As a Philosophy student, myself, I can’t tell you how many times it infuriated me when some freshman would write a paper comparing something in pop culture to whatever we were studying in class. First it was the Matrix and Plato, then Fight Club and Nietzsche. I wasn’t angry at the students, but at the writers of said productions for doing a disservice to Philosophy. If the parallels were intentional, they’re superficial at best, and if you think Tyler Durden is really the embodiment of the Ubermensch, you don’t understand Nietzche. The comparison is there, but… not really.

After I graduated, however, my view changed dramatically. It’s pretty amazing how void the world outside the academic bubble is of Philosophy. Most everything the media produces these days is extremely vacuous. It’s also pretty amazing how much the discipline has pushed away from mass culture as a whole to the point of near irrelevance. When people hear that I studied Philosophy, they usually take me for some sort of loopy theologist who has nothing important to say whatsoever and spends most of their day thinking about ridiculous questions. Perhaps if I wasn’t so eager to push away, people would be a bit more understanding. Perhaps I should embrace Plato and the Matrix, because anything that gets people thinking about the topic is worthwhile. Perhaps I should stop being arrogant, maybe people will stop thinking that I’m arrogant.

With that said, there are a number of really good pop culture adaptations of Philosophers and their ideas. The For Beginners series, for example, is absolutely amazing.

With that said, I greet this book with a small amount of skepticism, but am really hopeful that it’s a good read and does a thorough job, while remaining accessible to everyone. Perhaps it could be like those For Beginners books.

One topic I really think is interesting in respects to WoW is game theory. It has a [i]lot[/i] to say about raiding, forming guilds, 5 mans, and group work in general. There is quite a bit there and I hope he covers the topic. =)

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