WikiMechanics

Bead Panel from a baby carrier, Basap people, Borneo 19th century, 26 x 15 cm. From the Teo Family collection, Kuching. Photograph by D Dunlop.

WikiMechanics is a mathematical description of experience. So we are subject to a requirement known as the logical principle of contradiction: a proposition and its negation cannot both be true. This means that seeds cannot just vanish, or spontaneously appear, or change their character; because if we say that a seed exists, then logically we cannot also say that it does not exist. And if some sensation defines a seed, then logically we cannot also say that the sensation does not define that seed. Composite particles may change their characteristics by changing their component seeds. But individual seeds are the elementary particles of WikiMechanics; they cannot change or else our accounts become illogical, confused and useless. We reify this by saying that seeds are indestructible. The quantity and quality of the seeds in any given description cannot vary even when composite particles are formed or decomposed: seeds are conserved. This narrative convention is required for making a logical description of experience. It limits the range of validity of WikiMechanics.