shiftingwinds | [7rings] catchall for steven

[oh. called out.]

You'd think at my age [hah] I'd be a little less sensitive, but what can I say? Old habits die hard.

[she's. always been pretty emotional.]

No, I think it's a necessary trait in some cases. [ Taking a sip. ] Imagine if the entire world was just full of cold assholes who moved on from every tragedy like it didn't even matter.

We'd never learn.

...no, we wouldn't.

[she sighs and takes a long drink of her wine.]

I just hope we can learn from what happened this week.

Everything in life hangs in such a precarious balance, doesn't it.
If only every person was perfect.

Oh, but that's too depressing of a topic when you're trying to forget about it just for a night, right?

A bit depressing, but...

[she waves a hand]

Given all that's happened over the last few days, not entirely unexpected. Even if you try not to talk about it, that sort of thing has a way of coming up. We might as well talk through it.

[fuck bottling up your feelings! sqx is here to talk about them!]

Haha, is this what they call drinking your feelings away?

[ Truth be told, he doesn't even have that much commentary on the death itself. On the execution. It was brutal, it was cruel, but so is everything else. It pays to be so jaded, in the worst ways. ]

You first, then.

Drowning your sorrows!

[she pours herself a new glass and raises it in a toast]

I'm pretty sure it counts for gluttony and despair because it's alcohol we're drowning the things we're upset about in.

[and then she takes a long drink of her wine before she continues.]

...I'm mad that we didn't actually figure anything out. It sounds like we're back where we started. No - worse than that, actually, because now we're bound to be suspicious of each other.

What a positive, and more fun spin on trying to tackle your indulgences. [ He hums just a little. ] Sometimes we need a little of that. After all, one of my biggest themes to be that "misery loves company".

[ Haha. He drops his gaze down into the wine in his glass. ] Yeah -- it's inevitable. The one who died was, for better or worse, someone innocent and kind from what I knew of him in our brief talk.

Like a slaughtered lamb to start the witch hunt.

Hmph. Just because your sin is Despair, doesn't mean you should have to be miserable. Embrace your feelings, work through them, acknowledge them for what they are - that should satisfy it. But then you should be allowed to feel better, the same way as anyone else who's indulging in a different sin.

[she has! very strong feelings! about this!]

...but, you're right about him.

And not only that - but we sentenced someone else who was innocent to die for what his killer dead. As far as I'm concerned, although we bear some responsibility for not finding the truth... that person killed two people, not just one.

[ Hmph. It's the smallest laugh in the form of a exhale. So sweet, Qingxuan, but he fears the well of his despair is far, far deeper than she could realize or accept. His fingers grip the neck of his wine glass a little tight, but only shortly. ]

Right. We all share some responsibility, but there's a clear limit to what we could have done. Nine hours to decide a trial all the way from evidence presentation, testimony, check, all the way to verdict is just unheard of in a real judicial system.

And clearly, we already have those among us who don't even care about the real outcome. Mr. Masters hadn't done anything suspicious and absolutely none of the evidence came close to pointing him out either, and yet, he was this close to being executed instead.

[(laughs in tgcf spoilers about wells of despair) anyway,

if he'd rather not continue talking about his sin now, that's fine, but she'll remember this in case it comes up again.]

Honestly, that was just too much... I didn't particularly want to take off all my clothing, either, but voting for him when we have no idea what that would do? He was just trying to help.

[ Hah. He huffs a derisive noise, clearly unimpressed with the event turnaround. Not that he particularly cares for nor about Vlad, but it was the principle of it all. ]

That "trial" wasn't a controlled environment. Anyone's emotions could sway the public, change the tide of the vote. If you're well-liked, maybe people won't vote you. If you're disliked, all it would take it just one accusation.

Normally, I would say, "we could at least encourage them to look at the evidence," but...

[the evidence sure did lead them to someone innocent!]

I don't like the idea that there's no sure way to know until the votes are cast, and even then, if we're wrong, there's little to nothing to be done to make it right.

Yeah. It's a cruel system.

[ God knows why it is the way that it is... ]

One little mistake, and the cost is a whole life, or more.

...in theory we can avoid it, if no one else is killed, but...

[but, they didn't catch this week's killer, and shi qingxuan can't help but think that the chances of them not killing someone else are depressingly low.

and even if, by some chance, they don't - well, this week has just gone and shown everyone that it's an option.]

Prisoner's Dilemma. Keynesian Beauty Contest. [ He rattles them off like he's had them ready -- and in a sense, sort of. He had just talked about it to Law yesterday. ]

"Reason" and "Logic" don't often work in societies, because emotions and self-interest will always sway the public to one direction or another. Humans just aren't capable of being rational.

..."Prisoner's Dilemma" and "Keynesian Beauty Contest"?

[???????????????????????????]

Oh, ah. They're both thought problems, like hypothetical societal riddles.

The Prisoner's Dilemma is a game theory scenario, where two criminals are caught and jailed separately for their crimes, for a sentence each of three years. The warden gives each of them a special deal: if you rat out the other criminal, then your own sentence will be reduced, while the other serves an additional two years. Alternatively, if the other criminal rats you out, then the opposite holds true. If both people end up ratting each other out, then the sentence is extended by one year for both. Finally, if both people don't rat each other out, then there isn't enough evidence to keep them, and they're set free after their three year charge.

In a way, it's relevant to our scenario, because the "ratting out" is the votes. If we all cooperate, then we could come away with the best deal, which is no more extra lives lost to the executions; however, just a single vote could lead to your own death, which makes it so that it would be in your self-interest to vote someone else just in case.

The Keynesian Beauty Contest on the other hand, is more about economics, but I think the scenario applies decently. In this scenario, a town posts five pictures of beautiful women, and asks the populace to vote for the most beautiful woman. All the people who voted the most popular woman are awarded a prize; because of this, people won't vote for who they personally think is the most beautiful, but rather, who they think will be the most beautiful in the eyes of everyone else.

In summary, it's a scenario where people are rewarded for choosing what's popular, not what's objectively right. Which I think is also happening in the trials, due to the high pressure environment.

[ Sorry for being a nerd, ]

[oh, this is kind of fascinating, though.]

I see... in the first case, of course the ideal thing to do would be to not vote at all, but seeing as we don't know who got away yesterday...

[then again, if they're all watching each other, no one would be able to secretly vote, would they?]

But for the second - what, you think people voted for whoever was most likely to get more votes...?

It's more the concept of mob mentality.

The wisest thing, of course, is to either not vote, or vote the appropriate culprit -- the most "beautiful". But look how easily we're swayed as a people.

Kaz's only reason for voting Beauregard was because someone else said so.

[counterpoint: kaz is kind of a moron

sqx is too nice to actually say this]

...I see... you're right about that.

[ Counterpoint Combo x2: Kaz definitely still voted. ]

Tricky balance, isn't it?

The most ideal option would be to avoid doing anything that would cause a trial to happen at all.

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