Post ArkxP4upkjGSmZdYtk by whknott@mastodon.social
(DIR) More posts by whknott@mastodon.social
(DIR) Post #ArkwgaZXCxTJvqSbnE by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-03-05T20:58:22Z
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Ok fine. I will ask if no one else will: what on earth is a “flat circle” ? how would it be different from a *not* flat circle? And why can’t one simply say “time is a circle?” to mean the same thing? what is with all the “flatness” I don’t get it. Someone please explain.
(DIR) Post #Arkx0Ys7EtvuRyfvdI by virunga@mastodon.social
2025-03-05T21:01:47Z
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@futurebird The concept of "flatness" introduces the aspect of planes in geometry. A circle is flat in a certain plane. From another, it may not look that way.
(DIR) Post #Arkx4SiE59oYVNuRoe by cynthiarose@sfba.social
2025-03-05T21:02:31Z
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@futurebird Not sure of the context here but maybe a flat circle 2-D while a sphere/globe is 3-D?
(DIR) Post #Arkx5fNaTIrw55pWYi by Jerry@hear-me.social
2025-03-05T21:02:38Z
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@futurebird I think "flat" is a philosophical attribute of the particular circle. Not related to a geometric attribute. It's flat as in non-dynamic, never changing, boringly repeating everything, not exciting. I guess it could be a "bubbly" or exciting circle or one full of beauty, or something like this.
(DIR) Post #Arkx6lNbeFHwyqMV1s by shovemedia@triangletoot.party
2025-03-05T21:02:37Z
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@futurebird maybe there’s some non-Euclidean-centrism at play?
(DIR) Post #Arkx96WpzJpT9SnQ36 by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-03-05T21:03:33Z
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I mean I suppose it must be metaphorical- to say time is a circle makes history cyclic, but if it’s also flat? that means no growth, no possibility that there are highs or lows if any significance. Everyone keeps looking at current events and repeating that grim quip to me.
(DIR) Post #ArkxAHgbzQ1U2uvkv2 by MLE_online@social.afront.org
2025-03-05T21:03:35Z
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@futurebird I've also heard of time being described as a spiral, so it keeps coming around to the same place over and over while also moving forward, which kind of seems like a non-flat circle, but suspect that's not what people mean when they say flat circle
(DIR) Post #ArkxKspsiuoe9vJw5A by oschene@mastodon.social
2025-03-05T21:05:33Z
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@futurebird I think it's some noir take on the eternal return. Doesn't seem to occur anywhere in Nietzsche's writings that I can see.
(DIR) Post #ArkxP4upkjGSmZdYtk by whknott@mastodon.social
2025-03-05T21:06:17Z
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@futurebird do they mean a circle that fits the circumference of a spherical universe?
(DIR) Post #ArkxZ8jOQCsnVn5EhM by log@mastodon.sdf.org
2025-03-05T21:07:36Z
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@futurebird I think it is meant to disambiguate between a circle that lies entirely in a plane and a helical screw projected onto a plane perpendicular to the center axis. "Time is a flat circle" is "history repeats". "Time is a spiral" is "history does not repeat, but it rhymes". The latter indicates progress is possible. The former seems more fatalist; we will eventually restart from stone tools.
(DIR) Post #ArkxnwgHVRqyTygiIa by Moss@beige.party
2025-03-05T21:10:44Z
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@futurebird I recognized it as something that was going to be recited despite not making logical sense, so I filed it under “nod and smile”.
(DIR) Post #ArkySK5JuW7YeSeYKW by scattapilla@jorts.horse
2025-03-05T21:18:07Z
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@futurebird time is cylindrical and theres a bunch of things you can put on the Z axis
(DIR) Post #ArkyVyusYXeG9oVv4S by tinydoctor@mstdn.social
2025-03-05T21:18:49Z
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@futurebird The arc of the amoral universe is long, but it bends towards entropy. History seems more like a spiral to me. Up or down, hmm. Elements repeat like musical motifs, but it doesn't end where it began. Quite. Have you heard of the Lakes of Wada, in topology the Wada property or Wada basins? Fate exhibits the Wada property, I (sometimes) think. Rusty Cohle in #TrueDetective was as someone said, one dark dude.
(DIR) Post #Arkygy7VrBOOsCf7oG by llewelly@sauropods.win
2025-03-05T21:20:51Z
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@futurebird for 2 billion years everyone said "time is a flat circle" and then the Great Oxidation Event happened.but these days I guess people don't remember such important events.
(DIR) Post #Arkz19ccnqbMKxq8UC by gl33p@mastodon.social
2025-03-05T21:24:26Z
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@futurebird I always assumed the circle in question was some sort of cocktail that has lost its fizz.
(DIR) Post #Arl15GV9MpDKjwQp6G by MegaMichelle@a2mi.social
2025-03-05T21:47:19Z
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@futurebird Maybe a non-flat circle is like a roller coaster? It ends where it starts, it does not intersect, it is orientable, but it cannot be contained on a plane.I don't know what that has to do with the philosophy. I very specifically feel like life is a roller coaster.
(DIR) Post #Arl1XU6sMfcH3QX9E0 by Jestbill@mastodon.world
2025-03-05T21:52:42Z
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@futurebird Poetic. How does it scan in English conversation?
(DIR) Post #Arl3OmVqm2oHQpC1Xk by floby@mastodon.social
2025-03-05T22:13:29Z
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@futurebird I think it's flat as in "flat tire" XD
(DIR) Post #Arl50Ce8fjyt9WTgEy by skry@mastodon.social
2025-03-05T22:31:29Z
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@futurebird When I heard it I imagined that a circle is a line (empty, repeats) and a flat circle is a plane (filled disc, finite, repetitive), which doesn't work well as a philosophy IMO. I now endorse the view of @log, which does make sense. https://mastodon.sdf.org/@log/114111863590028763
(DIR) Post #ArlBG00S2El6JApUWW by catselbow@fosstodon.org
2025-03-05T23:41:37Z
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@futurebird Time is a fat squirrel.
(DIR) Post #ArlEpjpTxQo0QLQr7w by awmwrites@anarchism.space
2025-03-06T00:21:36Z
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@futurebird In True Detective, Detective Rust Cohl, who's been obsessing over a series of murders for several years, is pontificating on people seeking fulfillment or closure in a world of chaos. People make their own meaning, they make their own rules, they make their own programming. And since they make their own programming, they keep making the same mistakes over and over in perpetuity, going nowhere, neither up nor down, left nor right. Everything happens again. "Time is a flat circle."
(DIR) Post #ArlNUnLgZo3mqTaEbY by JoBlakely@mastodon.social
2025-03-06T01:58:44Z
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@futurebird The theory is that the universe is flat and kind of shaped like a pringles potato chip.
(DIR) Post #ArlP5oTPSSvP0BPaS0 by JoBlakely@mastodon.social
2025-03-06T02:16:38Z
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@futurebird I have my own theories based on John Wheeler’s One Electron Universe Theory which is, when you understand the implications, mind blowing, and beautiful. When you see how he sees the electron behave, you get a sense of immediate and profound real connection to every single molecule in the universe and the electron that gives us form everywhere all at once dancing within us all throughout eternity. https://youtu.be/9dqtW9MslFk?si=U-_u47zokMFtruun
(DIR) Post #Arlcy39gO0rvZvNQxM by ErgonWolf@pawb.fun
2025-03-06T04:52:06Z
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@futurebird Time could be a circle that is a subtle spiral like the Gugenheim museum. The importance of the "flat" part is that it means that the end comes back around and joins up again so you repeat things. It's this repeating nature that is much important for this particular story. Or so I've been led to believe -- I didn't write any of the scripts or anything.
(DIR) Post #Arlm0mhOvRawzrWkbY by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-03-06T06:33:28Z
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@JoBlakely Feels more like the one brain cell universe... you know, like how those unfortunate cats live.
(DIR) Post #ArtrWfBOSaUjzIFur2 by MarvClowder@mstdn.jp
2025-03-10T04:12:54Z
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@futurebirdPeople don't understand that "sphere" has its own word. And they think those spheres inside which people ride bicycles are too complicated; time can't be like that. So they emphasize that the circle must be flat.