Sleepless in Berkeley II

Another sleepless night in Berkeley - maybe it's something in the air, the full moon - who knows? At least this time I rode my bike through without having to stop for the busy traffic, and the pedestrians I encountered were on the whole friendly, saying hello as they stuffed guitars and other instruments into their truck. Some were yelling, but only at each other not at me.

Reading about identity and the internet for the next philosophy group brought to mind my readings on pain, and a conversation I had earlier in the day while hiking down from Las Trampas. Pain is what brings us back to the self, establishing the reality of both self and world as in pinching yourself to make sure you're not dreaming. Pain means that the world is real and not all in my imagination, and also that I am really me, in my body, which is in the world. The boundary of the body, the skin, is what binds me to the world. In the world of words, on the internet, there is no real me. I was reading the history of Multi User Dungeons (MUDs) and I looked at some of their websites. Perhaps they need to specify whether killing other characters is allowed, because there is no possibility of causing bodily pain only social pain. I would be curious if players ever experienced bodily pain as a result of their characters' adventures online. I imagine that other sensations such as sexual ones are possible, even likely, but I wonder about pain. Perhaps the imperative 'do not kill' comes from the possibility of inflicting pain on a fellow sentient being, and when we know others are not sentient we just don't care in the same way. I am the intentional, willing I that can create my own identity in a world of words and also the sentient I that experiences unwilled pain.