The Plato Papers Read Free Page B

performed only for the sake of the ceremonies themselves. Information simply granted its practitioners words and images.
    Sidonia:
Of what?
    Plato:
In that period it was believed that people should know of events far away, whether real or imagined.
    Sidonia:
Presumably this afforded them great benefits.
    Plato:
On the contrary. None at all. In fact it led to anxiety and bewilderment. But they persisted in the belief that it was necessary for them to suffer in these ways. They had been taught that they were the ‘consumers’ of the world.
    Sidonia:
But surely a consumer is one who eats?
    Plato:
Who devours. Consumers, as we know, are those who see this earth merely in relation to themselves; it only exists in the act of being ingested or enjoyed. Of course we have one or two consumers in the city, and they are kept apart from us, but can you imagine a whole society composed of these ravening creatures who thought of nothing but self-gratification?
    Sidonia:
A consumer society? It is impossible to imagine.
    Plato:
Yet they were never content, never fulfilled. Even as they were engaged in their ceaseless activity, they knew that it was futile.
    Sidonia:
But what was the nature of the events related to them?
    Plato:
It will be hard for you to accept what I am about to say.
    Sidonia:
In talking of ancient days, Plato, I have already learned to believe the impossible.
    Plato:
It appears likely, from all the available evidence, that the people of Mouldwarp loved chaos and disaster.
    Sidonia:
No!
    Plato:
It seems that they wished to learn of wars and murders; every kind of violation or despoilation delighted them. Information taught them to dissemble their pleasure, however, and in its service to retain an enquiring or sober countenance. Nevertheless they dwelled lovingly upon death and suffering. We believe that there were also ‘papers’ which chronicled all the worst incidents of the period and were distributed without charge to the populace.
    Sidonia:
Did everybody read this thing called papers?
    Plato:
It is hard to be sure. Of course no one derived any knowledge or wisdom from the activity. Difficult as it is for us to understand, they simply seemed to amuse themselves by reading about the misfortunes of others. This was the essential principle of information.
    Sidonia:
Would you suppose, then, that its worship was one of the reasons for the demise of the Age of Mouldwarp?
    Plato:
There can be little doubt of that. The dimming of the stars and the burning of instruments had many complex causes, but there is every reason to believe that the sacred cult of information was at least one of the symptoms of decline. Dark ceremonies and slavish pieties are characteristic of a decaying or diseased civilisation, and this religion of death may have rehearsed a more general dissolution. Now, if you will excuse me, Sidonia, I must return to my glossary.

7
    iron age:
the age of the machine. Known colloquially as the ‘dark age’, which in the end it became.
    language laboratory:
a sterile area where language was created under strict experimental conditions. New complex words or phrases were bred from existing phonetic and semantic systems before being tested upon a group of volunteers. There was of course always a danger of contamination or leakage; we believe that there were occasions when rogue words were accidentally released into the community, sometimes causing hysteria or fever.
    literature:
a word of unknown provenance, generally attributed to ‘litter’ or waste.
    logic:
a wooden object, as in log table.
    nervous system:
the system of Mouldwarp, in a state of continual anxiety. See ‘nervous breakdown’ for its eventual collapse.
    old flame:
it was once believed that the kindling of seasoned wood or the burning of an ancient house would inevitably produce old flames. But later research has suggested that the locality, rather than the material, is responsible for this phenomenon. That is why the citizens of Witspell noticed