The Attack of The Universe On Ideas, And How To Protect Them.

The moment an idea becomes an object or a work, it begins to erode. Take a freshly cut 4x4 from the mill. The wood is straight until the environment starts eating away at its surface, and the moisture in the air, rainfalls, and the change of the seasons bends the wood's straightness. A straight line is a mental concept. It is perfect and can never bend unless "the definition of a straight line" bent towards some other definition. The IPK is the standard 1kg, to which "weighing" is the idea. The idea needs a point of reference in order to measure all other things. The 1kg was internationally agreed to weight the mass given to it. The worry with the IPK is that the object that represents 1kg cannot change, so the IPK is set under 2 glass jars, protecting the object from the elements of nature. A solution is creating another IPK to keep the original IPK in check, but a regression begins when the second IPK would then need a third IPK to keep the second in check.

Say that we wrote a book by traditional pen, ink , and paper, and then consider how long that book will survive the test of time. Like the IPK, we might want to shelter the book from the elements, but once that protective layer is destroyed, so will the book. Not only is our book under attack, but so is the idea of sheltering it, and most likely the next idea we'd have to protect the book further. Plato was the only ancient Greek philosopher that we have the complete works. The reason for its survival is the copying of the works. In order to maintain ideas in reality, they must constantly be recreated to the specs of the idea. Contrary to the physical aspect of ancient books, something else happens to the works. The social context of the works and the social context of today has changed dramatically. Our "points of references" or better yet, "the definition of the straight line" has changed. The meaning of the work has become alien, and we are forced to understand the meaning in today's social context. The works also bends in meaning when it is translated from its original language to another. Like the copying of the book, scholars must update editions by reinterpreting the original text.