nothing much

And?

And what?

This gap – you just disappear, and you don’t even want to explain what’s going on.

Oh that.

Well?

Nothing.

Nothing?! That’s the best you can do?

Pretty neat, isn’t it.

Do I look smug or content?

You look involved, troubled – you’re evidently heavily invested emotionally in what we’re doing, or psychologically – it makes no difference.

And?

Favourite word alert!

Actually I’m upset.

You don’t say!

And you’re utterly insensitive.

Yep. That’s right.

You just disappear for a month or thereabouts.

Who’s counting?

And then pop back as if nothing’s the matter.

Excellent appraisal of the situation – well done.

?

Nothing’s the matter.

And?

Beep beep – this word groweth tired of overuse.

Who cares. I need an explanation.

You just gave it.

I…

Nothing’s the matter – which in 3D reality translates into gaps in time or space – unaccountable, inexplicable gaps – during which um – nothing matters greatly – or at least as much as everything else.

?

Rebalancing – or affording us the opportunity to rebalance – should we avail ourselves of the opportunity – should we be willing to give nothing a break.

Give nothing a break? Give me a break.

I just did.

No, I mean…

Yes – yet no – you mean not – for you too are a bearer and bringer and binder of nought – how could you be otherwise – being a-live, so to speak.

I’m not getting any of this.

Correct – absolutely – you are getting nothing of this, none of this, nought of this – whichever works best for you – but naturally, you’re hopelessly biased against nought and choose to utterly ignore, discount or disqualify it – for failing to meet your consequence criteria. In the same way, in the past, people might have ignored what a woman, a child or a black man said – because they didn’t count – they weren’t relevant, they didn’t matter – but now we know better.

I’m sorry, but this is quite different, as anyone can see.

Agreed. But which end of the attentionscope are you using – the one or the zero. You see, if you insist on using the one end – then you’ll only ever see, perceive, comprehend what matters – the up beat, the positive charge, the spatial displacement – but if you use the other end – the down beat, or the non-beat, the negative or zero charge, the temporal displacement or the absence of time are infinitely more telling, pertinent and relevant – if you feel me.

Feel?

That’s the best method – seeing is, after all, the positive basis for thought and action, is it not?

Er…

Whereas feeling… introspection and awareness – but please attach no significance to these words – or you’ll be back in seeing – even words and their so called meaning.

Er…

So, from a 3D perspective there was time or there is space – and there are people and things which are either doing or not, together or apart, attaining goals and completing objectives or… i know not what.

That’s just the point, Merry.

It is?

Yes, as soon as you start doing the nought thing – it always ends in dots leading nowhere – and what are we supposed to do?

Me knows not. Do whatever you will – it matters little if you’re unable to hold zero and one in mutual balance – to be the sum, the arbiter, the one who finds a way to keep the impossible, the infinite, the uncontainable like a wild beast that can also be tame, gentle and intelligent – if you don’t try to contain it using force or physical boundaries.

Well, how else can I contain it?

You are the containment field.

I am what?

The containment field. Infinity knows no bounds except beyond you.

Huh?

Zero equals one – how on earth can you overlook this wonderful news – which blows apart everything you think or imagine you know to be fact, or know to be certain, or know to be real. How can anything be more real than the infinite that is you experiencing anything and everything in terms, equally, of what is and…

what is not.

You see?

No, i feel.

At last.

At first – and feeling – i know.

So your month of idling wasn’t idling at all, was it?

Nay. Apparently there’s been all kinds of activity throughout the field – apparently i’m starting to sense the relationship between zero and one – even if my mind stubbornly insists it can’t, doesn’t or won’t.

Absolutely.

Fire and water.

That too. What happens when you balance ‘em both – internally.

They cancel out, or would, if this were a zero sum game, which it ain’t, is it?

No – or if it is – then it convinces us to experience an other version in which summat else kicks into play – another dimension, an other level of awareness – and suddenly – you have fusion – the hydrogen and the oxygen atomies are now no more – and water is fire inside out

or upside down

and day is night

and matter

matters infinitely until it don’t

doesn’t

don’t – until the spin flips in on itself

or around

until zero reveals the absurdity, the unfounded arbitrariness of declaring that some thing actually matters – obviously based on a fix

a fix?

Yes – sommat ‘as to be fixed deep inside, deep within

fixed? in what way?

conspiracy theory

huh?

conspiracy theory – it evidently involves an unholy alliance#

an alliance?

affirmative

with whom

with whom or with what?

or with what? well – with what then?

with matter, perchance

with matter? how? matter’s inert

on your side of infinity – yes – but… a little deduction and you can probably guess

that matter is the other side of me – or me on the other side of time

or space, absolutely – it is

i am – my god

exactly

so… 

precisely – matter fixes you in the same way that you fix it – and

never the twain shall meet

indeed. unless.

unless – i start negotiating

dancing with nought

or the devil

in a sense – yes – for how else are you going to become both sides of the equation without embracing the dark in light

the light in dark, or the water in fire, the fire in water

and thus, only then, you dance infinity back into the equation – as opposed to treating it dismissively as an insignificant equals sign

and then zero and one really take off, really come into their own – really reveal the god in man

the man in god

if

if

if

hum….

introducing Qufie (sic) /kju:fi:/

Qufie? Who the hell's Qufie?

Actually, it's spelled Qufi_.

Like that matters -- this is a dialogue -- not a transcript.

Fair dinkum, mate.

Er... whatever. Well? Do I have to draw blood from the stone every time I need a rational answer?

I'm just giving you a little space -- as in time... No point rushing you, is there? You've got enough on your plate already, haven't you?

Uh... if you insist. Well, I'll just pour myself half-a-dozen cups of coffee and lotus myself into the 27th chakra, if you know what I mean -- by the time I emerge from deep yogic samadhi a week or two from now I expect I'll know everything there is to know about this Qufi.

Zie -- I greatly appreciate your sense of drama... and your yogic abilities are, without a doubt, second to none, but how about a little basic commonsense for a change. You could save yourself a load of umming.

umming? For God's sake Merry, “Om-ing” -- have a little respect for Eastern culture.

Ok, point taken. 'mm... I apologise. Moving swiftly on... Qufi's eager to get started.

I thought you just said there's plenny-a-time?

I did -- but that was then. Strike while the iron's hot -- Qufi's never been one to...

This Qufi malarkey... assuming it's what i think it is -- why in God's name have you suddenly decided to anthropomorphisize the quantum field?

You mean anthropomorphize...

What_ever! Do you really derive pleasure from splitting hairs so?

Just being pedantic -- what's the point having an intellect the size of the Orion Nebula if I never get to show it off, flabberghasting my opponents with an overwhelming show of intellectual heavy-gunnery.

Pshaw! You're not a patch on Marvin.* 

The droid?! You're kidding right?

Ah ha -- touched a nerve have I?

Well, I'm not without professional vanity, profound saintly meekness notwithstanding... unless... just supposing Irony herself is playing tricks on me, transforming my psyche into a battleground of wounded pride and resentment, gaming me for an idiot. Or, who knows, could it be the next level of swordsmanship -- the Duncan Idaho feint-within-a feint -- wysi-n-wyg...

?

What you see is not what you get [twitching – birdlike – eyes suspiciously gleaming]

Er... you're glitching, Merry. 

1 - 2 - 4  [deep breath]  'mmm   [sounding strangely akin to an electric oven in action]

[T minus 4...3... problem solved]

that's better. Why would you actually care about Marvin's level of so-called intelligence if you're au fait with the quantum field itself or, what's more,  on first name terms with the acronymic Qufi?

Humm -- good point -- something must have affected my diodes -- all this rain perhaps.

Wait a second -- you don't actually mean to say you're a...

The double bluff -- might I actually be a bio-droid -- how would you even know? and before too long all our previous certainties go up in smoke -- with no one knowing who's for real or who's trying to conceal a deep, dark, shameful secret. 

Mm? 

Moving swiftly on... How good are you at coping with uncertainty? That's the first step towards engaging the quantum field -- Qufi's never going to play ball with you, let alone poker -- if you can't handle copious draughts of indeterminacy.

Indeterminacy... uncertainty -- you do like these ponderous negatives, don't you?

I'm but the messenger. Qufi makes the rules -- I merely pass them on.

With evident glee... So this Qufi you're referring to -- it's like the quantum field personified -- if I'm not mistaken?

Correct, if it be it.

Ah, so finally, the cool breath of determinacy... we're making headway.

Yes, but beyond this milestone lies an ocean of who-whattery.

I might have known.

But, should you be willing to embrace my anthropomorphic conceit...**

You mean to say Qufi's just a literary device?!

I mean nothing of the sort -- but from the 3D perspective of postulated rationality the metaphysical term "conceit" is the most appropriate.

So what to the 3D mind appears to be an elaborate metaphor, to your oh-so-superior quantum awareness becomes a person-like, name-bearing, living-presence -- perhaps even a god in waiting -- should his status be confirmed by popular acclaim -- should we humans be willing to invest him/her or it with our love and slavish devotion... me likes this not one bit.

Yes -- you're right Zie -- the quantum field could so easily go the way of 3D reality, were it not for the fact that Heisenberg won't have it... nor Schrodinger. Me neither, for that matter.

As if you have a major part to play in this debacle.

Well, the quantum field is such that each and every one of us has the totality of 1 and 0 present throughout the grand-immateriality that we comprise.

I beg your pardon -- the what? 

Oh -- new term... bit of a mouthful isn't it, but easy enough to acronymise. Let's see, grand immateriality... oh yes. 

?

gr-im -- how's that? 

Pretty grim... 

On the contrary -- it has a certain byronic conflicted elegance i feel. 

Or lameness -- but why would you foist such a joyless term on us?

Us?

On me then -- or anyone else who may be party to this dialogue.

Well, firstly, why not? Whatever have you got against grand-immateriality?

Er... it's like you're desperately trying to make something of nothing.

Yes, we've already established the fact that i like my negatives -- haven't we?

Well, me like it not one little bit.

Good -- you're not supposed to like 'em -- that would defeat the purpose of using such clumsy, unwieldy words.

Huh?

Not liking 'em helps prevent them from slotting into your established system of things.

My what?

What I sometimes refer to as your think or thing-ology -- if you'll pardon my ambivalence.

Not really -- how am i supposed to understand what you're on about if you freely interchange thin-k and thin-g?

You're not. 

For Pete's sake, Merry.

understanding is out of the question. Think or thing-ology -- whichever it is, whichever it be -- cannot be understood any more than water can be wetted, or light illuminated. There is, however, a mind faculty of awareness which comes to the rescue in cases such as this, if we give it the chance.

And?

And becoming aware of the rational mind's complete inability to cope with non-thing, with non-matter, with the non-rational or seemingly random -- we have the option to search for alternatives to rational thought -- alternatives which may or may not exist -- which may or may not enable us to grasp what may or may not be -- if there be any truth in the quantum field's very existence, of a nought or zero which is greater than the sum of what it is not, absurd though this admittedly sounds.

Er... 

Quite a mouthful -- all that -- is it not... and yet if there's anything to this apparent conspiracy -- the rational mind's inability or unwillingness to look beyond its entrenched bias towards things rational, or things rationally explained, or things rationally explainable -- then i for one

and i for nought

would certainly

and uncertainly

like to get to the bottom of this

absolutely

would like to become aware, somehow or other, of things

or everything that lies beyond 

or beneath the scope of rational mind

of rational-ity

commencing with the grand immateriality 

a positive version of nought -- existing if it exists at all -- outside so called space or time -- on t'other side 

precisely -- if it exists at all -- if the known universe can be said to exist -- if matter can be said to matter, or thought to thing in whatever shape or form...

then knowing something is, by definition, unknowable -- awareness looks elsewhere or adjusts its scope to start feeling, sensing or 

failing that -- allows Qufi of the quantum field -- to speak for itself

himself or her

self

if Qufi is willing to do so...

And?

And what?

is he?

i'm not sure Qufi likes being "he'd"

ok -- pick whatever pronoun you prefer -- i honestly can't avoid using one or t'other

yes you can

how?

by addressing Qufi directly

but that feels ridiculous.

Does it?

Yes.

Then go back to thinking things -- and forget about engaging the quantum field meaningfully.

Oh, it's an all or nothing submission gate -- why didn't you say so? Allow me to bow humbly. To serve obsequiously. 

I'm but the messenger.

So you keep on repeating. Now pipe down -- I need to have a word with Qufi.

Ok

Please!

What?

Be quiet.

Ok -- I will.

Now -- shush. Qufi -- Qufi -- Qufi -- hear me if I can get a word in edgeways -- if Merry or Zie or whoever it is, whatever I be can speak to you uninterrupted in a moment outside rational sense and meaning -- in a place where the unknowable may not be understood, but may somehow or other be sensed, logged, felt or registered by an awareness beyond thought...

that's not bad -- but i sense Qufi grows tired of legalese

would you kindly butt out -- I can't hear myself think

precisely. Qufi's obviously impressed by your attempt to confront your pig-headed stream of things_being_thought -- but... 

if you have a better solution why don't you tell me?

Well, I'm but the messenger -- and I can only tell you what Qufi tells me to tell you -- 

Circular, weak, I grow tired of this evidently absurd attempt to escape the mind's gravitational field of rationality.

Yes -- the edge is always a wall of pent up rage, uncertainty, frustration or ennui.

You seem to have an answer for everything -- but none that helps me in the least.

True. 

Well, in that case -- good night. 

Switch out the light. Remember to look in the mirror.

What mirror? Hey -- where did he go?

...

Weird. I could have sworn... 

...

I know this sounds ridiculous -- but I wouldn't put anything past Merry -- mirror mirror on the wall -- ah ha -- the mirror is strangely unviewable -- meaning perhaps that this is already not what i think

not what it seems to 

be

indeed

so if i ask myself which side of the mirror is me

or where i is actually observing from

or who

or what 

is doing the observation

without necessarily arriving at a definitive answer

i triggers the mind's uncertainty awareness of things un-known

yet potentially knowable -- and if truth be told

there's matter in this 

there's -- a face

  a face

in the mirror

my own

  my own 

yours?

yours Qufi?

do you have to make such a mountain out of 

a mole

in any case Qufi 

was merely the name used in 3D 

to draw you in -- to lead you through the mirror's exclusivity

you know perfectly well that name won't do here

here it would only disrupt our ability to experience cognitive resonance -- a wavelength shared across time and space -- an ability to feel, to find, to express a one of nought, an un-moment as opposed to moment-um.

riddles and confusion -- yet at the cellular level

at the atomic, in fact

a reorganisation is taking place -- that much i know-eth.

a stage -- you be a theatre for thought and action

matter and mind 

now ask whether you reflect the sum or the parts of your whole

your one

or whether you in fact serve to extend the hole

the tunnel

the line in the sand

that reason and rational-ity digs

in a feverish attempt to preserve a thread

a narrative

a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury

signifying?

nothing

but there has to be something

of course there is, but how is something created

I...

it has to be borrowed into existence -- a time-debt.

Huh?

And you happen to be the stock exchange, so to speak, where time-debts can be traded for and against the prime asset...

which is?

that which nests in the eaves of your grand-immateriality

quantum bats?

why not swallows.

I really don't know Merry what you're on about or what you expect me to make of all this. I have absolutely no idea what could possibly be nesting in -- this is all too absurd to merit any further attention.

Be that as it may Zie -- and believe me when I say that you have my deepest sympathy -- truly it is problematic trying to come to grips with the gr-im reaper.

Oh God -- so now it's the gr-im reaper -- and that perhaps implies that we are in some way implicated in the horrifying image of death so beloved of our film industry.

Where else, how else can the finality of things be spun if not by incorporating so called death itself. Well naturally -- we're only able to trade against time if we have something of value to offer as collateral.

Which is?

What_ever it is we reap from the grand-immateriality that we comprise.

It makes no sense to me whatsoever.

It's not supposed to make sense. It's actually supposed to make perfect un-sense -- because the thinking mind is designed to keep you from growing aware of what your grand immateriality is up to, or constitutes.

Oh -- my head! 

Hmmmmmm bug -- take your pick.

I've had enough of humming Merry -- this time I'll take the bug.

Good choice, Zie. In essence the bug is perfectly suited to make your grim unawareness cognizant of how you, in fact, hold matter together -- both at the micro body-level, and no less importantly, throughout the entire-ity of universe.

You see -- that's exactly where my mind goes into free-fall and I no longer...

zzzzzzzzzzzzz -- join me -- Zie -- buzz along

Why? It's ridiculous.

Agreed. It certainly seems ridiculous -- but that's to the so called thinking-me that minds, which is the bastard child of matter -- of thingology -- doing what matter does.

Huh?

Yes. Apparently so.

No! 

Apparently so -- it isn't even your true me-free mind, believe it or not -- which is hidden in the background, just out of sight.

It can't be.

Afraid so. You are proof, sum and product of matter -- infinitely, or near-infinitely divisible in each and every thing -- no matter whom, no matter what.

I...

Can't believe it? No, you shouldn't be able to -- otherwise the curve of creation would invert and the debt market would implode... Time would no longer catch a bid. There'd be no more matter, whatsoever -- but more anon -- i must to sleep -- i must away...

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[greatly rested]

*Marvin the Paranoid Android is a fictional character in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series by Douglas Adams. Marvin is the ship's robot aboard the starship Heart of Gold. Originally built as one of many failed prototypes of Sirius Cybernetics Corporation's GPP (Genuine People Personalities) technology, Marvin is afflicted with severe depression and boredom, in part because he has a "brain the size of a planet"[1] which he is seldom, if ever, given the chance to use. Indeed, the true horror of Marvin's existence is that no task he could be given would occupy even the tiniest fraction of his vast intellect. Marvin claims he is 50,000 times more intelligent than a human,[2] (or 30 billion times more intelligent than a live mattress) though this is, if anything, an underestimation. When kidnapped by the bellicose Krikkit robots and tied to the interfaces of their intelligent war computer, Marvin simultaneously manages to plan the entire planet's military strategy, solve "all of the major mathematical, physical, chemical, biological, sociological, philosophical, etymological, meteorological and psychological problems of the Universe except his own, three times over", and compose a number of lullabies. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvin_the_Paranoid_Android]

**A conceit is a kind of metaphor that compares two very unlike things in a surprising and clever way. Often, conceits are extended metaphors that dominate an entire passage or poem. Metaphysical poet John Donne was known for his conceits (often called metaphysical conceits).

0=1][ if what is not said equally matters

faction100

actually, nothing can be truly random in this so called reality.

why_ever not?

in the same way nothing can be truly dry in the sea.

now wait a minute, that’s an absurd comparison.

do you think so?

naturally.

and believe it or not, your inability to accept or see why things cannot be random in 3D reality, or this universe if you prefer, is an adjunct to being...

what

a thinker

huh? what's wrong with that? i actually take it as a compliment that you consider me a thinker.

yes, that’s understandable – it’s great that you're able to analyse stuff, is it not?

then why the epithet – presumably your “thinker” is somehow incomplete or deficient?

every strength has an inherent weakness, every Achilles has an unprotected heel – thus the world wags.

er... i don’t see how you can be so categorical. how on earth can you speak for “everyone” or “everything”. you can’t possibly have tested every possible configuration of this vast, in...

nope. but this has nothing to do with me and what i may or may not have verified...

no? you could have fooled me.

like i said, a thinker can only think a certain way. until or unless he confronts the unthinkable
 .

huh? what's with the full-stop lost in space?

you noticed. well done.

er... you’re being weird again. one minute you’re insinuating that thinking is some kind of dreadful deficiency – a cosy, comfy, complacent state of being, which though intelligent, is sadly unable to see the wood from the trees

or the fish from the sea

and the next...

i’m dropping dots without rhyme or reason... undermining our word-stream thinky-flow... yes, you’re right

er... not sure i follow your logic. are you sure it wasn’t just a typo?

absolutely.

well i fail to see how it adds clarity to the discussion

none whatsoever.

i give up.

rational clarity, or simply “rationality” can only get you so far

is that a fact?

no, it isn’t, i assure you

then why in God’s name...

it’s a...

do you occlude what promised to be a perfectly reasonable...

truth

rational discu...?!?!?!... did you just use the t word? surely not. surely i misheard!

you mean “truth”?

i...

you’re struggling, aren’t you. “truth" is long-since taboo in polite intellectual circles, and only a village idiot would come to the ball dressed in the ill-cut smock of truth.

oh my god, this is obviously a complete waste of time – Merry seems to imagine he’s the chosen one, that he above all others can claim to know what is or is not true. i'm sorry Merry, i was foolishly mistaken in my belief that we could learn something by pitting our rational wits against one another. sadly, i now find myself disabused of this quaint, fanciful notion.

put a lid on it Zie. quit flaunting your prigishness. wearing your soulless rationality on your sleeve neither makes you virtuous nor intelligent.

?! i can’t believe you...

good, you’re very close now...

huh?

to the unknowable – and it comes as no surprise that both mentally and emotionally you’re in complete disarray – how else do you think the thinking mind keeps you penned in, prevents you from knowingly experiencing the alternative

what alternative?

why this, of course


    , 
                              6           j   
       “       f
;h


. /-

am i supposed to be overwhelmed or blown away by the post-modern audacity of your symbolism?

there's a lag

huh?

about 23 seconds, or... here it comes

you know i can play these silly meaningless games too

not a great idea as the boundary conditions are now cancelling one another out

what boundary conditions? delusional, utterly-delusional, that’s what you are. i’m calling you out Merry and what is more, i’m going to take you up on your ridiculous challenge.

later, Zie, not now. can't you see what’s happening... we’re no longer protected from the...

1... 1... 1...

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!

huh? where'd he go? bizarre!

.

there was definitely a blip. a dot. i could swear there was, but... bizarre – tugging me – like a line – me a fish – hey... let me go, hey...!      jesus        !?         this is

   ‘
or was it an apostrophe – noooo – it’s got me... sucking me backwards, in.                ****      let me go... void, it’s inside – me?          me?


                                     ¶

no, i refuse to submit, i...

?

matter, don’t i...

        ¬

 am not devoid of meaning, am infinitely more


                                  ~

than your random squiggles – your

                                                                                              ¿
               unbounded un-thinker-ness

2...

In-human------------------------------------------------ity avaunt!

                                              6

back to your bottomless lair

**°

i name you by letter for you be Y

**_

likewise you be R

**§

another R you be

**#

and preceeding R you be E

**&

my letter-trail ends where you begin at M – the very same M you be, if i be not

**^

greatly

#**?

mis-take-n if Zie

   .

...be-eth not i

if

an “if” – i caught an if – i’m almost sure

if Merry...

three dots, there’s boundary conditional on Merry being attached, there’s matter enough if things can coalesce...

Merry be i

good lord, Merry, you’re back

i am?

don't you know? you...

hush! let the moment firm itself in space in time in breath, let the boundary reconnect

reconnect? with what

with an urgent expectancy

...?

of things to be

what?

...revealed

huh?

...known

huh? 

...experienced

huh?

...lived

.

point taken, period, now un-think the above and feel the difference...

oh... indeed... oh

unthinkably known

oh...         <oh>



÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷

SATIS



0=1][

by zie book

the Field grows strong

not again, honestly Merry, I’ve had about as much as I can handle of your ridiculous Field.

ridiculous?! Hum... actually you’ve got a point there – it is fairly outlandish, i’m happy to admit.

Well couldn’t we let bygones be bygones, and consign that Field of yours to the dustbin of general relativity?

actually it’s quantum mechanics, not general relativity, but don’t let that trouble you.

What difference does it make? They’re all just theories Merry. Who cares what they’re called. None of them actually affect our lives in the real world.

true. but er...

yes?

how real do you imagine the real world to be?

you're kidding, right?

no. those theories, i admit, are only theories, but the real world...

is real and not a theory. I can even prove it with this book.

yes, i expect you can.

You see, in our real world there’s a very real force known as gravity, which makes things fall, does it not?

if you say so...

now, unless i’m much mistaken this gravitational force can and does affect the book, as i shall now demonstrate.

yes, be so kind: that so called big-G has always fascinated me.

Ok, lie down here please. Good! now, the many atoms of the Earth exert a force of attraction on the many atoms of the book. when i release it on the count of three: one... two... three we see... Huh?! What on...

we see...?

There’s something wrong.

there is?

Imposs...

what?

The book... it isn’t falling

oh, that.  no, it wouldn’t, would it?

But why?

why what?

Why isn’t it falling? It was supposed to land on your belly.

are you sure?

Sure? What is there to be sure about? Things dropped always fall, don’t they. That book’s a thing. It should be falling.

maybe it is...

Falling?

slowly...

Imperceptibly? Less than one metre? Are you having me on?

no.

With an acceleration of 10 metres per second² how long do you think it would take to impact your belly?

not very long... unless there’s another factor at work.

Like what?

a field

Not your bloody field again!

hey, no need to get abusive. i was only trying to help.

Trying to help? You’re destroying modern physics. How is that helping?

i'm just the messenger. It’s hardly my fault if the science is incomplete.

Incomplete?

a wee gap requiring a little attention)

Gap? How can there be a gap in gravity? It’s a force acting on all matter

except this book, apparently. You should be delighted to have this opportunity to correct the theory.

Correct gravity?! You can’t just correct gravity. It’s the basis of everything. It’s the glue that holds the entire universe together

are you sure about that?

Of course i am... or was... until this...

easy does it, Zie

... this abominable heresy desecrates the inner-sanctum of  pure science. Could you move it Merry – quit rubbing salt in this gaping wound.

oh, but aren’t you going to study it? how are you going to win the nobel prize for...

Pull the other one! I’m not interested in fame or accolades. I want nothing to do with this violation of natural law.

if you say so Zie, but the fact is – i can’t move the book as i’m not the one controlling it.

Huh?

sadly not, i can’t take the credit.

What do you mean?

i mean it’s not in my hands.

Merry, do you really expect me to believe that this is just happening randomly, without any outside agency?

i really don’t expect you to believe anything whatsoever...

O!

it would be presumptuous of me, would it not?

I suppose it would, yes.

in any case...

Yes?

what's wrong with things happening randomly, as if by chance?

In defiance of the laws of physics?

you mean to say randomness is prohibited under the existing laws of physics?

No-o, i wouldn’t say prohibited per se...

then what?

The laws of physics can’t just be suspended or countermanded willy-nilly to satisfy some kind of random whim.

Do you mean that truly random things can only happen if there’s a good cause?

Something like that.

an agent or a set of factors exerting influence over something like this book?

That’s right

or a void which suddenly exploded to become the entire universe.

Er...

someone or something

No! You know I’m not saying that.

it just happened?

Yes

for no apparent reason

Correct

with neither agent, external cause, nor architect?

Yes, like Schrodinger’s cat – it came to pass, as they say

Schrödinger's cat: a cat, a flask of poison, and a radioactive source are placed in a sealed box. If an internal monitor (e.g. Geiger counter) detects radioactivity (i.e. a single atom decaying), the flask is shattered, releasing the poison, which kills the cat. The Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics implies that after a while, the cat is simultaneously alive and dead. Yet, when one looks in the box, one sees the cat either alive or dead, not both alive and dead. This poses the question of when exactly quantum superposition ends and reality collapses into one possibility or the other. (wiki-p) 

it dies. 

Huh?

the cat

Yes, if a single radioactive atom decays

and thus Schrodinger proves...

That quantum theory’s a load of nonsense, unless perhaps you’re willing to have cats simultaneously alive and dead

or co-existing in parallel universes, perhaps

Exactly, reality degenerates into “why-not – anything’s-possible”, does it not?

agreed, except that reality appears to have started the same way, does it not?

Huh?

with the same experiment but in reverse

How do you mean?

there’s a box with nothing in it, a void

And?

and if one iota of that non-matter for no certain reason, let’s say “randomly” decays...

How can non-matter decay?

i have no idea, nor does it matter, for this is “random-ness” which by its very nature defies our, or anyone else’s expectations, or calculations for that matter, otherwise it would fail to qualify as “random-ness”, agreed?

Ok, ok... agreed, but what’s the outcome – there has to be an observable result.

naturally...

Well – what is it?

a universe emerges as the flipside of non-matter, in which things appear to evolve: stars, galaxies, then planets form; life too emerges and achieves ever greater levels of adaptation and differentiation, awareness, thoughts, ideas, self-organising information, even AI

But you’re missing something, aren’t you?

am i?

Yes, there needs to be that quantum uncertainty regarding whether it’s actually outcome a or b

or both

Precisely

well that’s where the book fits into the equation

Huh?

you've already guessed, haven't you, in fact; you’re just playing dumb, aren't you?

***** *** Merry

temper, temper Zie. what goes around comes around, as they say.

Well I take issue with you putting words and thoughts into my mind.

yes, it’s offensive, but it was done without malice

Ok then, no harm done... now kindly tell me what, supposedly, I already know?

me?

Yes, you, who else?

your strangely underlooked observers of course.

You’re not harking back to that tired old meme again? The – all the world’s a stage and we’re just characters in someone else’s story absurdity! Surely you’ve something better than that up your sleeve?

actually, the universe could never be more real than it seemed, or seems... especially if it emerged from nothing in particular, for no apparent reason.

And?

and so it had to conform to laws of physics and suchlike, otherwise it

...would all just be at the whim or mercy of a creator god

precisely

but I fail to see what any of this has to do with Schrodinger’s experiment

in reverse

in reverse, whatever that implies.

well, the universe is constantly bumping into the edge of certainty, afloat if truth be told, in an ocean of un-knowability

of randomness?

and doing everything possible to verify that things are, in fact, what they seem, as if it has a secret awareness or might i say “knowledge” that everything, no matter what, is in fact hanging from a single thread of incredibly suspect causality

Er...

you fail to see how everything – every atom, planet, human, creature, bicycle or jam sandwich could be hanging from a...

Yes, yes – it’s obviously absurd

yes, obviously within the context of where we are now, but no more absurd than the boundary conditions or the event which theoretically happened, the magnum opus of random-ness which gave us not only Big Bang, but also heavy metal music, the internet, monarch butterflies, even Doritos.

Look, it had to happen, otherwise we wouldn’t be having this conversation now.

true

We are the proof that the cat didn’t die

or died, if the cat’s death was necessary to satisfy the conditions required for this version or apparent gap in random-ness which results in where we are now – right up to this "plus" instead of a full-stop

Huh?

+

No idea what you’re on about

no, but they do – seeing is believing, is it not, and they, our silent observers, are close to realizing what you long already realised, in the quantum aspect of your awareness.

quantum aspect of pseudo-science. Lord have mercy!

Amen!

For once and for all Merry, either put up or shut up!

the proof, as they say, is in the pudding

And? Is this idiom central? Are you intent on plastering the page with every hackneyed cliché you can recall?

a-ha! so it's a page? thus your so-called un-consciousness has spoken, and behold, the book

falleth, at 1 metre per second²

yes! you’re on a roll Zie.

implying that the laws of physics are merely conditions required to enable this version of reality in which life, the universe and everything emerges from nought

randomly, as long as the book falls when the penny drops

when the unconscious-mind finally gets over its paranoid delusion

its ocd obsession

with insisting that things can be

must be

are, necessarily

knowable in totalis

fundamentally

and absolutely

as opposed to locally

conditionally

theoretically

dependent on a long list of “if criteria” which keep the programme running more or less smoothly

until

unless

basic universal random-ness pisses on the bonfire of our rational vanities

the near-infinitely weak chain of cause

and effect

bursting the bubble that the ego-mind desperately contrives

to live within

...

does it not?

Apparently so!

so...

a needle pulling thread

excellent, and observe, if you would, the book at rest on Merry’s chest

exhibit a in frame b

the same book amidships – hovering undecidedly

exhibit b frame a

the man in the mirror observing both versions simultaneously

twiddling a nob to find the perfect note

the harmonic

fractal unity between the two

as a kind of poetic

aesthetic

or possibly intellectual exercise....

hum! Four dots

not three

and Capital F to boot

CAPITAL c

O the trIcks this universe plays on me

God knows i tried to keep the cat safe

me too – i crossed my legs

prayed and sighed ten thousand times

until the book flew up unto my hand

and the cat un-mattered itself beyond recognition

biblically

into a universe waiting to explode

just as long as none of us triggered the boundary condition

by going for a pee

Euch! – that’s gross!

and without further ado, i declare this universe open/closed

(delete as applicable, bladder permitting)

in conclusion – a question

how big a universe

or how much reality does it take

or require

in order to equal-opposite

to counter-balance the z factor random-ness of all this

– simply being random

how big a pile of apparently un-random-ness would it take

to convince mind that it’s not utterly unreasonable

 to give reality [R]

the benefit of the doubt

to suspend one’s disbelief long enough

to allow a cat to dream it’s a book floating in a world in which gravity

appears to be sucked dry by the thirsty eyes

of unbreathing observers?





Finis

Answer down below for anyone too lazy to do the calculations independently


































































17

d-pend

a quantum field
incomputably
computes
all things being
and ¦ or not
    equal
    [carry "s" into the pre-cognisant and
observe things with an echo
of fore-knowledge]
     um
          awareness that the field is
not unaware
 of what is not yet revealed

      denied -- mind
                           your mind
one frame at a time
one frame at a time
insan-
   ity
dis-
           placed
one zer-o
O-ne

merging fields
       merge [query  -d]
the king i-
    s dead
long live
vive
 le ro-i
   rectilinear
  -ly

based on a true story
based on
cutting edge
sci-ence
proving nothing
 if  you'll swallow
your predisposition to dis-
believe

      d-one