Distinction by Example

Posted on 03 Jul 2018 @ 8:34am by Lieutenant JG Manuel Lucero
Edited on 03 Jul 2018 @ 8:35am

668 words; about a 3 minute read

[ON]

"How can anyone live with that crap... All of the lies and deceit. Always in it for themselves..."

Manuel had laid perpendicular to the bed in his suite dictating to the open air while an unseen component of the integrated computer recorded the vibrating pockets of air he'd been sending its way for the past three hours. Another log.

The stream of consciousness flowed from the schema of his usual thoughts. Sometimes the things he said actually made sense. Other times... Not so much. But there was always an underlying theme... Okay, not always...

"I just don't get it. Humans tell an average of 1.65 lies per day. Why so many? What all is there to lie about?"

He sat up for a moment and frowned in concentration at the wall, before lifting his eyebrows with a shrug of the shoulders as he plopped back to the floor.

"Yeah, no. I can't even come up with reasons to lie to last a week at that rate. Do people even realize it when they do it? Or does their conscious mind take a bit of time off to a retreat for some paroxysmal moral dissociation..."

He sighed in defeat.

"I'm so glad I'm not a counselor. I don't know how Lake does it..." The lieutenant raised an eyebrow. "Then again... Lake's practically nuts." Then, shaking his head, he added, "Who the hell am I kidding. I'm just as much of a loon... Okay maybe not as much... I think..."

The topic was segued without so much as a thought to elaboration.

"You know what? I wonder if the term 'lunatic' was the evolutionary result of humanity's aversion to the darkness of night... If the deep etymology of the word 'lunacy' derives from the superstition-based correlation between the full-moon and insanity, then it stands to reason that early-humans probably made that association prehistorically, and it just bled into the pre-modern culture, and then ultimately into contemporary language..."

He stood up quickly with one hand supporting the other hand's arm at the elbow, tapping his chin as though on the verge of groundbreaking discovery. His voice became low and secretive.

"Yes.... It stands to reason... Just as the evolution of the requirement of sleep in humans derived from the necessity of hiding from nocturnal predators, the association of crazy with lunar must've came from a similar aversion to the night. If someone does something ridiculously ridiculous, reckless, dangerous, wanton and life-threatening one would say they are 'crazy'... If I were a human more than 23,000 years ago, and someone was awake at night at a point when sight was limited, hearing was over-enhanced, and life was deadly, I'd say they were crazy... Personally..." He spoke louder. "Yes. It's official. Humans derive the term lunatic from a prehistoric superstition pertaining to a primal fear of the night."

He went to the terminal at his desk and grabbed the PADD next to it. He swiped the screen and began to search.

"I have to post this. There must be a archaeolinguistics quorum in the Federation I can send this to." The physical evidence of his childlike excitement would've been tiring to watch, were anyone there witnessing Manuel's... well... Lunacy.

"Wait..." His face the very visage of horror. "This was discovered 300 years ago..." He dropped the PADD and sunk to the floor, once again perpendicular to the bed in his suite.

He was speechless for a whole 15 seconds...

"Agh... That sucks... I thought I was on to something..." He crossed his forearms across his face, shielding it from the view of what must've been an invisible ceiling-audience "Damn. I need to stick with physics..."

Then he dropped his arms back to his side.

"The mysteries of the universe... Physics... You know what's great about discrete mathematics?... Well, let's put it this way..."

[OFF]

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