Knowing that we humans have imaginary faculties available, why do we still need/rather have physical images to satisfy our wants/needs?
Asked by
rebbel (
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November 25th, 2011
The question came up this evening while watching a talk show where child pornography and child molesting is a subject of debate.
They talked, besides the upcoming court case of a big child abuse case in Amsterdam, about the fact that thousands and thousands of photos and movies wander about the internet.
I wondered, why do people who have a want or a need for certain images, want/need to have physical photos be they real physical or on a screen of any kind to get satisfied?
(Like I said, the question arose because of the child porn case, but I am talking about any kind of image that people want/need.)
Is it (should it be/could it be) not enough for us humans to work with our imaginary skills/fantasy (to satisfy our needs)?
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Of course it’s not enough. We have a logic part of our brain, and we need it for the world to work. We have to present evidence in court, we can’t just imagine our way to prosperity. These people want to see the photos so they actually know it is real. It’s proof. Yes, of course we know it’s happening, but it helps solidify your beliefs when you actually see it.
We are a very visual people. Images help fire our imaginations.
The only way that I can keep the images in my head from driving me crazy… is to look at other images that aren’t in my head. Same thing with music.
Put me in a dark silent place… and my mind is filled with pictures and song unlike anything else available in reality. It’s freaks me out because sometimes there are people in there (my mind) looking right back at me… And it makes me wonder if I’m a picture/movie that they are watching. I should charge them for this. Netflix does!
Images are drugs that our brains need for information and stimulation.
I believe a lot of it has to do with the fact that folks are, on the average, much, lazier than they are imaginative.
see also: the internet
Seeing anything you admire is a major stimulation. IE huge mindfuck.
I think it is very difficult for most people to create images and stories and fantasies purely in their minds. It is so much easier to look at movies that spell it all out for you, and particularly give you beautiful people to fantasize about. Still photos can help, but movies make it the easiest.
Photos and film give us images that our mind wouldn’t be able to create otherwise—maybe images we have never seen before or put in a context that we wouldn’t have been able to imagine on our own. For example, I’ve seen millions of pictures of birds and have seen another million birds in real life—but if I see a photo of a bird in a certain context that has never occurred to me, it can be breathtaking because it gives me a new way of seeing birds. If I wanted to imagine something, I could only imagine them as far as my mind will go, but someone else might have a different way of seeing things outside of what my mind’s able to create. Then, if it’s a picture, it’s frozen and all the details can be studied. That’s why I love film and photography.
Unfortunately, the same principle also applies to child pornography.
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