articles

B-Complex

By Mute, 26 September 2008

B-Complex

A to B: "I want you to imagine that you stand before the entrance to a vast and deceptive labyrinth, not a static entrance, but a portal that will transport you to some random location deep within its structure. Beyond this point all distinction will become blurred: passages will mutate becoming distorted perversions of their former selves, the whole complex will fold in on itself in an endless recursion causing multi-dimensional paradoxes that are impossible to rationalise with the tools of logic. What would you do?'

B's reply: "As you once stated, 'Everything in the universe goes by indirection. There are no straight lines.' Therefore I would enter the complex - it is my only option."

A to B: " Of course you would! Inside, the structure would appear to be the convoluted product of some insane architect. The shape and decoration of the passages would be eccentric (a precondition of the mind required to design such a structure). The chaotic puzzle would imply an underlying solution but you would quickly realise that the act of searching for it constituted a futile activity. You would ask yourself ,'How do I navigate myself through this madness?' What would you do? "

 

B-Complex

 

B's reply: "As you once stated, 'The formula 'Two plus two equals five' is not without its attractions 'Therefore I would erase all I had known before and begin to operate on the structure's terms and rules (or lack of them)"

A to B: "Of course you would! After some time the irrationalities of the complex would no longer be so. The complex would become normalised and your knowledge of it would grow. It would become your complex, it would be defined by your rules because your rules would be its rules. You would forget that you were ever outside the complex. It would seem the inevitable universe which forms your very existence. The B-complex. Your thoughts eventually would turn to its creator. What would you do?"

B's reply: " As you once stated, 'A hen is only an egg's way of making another egg.' I would be somewhat powerless to do anything as I had already erased all my formes knowledge. I may, for instance, assume that the complex was my creation, I would, therefore, need to engage in some experimentation; Using the knowledge gained from my time in the complex I would create another being vastly more intelligent than myself that might solve the intricacies of the labyrinth after my death (if such a thing exists in there)"

A to B: "Of course you would, Of course you would!"