gravity and language

Jan 25, 2006 15:35

Humanity has broken the sphere of the moon ( Read more... )

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Ender nate451 January 25 2006, 22:59:20 UTC
It occurs to me to wonder about Ender. His earliest triumph over his peers is his laugh as perspective-reversal. Card continues to emphasize how important it is that Ender realizes that up and down are arbitrary and, hence, chooses the most useful orientation. It seems significant to me that here, at least, he retains up and down--but he possesses the ability to immediately reorient when the older frame of reference proves less useful.

While I readily acknowledge how quickly the usefulness of up and down breaks up when anything becomes large, I think one shouldn't ignore how useful they are locally. No plane of orientation affects our immediate experience so much as that fundamental pull DOWN.

I'm not sure about outward and inward. My first impression is that it's too vague, too three-dimensional. Away/toward. From/to. Hm.

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tanyahp January 26 2006, 00:47:18 UTC
You might get a kick out of reading Oliver Sacks. I believe in one of his books he deals with a man who has lost (or damaged?) part of his brain and loses sense of "up and down". Loved Ender's Game, some of the rest in the series didn't do it for me. Also would be interested in hearing more about your readings in kabbalah. I've perused the subject but haven't delved too deeply into it (visiting the Kabbalah Center in west Los Angeles = big turn off.)

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