The "alien mindset" of a race

[Saeviomagy]

Certainly there is. There are going to be concepts that a human simply cannot accept, or concepts that are by themselves so poisonous to human intellect that they cause a person to go mad.

Certainly? You've experienced these? Or met someone who has?

So in other words - you've got no idea, and all the supporting evidence says no. I think we drifted into talking "no, really, are there mindsets we could genuinely not fathom or explain", and the answer would seem to be, at present "no". Which is useful to use because the question is "how do you portray an 'alien' mindset" - if there are genuinely unfathomable, unexplainable mindsets, then you can't. Otherwise, you just need to pick a good explanation.

It's like an awful lot of literature which says "so-and-so finds out X, and it totally breaks his brain". Usually when you find out what X was, you go "oh, that's not really that brain-breaking".

I mean honestly - what possible nature could God have that would cause EVERYONE who knew to commit suicide. Not just everyone of a single race, every single person who figures it out. It's a nice idea, but humanity contains individuals who can persuade themselves that any number of facts aren't true. What possible impact could a 'proof' have on them?

 

[Saeviomagy]

No. Humans do not and have never lived in packs.
...
...
Packs are not troops. Troops are not packs.

Ok - so your saying that the human race couldn't tell the difference between a network of friendships and a totally submissive heirarchy? Is that the difference between social structures that you're talking about?

 

[Dogbrain]

Ok - so your saying that the human race couldn't tell the difference between a network of friendships and a totally submissive heirarchy? Is that the difference between social structures that you're talking about?

You obviously can't. You think that humans and primates evolved and live in packs. Nothing of the sort is true. We evolved and (until quite recently as anthropological time is measured) live in troops. They are two very different ways of doing things, and anyone who has observed wolves or an outsider seeing those situations wherein a wolf-like situation was artificially imposed (the military, despotic governments) is immediately struck by the differences. They would be apparent to anyone with any functional social sensitivity, even if only as a "they are not like us" feeling.

 

[Dogbrain]

I mean honestly - what possible nature could God have that would cause EVERYONE who knew to commit suicide--not just everyone of a single race, every single person who figures it out?

A picture of Wilford Brimley in a G-string.

 

[Saeviomagy]

You obviously can't. You think that humans and primates evolved and live in packs. Nothing of the sort is true. We evolved and (until quite recently as anthropological time is measured) live in troops.

No - I was merely unaware that there were different terms to describe the two structures, or that a pack structure was quite as severe as you're describing, having never studied or interacted with a natural wolf pack...

 

[Incenjucar]

When your character can give the same impact to 'They can't expect me to skip lunch!' as a human can to 'They can't expect me to give up my baby!', then you're on your way to exploring an alien mindset.

I disagree. That's just a culture thing. You know how easily people in some countries find killing off babies?

Certainly there is. There are going to be concepts that a human simply cannot accept,

Such as?

or concepts that are by themselves so poisonous to human intellect that they cause a person to go mad.

Try me.

Usually (for obvious reasons) in literature we see this by inference. There's a great Draco's Tavern story by Larry Niven that goes like this: a race, one of the oldest, has solved most of the physical problems that plagued it and has now turned to spiritual questions. They seek the answer of answers: what is the nature of God? The last word anyone has from them is that they are very close to knowing the answer to that question; all communications are then lost. Others that go to their worlds find that the entire race has committed suicide: everyone on all their planets is dead. They left behind records of what they found, and even centuries later there are suicides among people who study those records and put together the peices. They know it is something capable of being understood by even simple minds, and that it is capable of proof.

People usually only kill themselves in regards to knowledge when they find out that they've wasted their lives or helped/worshipped/believed in something vastly opposed to their personal beliefs or to reality. Finding out, say, that Jesus or Buddha was a baby eater would drive a few people nuts, but only because they believed in him as a savior and goody-goody.

Someone like me, however, I'd shrug, point, and laugh.

Show me something that a -strong willed- and -open minded- person can't handle.

 

[Anabstercorian]

An absolute, physical proof that no matter what you do in this world, the only afterlife that exists is an infinity of hell being tortured and used as fuel by entities beyond comprehension, with escape being mathematically impossible.

 

[Anabstercorian]

An absolute, physical proof that no matter what you do in this world, the only afterlife that exists is an infinity of hell being tortured and used as fuel by entities beyond comprehension, with escape being mathematically impossible.

In fact, thanks to supernatural perception, you get to watch it happen to the holy man of your choice, in person, as he turns inside out and his soul is flayed and so on and so on. Then the entities look at you and tell you they know exactly when you are going to die, and they bring your own spirit from the future so you can watch yourself scream and burn.

And so on.

 

[Saeviomagy]

An absolute, physical proof that no matter what you do in this world, the only afterlife that exists is an infinity of hell being tortured and used as fuel by entities beyond comprehension, with escape being mathematically impossible.

In fact, thanks to supernatural perception, you get to watch it happen to the holy man of your choice, in person, as he turns inside out and his soul is flayed and so on and so on. Then the entities look at you and tell you they know exactly when you are going to die, and they bring your own spirit from the future so you can watch yourself scream and burn.

And so on.

And so your response is to get to this hellish afterlife ASAP as opposed to, say, trying to extend your life as much as possible? Gimme a break.

Ok, so it'd frighten me, but I'm not going to lose my brain just because I know the afterlife is bad.

 

[Evilhalfling]

To take a turn away from the sinister and macabe -
I present a truly alien mindset to the fantasy adventurer -
The Committee -
a group of people so obsessed with the rules and processes of a discussion that they are nearly incapable of taking action, wasteing endless hours of debate on the wording of statements and purpose, who do nothing but sit around a table......
Nvrmind I have just described my players on a bad night, and a former rp group on most nights.