Idea Toy

4. Some Example Schemes – A Starting Point

Insert a scheme to the game board and observe as the pieces move through it.

Scheme 1 – Language Abstraction

Repeat a word over and over. Some words are more conducive than others are. Results may vary depending on the person or people playing.

I find that this works best when repeated aloud. In this way, one can hear the sound of one’s voice very carefully pronouncing each, delicious, combination of letters. The concept of the word will eventually become so abstract that the player forgets its meaning, spelling, sound, taste, inferences, etc… This is a quicker, easier scheme than a lot of others. Eventually one might want to progress to phrases, sentences, or even whole paragraphs – it is up to the player.

Some examples that seem to work nicely:

FISH
SEVEN
SODA
FURNACE
HIVE
PLAY
GUN
PAPER
PRIZE
CANKER

Scheme 2 – Make An Emotion

Gather all connotations of any word, concept, picture, object, anything, as long as it is not a normally felt emotion. Experience that thing as an emotion.

For example:

Take a silver coffee pot. Tap it and listen to the sound, it sounds a thin, murky, blue. It smells of old grounds and is without warmth. Incorporate these effects into the “Coffee Pot emotion.”

(will people perceive you as a coffee pot?)

Scheme 3 – Unrelated Hypotheses

Pose any number of hypotheses as explanations for different phenomenon. It is best if these hypotheses are for
occurrences that appear on the surface, unrelated. After amassing a sufficient amount (two minimum) reconcile them to fit together so that they will not conflict with each other.

Scheme 4 –“ Staring

This requires an even amount of players or one player with a mirror. For an abnormally prolonged period of time, stare into another player’s eyes. If this scheme is being played by one person stare into your own eyes, as reflected by the mirror.

Scheme 5 – Alien Discovery

Create a concept that is alien. For this concept to be alien it must be void of all relations and similarities to the known. The concept cannot be adaptable to human-known utility. The concept must bear no mark identifiable to human senses.

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