The ‘fact’ that we are able to ‘physically’ move about in this ‘real world’ is a given; it is obvious and yet i cant help feeling there’s an element of smoke and mirrors about it all.
Almost, as in a video game; The avatar we control only appears to move.
Without the screen rendering it in a way that we can visually decode, there would be no movement, only the hidden, esoteric changing states of a processor.
And also, as in a dream; Where mind turns ‘solid’, becoming landscape and drama. There is no movement, just changes of focus and association. The dream may present us with the illusion of movement to alert us to the symbol of a search or fleeing from our fears or just to demonstrate a transition between different elements, but it is only a sleight of hand.
‘Time’ is the marvellous, yet pitiless force that drives all of this. It allows static, frozen moments to be stitched together. A narrative is produced, surrounded by the fuzzy hinterland of previous and future states.
Without ‘time’ there would be no building, construction, death, decay or movement.
The hunch persists then; that movement is a bit of a figment. It is phantom; Just a way of explaining or showing; like a language really.
I get a sense that the real business at hand has more to do with ‘phase states’; Like the phase states of water (Solid, liquid or gas), only written large.
I imagine that we, as we are, in our real, solid world might be analogous to water in it’s solid, frozen state. Here then, ‘movement’ is illusory and only a matter of reflections, refractions and angles. Like the flickering shadows on the walls of Plato’s cave.
We do not move anywhere or do anything. (at least relatively) Just like an avatar moving through its virtual world; the difference between being here or being on the other side of the universe is only a set of coordinates in a code.
The phase states then, are a continuum. The reflected and projected ‘movement’ onto and inside solid ice, is different to the ‘real’ movement of water. They cannot really be compared.
Magic happens at the transition points, where one thing turns into another. Boundary conditions, where the ‘new’ can be introduced and transformation has an opportunity to unfold.
As with our own possible ‘transformation’, this is not just about increased movement, it is about an increase in the degree of freedom available.
In a game though, things can lose their spice a little, if players have too much freedom. A certain gaming maturity is required, especially when playing without a board.
