savetheearth | 01: "arrival," the pretentious

Excuse me.

[ the video feed is turned on, revealing a pale young woman with long white hair and piercing blue eyes. she speaks in cool, level tones: ]

Before we begin, allow me to make a few things clear. I've reviewed the archives thoroughly, so there's no need for edification. I've given it some thought and come to terms with its existence, so there's no need for explanation. As such, all that remains is an introduction.

[ she sits back, elegantly crossing her legs. her facial expression does not budge in the slightest.

given her bare knee and the angle of the camera, it is entirely indiscernible whether she is wearing pants or not. ]

My name is Yousha Hida. My skillset lies entirely in the perception of the truth behind truths - in detecting the axioms responsible for forming any consistent system, and through inductive logic understanding the universe they create as a result.

[ she uncrosses her legs, then crosses them in the opposite order. it is becoming increasingly unlikely that she is wearing pants. ]

There. That should be sufficient, hmm? So with that settled, I'd like to ask the network's opinion on a matter.

[ she leans forward, her blue-eyed gaze intensifying. ]

What it is that makes something "true?" Suppose a man says his wife will die tomorrow. The next day, she develops a freak cough and passes away. Were his words "the truth?" The statement was true in retrospect, of course, but it seems to have been by chance. Now suppose the same man says the same words - but when the disease does not kill her, he takes matters into his own hands. Are his words now the truth, now that he has ensured their validity? What if he intends to kill her, but dies himself? Perhaps it is best to just consider him on that first day, before his wife's fate has been decided. What is it that decides, in that moment, if he is telling the truth?

[ the beginnings of a smile spread across her face. it is not entirely pleasant. ]

Thank you for your time.

[ and with a single dainty hand, she reaches out and stops the recording.

what a pretentious ass. ]

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

[Staring. Blinking a few times. More staring. And then, finally, the only reasonable answer occurs to her.]

... Who cares?

interesting riddle
probably overthinking it
what matters is the intent of the statement, and validity with which in car be regarded in that moment
right is not always true
the man could say his wife will die tomorrow and be right, but that does not necessarily mean that what he said was true
he is correct, of course
now, suppose he is masking the intent to murder from the moment the words leave his lips
should he murder the wife tomorrow, he is both 'true' and right
she died tomorrow but she died under the circumstances the man predicted
context is always key, in things like this

What.

Are you trying out to be the sphinx or something?

Who cares?

[Whoa. Heavy questions.

Roy can't say he's terribly talented in the grey areas of philosophy, but...]

Hello, Yousha. That's quite a way to introduce yourself.

To answer your question, I suppose it depends on the subject, doesn't it?

For the specific examples given, whether by chance or active participation, his words inarguably came to pass. If he intends to kill her but fails, then all there is is intent and belief.

[blond fading into a more natural reddish-brown and blue eyes set in a Japanese face. Then a snort and a rather rough accent.]

Who cares if it's true or not if it happens?

[There's a long pause before the long-haired girl on the screen answers the question. This isn't something to be answered with experience... it's a thought exercise. Winter likes thinking, and even if she's wrong she'd like to hear the "answer", if Yoshua has one.]

Can... he know? In th-that moment, there is... no way to know. Unless he can s-see the future, his claim isn't provable.

Edited (Really, I can type.) 2013-08-24 05:45 (UTC)

It's quite simple really. Truth is a verified or indisputable fact by definition. Therefore in the case of the man you speak of nothing he says is truth until his predictions become truth and can then be verified through evidence or testimony.

Edited (typo) 2013-08-24 08:00 (UTC)

... What does that have to do with anything?

[ well. she can't say it's entirely unexpected, but she'd hoped to get a bit further in her faux-philosophical debate than her first response. maybe if she just... ignores it... ]

Someone other than you, presumably. Do you have anything else to add?

[ yes, a bite!!!! she takes a few moments, visibly scanning over the response, before speaking as she responds in kind. ]

So accuracy is not a sufficient condition for truth in your axioms? I see, I see... but what of the man who intends to murder her and dies instead? Does he speak the truth, incorrect though it may be?

[ oh dammit more naysayers. how is she supposed to make groundbreaking philosophical progress if these people keep making their witty quips!! sigh. ]

The sphinx asked pithy riddles - exercises in wordplay and metaphor, nothing more. I am attempting to encourage levelheaded debate on the network. There's a difference.

[ ...wait. this can still be salvaged. backtrack, select option b, and- ]

Does this mean you feel there's a "right" answer to my question?

Edited 2013-08-24 06:22 (UTC)

You're the second person to say that, you know. I'll give you two points for effort, none for originality. That's the best I can do.

[ GOSH why can't this network see that she is a genius!! ]

Edited 2013-08-24 06:24 (UTC)

No. It means I think you're trying to make some big philosophical deal about something that doesn't need a big philosophical deal made of it.

What's the point of a debate about nothing?

[ that's okay, neither is yousha. doesn't stop her from ~~failing~~ being awesome at it. ]

And would you call any of it "the truth?"

[The Dian couple rubbed their chins in thought.]

True is when...

Someone is right! Right?

Right! So even if the man was an evil-

Seemingly unreasonable and possibly psychotic-

-murderer, he was techically telling the truth!

[They straighten up and smile triumphantly. They're totally the best puzzle solvers.]

[ well... hm. he is cute, she supposes, but not really in the right ways for her. she's always been more of a dark hair type anyway. she barely - only barely - suppresses a twitch at the "who cares," but he seems to be furthering the discussion on top of that to some extent. she'll just let it slide for now. ]

Not the wife, at the very least. Nor half of the people to respond to this.

Good thing I wasn't going for points. Should I have said tl;dr?

[he probably has darker hair, but it's been bleached for a long enough time for his color to fight against going back to normal. he also looks a little bored.]

It's hard to care when you're dead. It's also hard to discuss that kind of scenario when all we've got is just words. Truth is more than words unless the source can be considered truthful, and even then that truth is only from the view of the person hearing it.

If you're trying to work out whether the numbers club is telling the truth or not, then I'd suggest you wait until you experience your own changes instead of getting everyone worked up. None of us can convince you until you're ready to be convinced.

PANTS.

wow that is some grade a pretentious horseshit.

Hey, Socrates, it's a dang secret numbers club.

But seriously, though. This is pretty heavy to drop on the network for no reason. Are you just running a thought experiment on people?

I think

[ have just enough of a delay to imply the respondent is putting serious thought into answering the question - ]

you expect too much of the people here.

[ oh nvm then ]

It's true when it actually happens.

The method doesn't matter.

[ Yeah. It took a while for him to come to that conclusion. ]

Truth is measured by its ability to be back up by evidence.

So some of it, maybe. She did die in two out of three scenarios.

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