VERSION ONE: Objective Description of An Event
The
objective has been called “the object of thought” so it is my aim in this description to present to you as plainly as possible a
window into an event as free as possible from definitions, filters,
judgments and thought. The product I preset must be
imperfect, however since each word I use is guided by a
definition my choice of what to write is a filter guided by my
judgments of what in the event is essential, judgments made inevitably through some
process of thought. By telling you how
flawed my
description is to be I hope to give you the
opportunity to
reason past the flaws in my presentation or at least gain some resolve to go and
see the thing for yourself and have your own
objective experience. After all you cannot
trust another to present something objectively for you. Take this all them with a
grain of salt.
Between my monitor1 and the CPU2 of a neighbouring3 machine4 I saw another person typing. My view was partially blocked by her monitor so that most of her face and part of her shoulder were visible. She typed without looking at the keyboard. As she typed, her shoulder did not move. Her eyes were half5 closed; her lips were slightly parted. As I observed her, I heard the voice of a young man who I had not noticed sitting beside her. The young man leaned towards6 the young7 woman and said “What time’s it.” “Uh- One Twenty.” she replied, without looking up. He continued to lean in her direction as he had when he spoke. Then she stopped typing. She looked at him briefly by moving only her eyes. He shifted back into his chair. Shortly after looking at him she looked at her analogue watch, and resumed typing.
1 the monitor of the computer I was working on
2 Central Processing Unit
3 there were six computers placed back to back in set of three. I was on the center computer on my side facing the window. The “Neighbouring” computer was the computer to my left.
4 referring to the computer which my be strictly classified as a highly complex machine. The choice of this word is based slowly upon this definition. I do not use the more specific term computer to prevent the piece from becoming monotonous. I fear that any monotony might lead the reader to a less pure understanding of the event because they may become bored and miss the details.
5 I use soft measures such as (partial, briefly, shortly) because I had no means of giving and exact measure of time. For the purposes of this paper consider: consider that “brief” is shorter than “short” and “half” is greater than “partial” but less than “most” all of these being less than “slightly.”
6 If you measure the distance of a lean by calculating how much distance in space a point at the center of his chest covered, he was more than a foot away from her before he leaned (reducing her location to a point at the center of her chest) and less than a foot away after he leaned and he leaned no more than 8” but no less than 4”
7 based on my knowledge of age both were less than 30 years of age. With less certainty I might say that they were between 16 and 24 years of age.
VERSION TWO: a closed system
This is a sentence I wrote with a series of definitions that follow it. All of the words are defined in terms of each other. Making it a closed system and (I hope) more objective.
You may read this. You may not understand what I meant. I understood what I meant when I wrote this.
Definitions:
definitions
what words
mean
a
the
at
where was
be
what is held
before
what was
closed
not open
chosen
what will
either
or
had
was held
have
is held
held
had
here
where
I
Susan
is
held
mean
what was thought to have wrote
meant
thought to have wrote
made
what was chosen to be
may
will or will not
meaning
the understood
negation
not
not
negation of
of
to
open
closed
or
either
perceive
to read a thing
read
to perceive and understand words
reader
you
rules
a system
system
the rules
Susan
I
time
when
to
where for
that
what which
the
a
thing
that or this
this
a thing
thought
what was understood
understand
have the meaning of
understood
had the meaning of
was
held before
what
that which
when
at the time
where
here
which
what that
will
what is chosen
words
what is read
wrote
made things to read from
You
the reader