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Had a lecture this afternoon about Modernist writers - people who basically believe that there is no way to convey the truth, that humans are just doomed into perpetuity, and the whole human race should just give up and die. (Ok, maybe not quite in those words.) But anyway, my lecturer decided to use the present media coverage of the wars in Afghan and Iraq as an example of how the truth can never be really conveyed. And since I happen to have a presentation this Thursday about media and public opinion of terrorism, I started thinking that if the truth could never be conveyed, and I'm going to be presenting with material that are presented to me as true facts, then I'd be perpetuating a lie. So should I disclaim that I am not in possession of all the facts? But then again everything is a lie because nobody can or will ever truly know everything about everything, which is why we can never communicate the truth in the first place. So everything is a lie, and I'd be communicating untruths about untruths to people whose lives are a lie (since they cannot and do not know everything even though they think they do) in a setting that is artificial and forced, which compounds the lie, and -
As you can imagine, my mind has been chasing its tail around the whole day since then. Giving me a massive headache.
And now I shall attempt to go back to doing my work while my annoying mind overloads itself and yaps constantly in my head. I leave you with this snippet of conversation:
"I got very bored and depressed, so I went and plugged myself into [the ship]'s external computer feed. I talked to the computer at great length, and explained my view of the universe to it," said Marvin.
"And what happened?" pressed Ford.
"It committed suicide," said Marvin.
(Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy)
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