vulpesvivus | ☮ 068; [text/action]

They say 'the apple never falls far from the tree.' That one's got something to do with family and where you come from influencing you.

But what if the tree's on a hill? Maybe it will fall nearby, but it doesn't have to stay there. If it's something like that, the apple could roll as far as it wanted to. You can't really help what family you're born into and how, but it's up to you whether or not it makes a difference. An apple can only fall off a tree once, but it can travel anywhere after that.

What do you think? Does the kind of family someone's born into really determine anything about them?

[Otacon sighed as he sent the message--there was no way Liquid could ignore something like that. Fine with him, that was the whole point. Just like it had been the first time around, someone had to stop him from doing stupid things around here. Otacon couldn't control him--really, who could control Liquid Snake--but he could keep an eye on the soldier and make sure he didn't start more trouble than was necessary.]

[He stood outside the Goldenrod hotel, Pokegear in hand, and simply waited, the Chatot perched on his shoulder whistling softly and ruffling her feathers.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

You lack subtlety, as ever.

[Liquid was on the road to Goldenrod, and would shortly be entering it. He wasn't about to tell Otacon that, though, in case the other man tried to detain him in some fashion. He needed to get to Vermillion to see to the lieutenant as soon as possible.]

The problem with your little comparative metaphor, Emmerich, is that even if the apple travels a thousand miles away from its tree, it will still always be an apple. Its seeds will grow into a tree, exactly the same as the one it came from.

I usually leave subtlety up to people that know what they're talking about.

And it kind of loses some of the meaning when you take into account the fact apples don't usually have free will.

Depending on what school of thought you buy into, neither do humans.

Don't start talking like that. Of course we do.

Why, because people can be unpredictable? The unpredictability of the emerging behavior from deterministic processes of our own minds leads to a perception of free will. That doesn't make it any less of an illusion.

[Oh sweet mother of Kojima here we go.]

And what makes you think it's an illusion at all?

Since you're so fond of them, I'll use a metaphor.

Let's take a strategy game that has no hidden information and no random events. Chess is a good example, let's go with that. Even with its deterministic rule set, there can still be a great number of unpredictable moves. One could say that this suggest that the experience of free will emerges from the interaction of finite rules and deterministic parameters that generate infinite and unpredictable behavior. However, if we were to take all of these events and evaluate them, the seemingly random data could be reduced to a predictable function. Any move, even the seemingly unpredictable, could be determined by taking into account all factors.

It's the same with the human brain. We simply don't have any better way of predicting it than by observing the brain's own computations. That doesn't mean that it isn't predictable, or that we are any more free agents of will than your apple. We're simply pulled by more than just gravity.

You can't really think of it like that. I used to wish people were as simple to predict as mathematics and computer programs, but they're not. Nobody is, because human nature just isn't that black and white no matter how much you might think it is.

Nobody can just predict any given action someone might take at any given second. Fate and destiny, if they even exist, don't determine half as much as people think they do.

Arrogance, my good doctor. So because you can't do it, it can't be true at all?

Now you're just being difficult for the sake of being difficult, aren't you?

I would never dream of it.

[Yes.]

Don't even try that, you've made being obnoxious a competitive sport.

It's one of my finer achievements.

Why am I not surprised you'd think that?

I simply enjoy the little things in life, Emmerich.

[Like annoying the hell out of you. And giant robots.]

Speaking of driving me up a wall (which you've gotten pretty good at, in case you hadn't noticed) where are you right now?

Nowhere that you need to worry about.

[Close. Too close for his comfort, because he knows from experience that when Otacon latches onto someone, he won't let go.]

[Too late, you're doomed.]

James, you can either tell me or I can send a very large and very angry bird to go looking for you. Your choice.

I'll take my chances.

[There is never an easy way where Liquid is concerned.]

Don't say I didn't warn you.

[There is now a cranky Pidgeot hunting your ass down, Liquid.]

[He'll be retreating into the train station to avoid it, then. And because he'll take the damn train into Kanto, rather than try walking his sorry ass across the country.]

If you think a bird is going to be a hindrance, you don't know me very well, Emmerich.

Oh, she wasn't supposed to stop you.

[Hey, who's the trenchcoat-wearing nerd behind you, Liquid?]

[justaskeikaku.jpg]

What are you

[Liquid senses a disturbance in the force.]

[He turns.]

...Son of a bitch.

Nice to see you too.

How the hell did you get here so quickly?

[THAT SHOULDN'T BE POSSIBLE.]

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