Balart’s Lecture II

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Revision as of 02:41, 27 July 2025

Title: Balart's Lecture II

Author: Lord Kil'jaeden

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The Law of Infinite Data states that we will never run out of things to learn It is also a stimulus for garden-variety caution since you can never tell when something new and/or threatening will pop up. Our Key phrase is "There is always something new"

The Law of Finite Senses throws extra light on that subject. Your eyes, for example, are limited to only one form of sensory scanning: of a very small portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, visible light. Your other senses are similiarly limited. Both in range and type of data percievable. Nor do we have any proof that the data we CAN see is all the data there IS. The Key phrase is "We can't see everything"

The Law of Infinite Universes states that there are an infinite number... ...of ways to view the universe, and so, an infinite NUMBER of universes. This Law is a neccessary result of the infinite amount of data.

And if data is infinite, 

then the patterns and metapatterns available from manipulating this data are also infinite in number. There is another point to consider in this Law: Every being that percieves is unique.

You are made up of billions of atoms and molecules in a unique energy pattern If even ONE of those atoms changes, so do you. In fact, while listening to this sentence, you just did. Several million atoms were exhaled and inhaled.

Brain cells have died, others have stored the sensations coming at you even these very words are changing you.

--chuckles-- Only the saving conservatism of your metapattern allows you to retain your identity. Remember your universe depends on your sensations and the way you classify them. The former is a matter of your physical equipment.

The latter, of your cognative organization. Change either one and you move to a different universe! The Key Phrase is "Infinite Universes exsist" I will also note that the *least* efficient way to change your sensations and mind at the same time is by the use of drugs. A magician can not afford to be addicted to ANYTHING except possible fresh air, and healthy food. The Law of Pragmatism is very simple: "If it works, it's true." If you put this together with the Law of Infinite Universes we come to a very interesting result:

Truth can be defined as a function of Belief!

So if my belief in a "real" Thor helps me start a thunderstorm then it is "true" that Thor exsists This brings us to a very important sublaw: The Law of True Falsehoods. This refers to data which contradict one's usual metapattern but nonetheless WORK. Now your metapattern is considered to be "true" since you survived and therefore it has worked.

So, thence, we can have two contradictory truths.

In any other system this would lead to anxiety, even insanity. In Magic, however, we have the Law of Synthesis so two truths can be held without strain until a final decision is made. You might decide there is no true contradiction or you might synthesize a new truth. Until you do, however, we have what we can call True Falsehoods.

The Key phrase here can probably be "If it is a paradox, it is probably true" One unexpected benefit of this last law is that someone who beleives that he can break or ignore some or all of the laws of magic, probably can! This is because his universe doesn't contain the possibility that his spells might backfire if he doesn't follow the Laws.

Therefore they won't! However, such depth of belief is nearly impossible to install artificially. If you were such a person, you are not now. This is because I have just installed a bit of doubt in your universe.

--smirks--

The final [I promise] Law that we shall look at is the Law of Personification There are also two sublaws of Invocation and Evocation. The main law states that any phenomenon may be considered alive and therefore to be an entity. It is a well known fact of human nature that we tend to personify objects. If you stub your toe on a door, you will curse it as if it were alive. Our key phrase for this law is "Anything can be a person"

The Laws of Invocation and Evocation say that you can comjure up from respectively, the inside of and outside of your metapattern, real objects. These entities are only personifications of patterns, of course but so is every entity, including your friends. Often it's more convenient to assume the objective exsistence of an "Angel" which has given us new knowledge than to allege that our invocation has awakened a supernormal power in ourselves. It is also usually more *comfortable* to personify since the paranormal in ourselves is often terrifying. These two laws may or may not be the same depending on whether or not you beleive in an objective universe outside your own mind. The Key phrase we will use for these laws is "Beings within, beings without"

That concludes my survey of the Laws of Magic. I hope this lecture has been illuminating.

Lord Balart