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The Game
I just went on a class field trip to the state prison where the executions take place. It was cool, despite our not being able to actually see the execution chamber, but that's not what I will talk about. I will talk about The Game.
In the van on the way back, the fellow next to me announced that he had just lost The Game. Then he explained: one loses The Game whenever one thinks of The Game. You must announce this when you lose; then, you have fifteen minutes to clear your mind before the next round.
This is brilliant. Counterintuitive, ingenious, simple – it's manna to a geeky mind like mine. It makes me think of "doublethink" from that novel I never read, of Mr. Slippery in "True Names" by Vernor Vinge, even of the old joke "Don't think of a pink elephant!" The idea of making one's goal not thinking of something is just unbearably clever.
By the way, as you can infer from the above, I just lost a round of The Game. Well, fifteen minutes from now is 9:57; I guess I'll see how it goes.
In the van on the way back, the fellow next to me announced that he had just lost The Game. Then he explained: one loses The Game whenever one thinks of The Game. You must announce this when you lose; then, you have fifteen minutes to clear your mind before the next round.
This is brilliant. Counterintuitive, ingenious, simple – it's manna to a geeky mind like mine. It makes me think of "doublethink" from that novel I never read, of Mr. Slippery in "True Names" by Vernor Vinge, even of the old joke "Don't think of a pink elephant!" The idea of making one's goal not thinking of something is just unbearably clever.
By the way, as you can infer from the above, I just lost a round of The Game. Well, fifteen minutes from now is 9:57; I guess I'll see how it goes.