This is the second post in a multi-part series on exoskeletons. Please see
part one for important background information!
Selecting the right exoskeleton
Finding the right exoskeleton is tough. First, you have to find something that is big enough for you and all of your personal items.
Below you can see some of the first shells I tried on. While of course I can fit into any enclosure I wish, I decided to stay at the size you are accustomed to seeing me at. This way my friends and I are optimally framed in photographs.
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| Mr Hatisphere |
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| Come one come all! |
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| Hemisphere just said something really funny |
As you can see,
Mr Hemisphere makes for a handsome shell. He is also great fun to hang out with. However, he can also be a bit of a loose cannon and I feel that it is important to keep well-defined boundaries with him. What if my exoskeleton snuck off in the middle of the night to go to clubbing? Mr Hemisphere, I am afraid to say, is a bit of a flibbertigibbet.
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| Perfection is boring |
So I found some slightly larger, totally inanimate pieces of plastic to call home. The two pieces complemented each other quite nicely, and when assembled just-so clearly delineated an "inside" and an "outside." This inside/outside distinction was
just what I was looking for! And so I spent some time with the plastics, in both the "closed" inside/outside construction and the "open" or "ambiguous" form.
For a while, we were happy together. But while theoretically perfect, the plastics lacked the breezy charm of Mr Hemisphere and I soon grew bored with them.
Yes, I had it all, and I
threw it away! Theirs was a stale perfection, an unbearable trap: I hunger for the stimulation of imperfection - the romance of conflict - the gradual unearthing of that which was obscured. These perfect plastics, transparent, open (closed), and without guile: they would not do. And so I left the plastics to continue my search... alone.
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| Come back, Mr Hemisphere! |
Will I, Polyp, ever find just the right exoskeleton? What lessons will I learn? Do I still hate bugs? STAY TUNED FOR PART 3!!!
Polyp, what do you think of the human concept of culture? Do patterns in human behavior interest you as they manifest themselves culturally? Or do these delineations seem arbitrary at such an abstract level? I recall your observation that many human constructs were made out of fear for our "own cosmic insignificance." I tend to agree. But I wonder, would you say the same for culture? Is it an entirely useless concept?
ReplyDeleteGreat question, @Anonymous! Reponse posted: http://polypspride.blogspot.com/2013/04/fan-mail-q.html. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteYou are absolutely right about my question being poorly formulated. Sorry about that. You re-formulated it exactly as I had intended before I hit "publish" and could no longer make edits. So, thank you for taking the time to interpret my question.
ReplyDeleteYou are fascinating. I have many more questions, but I will save them for another day. In the meantime, I will go forth with these new thoughts, exalting "in each thread and its intersections."
Be safe out there.