Looney Labs Icehouse Mailing list Archive

[Icehouse] [Zendo] Another Spock Rule question

  • From"Ryan Hackel" <deeplogic@xxxxxxxxxx>
  • DateMon, 01 Aug 2011 08:53:46 -0400
Since we're on the subject of the Spock Rule, I have a question from a recent session that I've been meaning to bring up.

The rule was "A koan has the Buddha Nature if the first letter of each color in a stack of pyramids, read from top to bottom, spells out a legit Scrabble-acceptable word."  For example, a stack of pyramids with a "B"lue on top of an "O"range on top of a "G"reen spells "BOG" and thus has the Buddha Nature, while a stack of Red-Purple-Yellow spells 'RPY" and lacks the Buddha Nature.  

Our cunning master argued that the BH was a function of the pyramids alone, independent of other things, and met the Spock Rule.  I countered, saying that it falsely assumed that Spock can spell in the English language. (We also argued about whether purple also counted as violet.)

Bottom Line: Does a rule that involves spelling or language violate the Spock Rule?

---Ryan