Post Difficult Questions Here

[Mad Vader]

I get what are you saying - only producers and investors should really care about the bottom line (which is somehow a key stat for movies in wiki articles), the rest of us are more interested in genuine popularity. But even the number of viewers can be manufactured by pouring money into marketing - people who go to see a movie because they heard it was good or read reviews are a minority.
So, I'm not sure what does a number of viewers say? What does a number of Bannerlords sold say about the game?

 

[Adorno]

I consider amount of viewers a better measure of success than money made
I found a list of ticket sales, but they are estimates. Whereas box office numbers are more solid.
But it's interesting too see the big differences.

Spoiler: Box office numbers

List of highest-grossing films - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Spoiler: Tickets sold

List of films by box office admissions - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

But you rarely see articles on that. It's always about the big box office battle

‘Avatar’ Overtakes ‘Avengers: Endgame’ As All-Time Highest-Grossing Film Worldwide; Rises To $2.8B Amid China Reissue – Update

UPDATE, with more detail after 1:47AM post: Confirming what we reported in the wee hours of Saturday morning (see below), Disney has announced that James Cameron’s Avatar has once again become the highest-grossing film of all time at the global box office, overtaking Disney/Marvel’s Avengers...

deadline.com

It’s 2021 and ‘Avatar’ Just Overtook ‘Avengers: Endgame’ as Highest-Grossing Movie of All Time

"Avatar" is once again the highest-grossing movie in history, beating "Avengers: Endgame."

variety.com

 

[Mad Vader]

That's very interesting, I was hoping that SW Ep4 would top the most viewed list, but mass Chinese efforts thwarted that.
The lists are unfair as they don't account for inflation and increase of population which both favor newer films. (You could add also higher disposable income, but that may be nitpicking.)
So, what did you learn from this?

 

[Adorno]

That we need reliable ticket sales to replace the obsession with box office numbers.
And we need someone to do the math - take into account population growth - and to some degree, (ticket-price) inflation.

And of course, since TV streaming services have (/will make) box office numbers redundant, we need them to make viewership data public.

I still don't understand how Avatar can top box office while selling fewer tickets than other high profile movies, like Titanic, Avengers Endgame, Star Wars episode 4... I think inflation has been accounted for, so maybe it's ticket prices.

I'm not saying any of it reflects quality, just that it's more interesting - and rewarding as artist - to see how many actually enjoy the art.

 

[eddiemccandless]

I am going to bring to the table the most reliable source of the internet, i.e. a random post from a random user on Quora.

What is the most watched movie ever?

Answer (1 of 193): The biggest box office hits of all time, As an increasing number of films find global audiences, their box office totals just compound and rankings of these totals are ever changing. 1. 'Avatar': James Cameron's sci-fi fantasy, "Avatar" ($2,787,965,087), starring Sam Worthingt...

www.quora.com

Turns out that, to put it the way folks like to say here in Texas, Jesus is the answer.

 

[Adorno]

In Christian mythology when did God create/invent natural death? Is that something theologians have discussed?
There's the story of Cain killing Abel, but that's murder.
Did aging, and thereby death, begin with the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Eden (implied)?
We hear of many people getting old (most famously Metusalem), but not explicitly God 'dictating' death.

 

[Mad Vader]

In modern mythology, aging was invented by Big Pharma to keep the small man down.

 

[Antonis]

I don't think it's implied, I think it is said quite clearly that Adam and Eve lost the privilege of life eternal

Genesis 3:17-19​

17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’
“Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat food from it
all the days of your life.
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return.”

Until God's curses, they were immortal hippies.

 

[kurczak]

During the events in the Garden. Man was made in God's image, that is immortal and indeed the soul is immortal. Bodily death was brought about as a punishment for eating from the Tree of Knowledge, i.e. for attempting to usurp godhood.

 

[Kentucky 『 ＨＥＩＧＵＩ 』 James]

Bible Gateway passage: Genesis 6:3 - King James Version

And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.

www.biblegateway.com

 

[Adorno]

I don't think it's implied, I think it is said quite clearly that Adam and Eve lost the privilege of life eternal

Until God's curses, they were immortal hippies.

Of course. Thank you. As punishment. I wasn't thinking.
Although, it's ironic that to some people the idea of living eternally would be cruel. But that's a long, philosophical discussion.

 

[Nodice83]

Although, it's ironic that to some people the idea of living eternally would be cruel. But that's a long, philosophical discussion.

Imagine (let say) a 5th dimensional being explaining eternity and a concept of living forever to a 3rd dimmensional beings such ourselves to whom living forever (what does it even mean to a mere humans?!) might be cruel. It sure must lead to 'misunderstandings' its like explaining theory of groups to a 2 yo.

 

[Piconi]

It sure must lead to 'misunderstandings' its like explaining theory of groups to a 2 yo.

In theory, encounters between us and a higher dimensional being couldn't even be experienced for us in lower dimensions (not in the same sence the being in higher dimensions would experience it)
Imagine an endlessly thin piece of paper being the universe of the 2d beings.
We couldn't even enter and be visible in their dimension, but they could exist and be visible in our 3rd dimension.
The easiest ways imaginable of a 3d object could enter and be visible in 2d universe is if you imagine an apple going throught a piece of paper frontally, its disection at the place it stops would be its shape to 2d beings, for it to pass whole through 2d space, it would change shapes from the moment it enters until the moment it leaves.
So a 2d being couldn't ever see how a 3d being actually looks like, and it couldn't even grasp the concept.
What you are suggesting is analogous with me trying to explain to my chicken that today is its birthday, which suggests us existing in the same dimension, with only very little to no difference in intelligence to higher dimensional beings.

Another theory is that there are only 4 dimensions, with the 4th one being time.

There are a LOT of interesting stuff to be discussed arround this topic, but it can best be done in person, over a bottle of oak aged fruit brandy.

 

[Nodice83]

In theory, encounters between us and a higher dimensional being couldn't even be experienced for us in lower dimensions (not in the same sence the being in higher dimensions would experience it)

Current theory does not say anything about it being impossible (this way or another). Some say we travel dimensions by literally making a decision. But it is not the point here.

Imagine an endlessly thin piece of paper being the universe of the 2d beings.
We couldn't even enter and be visible in their dimension, but they could exist and be visible in our 3rd dimension.
The easiest ways imaginable of a 3d object could enter and be visible in 2d universe is if you imagine an apple going throught a piece of paper frontally, its disection at the place it stops would be its shape to 2d beings, for it to pass whole through 2d space, it would change shapes from the moment it enters until the moment it leaves.

A common mistake (IMO) is for 3rd-dimensional beings to explain 'higher encounters' by showing how it will work on the plain space of 2d. I very well know the theory (of 'flat people') and the concept of entering their dimension... It works for us because we can imagine it but it won't help us understand higher relations. What does it even mean to be visible in their dimension? Assuming we would be a sphere they may still see our presence going through their plane (e.g. circle with increasing and decreasing diameter). Complexity arises with higher dimensions. We might be addressed with a higher variety of options but still, fail to recognize.

What you are suggesting is analogous with me trying to explain to my chicken that today is its birthday, which suggests us existing in the same dimension, with only very little to no difference in intelligence to higher dimensional beings.

Not really was my point. I tried to say that we may not get the full message or accidentally or purposely overinterpret it differently. My comparison to 2yo was about showing how hard it may be (i guess there are still prodigy children to understand group theory while so young).

So bringing this to the point we discuss God... What else can IT be if not 5th, 10th, or even higher dimensional being?

There are a LOT of interesting stuff to be discussed arround this topic, but it can best be done in person, over a bottle of oak aged fruit brandy.

Hard to disagree I just very much like the topic and all possibilities to broaden my horizons on that.. Unfortunately at the moment I lack a) discussants willing to get into it b) brandy.

 

[Antonis]

Although, it's ironic that to some people the idea of living eternally would be cruel. But that's a long, philosophical discussion.

Hugely depends on the context, really. Nobody would want to grow older into eternity (well, maybe Walter Donovan would), so the "supporters" of immortality probably think of "eternally young and healthy". I have a feeling that it would be quite tiring, after a while. There are times I grew weary of everything, I can't really imagine doing or not doing that for all time. Plus, the always relevant "see your loved ones die" argument.
Immortality is probably overrated as a concept.

 

[Piconi]

Not really was my point. I tried to say that we may not get the full message or accidentally or purposely overinterpret it differently.

If we got the message at all, not just from extraterrestrial, but a higher dimension beings (that are maybe among us but we either cant sense them, or we sense them partially as part of natural and "unnatural" occurences), having in mind our primitivity of conciousness, we would all become a catatonic drooling mess.

"Misinterpreting the message" is putting it very lightly imo ?.

 

[Nodice83]

If we got the message at all, not just from extraterrestrial, but a higher dimension beings (that are maybe among us but we either cant sense them, or we sense them partially as part of natural and "unnatural" occurences), having in mind our primitivity of conciousness, we would all become a catatonic drooling mess.

"Misinterpreting the message" is putting it very lightly imo ?.

Yes, nothing to add P. S. @kurczak will probably call me heretic but Bible (and other 'Great Books') has been vastly misinterpreted / overinterpreted throuout the ages, so it just might have been one of those attempts

 

[Mad Vader]

Hugely depends on the context, really. Nobody would want to grow older into eternity (well, maybe Walter Donovan would), so the "supporters" of immortality probably think of "eternally young and healthy". I have a feeling that it would be quite tiring, after a while. There are times I grew weary of everything, I can't really imagine doing or not doing that for all time. Plus, the always relevant "see your loved ones die" argument.
Immortality is probably overrated as a concept.

That, and strange people will keep approaching you with "there can be only one".

 

[Nodice83]

That, and strange people will keep approaching you with "there can be only one".

Siths?

 

[Antonis]

I do hope you are joking, @Nodice83. Or else, Kurgan would like a word.