It Was A Historic Day. It Was Also Just A Tuesday.

Yesterday was a historic day for the United States. How — and if — it will be recorded in the history books will depend on what we do, how thoroughly we do it, and how quickly. Or it won’t be recorded at all. The key to understanding why was first illustrated, for me at least, in a novel. One of the most interesting things about Blindsight (two decades is long enough, right?) is how Rorschach viewed language itself as an attack. The non-conscious but intelligent entity reasoned that if useful information was not conveyed, any communication must therefore be an intentional attempt to waste resources, and therefore an attack. A fascinating idea, and a plausible way that some creatures and societies work. I don’t share the viewpoint of the characters that it’s quite as inevitable as implied. But I also think there’s a way that language can be used as an attack. Not just in the crude sense of resource management, and not even by the actual words being used. It’s not just what is…

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