Fanmail: still determined to be nothing

On Mar 22, 2007, at 5:08 PM, jon dieks wrote:

although relativley dismayed at the prospect of never being nothing.as in my e-mail wanting to be nothing.i but i've found a new hope. it all relates to my consciousness as the expression " i think there for i am" so even if my physical self cannot in effect become nothing but ash molicules atoms or energy if i lost the abillity to be conscious i would not know i was ash molicules atoms energy protons nucleons or any other ions or eons i would ineffect be come nothing. because i wouldn't be able to think of something. and as we all know notyhing is perfect. so one glorious day nothing may be mine.

To which I responded:

I'm also deeply saddened at the thought that you cannot be nothing. If you were nothing I could sell you for 5 dollars.

I can see that you are very driven to succeed at nothing, especially at becoming nothing. You remind me of nobody specific. I remember distinctly talking to him about something, and he got mad, I had to say nothing louder than I had ever yelled before to explain to him that I was kidding. But I'll tell you this, If you have even none of the dedication he had to nothing, you won't get far. And I don't need to tell you that that's not saying much.

The phrase you are referring to, "I think, therefore I am" is a truncated form of a phrase less popular (but nonetheless popularized) by René Descartes, "I doubt, therefore I think, therefore I am". Indeed, the shortened and long versions of this phrase are not truly negated by their inversion. And the subject "I" exists, at least as forensic evidence. On the shorty tip, the inverse of our famous phrase of discussion would perhaps be "I think not, therefore I am not" or "I think not, therefore I am nothing" or perhaps "I do not think, therefore I am nothing" this interpretation is easily put to rest when we realize that trees, rocks, and even earthworms, "think not" and yet "are". Also, if "I think not" was used as it often is, as a statement of doubt, then the philosophical crux of your gist would have been overridden by itself, being that "I think not, therefore I am" is almost identical in meaning to our original source phrase. Of course, you know that I could go on and on, but suffice it to say that fulfilling the broader meaning of a phrase during an attempt at its nullification is not going to accomplish nothing. Certainly, the existence of the subject "I" proves being. He could have just said, "I". That would have been good enough for me.

It is interesting to note that not all of René D's thoughts were completely abolished at his demise. He had apparently wanted to be "am" for as long as possible, so he had the faith that if he wrote down his doubts and other whimsical musings, they would be preserved for us so that in a sense he would still be with us, to impart doubts about the very things he believed in. Of course, in a very real sense, he's dead. But give him props 'cause dude's still am'n it old school!

If you find a way to doubt after your own death then you will have still earned your pi meson (sized) shrine as promised. Of course Descartes was also a math addict, he was all about precise convolution. In a very real way the guy was "all up in everything's business" and I most certainly mean that in a way, but he wasted peoples time, and he's still doing it every day at school even though he's long gone.

To summarize, no thought does equal nothing in relation to thought itself, but if those thoughts are preserved in, oh I don't know, perhaps an e-mail, then in a sense those thoughts still exist. So you are speaking of an existence devoid of future thought. Many people who are still alive and going through their daily activities never come up with even 1 original thought. They live each day as though nothing has happened to them. And that's not far away from the truth.

I have faith in you, the same type of faith as a man who doubts. I believe in your ability to create an electromagnet so powerful that you will be able to destroy all the data on every computer in the world that may contain any record of your existence and/or the existence of your thoughts. I believe in your ability to burn down your house so thoroughly that not a minute trace of your existence will be left at that location. I believe that you can find every copy of your social security number that you've ever put on a medical form or given to an employer or prospective employer and pour kerosene on them and ignite them without once being noticed. I believe you can track down and destroy every school you ever went to. I believe you can expunge your FBI files. Clearly I could go on and on, suffice it to say, I believe you can get rid of every shred of information that says you exist, and when this is accomplished, I believe you will send me an e-mail telling me you did it. The irony will be worth it, because all of that would have been for nothing.

--Xymyl KON)