EXTRA EXTRA! Post all about it! (new news thread)

[diesel_powered]

What is the form of sex, anyway?

[Good Intentions]

Are you using "platonic" as in "vanilla" or "typical" there richard?

It means 'as it truly is'. The platonic forms are the ideas of things as they truly are, the platonic form of sex is the universal of which any single session of sex is a particular example. 'In heaven, there is a perfect bed', Plato said, and presumably that's where you should look to see what the platonic form of sex is.

[hannah]

ahhh LPTJ

[G.C.R]

So using that definition, how much should one expect to pay a prostitute for sex "as it truly is"? And how much should you be expecting said prostitute to pretend to enjoy it?

[Good Intentions]

So using that definition, how much should one expect to pay a prostitute for sex "as it truly is"?

Andrew says $200.

[slow west vultures]

i think for that you'll have to consult 'The Symposium'

ahh, Ancient Wisdom & Modern Love class, i didn't waste all of my second required philosophy course sitting through your lectures.  

[elpollodiablo]

Are you using "platonic" as in "vanilla" or "typical" there richard?

It means 'as it truly is'. The platonic forms are the ideas of things as they truly are, the platonic form of sex is the universal of which any single session of sex is a particular example. 'In heaven, there is a perfect bed', Plato said, and presumably that's where you should look to see what the platonic form of sex is.

I know what platonic means, thanks. I don't think you can exactly use it to describe sex with a prostitute, as it doesn't seem elemental or emblematic of an idealized or purer form of sex.

But yeah as hh implied this is gonna get fucking ridiculous real quick, soooo

[Good Intentions]

Oh, sorry. I was a little surprised that you mightn't.

Describind sex simpliciter as a platonic form would probably work very well, since Plato famously makes romantic love distinct from platonic love. Platonic sex would presumably be the bit you add to platonic love to make romantic love.

I think mock-serious discussions of ancient philosophy is much less hazardous than trying to pin down the price of sex acts.

[andronicus]

I read Andrew's post to say that perfect sex is worth $200, presumably all lesser sex worth less, proportional in value to the degree it misses the platonic ideal.  If we're according it a measurable value, presumably that measure measures sex alone, not love or anything else.  If you want to work in complementary goods, I'm afraid I'm going to have to start drawing charts, though I assure you, consumer/utility maximization theory can be quite interesting, if treated properly.  I can recommend you a reading list if you would like, Miles.

ps I only posted this so that there could be a post in which i make mention of platonic sex, followed by one in which Miles questions my understanding of the term, followed by one in which Marinus questions Miles's understanding of the term, followed by a snippy apologia by Miles followed by a snippy apologia by me.

pps someone please question my use of the word apologia with reference to Plato's Apology.

[Andrew_TSKS]

Not the platonic ideal of sex. The general straight up prostitute sex.

yes, this is what i meant. sorry if anyone was genuinely confused (rather than just taking the opportunity to give me shit).

EDIT: sometimes you guys make me sorry i ever post anything on this board ever.

[G.C.R]

oh gee you! Dont be like that!

[andronicus]

Aw, come on Andrew I thought I had made it clear multiple times that I like you and only give you shit in a friendly way.  If you feel like I'm being a dick to you, I apologize. 

[Good Intentions]

Now apologise to me for disproving my 'talk of pricing is more hazardous' statement 15 seconds after I post it.

[andronicus]

There is no Hicksian Optimality in it.

OR:

You can pry the apology from my cold, dead preference curve.

[Good Intentions]

Forget about what is good for you and good for me, what about what is good for us?

[Greg Nog]

'In heaven, there is a perfect bed', Plato said

I imagine this bed would be covered in warm soft pieces of pita bread, surrounded by very garlicky hummus.

[jebreject]

you're thinking of the platonic falafel, greg

[Andrew_TSKS]

Aw, come on Andrew I thought I had made it clear multiple times that I like you and only give you shit in a friendly way.  If you feel like I'm being a dick to you, I apologize. 

it's not that, its just that when i post something and it's the catalyst for three pages of jokes, it embarrasses the hell out of me, especially when i feel like the jokes are based on a misunderstanding of what my post was supposed to mean anyway. i feel like a) i said something laughable, which is embarrasing, and b) what i said wasn't even interpreted the way i meant it, which means i failed to make myself clear and in so failing, made myself laughable, which is even more embarrassing. it's nobody's fault but mine.

[YojimboMonkey]

I guarantee you that 90%+ of the time your post is being deliberately misinterpreted for comedic effect, as that is the basis for almost all internet humor.  So thicken that skin, son!

Also, you want funny, just think about Plato, sitting in that cave, eating a falafel, watching the shadow of two people humping on the wall.

[andronicus]

Yeah was going to say, if your posts aren't being deliberately misinterpreted for 3 pages of komedy, might want to check up top to see if you're on the right board.

[jebreject]

Strange days are upon the residents of many a suburban cul-de-sac. Once-tidy yards have become overgrown, as the houses they front have gone vacant. Signs of physical and social disorder are spreading.

At Windy Ridge, a recently built starter-home development seven miles northwest of Charlotte, North Carolina, 81 of the community’s 132 small, vinyl-sided houses were in foreclosure as of late last year. Vandals have kicked in doors and stripped the copper wire from vacant houses; drug users and homeless people have furtively moved in. In December, after a stray bullet blasted through her son’s bedroom and into her own, Laurie Talbot, who’d moved to Windy Ridge from New York in 2005, told The Charlotte Observer, “I thought I’d bought a home in Pleasantville. I never imagined in my wildest dreams that stuff like this would happen.”

[slow west vultures]

that's a very interesting article, even if it does include this line

Cities, of course, have made a long climb back since then. Just nine years after Russell escaped from the wreck of New York, Seinfeld—followed by Friends, then Sex and the City—began advertising the city’s renewed urban allure to Gen-Xers and Millennials

i see a lot of the brand new crowded prefab suburbs as slums now anyway - regardless of the sociocultural factors that may emerge - just in terms of aesthetics and over all character.  but unless cities and developers can create the right kind of synergy (yes, i am allowing myself to say synergy) of location and lifestyle, i don't see a mass influx back into the cities.  i guess that's just influenced by my outlook in phoenix, where we never really had a central city.  but as many fancy upscale condos went up and are going up, as massive boomburb suburbs, but i think they're going to fall victim to the same fate as them - and a lot of them are just going to be half vacant ghost towns.  fancy condos does not an urban lifestyle make. 

also that crane that fell in new york today was a couple blocks away from my sisters apartment.  her roommate called to tell her what happened when she was at work.  and when i watched the story on the news tonight, the crane was of course part of a brand new condo complex that was going up. 

i'm just in a bad mood, and feel dumb.  but to quote the simpsons "being torn down: historic seaport, going up: condos for some rich idiot" 

[Antero]

Gen-Xers realized it's easier to buy out crack-ridden slums than it is to flee them.

[Wally]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/mar/16/youthjustice.children

Oh for fucks sake.

[elpollodiablo]

Strange days are upon the residents of many a suburban cul-de-sac. Once-tidy yards have become overgrown, as the houses they front have gone vacant. Signs of physical and social disorder are spreading.

At Windy Ridge, a recently built starter-home development seven miles northwest of Charlotte, North Carolina, 81 of the community’s 132 small, vinyl-sided houses were in foreclosure as of late last year. Vandals have kicked in doors and stripped the copper wire from vacant houses; drug users and homeless people have furtively moved in. In December, after a stray bullet blasted through her son’s bedroom and into her own, Laurie Talbot, who’d moved to Windy Ridge from New York in 2005, told The Charlotte Observer, “I thought I’d bought a home in Pleasantville. I never imagined in my wildest dreams that stuff like this would happen.”

Fascinating article jeb, thanks for posting it. There's a seed for a short story or even a novel in there, methinks.