part2

bNOT: Surely some one of your wisdom values more than physical properties? If you did not we would not even be having this discussion.

bOR: You are absolutely right! I am always surprised at how much humans can seem to learn in relatively short amount of time. A friend of mine is something that I alone determine, therefore what I know and think about my friends shall serve to categorize them. I have known both of you since you were born, and I shall know both of you at your times of death; you both fall into the category of friends that I have known their entire life!

bf: flap, flap, flap.

bNOT: Grim indeed! And I agree, as you so eloquently put it, that what old bOR here is trying to say is that the only way to effectively classify ... his friends anyway, is in relation to himself. Of course, the number of possible relational categories would be ...

bf: flap, flap, flap ...

bNOT: Yes, infinite, but bounded by one's own experience, offering the illusion of exhausting all possibilities ...

bOR: Why must you always be so pessimistic. Surely there is a way to abstract and organize all of this information to accurately describe something even as abstract as a "friend." One could compose a discrete list of questions, which if asked carefully, could provide us with all of the necessary information to create the story of a friendship. Let's see ... (being careful)

> How long have we known each other? (long enough, i don't know, never met)
> How lone have we been friends? (since ___, until___, forever)
> How has the friendship evolved over time? (cockroach, platypus, poet)
> What do we speak about? (life, weather, infinity)
> How do we speak? (physically, verbally, intuitively)
> Where do I see you? (here, picture, dream)
> Where do you see me? (here, there, no-where)
> When do I see you? (morning, afternoon, evening)
> When do you see me? (alert, preoccupied, asleep)
> How do we relate? (competitive, appreciative, ambivalent)
> How do I act differently in your presence? (teacher, student, both)
> How do you act differently in my presence? (louder, whisper, silent)
> What do I associate with you? (the sea, books, movement)
> What could end our friendship? (death, jealousy, boredom)
> What do you stand for? (your beliefs, justice, fear of sitting)
> Do we share laughter? (smiles, ha-ha, in tears)
> What do you believe in? (truth, beauty, nothing)


bNOT: It seems as if your lengthening list is dancing off towards infinity ... maybe you should generalize ...

bOR: Okay ... abstraction, abstraction, abstraction ...

You hear sounds of abstraction taking place

bOR: Space, time, matter, energy, how's that for abstraction?

> What space do you occupy? (two-space, three-space, four-space)
> What time do you occupy? (now, then, later)
> What is your energy? (kinetic, static, electo-magnetic)
> What is your matter?


bNOT: Nothing. Why do you ask?

bOR: Why do I ask what?

bNOT: What is the matter?

bOR: Never mind.

bNOT: What is the mind?

bf: flap,flap,flap!

All laugh

bNOT: Good one, Mr. Butterfly, your timing is always perfect. But seriously now, I don't know if you want to start separating matter and energy.

bOR: Okay, okay, well how would you go about classifying your friends?

part3