Poll: Portal Phrase Turned into Atheist Metaphor

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Typecast

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Leodiensian said:
Typecast said:
Ahh Glados, she rubs that soft spot in my soul for malevolent trickster gods :D
Hey now, not ALL trickster figures are malevolent and the ones that are aren't all the time! Selfish, fine, but we generally profit from their shenanigans. If you haven't read it already, I strongly recommend the book "Trickster Makes The World". It's a really good study of trickster-figures from across world mythology, with an eye towards common themes, ideals and effects to their stories.
I just prefer the malevolent ones :'(
 

Sightless Wisdom

Resident Cynic
Jul 24, 2009
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This thread's certainly been through a fair bit of flaming. Well that's not what I'm here for, I'm certainly not going to start on my "religion". What I will say is INTERESTING. I never really though of that before, though I'm not sure Valve did either. It's odd how things connect to each other, at least I think so.
 

Eclectic Dreck

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Zeroththeking said:
I was thinking about this while I was at school. Don't ask how I got these two ideas mixed up. But as you know, I am one of the few people that have gone on the, "Wanted to have faith, but lost it due to the sheer ignorance of the religious people around me" Road, if that is an actual road. But due to this, I thought about both Portal, and The Bible.

"The Cake is a lie" Can be a metaphor for an atheist if you put it in the right way. Lets break down the phrase so it makes sense.

The cake is a lie, is basically a phrase that means, "Your goal is merely a fictitious motivator", and it was obvious, since you were only given cake to get from point A (beginning of the game) to point B (End game). Although the walls within one of the test chambers said that the cake was a lie, you went through the game anyway, (see a pattern?)
To be fair, cake was offered to the player by an antagonist who was not only clearly lying, but also not particularly gifted at the craft. I'm nearly certain few players (if any) actually expected that they would be awarded with cake if they simply gave in to GLaDos' request.

Zeroththeking said:
Since we are using the english language, and since it becomes a metaphor, you can change up the words simply and have the phrase be of actual meaning to atheists (people who dont believe in god).

The Bible, (or any religious book for that matter), have been motivators throughout the millennia, making people establish religions and forcing people to turn into their religion and bash any other religion other then their own. Lets switch Bible with Cake

The Bible is a lie.
This is the first significant fault in the argument. Religion has had a far greater impact on mankind that simply being used as an excuse for violence. The question really is not if the story of the Bible itself is true or false; instead, you ought to question wether a particular invocation of its passages is being done in an honest fashion. Is it done to manipulate, or is it done simply because of belief.


Zeroththeking said:
Now this can be a simple phrase to utter, but cannot be an actual truth until we find some actual way to prove that the bible doesn't exist, (other then all the other obvious ones that got religious people completely ignorant). But can there be such a metaphor or such a comparison created for two completely different things? Possibly.
A metaphor by its nature is the act of helping facilitate understanding of a subject by comparing it to something else that someone may be familiar with. By saying the bible is a lie, there is no metaphor, just an assertion of (possible) truth. For this statement to qualify as a metaphor, you have to compare both the bible and the cake to one another. I would use something like this: "The cake in Portal is clearly a lie born from the impossible psychosis of an amormal machine; the bible, therefore, is a cake born not from psychosis or amorality, but rather from the ignorance of man".

Zeroththeking said:
But if you are religious and are shaking your head in disapproval right now, but are a really big Portal fan, (This is to the what, 6 people out in the world?), think of it this way, if we use the same phrase.

Atheism is a lie.
Again, this is not a methaphor. By changing out the subject of the sentence, you completely alter the meaning.

Zeroththeking said:
Are you sure? Atheism was not as much motivating as any of the other religions were, since Atheists were not begging to burn witches, or create churches in their religious honor, (at least around the 1800s, I haven't seen an atheist church but tell me if they actually exist), so due to the phrase, you can think that Atheism has a less chance of being Cake aka a lie, then Christianity does. But also once Atheism is proven to be fictitious, then Atheism becomes cake.
You've hit the nail on the head - until one has proof that something is true or false there can be no lie. The best one can do is tell a story they do not believe in for some form of gain. This isn't a lie, because it is impossible to lie when the truth is unknown. I can state all sorts of gibberish about the bible or it's alternatives and never once utter a word that can be considered a lie (heresy or blasphemy maybe). I can, however, lie about WHAT I believe. For example, I can use the bible as leverage in a debate even if I don't believe a word it says. In claiming a belief I do not have, I will have managed to tell the only lie one can tell about a matter of belief when no proof exists.

Zeroththeking said:
Therefore the percentage of Atheism being a lie (just by using this phrase and no other form of hypothesis) is lower then the chance of Christianity or any other religion being a lie, since those religions already are filling the cake up and putting it in the oven. When it is proven ficticious, then there is the icing on the cake, (no pun intended). Either way, there is your weird metaphor that I just thought up. I have no idea if this is logical or not, but its a thought to toil around in the back of your brain. Its been 5 hours and I still don't know.

I still look to the flying spaghetti monster to save us, with his noodley appendages. RAmen. (If only I was serious)

I have nothing to add about this part because I've already commented on anything I might want to in this segment.










Edit: Do take note that this is a hypothesis made out of a video game phrase, not a total comment that is saying that Religion is a lie. Im trying to make people think, in a weird metaphoric way. And the bible is a lie, means what is in the bible is a lie, not the actual book that you can buy or get from a swap meet. Or take out of a church.



Internet Kraken:
But in Portal, the cake wasn't a lie. You see the cake at the end of the game. So comparing the cake to the bible suggests that the bible is not a lie.

Me:
Interesting point. Was the cake ever given? Was there ever a picture of cake? An actual video picture taken of the cake so that Chell could see it? Its a metaphor, for the both of them are that much the same. Im not saying anything its a lie, im proposing a theory off of Portal, and proposing how much free time I have.[/quote]
 

kommunizt kat

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Jul 8, 2009
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You're statement was marvelous.... but perplexing... made me think a lot. Thanks, I can now think of portal as a stairway to lies lol... but wasn't there a cake at the end of portal?
 

Internet Kraken

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Mar 18, 2009
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teh_pwning_dude said:
I think what we need to do first is decide whether or not the cake is actually a lie.
GlaDOS giving the cake to you was a lie. However, the cake did exist.
 

Superhyperactiveman

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Jul 23, 2009
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Okay... now... think about portal for a second... do you really think the guys who designed the game put THAT much thought into it...

And... I'm REALLY sorry... but you cannot use portal to disprove God. God by nature cannot be proven or disproven.
 

Leodiensian

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Superhyperactiveman said:
Okay... now... think about portal for a second... do you really think the guys who designed the game put THAT much thought into it...
Funny thing about storytelling; the meaning someone takes out of it isn't necessarily going to be the same as what you put into it. For reasons of safety, it's best to wait until after the creators are dead before you spin theories, though - dead men can't refute them.
 

Typecast

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Jul 27, 2008
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The cake is an industry in joke about the carrot on the stick metaphor that most games are stuck with because the developers can't think of a better reason for the player to go from point A to point B. It may as well have been a princess in Glados' other castle but that's the point. Perhaps that's why this phrase makes for such good digetic material. Its a post-modernist thesis writer's dream come true, taking a cerebral scapel to something so small and helpless... like the companion cube.
 

Spleenbag

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Dec 16, 2007
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cuddly_tomato said:
j0z said:
You could put about anything in for "cake", and it will make no more sense or no less sense.
These are my thoughts:
Religious people can't prove their religion.
Atheists can't prove Atheism.
Now, let's just respect other people's opinions and go about our merry lives, without trying to convince people you are right and they are wrong. okay?
Please, run for president. Or at least something like that.
Quoted for truth and for echoing my basic philosophy.
 

HentMas

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Apr 17, 2009
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DEAR GOD!!! why does people have to over think things?!?!?

now you made portal anti-christian, I CANT PLAY IT ANYMORE!!!

hehe, naaa, just kidding, althoug i would reccomend to use a different game, portal is too played out to be funny anymore
 

New York Patrick

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Jul 29, 2009
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Alright, fine. I believe you.

Honestly, if all of Pokemon was rationalized to be a comma induced delusion, I don't see why Portal isn't really Atheist subliminal messeges.