of numerous exceptions to a purported natural right of single access to one's brain4 ,if one memorized the formula to cure ,,aids or cancer and refused to divulge it for a reasonable compensation - surely1 we should feel entitled to invade his brain and extract it8 ,once such technology is available - shouldn't authorized bodies of inspection have access to the brains of our leaders on a periodic basis8 ,and shouldn't we all gain visitation rights to the minds of great men and women of science1 art and culture - as we do today gain access to their homes and to the products of their brains8 ,there is one hidden assumption1 though1 in both the movie and this article4 ,it is that mind and brain are one4 ,the portal leads to ,john ,malkovich's ,,mind - yet1 he keeps talking about his ,,brain and writhing physically on the screen4 ,the portal is useless without ,,jm's mind4 ,indeed1 one can wonder whether ,,jm's mind is not an ,,integral part of the portal - structurally and functionally inseparable from it4 ,if so1 does not the discoverer of the portal hold equal rights to ,john ,malkovich's mind1 an integral part thereof8 ,the portal leads to ,,jm's mind4 ,can we prove that it leads to his brain8 ,is this identity automatic8 ,of course not4 ,it is the old psychophysical question1 at the heart of dualism - still far from resolved4 ,can a ,,mind be copyrighted or patented8 ,if no one knows ,,what is the mind - how can it be the subject of laws and rights8 ,if ,,jm is bothered by the portal voyagers1 the intruders - he surely has legal recourse1 but not through the application of the rights to own property and to benefit from it4 ,these rights provide him with no remedy because their subject 7the mind7 is a mystery4 ,can ,,jm sue ,craig and his clientele for unauthorized visits to his mind 7trespassing7 - ,,if he is unaware of their comings and goings and unperturbed by them8 ,moreover1 can he prove that the portal leads to ,,his mind1 that it is ,,his mind that is being visited8 ,is there a way to ,,prove that one has visited another's mind8 7,see3 ,on ,empathy74 ,and if property rights to one's brain and mind were firmly established - how will telepathy 7if ever proven7 be treated legally8 ,or mind reading8 ,the recording of dreams8 ,will a distinction be made between a mere visit - and the exercise of influence on the host and his _/ her manipulation 7similar questions arise in time travel78 ,this1 precisely1 is where the film crosses the line between the intriguing and the macabre4 ,the master puppeteer1 unable to resist his urges1 manipulates ,john ,malkovich and finally possesses him completely4 ,this is so clearly wrong1 so manifestly forbidden1 so patently immoral1 that the film loses its urgent ambivalence1 its surrealistic moral landscape and deteriorates into another banal comedy of situations4 ,dreamcatcher - ,the ,myth of ,destructibility ,by3 ,dr4 ,sam ,vaknin ,read these essays first3 ,the ,habitual ,identity ,death1 ,meaning1 and ,identity ,being ,john ,malkovich ,shattered ,identity ,more ,film ,,reviews - ,,here6 ,in the movie ,dreamcatcher1 four childhood friends1 exposed to an alien1 disguised as a retarded child1 develop psychic powers4 ,years later they reunite only to confront a vicious extraterrestrial life-form4 ,only two survive but they succeed to eradicate the monster by incinerating it and crushing its tiny off-spring underfoot4 ,being mortal ourselves1 we cannot conceive of an indestructible entity4 ,the artifacts of popular culture - thrillers1 action and sci-fi films1 video games1 computer viruses - assume that all organisms1 organizations and automata possess fatal vulnerabilities4 ,medicine and warfare are predicated on a similar contention4 ,we react with shock and horror when we are faced with resistant stains of bacteria or with creatures1 machines1 or groups able to survive and thrive in extremely hostile environments4 ,destruction is multi-faceted4 ,even the simplest system has a structure and performs functions4 ,if the spatial continuity or arrangement of an entity's structure is severed or substantially transformed - its functions are usually adversely affected4 ,direct interference with a system's functionality is equally deleterious4 ,we can render a system dysfunctional by inhibiting or reversing any stage in the complex processes involved - or by preventing the entity's communication with its environs4 ,another method of annihilation involves the alteration of the entity's context - its surroundings1 its codes and signals1 its interactive patterns1 its potential partners1 friends and foes4 ,finding the lethal weaknesses of an organism1 an apparatus1 or a society is described as a process of trial and error4 ,but the outcome is guaranteed3 mortal susceptibility is assumed to be a universal trait4 ,no one and nothing is perfectly immune1 utterly invulnerable1 or beyond extermination4 ,yet1 what is poison to one species is nectar to another4 ,water can be either toxic or indispensable1 depending on the animal1 the automaton1 or the system4 ,scorching temperatures1 sulfur emissions1 ammonia or absolute lack of oxygen are1 to some organisms1 the characteristics of inviting habitats4 ,to others1 the very same are deadly4 ,can we conceive of an indestructible thing - be it unicellular or multicellular1 alive or robotic1 composed of independent individuals or acting in perfect1 centrally-dictated unison8 ,can anything be1 in principle1 eternal8 ,this question is not as outlandish as it sounds4 ,by fighting disease and trying to postpone death1 for instance1 we aspire to immortality and imperishability4 ,some of us believe in ,god - an entity securely beyond ruin4 ,intuitively1 we consider the ,universe - if not time and space - to be everlasting1 though constantly metamorphosing4 ,what is common to these examples of infinite resilience is their unbounded and unparalleled size and might4 ,lesser objects are born or created4 ,since there has been a time1 prior to their genesis1 in which they did not exist - it is easy to imagine a future without them4 ,even where the distinction between individual and collective is spurious their end is plausible4 ,true1 though we can obliterate numerous individual bacteria - others1 genetically identical1 will always survive our onslaught4 ,yet1 should the entire ,earth vanish - so would these organisms4 ,the extinction of all bacteria1 though predicated on an unlikely event1 is still thinkable4 ,but what about an entity that is pure energy1 a matrix of fields1 a thought1 immaterial yet very real1 omnipresent and present nowhere8 ,such a being comes perilously close to the divine4 ,for if it is confined to certain space - however immense - it is perishable together with that space4 ,if it is not - then it is ,god1 as perceived by its believers4 ,but what constitutes destruction or annihilation8 ,we are familiar with death - widely considered the most common form of inexistence4 ,but some people believe that death is merely a transformation from one state of being to another4 ,sometimes all the constituents of a system remain intact but cease to interact4 ,does this amount to obliteration8 ,and what about a machine that stops interacting with its environment altogether - though its internal processes continue unabated4 ,is it still functioning8 ,it is near impossible to say when a live or functioning entity ceases to be so4 ,death is the form of destruction we are most acquainted with4 ,for a discussion of death and the human condition - read this ,death1 ,meaning1 and ,identity ,t ,h ,e ,a ,u ,t ,h ,o ,r ,,shmuel 7,,sam7 ,,vaknin ,curriculum ,vitae ,click on blue text to access relevant web sites - thank you4 ,born in #aifa in ,qiryat-,yam1 ,israel4 ,served in the ,israeli ,defence ,force 7#aigi-aihb7 in training and education units4 ,education ,graduated a few semesters in the ,technion - ,israel ,institute of ,technology1 ,haifa4 ,ph4,d4 in ,philosophy 7major 3 ,philosophy of ,physics7 - ,pacific ,western ,university1 ,california4 ,graduate of numerous courses in ,finance ,theory and ,international ,trading4 ,certified ,e-,commerce ,concepts ,analyst4 ,certified in ,psychological ,counselling ,techniques4 ,full proficiency in ,hebrew and in ,english4 ,business ,experience #aihj to #aihc ,founder and co-owner of a chain of computerized information kiosks in ,tel-,aviv1 ,israel4 #aihb to #aihe ,senior positions with the ,nessim ,d4 ,gaon ,group of ,companies in ,geneva1 ,paris and ,new-,york 7,,noga and ,,aprofim ,,sa73 - ,chief ,analyst of ,edible ,commodities in the ,group's ,headquarters in ,switzerland4 - ,manager of the ,research and ,analysis ,division - ,manager of the ,data ,processing ,division - ,project ,manager of ,the ,nigerian ,computerized ,census - ,vice ,president in charge of ,,rnd and ,advanced ,technologies - ,vice ,president in charge of ,sovereign ,debt ,financing #aihe to #aihf ,represented ,canadian ,venture ,capital ,funds in ,israel4 #aihf to #aihg ,general ,manager of ,,ipe ,ltd4 in ,london4 ,the firm financed international multi-lateral countertrade and leasing transactions4 #aihh to #aiij ,co-founder and ,director of ,mikbats - ,tesuah1 a portfolio management firm based in ,tel-,aviv4 ,activities included large-scale portfolio management1 underwriting1 forex trading and general financial advisory services4 #aiij to ,present ,free-lance consultant to many of ,israel's ,blue-,chip firms1 mainly on issues related to the capital markets in ,israel1 ,canada1 the ,,uk and the ,,usa4 ,consultant to foreign ,,rnd ventures and to ,governments on macro-economic matters4 ,president of the ,israel chapter of the ,professors ,world ,peace ,academy 7,,pwpa7 and 7briefly7 ,israel representative of the ,washington ,times4 #aiic to #aiid ,co-owner and ,director of many business enterprises3 - ,the ,omega and ,energy ,air-,conditioning ,concern - ,,avp ,financial ,consultants - ,handiman ,legal ,services ,total annual turnover of the group3 #aj million ,,usd4 ,co-owner1 ,director and ,finance ,manager of ,,costi ,ltd4 - ,israel's largest computerized information vendor and developer4 ,raised funds through a series of private placements locally1 in the ,,usa1 ,canada and ,london4 #aiic to #aiif ,publisher and ,editor of a ,capital ,markets ,newsletter distributed by subscription only to dozens of subscribers countrywide4 ,in a legal precedent in #aiie - studied in business schools and law faculties across ,israel - was tried for his role in an attempted takeover of ,israel's ,agriculture ,bank4 ,was interned in the ,state ,school of ,prison ,wardens4 ,managed the ,central ,school ,library1 wrote1 published and lectured on various occasions4 ,managed the ,internet and ,international ,news ,department of an ,israeli mass media group1 ,ha-,tikshoret and ,namer4 ,assistant in the ,law ,faculty in ,tel-,aviv ,university 7to ,prof4 ,s4,g4 ,shoham74 #aiif to #aiii ,financial consultant to leading businesses in ,macedonia1 ,russia and the ,czech ,republic4 ,collaborated with the ,agency of ,transformation of ,business with ,social ,capital4 ,economic commentator in ,nova ,makedonija1 ,dnevnik1 ,izvestia1 ,argumenti i ,fakti1 ,the ,middle ,east ,times1 ,makedonija ,denes1 ,the ,new ,presence1 ,central ,europe ,review 1 and other periodicals and in the economic programs on various channels of ,macedonian ,television4 ,chief ,lecturer in courses organized by the ,agency of ,transformation1 by the ,macedonian ,stock ,exchange and by the ,ministry of ,trade4 #aiii to #bjjb ,economic ,advisor to the ,government of the ,republic of ,macedonia and to the ,ministry of ,finance4 #bjja to present ,senior ,business ,correspondent for ,united ,press ,international 7,,upi7 ,web and ,journalistic ,activities ,author of extensive ,websites in ,psychology 7,malignant ,self ,love7 - ,an ,open ,directory ,cool ,site ,philosophy 7,philosophical ,musings7 ,economics and ,geopolitics 7,world in ,conflict and ,transition7 ,owner of the ,narcissistic ,abuse ,announcement and ,study ,list and the ,narcissism ,revisited mailing list 7more than #cijj members7 ,owner of the ,economies in ,conflict and ,transition ,study list4 ,editor of mental health disorders and ,central and ,eastern ,europe categories in web directories 7,open ,directory1 ,suite #aja1 ,search ,europe74 ,columnist and commentator in ,the ,new ,presence1 ,united ,press ,international 7,,upi71 ,internet,content1 e,book,web and ,central ,europe ,review4 ,publications and ,awards ,managing ,investment ,portfolios in states of ,uncertainty1 ,limon ,publishers1 ,tel-,aviv1 #aihh ,the ,gambling ,industry1 ,limon ,publishers41 ,tel-,aviv1 #aiij ,requesting my ,loved ,one - ,short ,stories1 ,yedioth ,aharonot1 ,tel-,aviv1 #aiig ,the ,macedonian ,economy at a ,crossroads - ,on the way to a ,healthier ,economy 7with ,nikola ,gruevski71 ,skopje1 #aiih ,malignant ,self ,love - ,narcissism ,revisited1 ,narcissus ,publications1 ,prague and ,skopje1 #aiii1 #bjja1 #bjjb ,the ,narcissism ,series - e-books regarding relationships with abusive narcissists 7,skopje1 #aiii-bjjb7 ,the ,exporters' ,pocketbook1 ,ministry of ,trade1 ,republic of ,macedonia1 ,skopje1 #aiii ,the ,suffering of ,being ,kafka 7electronic book of ,hebrew ,short ,fiction1 ,prague1 #aiih7 ,after the ,rain - ,how the ,west ,lost the ,east1 ,narcissus ,publications in association with ,central ,europe ,review_/,,ceenmi1 ,prague and ,skopje1 #bjjj ,winner of numerous awards1 among them the ,israeli ,education ,ministry ,prize 7,literature7 #aiig1 ,the ,rotary ,club ,award for ,social ,studies 7#aigf7 and the ,bilateral ,relations ,studies ,award of the ,american ,embassy in ,israel 7#aigh74 ,hundreds of professional articles in all fields of finances and the economy and numerous articles dealing with geopolitical and political economic issues published in both print and web periodicals in many countries4 ,many appearances in the electronic media on subjects in philosophy and the ,sciences and concerning economic matters4 ,contact ,details3 palmaunet4com4mk vakninlink4com4mk ,my ,web ,sites3 ,economy _/ ,politics3 http3_/_/ceeandbalkan4tripod4com_/ ,psychology3 http3_/_/samvak4tripod4com_/index4html ,philosophy3 http3_/_/philosophos4tripod4com_/ ,poetry3 http3_/_/samvak4tripod4com_/contents4htm l ,return ,after the ,rain ,how the ,west ,lost the ,east ,the ,book ,this is a series of articles written and published in #aiif-bjjj in ,macedonia1 in ,russia1 in ,egypt and in the ,czech ,republic4 ,how the ,west lost the ,east4 ,the economics1 the politics1 the geopolitics1 the conspiracies1 the corruption1 the old and the new1 the plough and the internet - it is all here1 in colourful and provocative prose4 ,from ,the ,mind of ,darkness3 ',the ,balkans' - ,i say - 'is the unconscious of the world'4 ,people stop to digest this metaphor and then they nod enthusiastically4 ,it is here that the repressed memories of history1 its traumas and fears and images reside4 ,it is here that the psychodynamics of humanity - the tectonic clash between ,rome and ,byzantium1 ,west and ,east1 ,judeo-,christianity and ,islam - is still easily discernible4 ,we are seated at a ,new ,year's dining table1 loaded with a roasted pig and exotic salads4 ,i1 the ,jew1 only half foreign to this cradle of ,slavonics4 ,four ,serbs1 five ,macedonians4 ,it is in the ,balkans that all ethnic distinctions fail and it is here that they prevail anachronistically and atavistically4 ,contradiction and change the only two fixtures of this tormented region4 ,the women of the ,balkan - buried under provocative mask-like make up1 retro hairstyles and too narrow dresses4 ,the men1 clad in sepia colours1 old fashioned suits and turn of the century moustaches4 ,in the background there is the crying game that is ,balkanian music3 liturgy and folk and elegy combined4 ,the smells are heavy with muskular perfumes4 ,it is like time travel4 ,it is like revisiting one's childhood4 ,the ,author ,sam ,vaknin is the author of ,malignant ,self ,love - ,narcissism ,revisited and ,after the ,rain - ,how the ,west ,lost the ,east4 ,he is a columnist for ,central ,europe ,review and e,book,web 1 a ,united ,press ,international 7,,upi7 ,senior ,business ,correspondent1 and the editor of mental health and ,central ,east ,europe categories in ,the ,open ,directory and ,suite#aja4 ,until recently1 he served as the ,economic ,advisor to the ,government of ,macedonia4 ,visit ,sam's ,web site at http3_/_/samvak4tripod4com