virus: MS Weapon

Tadeusz Niwinski (tad@teta.ai)
Sun, 28 Sep 1997 16:14:11 -0700


Possessing a secret weapon seems to have a survival advantage. Imagine
you had a gun in a stone-axe society. Would you try to hide it, so
nobody will figure out how it works? There are two kinds of advantages
of a secret weapon: (1) self-defense and (2) being seen as a superhuman.

What's the advantage of being seen as a superhuman? Of course: best
mates, best food, security, no need to work hard, etc.

How do you guard your secret? (1) Do not use it often, (2) Use it
discretely, (3) Steer away people who try to learn about your weapon (if
you can't kill them), (4) Teach others to laugh at people who know your
secret.

What is the weapon of the MS Flip people? Let's just call it MSW ("My
Secret Weapon") and look at how it works.

David brought up just one statement "Objective reality is consistent"
not even to argue that it is true, but in an attempt to "distill the
essence of this thread so far".

This is obviously leading towards a discovery of MSW. What should an MS
Flip person do in this case?

When David gives an example of "different ways to express the truth" and
the example happens to be geometry, Goliath laughs at him in attempt to
try and steer him away: "I don't know when you will realize that your
position is self-contradictory, David. There is no such thing as a
point, as a Cartesian plane, as polar coordinates. These are all
abstractions, approximations, lies-to-children".

Ironically, because the human mind is so powerful that it can invent
abstractions such as points, planes, memes (:-)) Goliath suggests this
powerful weapon is useless as all it produces are "lies-to-children".
Why is Goliath doing this? His secret MS Weapon may get discovered!

David does not want to be seen as self-contradictory, so he quickly
looks for the crowd's support: "Obviously you missed the point (or I
failed to make myself clear). I was using geometry simply as a
metaphor. Did anyone get it?".

The crowd does not want to oppose Goliath, so Goliath continues: <<The
point, my friend, is that EVERYTHING is a metaphor. I am sure you will
agree with this. Yet when you start digging in you heels and talking
about "reasonable" as if it meant something other than whatever
interpretation we happen to give it today, I think you may lose sight of
this basic truth.>>

A very well crafted piece. Goliath wants to appear as the one who knows
the truth, the "basic truth". Everything else is just a metaphor. He
steers away from the discovery of MSW: nothing is certain, everything is
what we just "happen" to think it is today.

David asks further questions in an attempt to understand what Goliath
means, but all he gets is: "What's your best guess at what I mean?"
This is not an honest exchange of ideas, this is an MSW war.

David's guess is "The set of all distinction memes" (quite a provocative
one). No answer. David pleads "OK, why don't you tell me?".
No answer again. Goliath reappears to hit David with "All you've
proved is that logic is consistent (a tautology). You've proved nothing
about reality."

When David responds: "I wasn't talking about the consistency of logic."
Goliath teaches: <<When you use the word "true" you are, in my mind,
talking about logic. Truth is a property of a logical proposition. Truth
is not a property of reality. Birds, universes, and photons are not
"true" or "false.">>

Will Goliath be able to hold on to his secret much longer?

David, don't get discouraged. In the worst case, when Goliath laughs,
you know what you can do.

Regards, Tadeusz (Tad) Niwinski from planet TeTa
tad@teta.ai http://www.teta.ai (604) 985-4159