This elevator does not start out agreeable, but as travellers experience the relativity of time and space their evaluations change from okay to good to great.

Whether ascension, or descension, the meaning of escalator doesn't change direction even if it does. A shaky, crooked old man stands at either end of the conveyor of meaning waving tiny fists saying "you're crazy to ride it" to each passerby.
-- rcarty, Dec 13 2012

Halfbakery: Infinite Staircase Infinite Staircase
Aha - there you go - from memory, the escalator started out agreeable, but got considerably worse. [zen_tom, Dec 13 2012]

The Mezzanine by Nicholson Baker http://en.wikipedia.../wiki/The_Mezzanine
[sqeaketh the wheel, Dec 13 2012]

I remember reading a story about someone who found themselves on a series of escalators which turned out to be infinitely long - it turned out to be quite bleak reading, if interesting - I just can't remember who wrote it, or what it was called.
-- zen_tom, Dec 13 2012


You're nonlucid of the nonlucidivist.
-- rcarty, Dec 13 2012


One of my favorite novels: The Mezzanine by Nicholson Baker. [link] The whole story takes place during one ride up the escalator. All hell breaks out in his mind, worthy of Douglas Adams.
-- sqeaketh the wheel, Dec 13 2012


By the way, a bun in the "special rcarty category." [+]
-- sqeaketh the wheel, Dec 13 2012


//Does the escalator require non-lucidean geometry? — MaxwellBuchanan, Dec 13 2012//

I had a good laugh at that one.
-- Kansan101, Dec 14 2012


Me too, and I think nonlucidean geometry should exist sort of like pataphysics. There's no sense forcing a mind to conform to some powerful system, when new things can be imagined especially when that mind demonstrates resistance. I never liked the discipline required for maths, and do not remember anyone fondly who disciplined me.
-- rcarty, Dec 14 2012


//a bun in the "special rcarty category." //

That sounds painful!
-- DrBob, Dec 14 2012


Personally I find math to be rather freeing, like learning to walk. The discipline required is nothing but conforming to and dealing with the laws of gravity while you wander about and explore the park.
-- RayfordSteele, Dec 14 2012


I hurt myself once and had to work with numbers doing bookkeeping and tax prep while taking physio. For the entire time that I was crunching numbers I didn't have a single idea pop into my head, not even so much as a tickle of an inkling.
I don't know for certain that the two are linked, but for me it seemed that I had to suppress that creative aspect of my mind in order to focus on the strictly rational numbers.

I kind of wish that learning the language of math didn't come with that price-tag.
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Dec 14 2012


My math is okay, but that's not the point. Precise logic is necessary for some things, but not for understanding a world where people dont have precise logic. More to the point is people should be free to exercise their will, and not be subject to various coercions. Any system for bending or manipulating the will can be abused no matter how righteous the ends are appraised to be. Example: just because one person feels sexually liberated when they have sex with another person, does not mean another person's will should be bent to achieving those ends.
-- rcarty, Dec 14 2012


Richard Feynman. Creative guy. Played bongos. Pretty good at math, too.

Most of the time I'm not sure what your point is.
-- RayfordSteele, Dec 14 2012


I have a methodology to my method.
-- rcarty, Dec 14 2012


//Richard Feynman. Creative guy. Played bongos. Pretty good at math, too//

I am not saying that math-minded people are not creative, or that Feynman isn't a better man than I, just that all peoples' minds seem to lie somewhere on a scale for any given talent. I'm also not saying that I couldn't learn math without squashing my creativity, there were certain areas of math I did very well in but for the most part equations baffle me and focussing on them causes me to lose focus in other areas.

Ah to be ambifocusterous...
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Dec 14 2012


That's usually what people say math or creativity, but that's really not very clear. They are not really equivalent things to compare. Numeracy and literacy maybe. But that's not the point either, really it comes down to what you want to do. It's not a compromise it's your own personal choice. It's someone else's evaluation of math that is imposed on you, whether you need it one day or not. I never learned how to tie many different types of knots, and as a result I only know how to tie maybe half a dozen even though I have needed more than that from time to time, but I don't particularly like learning how to tie knots, so I don't. No biggie, doesn't mean someone else who knows more knots is a better person. Remember that I don't want to do it? Some people have no respect for another person's god given will.
-- rcarty, Dec 15 2012


// do not remember anyone fondly who disciplined me //

Huh. Each to their own I guess. *dreamy sigh*
-- BunsenHoneydew, Dec 30 2012


Why try to sell it then?
-- rcarty, Dec 31 2012



random, halfbakery