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keepmewithyourwords · 6 years

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Documentary evidence submitted during the trial of Michael Walker. Date: Wed, 04 Apr 2012 04:44 PM From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Subject: Reading By Numbers 1 – I met your mother in a number garden in Hokkaido. 2 – When I was 5830 days old I saw a news report about Professor Sujimoto. He had made a virtual number garden for his students. 3 – I vowed I would study in Japan and started learning Japanese. 4 – I was accepted into the University of Sapporo and enrolled in their math department. Professor Sujimoto’s fame had increased after he had discovered what was, at the time, the largest prime number ever found. 5 – Sujimoto conducted all of his lectures online in a VR environment he had created himself. 6 – When I logged in, I was presented with a menu that allowed me to create an avatar to represent myself. I chose the symbol for pi. 7 – An oak tree stood in the center of the garden. It reached unending into the sky and its trunk was alive with an army of marching ants, each of them carrying a glowing neon digit. Together they formed the prime number Sujimoto had discovered — a number more than 42 million digits long. 8 – Twenty-three other students attended that lecture. Their avatars took the forms of anime characters, kawaii cats and other fantastic creatures. Sujimoto’s avatar was reminiscent of a monk — wearing brown robes and conical hat. 9 – A text bubble appeared in the air beside the monk. “Welcome to this year’s first class on number theory.” 10 – “Numbers have a purity that words cannot match.” 11 – “They are the building blocks of science. By studying them we can learn about ourselves and our place in the universe. I have created this garden to give you a chance to explore the world of numbers and their hidden beauty.” 12 – He pointed to the garden beds where different colored numbers grew. “There are transcendental numbers, abundant numbers, undulating numbers, pandigital numbers, deficient numbers, surreal numbers, happy numbers, weird numbers and my personal favorites, the 13 – vampire 14 – numbers.” A bed of numbers erupted from the ground in front of Sujimoto. It contained the numbers from 1 to 1000 arranged in orderly rows. The numbers were purple and had pale, green stems. “I want you to pick one integer. This is going to be your special number for the year. Then explore the garden.” 15 – The student avatars crowded around the purple numbers and started plucking them. I wanted to choose 3, 7, 22 or 227 because they are used when estimating pi, but some other students must have had the same idea. I chose 220 instead. 16 – I wandered past a garden of hyperreal numbers and came to a numberfall. A torrent of digits cascaded down shiny, black rocks and emptied into a gleaming, blue lake. I queried the VR interface and discovered the numberfall was displaying part of the infinite sequence of digits that makes up pi. I waded through the water until I stood underneath the numberfall. The digits crashed all about me. I was submerged in infinity. 17 – A unicorn splashed into the lake. It had the purple number 284 wrapped around its horn. When the unicorn saw the number stuck to my side, it started bouncing up and down in excitement. Someone was pressing the jump key too often. 18 – “Look at our numbers!!! We have to be friends. It’s fate!!!” 19 – That was how I met 20 – your mother. 21 – It took me a moment to grasp the significance of what she was saying. 220 and 284 are the smallest pair of amicable numbers. The sum of the proper divisors of 220 (1, 2, 4, 5, 10, 11, 20, 22, 44, 55, 110) is 284. The sum of the proper divisors of 284 (1, 2, 4, 71, 142) is 220. The numbers are bound together. 22 – Your mother decided we were meant to be together. I had only just arrived in Japan and I didn’t have any friends. So I was happy to meet her after class. 23 – She was also interested in codes and sent me emails with hidden messages. A message with (32) at the end meant I had to read every thirty-second line to find the meaning. 24 – We fell in love. 25 – The next four years were the happiest of my life. I specialized in the process of random number generation. Computers usually only generate pseudorandom numbers. Deterministic algorithms can be recreated, so the numbers aren’t truly random. Eventually a pattern will emerge. To get true random numbers, computers have to rely on external sources, such as devices to measure atmospheric noise. 26 – We got married after we graduated. Some of my friends in Australia warned me about the difficulties of intercultural relationships. I thought our love for numbers would help us bypass that. 27 – Cultural differences sometimes even extend to numbers. In western countries we count in thousands, but in Japan they count in ten thousands. 20,000 is not 20 thousands, it is 2 ten thousands. I also learned other numbers have been polluted by superstition. 28 – The end came when I saw a documentary about an autistic savant who could perform astonishing feats of calculation and memory. He recited pi from memory to 22,514 digits. I could not do this. 29 – He said that in his mind numbers have different shapes and colors. I could not see this. The numbers I loved had 30 – betrayed me. 31 – They had shown themselves to others, but not to me. 32 – Kaori told me she was pregnant. 33 – At the time it was an unexpected and unwelcome 34 – addition. 35 – 1 + 1 should not equal 3. 36 – Your grandmother said we had to go to a 37 – fortune teller 38 – to help us choose your name. 39 – A fortune teller had chosen your mother’s name by selecting a kanji with a lucky number of strokes. 40 – Your grandmother poisoned your mother’s thinking with superstition. 41 – We argued. 42 – Then 43 – your grandmother 44 – became ill and was admitted to hospital. 45 – When I arrived at the hospital, 46 – she was asleep. 47 – Kaori sat by her bedside. 48 – She looked pale and tired. 49 – I had brought some flowers, 50 – so I 51 – put them on the table by the bed. 52 – Kaori stared at the flowers. “What are those?” she demanded. 53 – “I bought some flowers for your mother.” 54 – “They’re chrysanthemums!” 55 – The old woman stirred in her sleep. 56 – “What’s the matter? I thought your mother would appreciate them. They are Japan’s national flower.” 57 – “You never give chrysanthemums to someone in hospital! They’re only for funerals.” 58 – “How was I supposed to know that?” 59 – I picked up the flowers. “I will get rid of them. There’s no need to get upset. You’re acting like I 60 – killed 61 – her.” 62 – “That’s because you bought four of them! 63 – I’ve told you before, four is an unlucky number in Japan. 64 – It sounds like death. 65 – You want my mother to die, don’t you! You’ve always hated her.” 66 – “What are you talking about? That’s crazy.” 67 – “Then why did you bring her four chrysanthemums?” 68 – “The shop only had four left,” I replied. “They’re just flowers.” I threw the flowers in the bin. 69 – “I was only trying to help 70 – her.” 71 – Kaori stared at me for a long time. Then she reached into her handbag and took out her ATM card. 72 – “What about this?” She flung the card at me. “You changed the PIN on my card yesterday, didn’t you? I had to go into the bank to find out what the new number was. And you know what the new number was, don’t you? 1260!” 73 – “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said. 74 – “1260 is a vampire number,” Kaori said. 75 – “I don’t know anything about that. The bank must have given you a new number for some reason. It was probably just chosen randomly.” 76 – “Don’t lie to me, Michael! I know all about your so-called random numbers! You chose that because you want to frighten me.” 77 – “Please calm down. Your mother isn’t well, and you’re pregnant. You’re very emotional.” 78 – “I don’t love you any more, Michael.” 79 – “That’s not true.” 80 – “You need to get help.” 81 – In case your mother has neglected your education I should explain about vampire numbers. They are numbers with an even number of digits that can be equally divided into two so-called fangs. These fangs are factors of the number and contain all of the digits of the original number. 82 – 1260’s fangs are 21 and 60 (21×60=1260). 83 – Your grandmother died that night. 84 – Kaori divorced me. 85 – Now, I sit in my small room and think about my mistakes. I thought numbers had betrayed me. But now I know it was not their fault. 86 – They are always true. It is superstitious people that sully the perfection of numbers. 87 – If someone tells you they love you, how do you prove it’s true? Even if it is true, how do you know it will be true tomorrow? 88 – Numbers are eternally perfect. The square root of 100 will always equal 10. 89 – Japanese law doesn’t recognize the custody rights of foreign parents. I have never even met you. But that will change one day soon. 90 – I will come for you and your mother. 91 – I have begun to make my own simple number garden. 92 – I have marked the walls with some of my favorite numbers. 93 – 220. 94 – 284. 95 – 1260. 96 – Sometimes numbers grow into things they shouldn’t. 97 – I am watching these numbers closely. One day they will grow into something very special. 98 – My health has been poor. To help me relax I perform simple integer divisions. 99 – But I am very careful about what numbers I choose to divide. 100 – I am always happier when there is no remainder. (10)

Reading by Numbers by AIDAN DOYLE

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titansrook-blog · 7 years

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Humans are weird - warfare

Ok, so we’ve seen all the ideas about how humans have projectile weapons, and have as of yet to discover plasma weaponry, but consider this:

“HumanGeorge, We, the Tli’kan have come to you in diplomacy for the barter of land, and weaponry,”

“Cool,” HumanGeorge chews on an ‘apple’, as they call their native food. “What end do we get?”

“In exchange for you recently obtained ‘Hal 92′, we will give you the secrets to plasma weaponry, a technology which will advance you to the point where your pathetic projectile weaponry becomes obsolete,”

HumanGeorge tapped on his lip as he chewed in a manner xi had only recently figured out was “mocking”.

“So let’s see,” he says, “We give you an uninhabitable planet, littered with valuable resources both your and my own species need, and in exchange we will get this knowledge of weaponry? Sounds shady if you ask me,”

“Why would it be?” xi asked. Here’s where they would snag them. “Just think, with your new weaponry, you could colonize hostile planets so much easier, your fame in warfare would be expanded to match those of the Throg, your biggest competition in terms of combat. With the rumors I have no doubt are true, you should easily be able to use this new technology to overtake your enemy, while simultaneously gaining an ally!”

Of course, this would also give them the ability to take back the planet they had just traded via hostile takeover using their new tech, however in doing so they would agress the currently largest and most prosperous nation this side of Glaxon 4. Not to mention as soon as they took the planet, they would carry their entire army to protect it, making any form of hostility an act of suicide, even by human standards.

The reason they wanted the planet so badly was because deep below its surface, there was believed to be crystals that would make plasma weapons far more deadly. The tech they’d be giving away would be outdated the instant the Tli’kan weaponize the new resource.

“Seems intriguing, but say we turn our weapons around and fire back? That planet has crystals beneath its surface, and we’d really like them. What then? Would you fight back? Don’t answer that, of course you would. See, the thing is, if we did fight back, you’d use your new technology gained from that planet to wipe us out, am I right?”

“Who says we’d make new technology from the resources? We just want more cruisers,” xi commented in their most sincere voice. xi hoped it translated well.

We can lie too human.The Tli’kan thought.

“No deal,” The human says, taking the final bite out of his red fruit.

Xey were taken aback by this comment. “Why not? This deal benefits you far more than us! Is that not what you humans sought from trade deals?”

“Actually it benefits us none. Actually, we’d be losing a planet, one which has diamonds, and lots of them,”

“I do not understand!” Xi shouts, frustrated. “What could you possibly gain from shiny rocks!”

“Well, for one they’re very popular with the ladies back home, and I have a bunch of scientists I promised I’d get laid. The other thing is, we’d like to weaponize it,”

Xi’s frustration dissipates immediately. They bark out what the humans equate to a ‘laugh’. “You have no means to weaponize it! Without the secret of plasma weaponry, you cannot wield it properly! I knew your species was enthusiastic, but I didn’t know they would try to complete the third step before they had begun the second!”

“We don’t want plasma guns,” HumanGeorge flat lined.

This made xem hesitate. “Pardon?”

“Ever heard of lightning?” HumanGeorge leaned in.

Intent now on finding information, Xi leaned in too. “It is electricity that arcs in your atmosphere, occasionally striking your earth and damaging things, right?”

“Exactly,” HumanGeorge continues. “Now, we use electricity in small doses to power everything we have, from our ships, to our phones. Additionally, we have these things called lightning rods. Now, what they do is they take the great big destructive energy our planet gives and harnesses it, breaking it down so that it’s perfectly safe to use,”

“You harvest your planets weather?!” Xi shouts.

HumanGeorge chuckles, an unsettling action. “When you put it that way, it sounds more dangerous than you think it is. But there’s more. See, my guys down on Hal 92 are harvesting the diamonds not to turn them into guns, but lightning rods,”

Xi stays silent.

“We wound that projectile plasma can be directed through a specific shape of diamond, and diamond only. It would make the shot way more condensed, and thus far more powerful. You were planning on making super weapons out of the diamonds. We wanted to make armor,”

“If directed in the other direction, we can turn this pure energy that is plasma into electricity to power whatever we want. Slap it on a mech suit, and it becomes immune to all plasma weaponry. Pull it over a ship, and the only effective weapon against it would be kinetic weapons, something only humans use now,”

“So what you are trying to say is...”

“The Throg use plasma weapons specifically. They train with them, they harness them, hell, they make plasma solid! They made melee weapons out of plasma! Meaning the more they hit us-”

“The stronger you’ll be,”

HumanGeorge shook his head. “The longer we’ll be able to last. We don’t need to be stronger. Take away a weapon, and any enemy is weak beyond defending. All we’d have to do at that point would be to beat them with stones, no advanced weaponry necessary,”

Typical human. To turn the universes greatest weapon into nothing more than an over glorified battery. To top it off, the crystals... diamonds, are one of the hardest substances in the universe, even xi knew that. Even if the Throg (Or any species for that matter) turned to kinetic weapons, they’d be throwing sticks at stones.

The only thing Xi could thing of doing now was to offer terms of alliance.

Because it would be better than surrendering within fifty cycles.

#humans are weird #humans are space orcs

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