diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | essays/mock_risk_games.tex | 119 |
1 files changed, 65 insertions, 54 deletions
diff --git a/essays/mock_risk_games.tex b/essays/mock_risk_games.tex index 491b726..5a593b1 100644 --- a/essays/mock_risk_games.tex +++ b/essays/mock_risk_games.tex @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ +\newcommand\aside[1]{ + {\raggedleft \vskip 1em \parbox{3.5in}{\itshape [#1]} \par\vskip 1em}} +\newcommand\lilskip{\vskip 0.3em} + \chapter{Mock Risk Games} @@ -52,9 +56,11 @@ triples of misfortunes, and so forth. The principal games are for a large room with no animals or distracting sounds present. -\textbf{A.}Walk across the lighted room from one corner to the diagonally +\begin{itemize}[label={}. wide, nosep, itemsep=0.5em] + \item[\textbf{A.}] Walk across the lighted room from one corner to the diagonally opposite one, breathing normally, with your eyes open. -\begin{enumerate} +\lilskip +\begin{enumerate}[label=\arabic*., nosep, itemsep=0.5em] \item You are suddenly upside down, resting on the top of your head on the floor. You must get down without breaking your neck. @@ -66,7 +72,7 @@ sure it will hold. Put the ball of the forward foot down before the heel. \item Something happens to the cohesive forces in your neck so that if your head tips in any direction, it will come right off your body, killing you immediately. Otherwise everything remains normal. Thus, as you walk, you -must "balance" your head on your neck. When you reach the other side of +must \enquote{balance} your head on your neck. When you reach the other side of the room, your neck will be restored to normal. (Prepare beforehand by walking with a book balanced on your head.) @@ -78,16 +84,18 @@ Walk softly and fast. and swim to the top. Wear clothes suitable for swimming. \end{enumerate} -\textbf{A'.} Play game A while on a long walk on an uncrowded street. The floor +\item[\textbf{A'.}] Play game \textbf{A} while on a long walk on an uncrowded street. The floor is replaced by the sidewalk. The fifth misfortune becomes for space suddenly to be filled with water to a height of fifteen feet above the street. -\textbf{B.} Lie on your back on a pallet in the dimly lit room, hands at your +\item[\textbf{B.}] Lie on your back on a pallet in the dimly lit room, hands at your sides, with a pillow on your face so that it is slightly difficult to breathe, for thirty seconds at a time. + +\lilskip \begin{enumerate} \item The pillow suddenly hardens and becomes hundreds of pounds heavier. It -remains suspended on your face for a split second and then "falls," bears +remains suspended on your face for a split second and then \enquote{falls,} bears down with full weight. You must jerk your head out from under it in that split second. @@ -96,7 +104,9 @@ cohesion, and begins to rise. You must rise with it in such a way that your skin is not torn. \end{enumerate} -\textbf{C.} Lie on your back on the pallet in the dimly lit room. +\item[\textbf{C.}] Lie on your back on the pallet in the dimly lit room. + +\lilskip \begin{enumerate} \item Gravity suddenly disappears completely, so that nothing is held down by @@ -119,10 +129,12 @@ balancing yourself. You will be reunited when you reach the top and your waist passes above the wall. \end{enumerate} -\textbf{D.} Sit in a plain, small, straight chair, on the edge of the seat, hands +\item[\textbf{D.}] Sit in a plain, small, straight chair, on the edge of the seat, hands hanging at the sides of the seat, feet together in front of the chair, in the lighted room, for about thirty seconds at a time. +\lilskip + \begin{enumerate} \item The chair is suddenly out from under you and sitting on you with Its legs straddling your lap and legs. You have to get your weight over your feet so @@ -153,29 +165,15 @@ spring up next to you, and you have to maneuver yourself through the lattice to escape them. \end{enumerate} -\textbf{D`.} Play Game D in situations where you have to sit and wait. - -Note: The original version of \essaytitle{Mock Risk Games} was entitled -\essaytitle{Exercise Awareness-States}. It was written during April--July, 1961; and -read at the AG Gallery in New York on July 15, 1961. I subsequently turned -against amusemental compositions, and around June 25, 1962 I sent the -only copy of \essaytitle{Exercise Awareness-States} to the young musician Tom -Constanten, at 1650 Michael Way in Las Vegas. I later wrote Constanten -asking him to return the MS, but I never heard from him. The present revival -analyses the activity better than the original version did. I am unable, -though, to remember some of the most elegant misfortunes for the original -games (A, B, C); and it seems that they are permanently lost. - -In developing the original games---and the present games---I had two -objectives in mind. First, the experience of playing the games (as opposed to -reading or analyzing them) must involve or compel you, must be vivid and -immediate. Secondly, the misfortunes must be elegant, undreamed-of -"explosions" of the natural order. These objectives, though, do not -constitute a use for the games. The games can have many uses, beginning -with amusement; and it remains to be seen what the most significant use will -be. - -\section*{Intrusions} +\item[\textbf{D`.}] Play Game \textbf{D} in situations where you have to sit and wait. + +\end{itemize} + +\aside{Note: The original version of \essaytitle{Mock Risk Games} was entitled \essaytitle{Exercise Awareness-States}. It was written during April--July, 1961; and read at the AG Gallery in New York on July 15, 1961. I subsequently turned against amusemental compositions, and around June 25, 1962 I sent the only copy of \essaytitle{Exercise Awareness-States} to the young musician Tom Constanten, at 1650 Michael Way in Las Vegas. I later wrote Constanten asking him to return the MS, but I never heard from him. The present revival analyses the activity better than the original version did. I am unable, though, to remember some of the most elegant misfortunes for the original games (\textbf{A}, \textbf{B}, \textbf{C}); and it seems that they are permanently lost. + +In developing the original games---and the present games---I had two objectives in mind. First, the experience of playing the games (as opposed to reading or analyzing them) must involve or compel you, must be vivid and immediate. Secondly, the misfortunes must be elegant, undreamed-of \enquote{explosions} of the natural order. These objectives, though, do not constitute a use for the games. The games can have many uses, beginning with amusement; and it remains to be seen what the most significant use will be.} + +\section{Intrusions} A noise in an adjacent room may intrude on a person playing a mock risk game, and affect his experience or state of being in a variety of ways. @@ -199,27 +197,32 @@ one-way window and an intercom to observe and talk with the subject. Here the effects of bogies can be studied. (The experimenter has a problem though, in that after he frightens the subject, the subject will forget about the game and just watch out for the bogies.) Here are some sample bogies, -for game A: +for game \textbf{A}: +\lilskip \begin{enumerate} \item Trip the subject with an invisible thread. \item Cause the floor to shift. \item Throw a pingpong ball at the subject from the side. \item Squirt water on him from behind. \end{enumerate} +\lilskip The mechanics of the experiments can readily be worked out by anyone interested in them. After an intrusion, the experimenter should question the subject about his reaction if it is appropriate. -\section*{Mock Risk Games for Couples (Duo Games)} +\section{Mock Risk Games for Couples (Duo Games)} In order for these games to be successful, each of you has to have confidence that the other is actually playing. If you lack this confidence, you forget the game and just watch out for intrusions created by the other. -\textbf{AA.} Face each other at a distance and walk toward each other. -\begin{enumerate} +\vskip 0.5em +\begin{itemize}[label={}. wide, nosep, itemsep=0.5em] + \item[\textbf{AA.}] Face each other at a distance and walk toward each other. + \lilskip + \begin{enumerate}[nosep,itemsep=0.5em] \item The other's head flies off and hurtles at you like a cannonball. It can swerve up or down, so that you will be hit unless you jump aside. The time you have to jump is about the same no matter what your distance from the @@ -228,17 +231,17 @@ for intrusions created by the other. becomes so large that his foot is descending right over your head. At the same time, the mental commands of each of you to your muscles begin to be transmitted to the other's muscles rather than your own, and to be executed - by his muscles rather than by yours. Thus, you must jerk "your" / "his" foot + by his muscles rather than by yours. Thus, you must jerk \enquote{your} / \enquote{his} foot back, rather than complete the step, in order not to "step on your own head." The two of you should walk in step, right foot with right and left with left. Watch the other's feet and also watch above yourself---using your vertical peripheral vision to do so. In short, if you suddenly see a giant foot - coming down on you, jerk "your" forward foot back. + coming down on you, jerk \enquote{your} forward foot back. \item (This misfortune is exceptionally complex, but there are good reasons for the complexity, and it will repay study.) The consciousness of each of you suddenly becomes located in the other's body and becomes hooked into the other's receptors and muscles. At the same time, your body, which is now - "outside you" and which is under the other's control, becomes surrounded + \enquote{outside you} and which is under the other's control, becomes surrounded by slowly moving beams of tissue-destroying radiation coming from the sides of the room. The radiation is invisible, but the eyes you are seeing through become sensitive to it. At the same time, the other mind loses its knowledge @@ -252,23 +255,27 @@ for intrusions created by the other. muscles in preparatiton for the misfortune, because if it occurs, you will be working with a strange set of muscles anyway. The next thing to prepare to do is to spot the radiation beams; and then to yell, gesture, or - whatever--anything to get the "other" to avoid the radiation. Note finally + whatever--anything to get the \enquote{other} to avoid the radiation. Note finally that neither player prepares for the possibility that he will be surrounded by radiation. Each player prepares for the same role in an asymmetrical pas de deux.) \end{enumerate} +\vskip 0.5em + \emph{Asymmetry:} The two of you play a given duo game, but each prepares to evade a different misfortune. -\textbf{AB.} Stay awake with eyes closed for an agreed upon time between one -and fifteen minutes. Use a timer with an alarm. +\vskip 0.5em -\begin{enumerate} +\item[\textbf{AB.}] Stay awake with eyes closed for an agreed upon time between one +and fifteen minutes. Use a timer with an alarm. +\vskip 0.5em +\begin{enumerate}[nosep,itemsep=0.5em] \item Each suddenly has the other's entire present consciousness in addition to his own, from perceptions to memories, ideologies, ambitions, and everything else---threatening both with psychological shock. - +\lilskip The couple must take up positions such that their sensory perceptions are as nearly identical as possible. Beforehand, each must discuss with the other the aspects of the other's attitude to the world which each must fears @@ -278,7 +285,7 @@ about these aspects and try to prepare for them. \item Each suddenly relives the other's most intense past feelings of depression and suicidal impulses. In other words, if five years ago the other attempted suicide because he failed out of college, you suddenly have the consciousness -that "you" have just failed out of college, are totally worthless, and should +that \enquote{you} have just failed out of college, are totally worthless, and should destroy yourself. Presumably the other has since learned to live with his past disasters, but you do not have the defenses he has built up. You are overwhelmed with a despair which the other felt in the past, and which is @@ -287,8 +294,9 @@ risk shock and suicidal impulses. Beforehand, of course, each must tell the other of his worst past suicidal or depressed episode; and discuss anything else that may minimize the risk of shock. \end{enumerate} +\end{itemize} -\section*{Intrusions in Duo Games} +\section{Intrusions in Duo Games} As before, distractions and modulations can be openly studied by consent of the players. As for bogies, it is possible in duo games for one @@ -296,13 +304,16 @@ player to create a bogy without warning, in effect acting as a saboteur. As soon as a game is sabotaged, though, confidence is lost, and each player just watches out for the other's bogies. Here are some sample intrusions. -\begin{tabular}{ r c c p{2in} } - \textsc{Game} & \textsc{Distraction} & \textsc{Bogy} & \textsc{Modulation} \\ - AA 1. & cough & shout in other's face & each take a different drug \\ - 2. & talk and laugh \linebreak get out of step & $\rightarrow$ \linebreak (stomp hard) & \\ - 3. & spin around & $\rightarrow$ & \\ - AB 1. & cough \linebreak talk and laugh & gasp \linebreak silently pass palm back \& forth in front of other's face & \\ - 2. & & & \\ +\newcommand\rP[2]{\parbox{#1}{\raggedleft #2}} +\newcommand\cP[2]{\parbox{#1}{\centering #2}} + +% \begin{tabular}{4in}{|r|p{1.25in}|p{1.25in}|} + \begin{tabular}{|r|p{1.25in}|p{1.25in}|l|}\cline{1-4} + \textsc{Game} & \textsc{Distraction} & \textsc{Bogy} & \textsc{Modulation} \\\cline{1-4} + \textbf{AA.} 1. & cough & shout in other's face& \\\cline{1-3} + 2. & talk and laugh \vskip 0.5em get out of step & stamp hard& \\\cline{1-3} + 3. & spin around & & \rotatebox{70}{each take a different drug} \\\cline{1-3} + \textbf{AB.} 1. & cough \vskip 0.5em talk and laugh & + gasp \vskip 0.5em silently pass palm back \& forth in front of others face& \\\cline{1-3} + 2. & && \\\cline{1-4} \end{tabular} - - |