I like that this story is based on rationality and strategy and not my-awesome-control-the-world-witchcraft-is-better-than-yours one uppance,
Isn’t that how the Volturi are winning? They are using strategy, of course, but the captive witch archive (probably their main tactical innovation) is only a good plan because of Adelaide. The loyalty of their army is only because of Chelsea.
It’s true that without certain witches like Adelaide and especially Chelsea, the Volturi would have nowhere near the same amount of power and control they have now. Their witchcraft isn’t so powerful that they got where they are simply because they exist though; they’ve been using them intelligently, and creating situations in which they can be used most effectively, by other means.
There hasn’t yet been, in my opinion, any I-WIN witchcraft that enables a witch to fight with anyone and everyone without caution, or making them unable or unwilling to fight. They’ve all had flaws and counters, and the Volturi are winning because they’ve been doing a good job of covering those for a very long time. They’ve been simultaneously killing off opposition and potential threats—by destroying the people responsible for it, or capturing them and making use of their talents—and painting themselves as good, necessary vampires. All this make Adelaide and Chelsea’s witchcraft more powerful, as both are more useful the more people the Volturi surround themselves with.
They seem to me to never be overly overconfident; they’re always trying to be conscious of their own weaknesses and try to cover them as fast and effectively as possible, while also trying to be as informed of potential threats as possible, so they may use their weaknesses to eliminate the threat they pose as fast and effectively as possible. That’s very rational behavior in a conflict, in my opinion. I also think it’s a very healthy mindset to have in everyday life, because not all threats to your well-being and over all happiness with life has to be an armed person directly threatening yours or your beloveds’ lives; often it’s someone in a position of power who either intently or obliviously negatively affects you and others everyday lives through laws, economy, educational systems, judicial systems, health systems etcetera.
Sadly today’s societies have little to no insight to this problem, beyond those who sit in these positions—who may be corrupt, or ignorant that their actions cause other people harm, and that they can stop this. I believe this is why we live in a world where most condemn those who are different, rather than use reason and both biased and non-biased information to find out if their appearance, what they do and think or where they live mean they are dangerous to ones health and enjoyment of life.
Too much power is put in those in a position to govern others, with no organized reasonable way to discern if what they’re doing make people healthier and happier—which is, to me, the ideal everyone should strive for, along with making sure our race (and second to us; other races) continue to live and be as healthy and happy as possible; something I believe will be severely hindered if our people aren’t consistently educated to apply reason and rationality beyond scientific topics, to social topics.
A few months ago there was a poll in one of Sweden’s biggest online newspapers that asked the readers if they believed the Earth would ever cease to exist or be destroyed, and an astounding majority believed that it wouldn’t. A similar result is achieved if one asks: do you believe humanity will ever be extinct? If we weren’t all so ignorant, but rather rational people using reason to understand each other and the world, I believe all of humanity could live healthier and happier lives, and for many more generations to come than if we continued to be ignorant.
A few months ago there was a poll in one of Sweden’s biggest online newspapers that asked the readers if they believed the Earth would ever cease to exist or be destroyed, and an astounding majority believed that it wouldn’t. A similar result is achieved if one asks: do you believe humanity will ever be extinct?
Beware of overgeneralizing from results like this one. I’ve seen a lot of similar surveys, and none of them have distinguished explicitly between “infinite” and “unbounded for practical purposes”; however, people outside of mathy fields tend to conflate the two. I’d read the Swedish result not as describing an actual infinity but as rejection of Singularitarianism and the more extreme Malthusian doomsday scenarios, which strikes me as a fairly reasonable standpoint.
There hasn’t yet been, in my opinion, any I-WIN witchcraft that enables a witch to fight with anyone and everyone without caution, or making them unable or unwilling to fight.
This is true, and suggests to me we’re using different standards. You’re happy there’s no one so strong they can win with their mind shut off; I’m unhappy that Bella entered a fight that she shouldn’t be able to win. It’s not so much a question of the Volturi out-strategizing Bella so much as it is her throwing herself against a wall. Yes, the Volturi needed some strategy to build the wall, but there’s not much on Bella’s part.
Isn’t that how the Volturi are winning? They are using strategy, of course, but the captive witch archive (probably their main tactical innovation) is only a good plan because of Adelaide. The loyalty of their army is only because of Chelsea.
It’s true that without certain witches like Adelaide and especially Chelsea, the Volturi would have nowhere near the same amount of power and control they have now. Their witchcraft isn’t so powerful that they got where they are simply because they exist though; they’ve been using them intelligently, and creating situations in which they can be used most effectively, by other means.
There hasn’t yet been, in my opinion, any I-WIN witchcraft that enables a witch to fight with anyone and everyone without caution, or making them unable or unwilling to fight. They’ve all had flaws and counters, and the Volturi are winning because they’ve been doing a good job of covering those for a very long time. They’ve been simultaneously killing off opposition and potential threats—by destroying the people responsible for it, or capturing them and making use of their talents—and painting themselves as good, necessary vampires. All this make Adelaide and Chelsea’s witchcraft more powerful, as both are more useful the more people the Volturi surround themselves with.
They seem to me to never be overly overconfident; they’re always trying to be conscious of their own weaknesses and try to cover them as fast and effectively as possible, while also trying to be as informed of potential threats as possible, so they may use their weaknesses to eliminate the threat they pose as fast and effectively as possible. That’s very rational behavior in a conflict, in my opinion. I also think it’s a very healthy mindset to have in everyday life, because not all threats to your well-being and over all happiness with life has to be an armed person directly threatening yours or your beloveds’ lives; often it’s someone in a position of power who either intently or obliviously negatively affects you and others everyday lives through laws, economy, educational systems, judicial systems, health systems etcetera.
Sadly today’s societies have little to no insight to this problem, beyond those who sit in these positions—who may be corrupt, or ignorant that their actions cause other people harm, and that they can stop this. I believe this is why we live in a world where most condemn those who are different, rather than use reason and both biased and non-biased information to find out if their appearance, what they do and think or where they live mean they are dangerous to ones health and enjoyment of life.
Too much power is put in those in a position to govern others, with no organized reasonable way to discern if what they’re doing make people healthier and happier—which is, to me, the ideal everyone should strive for, along with making sure our race (and second to us; other races) continue to live and be as healthy and happy as possible; something I believe will be severely hindered if our people aren’t consistently educated to apply reason and rationality beyond scientific topics, to social topics.
A few months ago there was a poll in one of Sweden’s biggest online newspapers that asked the readers if they believed the Earth would ever cease to exist or be destroyed, and an astounding majority believed that it wouldn’t. A similar result is achieved if one asks: do you believe humanity will ever be extinct? If we weren’t all so ignorant, but rather rational people using reason to understand each other and the world, I believe all of humanity could live healthier and happier lives, and for many more generations to come than if we continued to be ignorant.
Beware of overgeneralizing from results like this one. I’ve seen a lot of similar surveys, and none of them have distinguished explicitly between “infinite” and “unbounded for practical purposes”; however, people outside of mathy fields tend to conflate the two. I’d read the Swedish result not as describing an actual infinity but as rejection of Singularitarianism and the more extreme Malthusian doomsday scenarios, which strikes me as a fairly reasonable standpoint.
This is true, and suggests to me we’re using different standards. You’re happy there’s no one so strong they can win with their mind shut off; I’m unhappy that Bella entered a fight that she shouldn’t be able to win. It’s not so much a question of the Volturi out-strategizing Bella so much as it is her throwing herself against a wall. Yes, the Volturi needed some strategy to build the wall, but there’s not much on Bella’s part.