"Most recently in Seven Soldiers: Mister Miracle (2005), by Grant Morrison, Darkseid (or Dark Side, as he now calls himself) has gained full control of the Anti-Life Equation. By speaking, he can insert the full formula into people's minds, giving them the mathematical certainty that life, hope and freedom are all pointless. Shilo Norman (the current Mister Miracle) is able to break free from this with the help of Metron. However, it was implied that these events did not happen in the 'real world', but in a tangent universe inside a black hole. The Anti-Life Equation here is revealed to be:
I was thinking about this concept a few weeks back because of the death of a kid I used to know in high school. It's kind of an out-there concept in some ways, the Anti-life equation. But in others, especially as Morrison imagined it, it's quite real. The context in which I imagined it was as an individualized code within everyone's brain, that when realized would be the thing that pushed you over the edge into death. Like if your life met these pre-conditions based upon your genetic make-up, you would cease to be able to live in it.
Of course this week I realized that this idea was already perfectly captured in the idea of the anti-life equation.Not insignificantly, but in Neil Gaiman's Sandman, the Anti-life equation is defeated by hope, which is heavy handed but true. At the end of the day as humans we are very easily duped creatures. In the sense that even the smallest hope can keep us clinging onto the rock of life over one jagged cliff after the next. We're very fuel efficient in that way. But when we hit empty, we hit empty.
I guess I'm writing this, because there's a lot of scorn and pain left behind by suicides. More often than not the people closest to it come to hate the person who committed the act. But I've always thought that was a lack of empathy. Or maybe worse, a core denial of an unassailable truth--that when confronted with the anti-life equation, we are all going to be working at a deficit. Recognize situations different from your own, and respect that. Derision of the dead doesn't leave anyone in peace.
3 comments:
i would understand more if the equation made any sense. i'm not talking about the words or the concept, by all means, but the actual mathematical structure. :)
it's more common for people in this culture to think about a death as it relates to them before they think about the death as it relates to the deceased. talking about what you'd leave behind may make the world of a difference, but not everyone gets there. we can't hate them for that.
if only we could teleport into each other's brains for a moment. would you work on that already?
You goofy math major!
And I AM working on brain teleportation. What do you think I'm doing all this time? Jeez.
I think our culture's conception of death has been somewhat perverted by greed. As you say, we tend to think about life in terms of assets, moreso than intangibles. So when people see the assets on one side of the ledger or the other, then it becomes a empathetic idea or not.
Which would work if that's how people actually made that decision, but I'm not sure that THINGS have the proportion we'd like them to have in the equation.
My favorite thing about discussions about death is that they are always really about life. Which I think is the real reason why discussions about death are somewhat taboo. At least in this culture. I think there are other cultures where life and death are discussed more freely, and it leads to a richer spiritual life.
I wonder if someone figured out that that sort of thing was or was not good for the bottom line? The closest we get to discussing these things usually is in church through elaborate narrative metaphors. But we never bring those concepts really home. It's okay to think about jesus in the afterlife constantly, but it's not okay to have that same kind of relationship with your deceased grandma.
I'm rambling.
i wasn't joking. i really would like to see the equation. :)
people are terrified of not not existing. i suppose i used to be too but i'm not, i'm just not into the pain so much.
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