A Relative Typewriter
by Melanie
Anne Phillips
Think of the process of typing... Normally, when
you hit the keys, you get a particular symbol in response. However, if you hold the SHIFT
key, it will change the value of everything that you subsequently type, as long as you
hold it. That is linearity.
Now look at the CAPS LOCK key. Once pressed, it
changes the value of everything that follows, but also changes the value of the same keys
you had struck before when you strike them subsequently, even when you only press it once.
That is Non-linearity.
Now, imagine a type-writer that has a Shift key and
a Caps Lock key and also a new key called REL. When you hold it down, it not only changes
the value of the keys you subsequently hit, but also changes the value of those same key's
output in the work you had typed previously. That is Relativity.
Finally, on this new fangled typewriter you find a
REL LOCK key. Once you press this, every key you subsequently hit changes all subsequent
occurrences of that key and all other previous occurrences of that key including the value
of the key you just hit. This becomes recursive, creating a circuit in which oscillations
are set up that are limited only by the speed of key to key transfer and the number of
previous occurrences.
If typing ceases after a while, one could watch the
character shifting occur in the previously typed work in ways that would seem to be
patterns of standing waves, undulating at various frequencies throughout the document. One
might describe stable nodal points of double peaks or double troughs as Problems and
Solutions. Points that continually emanate ripples, or serve as a nexus for the
convergence of ripples might be called Foci, and the in or out motion of the ripples,
Direction. The volume of unshifted keys compared to shifted keys at any given time would
be described by Equity and Inequity. The holistic effect of several areas of peaks and
troughs rising and lowering together, offset by phasing and amplitude could be described
as Harmony or Disharmony.
Even such a complex system as this, on full step
beyond Non-linearity, is fully describable and predictable - as long as the typing has
ceased. In fact, although in constant motion, this dynamic system is stable insofar as any
pattern it generates will ultimately be repeated and therefor, it is a closed system.
However, if typing resumes, even though Problem,
Solution, Focus, Direction, Equity, Inequity, Harmony and Disharmony still occur, their
relative nature is no longer locked, due to the additional input. This then forms a truly
chaotic system in which repetition is no longer guaranteed to occur.
So, from the simple typewriter we arrive at a mess.
Certainly such a machine would not function well as a type writer. Still... it would make
a hell of word processor....
