What can change the nature of a man?

(see subject)

Setting a man on fire.

A black hole.

Very strong acid.

The "operation"

To change the nature of man, take a test subject and then super-heat him. At a certain temperature the subject's chemical components will change from a solid to liquid and vapor in various proportions...if enough heat energy is transferred, it is also possible that the matter will become plasma...in this way you change the nature of a man from solid to other forms of matter.

No, keep trying
Somebody get Dionysus Starseeker to come see this thread

nothing

Fungicide.

A woman

Hardship.

It varys widely with age. Trauma at an early age can alter your destined personality significantly, while the same trauma at an older age may cause short term changes.

Introduction of certain chemicals into the brain can cause temporary or permanent changes in brain chemistry.

Epiphanies resulting from life changing events can do the trick too. Near death experience, giving birth, or witnessing something perceived to be a religious phenomenon.

But at the core of it, "learning" is defined as a change in behavior as a result of experience. We are all changing every moment we are alive. (With the possible exception of Aimee clicking the snapshot button when she didn't intend to. That is forever)

-Aimee

One of two things:

1) money
2) teh s3xx0rzz


In all seriousness... we all have the same nature. On the outer layer there is habbit, memory, emotion, belief and interest. At the core of it all, there is selflessness. This is the nature of man.

I dont think so Darwin. Selflessness? Are you on crack? Man are selfish almost by definition. Heck, nature is mostly selfish. Eat or be eaten, kill or die.
Anyway, there's this game called Planescape: Torment. I heartily recommend it. It's an RPG of sorts... a little like Baldur's Gate / Neverwinter Nights. It was made with the Baldur's Gate 2 engine.
What's different about this game is that it has a mature, interesting plot. There's probably 3 whole books worth of reading material in there.
You start out in a mortuary, lying on your back, seemingly dead. You wake up, and have no memory of who you are, or what your name is. Your body looks like a heavily scarred corpse, and you have a lot of tattoos.
Soon thereafter you find out that you are immortal. Whenever you die, you come back to life. You want to find out why and how that happened.
Even though it's AD&D based it's not your typical monster-bash game... the plot is quite possibly the best plot ever to appear in a game, gripping and immersive, and there's a bunch of interesting philosophical undercurrents. When you finish this game, it really has an effect on you. I've spent the last couple of days thinking about the issues exposed throughout its plot.
No wonder it was a commercial failure, it's actually good and not just another cookie-cutter star wars game

A 22oz Steak and a BJ

getting a divorce

owing money

To know what can change the nature of man, we must first know what constitutes the nature of man.

A superficial answer to the nature of modern domesticated / civilized man can be found in the game “The Sims:"

The endless cycles of sleep, hygiene, work, stimulants, mating behavior, entertainment, and food… with the only objective being to make more money so you can expand your house to fill it with high-end stereo systems or novelty tables made in the likeness of a giant fish.

Did "The Sims" make anyone else depressed?

Not really. I didnt mean the nature of Man as a species. I meant the nature of a man, your innermost self, your essence.
If you are selfish at heart, can you ever truly be an altruist? If you are greedy, can you change enough to become a generous person?
Can you become your exact opposite, and how? What would prompt such a change?
This is what I was talking about.

I love Planescape: Torment! Still have it, and recently reinstalled it on my box. Still plays well even when it's fairly old by game standards.

(we now return you to our regularly scheduled thread.)

I like when people express the depth of their emotion and they use my name.

[grammar fix edit]

Time.


fen-

Enlightenment.

Nothing. As a persons actions may change on the surface from time-to-time, the core of a person, male or female, is always there.

I am of the opinion that a person's nature is in constant flux. Experience - every little interaction - has the ability to change someone. The more severe the experience, the more ability it has to promote that change. Repition (especially in diverse situations) also promotes change.

While I wouldn't expect to single handedly change anyone's core nature, I believe that I can make a difference - be a part of a community - that does.

Everyone is a work in progress.

Eggy,

<<Man are selfish almost by definition. Heck, nature is mostly selfish. Eat or be eaten, kill or die.>>

Nature is mostly selfish, but altruism is a form of natural behaviour employed by those animals who live in some kind of social grouping. It is a way of preserving the species, sometimes at the expense of the individual.

This most came home to me when I was reading an article about Smilodon, the sabre-toothed tiger, not the most cuddly of animals. Apparently a skeleton was discovered of an old female, crippled with arthritis. It was said that because of the severity of the disease, the animal would have been totally incapable of fending for itself over a period of many years. The only possible explanation for its survival was that it was fed by the other animals.

As a species we are have an element of selfishness, and we also have an element of altruism. Which of these comes to the fore depends, I believe, on the example of our parents, of the society we live in, and on the way we are educated.

Having said all that, I have bought a copy of Torment from Amazon at thirty-six quid, so it better be good!

Fair enough, Selador. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Before you play, get the 1.1 patch. On top of that, some dedicated players have made patches of their own to adress issues not fixed by the 1.1 patch. Ill try to find the link for you.
These are mostly minor issues, the game doesnt crash or anything, but sometimes there are missing dialogue options, or duplicate ones.
I advise you to put all of your skill points into Wisdom, Intelligence and Charisma since for big dumb barbarians, half the dialogue options are unavailable.
Personally I would just use a savegame editor and put all my stats at 25

I don't think I have ever seen a person do a complete about-face through purely unselfish reasons, over the course of their lives, particularly in the inconsiderate of others to considerate of others area.

Now, I have seen people change in this way, but it was due to purely neurobiological reasons, such as recovering form an addiction, and the natural tendency of people with anti-social personality disorders to kind of "mellow out" in their 30's / 40's.

I hear about people every now and then who get religion when they start to recognize thier own mortality, but this always struck me as a more superficial change based on appearances and some lurking fear of divine retribution.