A letter to my mother who is lying innocent in jail
These are excerpts (translated into English) from a long letter I wrote
to my mother back when I was 16, when she was in jail:
Hello, mother!
We have not seen each other for a long time now. I know you are bored and probably a bit angry and want to see me. I want to see you soon too. You are in jail, and both me and my father are convinced that you are innocent. I have decided I will write a long letter to you, maybe it will be entertaining to read.
(...)
I know you pray a lot. But did you know that nobody knows how to pray "Pater Noster" properly in any language other than Ancient Greek? That is because it contains a word "epiousios" which appears nowhere else in Ancient Greek literature. It is traditionally translated as "daily", as in "give us our daily bread", but suggestions about what it could mean also range from "related to tomorrow" to "supernatural". It is amazing that such a word occurred only in the most famous Christian prayer, right?
(...)
Ah, that time. It seems too paradoxical to be true. You know about the Zeno's Paradox? "Consider a race of fast Achilles and a slow turtle. At the beginning of the race, the turtle is placed ahead of Achilles by 100m. Both of them start to run. Achilles reaches the place where the turtle used to be at the beginning of the race, however, the turtle has already moved a little. Achilles then runs to the place when the turtle was when he was 100m ahead of his start, however, the turtle has moved a bit more. And by the time Achilles reaches the place where the turtle is, the turtle will have moved even farther away. Therefore, Achilles can never overtake the turtle, only the distance between them decreases, but it never reaches zero. Now, obviously, Achilles will eventually overtake the Turtle." Yet, the time seems so real now.
(...)
I am sorry I have not yet found a way to escape this computer simulation. I am quite sure this world we live in is a computer simulation, because it makes no sense whatsoever. I am devoting all my free time to studying computer science. My father thinks I am crazy because of that. I have looked into the assembly language to see if there is a way to escape this computer simulation using it, but I have found nothing interesting so far.
(...)
Your dear son,
Teo Samaržija
You understand now why I am an anarchist, right?
UPDATE on 25/02/2024: I am no longer a radical anarchist. I now think some government regulation is necessary, for things such as antibiotics (causing superbacteria if used improperly). You can hear more about my political beliefs in this video. In case you have trouble streaming it (as many versions of Linux today don't come with the support for streaming MP4 videos), download this MP4 file and open it in VLC or something similar. And I don't think we are living in a computer simulation. Digital Physics is probably true, but the Simulation Hypothesis almost certainly isn't.
Hello, mother!
We have not seen each other for a long time now. I know you are bored and probably a bit angry and want to see me. I want to see you soon too. You are in jail, and both me and my father are convinced that you are innocent. I have decided I will write a long letter to you, maybe it will be entertaining to read.
(...)
I know you pray a lot. But did you know that nobody knows how to pray "Pater Noster" properly in any language other than Ancient Greek? That is because it contains a word "epiousios" which appears nowhere else in Ancient Greek literature. It is traditionally translated as "daily", as in "give us our daily bread", but suggestions about what it could mean also range from "related to tomorrow" to "supernatural". It is amazing that such a word occurred only in the most famous Christian prayer, right?
(...)
Ah, that time. It seems too paradoxical to be true. You know about the Zeno's Paradox? "Consider a race of fast Achilles and a slow turtle. At the beginning of the race, the turtle is placed ahead of Achilles by 100m. Both of them start to run. Achilles reaches the place where the turtle used to be at the beginning of the race, however, the turtle has already moved a little. Achilles then runs to the place when the turtle was when he was 100m ahead of his start, however, the turtle has moved a bit more. And by the time Achilles reaches the place where the turtle is, the turtle will have moved even farther away. Therefore, Achilles can never overtake the turtle, only the distance between them decreases, but it never reaches zero. Now, obviously, Achilles will eventually overtake the Turtle." Yet, the time seems so real now.
(...)
I am sorry I have not yet found a way to escape this computer simulation. I am quite sure this world we live in is a computer simulation, because it makes no sense whatsoever. I am devoting all my free time to studying computer science. My father thinks I am crazy because of that. I have looked into the assembly language to see if there is a way to escape this computer simulation using it, but I have found nothing interesting so far.
(...)
Your dear son,
Teo Samaržija
You understand now why I am an anarchist, right?
UPDATE on 25/02/2024: I am no longer a radical anarchist. I now think some government regulation is necessary, for things such as antibiotics (causing superbacteria if used improperly). You can hear more about my political beliefs in this video. In case you have trouble streaming it (as many versions of Linux today don't come with the support for streaming MP4 videos), download this MP4 file and open it in VLC or something similar. And I don't think we are living in a computer simulation. Digital Physics is probably true, but the Simulation Hypothesis almost certainly isn't.