The End: A Video Game About Death, Belief, and Science

'The End' is a philosophical platformer video game unlike any you've likely encountered. Commissioned by Channel 4 Education, the free online web-game is described as "a metaphysical journey, recording [players'] interactions in the world to reveal their attitudes towards mortality. These views are presented alongside their friends and some of the most important thinkers of our time, such as Gandhi, Descartes and Einstein."

A "game of self-discovery," it integrates puzzles, strategy, and philosophical questions into a world which explores a range of views about death, belief and science.

From the press release:

Set across three worlds - Mind, Body and Spirit - the player must use a unique shadow ‘n’ light mechanic to solve physics-based puzzles, answer questions and battle the world’s Guardians. The ultimate prizes are the Death Objects, ranging from a memorial diamond to a human heart, which deepen a player’s contextual knowledge of death and help them progress through the game.

The End is produced by award-winning games studio Preloaded with content from the mega brained Tom Chatfield (author of Fun INC). It has been illustrated with the ninja pencil skills of Luke Pearson and has an original score composed by Peter Mauder of Phonotheque. Additional consultancy has also been provided by Nigel Warburton (creator of the successful Philosophy Bites podcasts).

The game challenges players to find their "inner self," asking such questions as:

• Is there such a thing as fate?
• Is there such a thing as a cause worth dying for?
• Do you think animals fear death?
• Can we understand what death is actually like?

Check out the trailer. It's pretty rad. Then play the game here.

Scientologists: Not Quite Over That 'New Yorker' Piece

Via Animal New York:

Three representatives from the Church of Scientology were standing outside Conde Nast headquarters this morning and distributing copies of their Thetan-inspired magazine Freedom. This month’s issue is a parody of The New Yorker that’s filled with articles attacking writer Lawrence Wright and his employer for a 24,000 word piece about “Crash” director Paul Haggis.

The Church of Scientology claims to have met with New Yorker staff during the fact-checking process, bearing 48 binders full of alleged errors in Wright's piece. Apparently the meeting didn't go the way the church wanted, so now they're getting all Spy Magazine on them.

Animal New York has several scans from the magazine.

AFA's Bryan Fischer: Criminalize Homosexuality In All 50 States

The American Family Association's Douchebag-In-Chief Bryan Fischer wants to re-criminalize sodomy in all 50 states.

Is anything Bryan Fischer says surprising anymore? Hardly. He has a long history of making ignorant, hateful, and downright bizarre comments. But that doesn't mean we should stop paying attention to what he's saying.

We need to remember that Fischer has been embraced by many of the GOP's 2012 presidential candidates. His organization hosted Rick Perry's Texas prayer rally. And the AFA continues to host "policy briefings" to introduce GOP candidates to pastors.

Those who have dismissed Fischer as a fringe lunatic with no real political sway are of the same mindset as folks who dismissed Michele Bachmann as too fringe-y to have a shot at higher office.

Paul Stam is a Sad, Ignorant, Hateful, Little Man

In case you weren't aware, my wonderful home state of North Carolina is trying to ban same-sex marriage. Twice, actually.

It was already banned in 1996, via statute, but theocratic, insecure, folks like House Majority Leader Paul Stam (R-duh), feel it is necessary to put another nail in the coffin, via constitutional amendment, to be absolutely sure that the evil threat that is gay marriage does not rise from the grave to attack his children.

Paul 'Skip' Stam believes the following garbage:

• If same sex marriage is allowed, it will lead ”next” to legalized “adult incest” and polygamous marriages since there’s no way to argue logically for same sex marriage and against state authorization of those other practices.
• “Morality” and “biology” dictate that same sex marriage be proscribed.
• Sexual orientation is a “choice.”
• Same sex marriage will prove disastrous for all of our children and society generally because it will lead to the inevitable demise of marriage as an institution.
• “All social science” demonstrates that it’s best to be raised in a marriage that features one man and one woman.

All of the above statements are completely devoid of scientific evidence, reality, and common sense. Not to mention that any 'moral' opposition to same-sex marriage is almost always has a religious basis, and therefore does not pass the Lemon Test.

Here's Stam spouting his insane 'gay marriage will lead to incest' baloney at a press conference on Tuesday:



Later, when asked how the ban would differ from misogyny laws, Stam served up this steaming pile of poo: “People can't change their race. They can't choose their race."

GOP leaders plan to take up the marriage amendment on September 12, when legislature resumes.

Chat Transcript Between Michele Bachmann and God

(Via Funny or Die.)

Christian vs. Non-Christian: Who Gets Into Heaven?

I have a lot of time for John Shore.  If you're unfamiliar with him, he has been called "America’s leading non-douchey Christian" by Dan Savage (of Savage Love and the It Gets Better Project).

As a liberal who grew up in a liberal Christian household, and as a straight, married, father who writes, raises a ruckus about things that matter, and as staunch ally to the LGBTQ community, I identify greatly with John Shore. He's great.

He is one of the great many wonderful Christians who seem to really 'get' what Christianity is, and should be, about. And it is because of folks like John Shore, that I don't appreciate gross generalizations about Christians. And it is because of folks like John Shore that I choose to spend more time trying to find and relate to Christians who care about equality and progress. We can get a whole hell of a lot more done by building bridges with likeminded folks from other belief systems. At the end of the day, we want to accomplish a lot of the same things: decrease suffering, promote equality and compassion, etc.

I feel strange writing about Shore for the first time, and then launching into a video, when he has a wealth of wonderful writing available (in book form, and online), but I recently ran across this and thought it was wonderful. It was posted by John Shore (although I can't be entirely sure that he wrote the dialog, I am sure he endorses it).

The next time you run into a Christian who says that only Christians can get into heaven, you could do worse than to employ the logic of the little dude here on the right:

Chatbots Talk To Each Other, Get Passive Aggressive, Discuss Religion

If you're not familiar with chatbots, Wikipedia describes them as "computer programs designed to simulate an intelligent conversation with one or more human users via auditory or textual methods, primarily for engaging in small talk. The primary aim of such simulation has been to fool the user into thinking that the program's output has been produced by a human (the Turing test)."

There have been practical uses for chatbots, including Web sites that offer online help, personalized service, or which seek to acquire information from customers.

If you've ever had a run-in with a chatbot, it's quite possible you had a surreal experience. It's also quite possible that you screwed with the chatbot to see what kind of wacky conversations might ensue.

The Creative Machines Lab at Cornell University recently decided to pit two chatbots against each other to see what would happen. The results are pretty interesting.

Below is one example of what came about after these chatbots began conversing. It was not long until they both exhibited passive aggression, and began discussing God and unicorns.

Good times.