The Power of Man

[Devenir]

I had a very enlightening experience in a University lecture once where my Professor explained an observation the completely blew my mind. Now, I don't remember the topic that started this thought process but the shortened version is this: "God gave Man the power to Name." I'm not trying to convert any of you. I will say this again, I AM NOT TRYING TO CONVERT ANY OF YOU but I included God simply because my Professor introduced the idea with that. Now what I want to focus on is -Man's power to Name-. In order to evaluate the power of Naming we'll have to look at a few examples. Excuse me if they are abstract but this idea though insurmountably interesting is as arbitrary as it is abstract.

Example 1.
Say you live in a village. On one ordinary day, one of the gatherers come back with some type of poison on his arm eating away at it. So you as the Witch Doctor go out to look for herbs. You find 2 likely candidates that you've never experimented with before Bush A and Bush B. You try Bush A first, nothing. Bush B works and the victim is saved. So you decide to name Bush B Medibush. Intrinsically, Medibush has healing properties but the Humans didn't know so the value in Human eyes is 0 or N/A. By naming the Medibush and being able to visually distinguish it from other bushes You the Man allocate a certain Value to it that elevates its importance and significance above the other bushes. In this example we can visibly see that the Power of Naming has 1 undeniable quality - it can Raise Value.
Alternatively, if both bushes failed and Bush B had an extra effect which was to exacerbate the poison then you would give it a bad name like Badbush. Naming in this example has this quality - it can Lower Value.

Qualites thus far - Raising/Lowering Value of an object.

Let me elaborate this power. Bush A and Bush B had a Value of 0 in the eyes of Man before this incident. Intrinsically it had healing properties that only Nature/God(s)/higher being knew about but the Value was still 0 IN THE EYES OF MEN because Man didn't know about it. It's important to make this distinction because we're not dicussing the value of an object in any other realm but the realm of Man, the scope of knowledge of Man. By raising or lowering the value of an object from 0 we're also at the very same instance giving it Significance and Meaning which draws attention to this object singling it out from the rest of the thus far unimportant objects or undiscovered objects.

Example 2.
Naming also has another unique ability that is a lot harder to explain. This example is what initially motivated me to write this thread. Lets look at trolls. From personal experience, I've been playing games online for about 7ish Years, and I believe (am not certain) that the number of Trolls online have grown and I attribute the cause of this growth to the coining of the word Troll. When I began playing I started with CS, SC1, D1-D2. I don't remember feeling as annoyed/frustrated/honestly just pissed off at my internet experience as I do these days. Now this rage can be caused by many things which I am not discounting but I want to believe that the main cause of it is the general increase of Trolly annoying 13 year old kids. How did they increase? As I mentioned earlier, with the coining of this set of behavoir as a Troll, what was once an annoying and generally avoided path is now sought after more and more. Do I think that these sets of behaviors did not exist before this coining? No, but I believe the magnitude at which it stands in the present day has been increased dramatically since shit like Rick Roll on youtube, Naming Troll, etc. I think I briefly identified this quality in the previous paragraph but to underline it the quality is making something more desirable/drawing attention to it (the object). People (especially kids) love attention no matter how positive or negative it is and if they don't know how to attract positivity they will certainly attract negativity not because they're at fault but just simply because as human beings we need attention. You can watch this need online at any given time in any general chat room. It is a truth.

Qualities of Naming thus far: 1. Manipulating Value, 2. Polarity (causing attraction or avoidance from the people)

This "Cause Attraction" quality is strongly linked to Manipulating Value in that when 1. occurs 2. follows. Depending on the polarity of 1. however, 2. can cause attraction or cause avoidance. Example: Guy A is a pro so everyone wants him on their team. Guy A's value is set above others and people are attracted to him. Guy B is a nub so no one wants him on their team. Guy B's value is set below others and people try to avoid him.

Naming can manifest in several forms. One of which is the most obvious, giving something that didn't have a name, a name. Another is giving something a Title a sort-of superlative name for example: crowning Stacy May the #1 Beauty Queen in USA. Every girl in the Pageant had X Value in terms of "beauty" but after winning Stacy May is seperated from the pack by receiving any arbitrary number that raises her Value above the others. Now she is on the platform of the other #1 Beauty Queens in X Country of which all the girls have equal Values until another competition initiates a value change.

I really hate trolls whether it's harmless or not, it's just really annoying and unnecessary. However, I am not a God. I troll sometimes too but not at all to the extent and length of 80% of the other Trolly 13 year olds online. So the point of this thread is essentially this: has the Troll population increased and did giving them a name increased their numbers or just the awareness that they exist?

[Hypersniper]

I guess it has because of the awareness and I get NO CONVERTING but I hate when isopod put religius thing and don't say I'm not trying to convert you since I'm a proud athiest of science and evolution but you made not rage

[SuperJack]

Sure, you can blame the coining of the word Troll, but alone I do not beleive it is the only reason. If there is an Increase of trolls in the world of gaming, then other factors will have to be included. You say most of the Trolls are 13 year old kids? But can't this be the fact that there has been an increse of young/pre teen, even child population.

Yes giving something a name, gives it power that can not be denied.

And then, has not the number of cases of diabetes, and other illnesses risen? A lot due to new tests to diagnose these illnesses.
Basically in the past, there may of been more trolls than you think, but since the "illness" was not "diagnose" they where simple put to the back of the mind.

So, infact both troll population could of increased and awareness could of risen at the same time. Many factors have to be consider before you can reach a theory. And if you want to find the true answer, you have much reserch and experiments ahead of you.

[Devenir]

Yea this question is probably unsolveable without years of dedicated research in which I probably won't spend my time. I do agree with you though Superjack that it's probably growing awareness and maybe in combination with the increased population of.

And to Hypersniper, I'm against the act of conversion regardless of the intention so no problem.