[Torg] Sometimes you use the tool...

[Kansas Jim]

Some side issues I felt I should address here...

Phil Dack wrote:

> If you are broadcasting a radio into the Living Land, there are a number of processes as far as the metaphysics go, and contradictions can occur at multiple points:
> 1. Broadcasting the radio - radio waves, I would suggest, are not inherently contradictory, so if you're outside the LL the radio waves can happily fly through the border storms (lets ignore the likely storm-interference here)

However, the Deep Mist interferes with radio waves in the same way it
messes up compasses. So basically it doesn't matter if you support a
contradiction or not, there aren't going to be any radio waves for you
to pick up in the Living Land. (For the purposes of discussing reality
metaphysics without pesky WL effects getting in the way, I'd suggest
moving the radios to Orrorsh.)

> 2. Radio set - you have two options here. If the person broadcasting the radio waves was really determined to get their message out, you might allow them to make a long-range contradiction on the radio they're communicating to. However, there might be issues with selectivity (you might require that they many-on-one LRC for every radio in receiving range), and you might deem that the connection between transmission and receiver via radio waves is too intangible for an LRC to take effect. In current Torg terms, at least, this might not be a difficult LRC depending on what the message is, as the difficult is based on effect value. 

I would say no to an LRC. The person doing the transmitting has no
knowledge about the receiving end, there may not even be a receiving
end for all he knows. If he creates any necessary contradiction to
operate his transmitter he can send the signal, but reception is
entirely up to the person(s) at the other end(s).

> 3. Communicating a contradictory message - having got the technical difficulty out of the way, the next problem is the potential social axiom violation. If you're trying to exercise a social tool such as Persuasion through the radio, the LRC difficulty would presumably be the effect value of the tool, i.e. the skill level. This is a slightly peverse ruling IMHO - it reflects a clumsiness in the LRC rules where it's the effect that's important not the degree of contradiction. If you aren't trying to persuade (a difficult call really, as any conversation may have an element of passive persuasion) then communicating a contradictory social concept would be a Difficult 0 LRC, subject to disconnection. 

Again I would say no to an LRC. The person doing the communicating only
has to worry about communicating his message being contradictory at his
location, not at the receiving end.

-- 
Kansas Jim, Torg guru (ksjim (at) sdc (dot) org)
Torg website: http://www.sdc.org/~ksjim/index.html