On Fri, 25 Oct 96 22:16:48 Joseph Palmer wrote:
: > I was indeed talking about an
: >experience of enlightenment for Ranma (transient but not without
: >effect).
:
: Wait, what is Ranma?
:
: Hint... ---> (Just squiggles on paper) Doh!
:
: How can paper be enlightened? And surely the story itself
: was not so affected, after all it's only a few invisible
: magnetic marks on a rapidly spinning disk.
What, you mean the symbolic representation is *not* the thing it
represents? Fancy that! And there was me, believing that
whenever I open my comics it's *real* people standing on the
pages. Gee, then I guess that my Television Set doesn't contain
real people either. Why, thank you, Joseph; Without your kind
pointer, I would have gone through life believing in the deceit of
images!
But wait! How can I say that you communicated an idea to me?
After all, the message I am reacting to is just some electrons
dancing through my computer's chips, some shapes of light and
shadow on its monitor. And since electrons and light are not
real thoughts, *obviously* your message had *no meaning
whatsoever*. What a scary world this is: When people think they
speak to each other, they are just making soundwaves - mere
disturbances of the air; When they think they write something
down, they are just putting ink on paper. Since the medium is
never that which it is meant to represent, there is no
communication at all!
Well, if that's so, why should I waste my time, pretending to read
fanfics, while in reality I am just staring at meaningless blobs
of light on my computer monitor? And why should I delude myself,
trying to write C&C, when any attempt at communication is an
exercise in futility?
Sebastian