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Let me share a story that admits a blind

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spot I've had. But for some background

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first, let me share with you a story of

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someone else's blind spot. Back in the

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before times, when I was less old, the

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zeitgeist at the time was worrying about

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plastic pollution. Specifically, a big

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offender is plastic straws. Like most

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forever chemicals, they don't decompose.

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They just litter the oceans. Given their

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shape and density, they get blown around

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by air a lot. So, they tend to

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accidentally escape containment efforts.

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It's not an ideal situation. I guess

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there was a viral video showing how it's

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horrific for sea turtles.

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This is the background information for

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local businesses informing us of how

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admirable they are because they switch

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from plastic straws to paper. Following

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that, there were memes about paper

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straws dissolving before people can

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finish their drinks. Apparently, some

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people order a beverage and stare at it

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for multiple hours. I had a friend at

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the time who informed me of how much

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smarter he was than these people by

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realizing you could just not use a

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straw. Sure,

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but the point of a straw is to work

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around ice cubes. Him and his girlfriend

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were amused that I wanted to buy metal

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drinking straws. In response to their

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derision, I said, "Yeah, save the sea

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turtles."

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My then friend was incredulous that I

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would spend money for a cause like this.

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I specified, "It's not that I feel bad.

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It's that I recognize the moral

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obligation." He attempted to correct me

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viz a viz my thought process. He said that a

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sense of morality is exactly that

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feeling of guilt, which he then assured

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me I was feeling. At the time, I was

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mildly horrified that he couldn't fathom

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the difference. The true horror is that

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I'm pretty sure most people can't

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disentangle these concepts in their

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minds. So, once you become desensitized

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to the feeling of guilt, there's nothing

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left to guide you. Every pretentious

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video essayist will eventually talk about

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Spec Ops: The Line and/or Disco Elysium

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at some point. Now, let me share with

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you a story of my own blind spot. When I

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first saw the list of skills, I was

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immediately drawn to one. I figured,

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clearly, it's the best. If the game is

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good, surely this one skill will be the

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one that matters the most. And with

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enough of it, you can compensate for the

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rest or render them entirely obsolete.

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...other than the physical ones, of course.

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Fortunately, I've been able to ask

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others. A therapist once told me she

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thought that of Empathy. I figured it

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was possible she was performing what is

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expected of her rather than being

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genuine.

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Then an artist told me she was

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immediately drawn to Inland Empire.

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Three data points isn't definitive, but

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we can work with it. I hold the thesis.

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A person correlates with a signature

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skill in Disco Elysium. Much like that one

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expired card game has player archetypes

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of Spike, Johnny, Timmy, and Vorthos.

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There are appreciable differences that a

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real person tends to gravitate toward

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reflecting their own personality and

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perspective on life. If we think of life

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as a game where you're the character,

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most players seem to have chosen a

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signature skill.

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Mine is logic, of course. Surely you saw

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this coming. It couldn't possibly be

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anything else.

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But then... maybe you didn't. It's obvious

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to me what's happening in my skull, but

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I reside here. I don't know how alien

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you find it. I've only recently heard

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Jordan Peterson argue.

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>> How do they regard-How do they regard

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Mary?

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>> Why are you asking me that?

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>> Because you're a Christian.

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You say that I haven't claimed that.

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>> Irritating sophistry, a style of

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so-called debate for those who aren't

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seeking to build consensus, just arguing

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as a verbal dominance struggle.

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My sister argues the same way. She has

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one principle, one value: power, for her.

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So when she thinks she's constructed an

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argument that will put her on top, her

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one question is the only question to be

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answered, no matter how absurd.

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Conversely, if I ask her any question in

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the slightest, she refuses to answer. I

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swear I could ask her what color the sky

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is, and she'd produce a thousand words

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of verbal diarrhea, ending with her

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getting on her soap box and proclaiming

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some cause at me. But at no point would

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the word blue come up. There was a time

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she recommended me to one of her

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business partners. When I asked for

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literally any information at all about

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this guy, she lectured me on how it's

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disrespectful to question her. It's

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maddening. There's a meme from tumblr.

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Some children's hospital redecorated.

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For some reason, they painted the floors

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red. It looks like a trail of blood. A

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few tumblrinas discussed.

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Some talked about the color theory of

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red. I imagine for the express purpose

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of signaling that they're smarter than

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everyone else. I imagine trying to

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convince primarily themselves. The rest

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told them to open their goddamn eyes, it

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looks like a trail of blood.

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This is my favorite book. Here's

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a bit from it. The list above- that's

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this one; a publication, a newspaper,

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all the way down to a very specific one.

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>> The list above seems to be a hierarchy

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of generality. The top being a very

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broad conceptual category, the bottom

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some very humble particular thing

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located in space and time. Our thought

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makes use of an ingenious principle

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which might be called the prototype

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principle.

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The most specific event can serve as a

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general example of a class of events.

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Everyone knows that specific events have

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a vividness which imprints them so

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strongly on the memory that they can

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later be used as models for other events

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which are like them in some way. Thus,

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in each specific event, there is the

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germ of a whole class of similar events.

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So, you experience an example, then

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distill its traits and refine the

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category to something more useful that

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better reflects the rest of the world.

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This is why I would love to push the

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term Wolfendoom for that genre.

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Anyway, Disco Elysium. If you're not

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familiar, well... turn this video off and

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go play it, but a quick rundown of some

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relevant information. This is truly a

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game where you build a character in a

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realistic way. You wake up with amnesia.

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It takes a long time to learn your name

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(Harry), and your skills are talking to

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you as though they're someone else's

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voice in your head. They even talk to

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each other sometimes.

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They all have a personality and dictate

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yours. Or rather, the real you chooses

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to nurture the ones it's attracted to

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initially. Kind of like, "inside you there

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are two wolves", but... 24.

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>> I'm bursting at the seams.

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Meanwhile, ever see a 16 mm film of your treasured

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memories burn? That's happening to the

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universe.

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Let's look at Half Light. The game

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describes what it is, your fight-

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or-flight response. It describes the sort

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of person who really likes it; high-

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strung people, shoot now, ask questions

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later, etc. What's fascinating about

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Disco Elysium is that it has a cynical

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view of the concept of a skill. In D&D

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or almost every other game that has a

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way to increase skills and/or

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attributes, if you can raise a skill

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from n to n+1, that is better. In

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Disco Elysium, there's such a thing as

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being too good at a skill. So,

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continuing to look at Half Light, if you

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don't have enough of it, you don't

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really have a survival instinct. But if

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you have too much of it, you're living

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your entire life right at the boiling

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point, which is not ideal either.

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Disco Elysium also has lots of items

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that give small boosts to these skills

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with a description about the item.

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Usually also justifying why it affects

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your skills. Here's some itchy pants.

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Suffering the itchiness all the time

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puts you on edge which is a detriment to

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your Composure but a benefit to your

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Half Light.

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Let's take a moment to appreciate that

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all the skills have, and I cannot

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understate this, *works of art* to

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represent them.

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Now, let's go meet Cuno.

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>> He's almost exquisite in his ugliness,

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like a gremlin.

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>> This is Cuno, an edgy child

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self-medicating for the trauma of his

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father's abuse with some kind of

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stimulant.

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Cuno is the apex of Half Light. It's no

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wonder that Harry thinks of Half Light in

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terms of being exemplified by Cuno,

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or as Hofstadter phrased it, prototyped. And

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that's why the portrait for Half Light,

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Harry's mental image of the concept,

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looks so much like the portrait for

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Cuno. Or maybe I should say that the

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other way around. But that's been

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thoroughly covered already. I'm sure

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every Disco fan has noticed this and

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told you about it. Enter YouTuber Sky

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Mistless. She matches up all of the

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skills to their in-game exemplar. How

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sick is that? So, who is the exemplar

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for Logic? 
>> YOUR BODY BETRAYS YOUR

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DEGENERACY.

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>> How could this happen? How is the

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exemplar of logic the mega racist?

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Surely neither Sky nor ZA/UM thinks

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racial bias is logical. Logic is the

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opposite of bias, obviously. And yet,

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it's undeniable, isn't it? There's

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another sign. One of the items to boost

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your logic is a conical hat. +1

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logic. Why do you think these, and indeed

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most hats, were invented? Keeps the sun

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out of your eyes. Plus, this one is made

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from straws. Sounds way better for the

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environment than polyester or whatever,

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but there's more data left. The setting

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of the game is not Earth, but the same

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insensitive elements are at play there.

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Harry is a white guy. This is decidedly

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not a hat for a white guy.

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Maybe Encyclopedia could have told us

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about specific events. Maybe Empathy

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would have let us intuit it the offense

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people would suffer.

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>> The implication of that skill reflects

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Measurehead's essence in a grotesque

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irony. Being logical does not make one

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right.

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>> All the skill exemplars represent being

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in too deep. Cuno's Half Light is easily

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outmaneuvered by the adult in the room.

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Garte as Volition gets no part in any of

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the interesting stuff. I'm pretty sure

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there's no way for you to pay him what

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you owe. So, he's been manipulated into

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doing what you want for your benefit

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instead of his own. The game says that

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too much logic will cause you to lose

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yourself in an ivory tower, wrapped up

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in some chain of reasoning that

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completely ignores what's in front of

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you. The logical thing to do is fit more

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information into your theory of the

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world. Maybe with a sufficiently galaxy-brained

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intellect, sufficient logic could solve

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everything, including morality.

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Realistically, just remember to open

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your eyes every so often, or you might

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turn into a color theorist.