comic book psychology

«Batman. His deductive talents seem highly overrated. It doesn't take
great intellect to tackle street crime. Luck and timing are the
operative skills. No, what interests me . . . is the fact that he
functions as a lightning rod for a certain breed of psychotic.
[pictures of the Joker, the Riddler, and Two-Face are shown
successively] They specialize in absurdly grandiose schemes, and
whatever the ostensible rationale -- greed, revenge, the seizure of
power . . . their true agenda is always the same: to cast Batman in
the role of nemesis. Hence the puns, the riddles, the flagrant clues
in their collective wake -- daring their foe to penetrate the obvious.
He always triumphs. If he failed, they'd be bereft. The pas de deux
would have no point. Like naughty children, who tempt the wrath of a
stern, demanding father . . . They seek only to shock him by the
enormity of their transgressions. It's the moment of acknowledgement
they crave. Thus "good" conquers "evil." True evil seldom announces
itself so loudly. The dangerous ones set their subversive goals, and
achieve them, bit by bit . . . invisibly, inevitably. They have no
taste for theater. While Batman busies himself with petty thieves and
gaudy madmen, an abyss of rot yawns ever wider at his feet. He's a
band-aid on a cancer patient. I am of course no moralist, but this
Batman, I think, has a very poor understanding of the world.» --
http://www.adherents.com/lit/comics/Batman.html

Marvin Minsky vs Lou Reed

"You can't blame teachers for trying to make numbers interesting. But
-- let's face it -- numbers by themselves don't have much character.
That's why mathematicians like them so much! They find something
magical about things which have no interesting qualities at all. That
sounds like a paradox. Yet, when you think about it, that's exactly
why we can use numbers so many different ways! Why is it that we get
the same kind of result when we count different kinds of things --
whether we're counting flowers or trees or cars or dinosaurs? Why do
we always end up the same -- with a number? That's the magic of
arithmetic. It wipes away all fine details. It strips things of their
character. The qualities of what you count just disappear without a
trace. Programs do the opposite. They make things come to be, where
nothing ever was before. Some people find a new experience in this, a
feeling of freedom, a power to do anything you want. Not just a lot --
but anything. I don't mean like getting what you want by just wishing.
I don't mean like having a faster-than-light spaceship, or a time
machine. I mean like giving a child enough kindergarten-blocks to
build a full-sized city without ever running out of them. You still
have to decide what to do with the blocks. But there aren't any
outside obstacles. The only limits are the ones inside you." -- Marvin
Minsky, "Introduction to LogoWorks"

"I have made very big decision
I'm goin' to try to nullify my life
'Cause when the blood begins to flow
When it shoots up the dropper's neck
When I'm closing in on death

You can't help me not you guys
Or all you sweet girls with all your sweet talk
You can all go take a walk
And I guess I just don't know
And I guess I just don't know

I wish that I was born a thousand years ago
I wish that I'd sailed the darkened seas
On a great big clipper ship
Going from this land here to that
I put on a sailor's suit and cap

Away from the big city
Where a man cannot be free
Of all the evils of this town
And of himself and those around
Oh, and I guess I just don't know
Oh, and I guess I just don't know"

-- Lou Reed, "Heroin"