I went on a Pleiades art googling binge.  The Pleiades is a start cluster also known as the 7 sisters and is a much storied and mythologized astronomical feature.  I do not know why this would be the case. The traditional greek story is that Orion the hunter desired the sisters and Zeus helped them escape by changing them into doves and they became the constellation.

I find this such as strange story. Why is it so important to be preserved in the sky?

We do still hear about groups of women chased by men. The one that comes to mind immediately is the Boku Haram kidnapping.  Is this constellation a reminder? A warning?

There are also myths about the Pleiades and sailing. Theoretically, this has something to do with the time of year and ‘sailing season’. But I think it is interesting to think about this as a vehicle and a star cluster about a vehicle. The other vehicle we have is a chariot and then perhaps Sagittarius, which is more like a cyborg than a vehicle.

What is the difference between a boat and a chariot as a vehicle. Well one goes over land, one water, one is for one or two people, the other is for a group. Women can be on the sailboat, not sure about the chariot.  Sailboats are at the whim of nature, the winds, they are slower. Chariots are faster and under the control of the horse and charioteer.

What of the vehicles for enlightenment such as the greater and lesser vehicles of buddhism. And this I interpret as ‘tech’ this is the technology to get somewhere and what is your tech. Or what is your way, or method. I really translate all this as tech. So we can imagine the Pleiades as a sort of star tech – it is a vehicle for something.

 

I was thinking about the easter egg in a video game. What is the easter egg? The easter egg is a hidden prize that you win by breaking the rules of the game in some way. You do not find the easter egg by following the rules, you find them by breaking the rules and this is the highest achievement in a game.

What does this say about rules, or about system based rules.

On second thought, is really about breaking rules, or breaking the system. It is about finding a contradiction in the system rather than breaking the rules. You use the rule to break the system. It is not the creation of a paradox, like travelling back in time and disrupting your parents meeting so you are never born. But it is about using the system against the system finding the limits of the system.

Kant was all about finding the limits of human thought. The division between what we can think about rationally and what is speculation or what is dogma.   And this leads to the transcendental deduction and categories of thought.

What about the limit of a system? What is the limit of a model, of a computer simulation, of a set? what is the internal logic of the system?  The easter egg is at or beyond that limit. So then is the easter egg in the system or outside the system?

Or are easter eggs just an aesthetic piece? An idiosyncratic piece  of the game designer’s desire fit into a system designed to hide the creator.