Randall's Island Park

Today I went for a walk in Randall's Island Park, but it wasn't much more successful than my abortive walk on Staten Island a couple of days back. Most of the park was closed while they prepared for an event there. The walk over TriBorough Bridge was ok although on the way back I passed some people injecting something into themselves which didn't make me feel very comfortable but fortunately they weren't threatening at all and just let me pass by them.

Then shortly afterwards a man who looked a lot like a tramp stopped next to me on a new and expensive-looking mountain bike, which he offered to sell to me for $35. A bargain you might think but it seemed very unlikely that it was his to sell so I hurried on.

I am proud to say that my refusal to benefit from crime was due to my good moral fibre, which was reinforced by a film I saw yesterday called 'Shallow Grave'. Three obnoxious  flatmates let out their fourth room to a man who then dies of natural causes during the first night and leaves behind a suitcase full of money. They decide to steal the money from the dead man. It is a very moral film and they come to deeply regret their decision. They all come to horrible ends with varying degrees of gruesomeness.

I listened to a podcast recently by Philosophy Talk about what we learn from fiction. Their podcasts are pretty good - they take everyday topics and apply a philosophical slant to their discussion. Their catch phrase is 'We question everything except your intelligence'. In fact they can be a bit patronising sometimes by the slow pace that they move the discussion along and by the way they play devil's advocate, so it would probably be truer if they just said 'We question everything'. That it reinforces moral behaviour was the most interesting aspect that they brought up about the learning value of fiction. This fits in well with my evolutionary approach to life as I believe that we evolved to have morality and that the tendency to tell and enjoy listening to stories evolved also, so the two tie together well. Other points they raised on what we learn from fiction were:

• about human nature
• about moral dilemmas and what to do when we face them
• about other problems that occur in life and what to do when we face them
  
• about courtship and romance
• about facts researched by the author and presented in the book
• about everyday life by parallels drawn in the book

I don't think that they covered it in the podcast, but I also think that stories encourage bravery, determination and even risk-taking to achieve a worthwhile goal. Not that these are necessarily good things for the individual, but they are good from the point of view of society and gene replication I think. I read once that almost all stories have the same basic plot: a likeable character overcomes large odds to achieve a worthwhile goal.

Following my brush with the dodgy bike seller I walked through Central Park. I sat on the bench dedicated to Andrew Haswell Green who was one of the forces behind the creation of the park. Here is me yawning on the bench, which is in no way a poor reflection on the good Mr Green but probably what you are doing while reading my blog.

I then walked back home. I passed the Museum of Sex on the way back. I didn't go in but took this picture of the notice outside which is quite funny.