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philosophy

Who knew that fighting games included philosophical quotes?

If you’re a gamer of a certain age, you may have read the following line from Mortal Kombat 3 video game: β€œThere is no knowledge that is not power.”

That quote has been associated with the Mortal Kombat franchise for decades, from being the title of a song by a video game music cover band The Plasmas to the name of an in-game achievement in the recent Mortal Kombat 1game. While some gamers might be quick to credit Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon with the quote, it actually originated from transcendentalist writer Ralph Waldo Emerson from his book Society and Solitude. Regardless of the quote’s actual origin, the video game’s appropriation of it has inspired discussion in online forums, Reddit, and variousΒ blogs.

It’s a good bit of wisdom, too. Aside from the obvious bits of knowledge that could get you a better position in life or an easier time accomplishing a task, even the most random bit of trivia can help you win a game or a bet amongst friends. It makes one wonder if there are other quotes from popular video games that could offer some greater insight into life. There’s even a Reddit thread about that.

Here are five other quotes from video games that provide good insight or life advice.

Kingdom Hearts promotion artPhoto credit: Square Enix/Disney

"The closer you get to the Light... the greater your shadow becomes." - Kingdom Hearts, written by Jun Akiyama, Daisuke Watanabe, and Kazushige Nojima

Aside from just being a description about how light works, it’s also a commentary on how greater good tends to face greater odds and opposition. It can also be interpreted about how the closer you are to self-realization, the more of yourself you might not like. Either way, it’s pretty deep to include such rhetoric in a game in which Donald Duck is a mage.

Rose from Street Figther Alpha 3Photo credit: Capcom

"Every action has the potential to fill or empty one's heart." - Rose, Street Fighter Alpha 3, developed by Capcom

This quote reminds those playing a fighting game that actions have consequences, whether they’re good, bad, or somehow both. Sometimes there are options that boost another person like giving them ice cream. Taking someone's ice cream brings them down. Taking someone’s ice cream and giving it to someone else does both. So it’s best to weigh in on your action’s potential before you make a move. It all depends on your skill. GO FOR BROKE!

Photo credit: Nintendo

"My past is not a memory. It's a force at my back. It pushes and steers. I may not always like where it leads me, but like any story, the past needs resolution. What's past is prologue." - Samus Aran, Metroid: The Other M, written by Yoshio Sakamoto

This quote gives credence to acknowledging your past, mistakes and all, without letting it hinder your future and the possibility of what you’ll become. Maybe you’ve done all the right moves in the past and you stay the course to what you want to accomplish. Maybe you made a big mistake but you can learn from it, then course correct to your desired goal. And even if you reach that goal, that's not the end, it’s onto the next thing. Because that goal is a part of your past now, a moment’s finish but the next moment’s prologue.

Scene from Dead Space video gamePhoto credit: Electronic Arts

"Good men mean well. We just don't always end up doing well" -Issac Clarke, Dead Space, written by Warren Ellis, Rick Remender, and Antony Johnston

A similar quote would be oft-quoted β€œThe road to Hell is paved with good intentions” but this Dead Space quote has another meaning to it. It’s not just a warning that good men might allow or enact heinous things in the name of the β€œgreater good” but also a warning for those that end up doing an actual greater good. Many good people end up dying so others may live or suffer themselves so others don’t have to suffer. Even those who survive after doing some good don’t end up unscathed. A person who fought in a just war may have lost a limb. A person who saved others in a burning building could have suffered burns themselves. Even something as small as helping your child when they’re sick could cause you to catch their bug. Doing good doesn’t mean you end up β€œwell” in the end.

Max Payne aiming a gun.Photo credit: Rockstar Games

"Dreams have a nasty habit of going bad when you're not looking." - Max Payne, Max Payne, written by Sam Lake

A shoot-em-up like Max Payne isn’t usually this philosophical but Max has a point here. While we’re encouraged to follow our dreams, it's best to not just focus on the dream itself but the β€œwhy” and the actions around it. You have to ask yourself if the dream you’re pursuing is negatively impacting you, your loved ones, or innocents to ensure you’re not damaging them or to make sure you can live with the consequences of your dream. A responsible dream pursuer knows when to course-correct when a dream is turning bad or when to let a dream go entirely so as not to sacrifice anything worth keeping.

What other wisdom can be found in the games we play? It's best to enjoy them and share them with others, both the knowledge and the games themselves, too.

Science

College students use AI to decode ancient scroll burned in Mount Vesuvius

β€œSome of these texts could completely rewrite the history of key periods of the ancient world."

When Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 C.E., it buried entire cities in volcanic materials. While Pompeii is the most famous site affected by the natural disaster, the nearby villa of Herculaneum was also laid to wasteβ€”including over 800 precious scrolls found inside Herculaneum’s library, which were carbonized by the heat, making them impossible to open and recover their contents.

Which brings us to the Vesuvius challenge, started by computer scientist Brent Seales and entrepreneurs Nat Friedman and Daniel Gross in March 2023. The contest would award $1 million in prizes to whoever could use machine learning to successfully read from the scrolls without damaging them.

On February 5, the prize-winning team was announced.


The team consisted of three savvy college studentsβ€” Youssef Nader in Germany, Luke Farritor in the US, and Julian Schilliger in Switzerlandβ€”working with each other from across the globe.

Each student had a prior individual accomplishment in the challenge before teaming up. Farritor first deciphered a word from the scroll ((ΠΟΑΦΞ₯ΑΑϹ, or β€œporphyras,” which means β€œpurple” in ancient Greek), after which Nader was able to read multiple column from the scroll, in addition to Julian Schilliger creating 3D map renderings of the papyrus.

Nader, Farritor and Schillinger eventually combined their talents to train machine-learning algorithms to decipher more than 2,000 characters. Contest organizers estimated a less than 30% success rate for even less characters.

So, what exactly did the scrolls say? Turns out, the ancient cultures were just as curious about what makes us truly happy in life as we are today.

From the Vesuvius Challenge/ scrollprize.org

The translated text, thought to be written by Epicurean philosopher Philodemus, appears to be a philosophical discussion on pleasure, and how it’s affected by things like music and food. And quite possibly β€œthrowing shade” as stoicism by calling it β€œan incomplete philosophy because it has β€˜nothing to say about pleasure.”

β€œWe can’t escape the feeling that the first text we’ve uncovered is a 2,000-year-old blog post about how to enjoy life,” the Vesuvius Challenge website writes.

The first Vesuvius Challenge resulted in 5% of one scroll being read. For 2024, the goalpost has been moved to being able to read 90% of all four scrolls currently scanned, and to lay the foundation to read all 800 scrolls, and possibly other texts found at the Herculaneum library.

β€œSome of these texts could completely rewrite the history of key periods of the ancient world,” Robert Fowler, a classicist and the chair of the Herculaneum Society, told Bloomberg. β€œThis is the society from which the modern Western world is descended.”

Using artificial intelligence to create a future has been a prime topic of conversation as of late, but this story is a great example of how AI can give us rare glimpses into the past as well. It's pretty incredible to think about how many ancient mysteries could be solved as technology continues to advance in the years to come.

But no matter how much knowledge we gain, it feels safe to say that pleasure might always an enigma.

A woman salutes the sun in AdolfsstrΓΆm, Sweden.

American culture is out of balance. We work too hard, consume too much and live under constant stress. Our culture tells us to get rich or die trying and that resting is laziness. We take very few vacations, spend too much time staring at screens, and our diets are overly reliant on processed foods.

It’s no wonder over 37 million Americans are on antidepressants.

The antidote to this unsustainable lifestyle could come from a Swedish philosophy known as β€œlagom” (lah-gomm), which translates to β€œjust the right amount.” Living lagom means developing a mindset focused on balance, sustainability and living in the moment. It’s learning to appreciate what we have instead of striving for what we don’t.


Lagom teaches us that we don’t need to live in a penthouse or struggle in a tenement. It’s all about finding a place that is calm and comfortable. It means considering whether to have that second piece of cake for dessert, knowing when to pick your winnings off the table and understanding that it's ok to say β€œno.”

It’s choosing to be satisfied instead of over-indulging because the secret is that the lightness of satisfaction is more fulfilling than the burden of indulgence.

Are you looking to live lagom? Here are 7 ways to get started.

1. Know when to take a break

According to research, working at a breakneck speed and refusing to take a break will actually hurt your work performance. Get up, take a walk, have a cup of coffee with a friend or coworker and take a moment for yourself regularly.

2. Declutter your home

β€œThe fewer items you have in your home, the more likely that you'll be able to appreciate each and every possession you own,” Niki Brantmark, founder of My Scandinavian Home, tells Livingetc.

sweden, lagom, minimalism

A minimalist living room.

via Pexels

3. Enjoy nature

Lagom is about appreciating nature by respecting it through sustainable living. But it's also about enjoying the natural world. β€œThere is mounting evidence, from dozens and dozens of researchers, that nature has benefits for both physical and psychological human well-being,” Lisa Nisbet, Ph.D., told the American Psychological Association. β€œYou can boost your mood just by walking in nature, even in urban nature. And the sense of connection you have with the natural world seems to contribute to happiness even when you’re not physically immersed in nature.”

4. Have an attitude of gratitude

It's only possible to find contentment and satisfaction in life if you appreciate what you already have. Further, without gratitude, you won't enjoy the things you strive for either. "He who knows he has enough is rich," Taoist philosopher Lao Tzu writes in the β€œTao Te Ching.”

5. Be present

Balance is all about living in the now and being present instead of being focused on the past or preoccupied with the future. Happiness only exists in the current moment that you have right now, so embrace it.

6. Live drama-free

There’s no need to put up with unnecessary agitation, whether that comes from the people in our lives or our habits that don’t bring us joy. Simplifying our social media lives, so we experience fewer distractions, aggravations and unnecessary comparisons is a great way to live lagom.

7. Eat well, but enjoy yourself

Eating a balanced diet means a lot of different things to different people. But striving for perfection and depriving yourself or overindulging and being unhealthy aren’t paths to contentment.

More

Why it's illegal for some Christian bakers to refuse to bake gay wedding cakes. Explained.

A funny, concise three-minute explainer video about gay wedding cakes and the law.

Say, hypothetically, you go to a bakery to order your wedding cake.

Imagine you are Christian. And the bakery specializes in wedding cakes. Particularly satanic wedding cakes, but they make them for atheist and Buddhist weddings too, on occasion. And you happen to love the way their devil's food cake tastes, and you'd like them to make one for your Christian wedding. And then the satanic baker says, "I'm sorry, but it's against my beliefs to make a wedding cake for Christian weddings. Good day! Hail Satan!"

You'd be upset, right? (Along with being confused with the whole "Hail Satan" thing.)


Now imagine you are gay. And a Christian baker says making you a wedding cake is against their beliefs. Well, you don't have to imagine. Because it really happens. On occasion. And then sometimes the courts have to weigh in and shut that down. But the outcome depends on which state you live in. Each state has its own set of rules.

But what about freedom of speech? Or freedom of religion? Or artistic freedom? What then?

John Corvino's hilarious new video has answers to all your concerns about the rights of wedding cake bakers.

Along with being chair of the philosophy department at Wayne State University, John has a history of hilariously explaining, for example, why you can't marry your kitchen appliances. In the below video, he explains why he can't discriminate against his conservative students, why a Kosher bakery can refuse to make you a bacon cake, and why you can't own a bakery where all the bakers are nude.

(Make sure to watch the whole video, there's comedy after the credits.)

Good luck with all your baking. Please wear clothes when you do it.

John Corvino has written several books, including, most recently, "Debating Religious Liberty and Discrimination." He does not own a nude bakery.

This article was updated 4/29/2017.