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A Critique on Voxism


Ferrous

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For those of you who read my article, "A Critique on Francoism," you would know that the following is not simply pro-NPO propaganda, but more of an investigation into this newer philosophy. Voxism, born from the rebellion group, "Vox Populi," is the only other philosophy that has been published that holds any kind of weight. It is very different from Francoism both in the underlying framework, and in the end purpose, giving a breath of fresh air to those who enjoy reading walls of text on the different political philosophies of the Cyberverse.

Voxism starts with one axiom (the existence of the Admin), and thenceforward addresses how the existence of Admin - and the game mechanics that follow - creates meaning in the Cyberverse. The resulting conclusion is that meaning can only be found through constant conflict. While Voxism has a few points that are worth considering, there are too many flaws in its reasoning to reasonably consider it to be a usable philosophy.

After accepting the existence of Admin, MegaAros, in his piece "Voxism: The Absurd World", explains that there is no afterlife, no destiny and no meaning in endlessly building up infrastructure (due to the meaningless of the citizens of each individual nation). The only meaning that can be found is by conflict; attacking other nations in order to give meaning to the soldiers by using them for their purpose.

The first problems occur with the ideas that there is no afterlife, no destiny and no meaning in endlessly building up infrastructure. To the first point, there is an afterlife, of the individual's choosing. Should someone leave the game, they can become "reincarnated" as someone new with a new nation and people, or even come back as himself (as this author has done). We can choose the same nation name, same location, same ruler name. Furthermore, while there is no tangible form of "Heaven" or "Hell" in the Cyberverse, there are more metaphorical forms of such. Memorable characters that have left us are sometimes forever entombed in old discussions of "do you remember when so-and-so did..." Granted, many of these forms of "afterlife" exist outside of Admin's direct control, but that is because Voxism ignores a key component - that every individual also has free will.

The second error in the framework of Voxism is that there is no destiny. The idea of a destiny is that a single individual or a single alliance is meant to come into a particular position or will surely take a particular action. I will not deny the tenet that Admin does not control any such aspect of destiny, but that does not preclude the notion altogether. Given the above tenet that every individual has free will, then we are all free to choose our own path and carve it out. Whether or not we actually make our goals is not the same as making our destiny: our destiny is determined not by an external being, but rather by the choices we make and the environment in which we exist.

The third error in the framework of Voxism is that infrastructure is meaningless, given that the existence of our citizens is meaningless. However, MegaAros himself admits that "All nation rulers in their own subjective thought will seek to make meaning mean what it means to them." Hence, infrastructure is only meaningless if we so choose to make it so. Every time we purchase more infrastructure and give attention to it, we give some measure of meaning to infrastructure, regardless of how small.

Finally, we arrive at the point where Voxism states a policy of conflict in order to disrupt the order presented by Francoism, the NPO and their allies in order to achieve meaning in the Cyberverse. Their choice to create meaning in such a manner is up to their own disposition, but that does not mean that other forms of meaning can be taken into account. Treating a nation as a tech seller or a tech buyer or using diplomatic skills to maneuver the nation into a good alliance with good protection are all forms of meaning that are disregarded by Voxist philosophy in pursuit of a narrow-minded pursuit of disrupting order.

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