Ray Bradbury said, ""

Saturday, November 10, 2007
You're So Vain You Think This Post Is About You

Me: That song, "You're So Vain," does some kind of Godelization number on my brain. That strange loop makes me feel like my eyes are going to explode.

The Isiah: "You're so vain you think this song is about you." The other song is about him. Maybe she's holding a record in her hand, pointing to it while singing.

Me: No, the video doesn't give any nonverbal ques. Believe me, I've checked. None of her other songs are entitled, "This Song," either. Vanity implies a mistaken belief in self-importance. She is actually saying, "You mistakenly believe this song is about you." I've gone through the semantics- cow1 is not cow2- of it: what if the first "you" is plural, equivalent to "y'all in the audience," and the second "you" is singular, applying to that set of those listeners who the song is about... look at this Venn diagram...

The Isiah: Remember the necessary and sufficient conditions of knowledge. His belief is neither true, nor justified-

Me: Tried the epistemological approach. If she had used the word "know," then I could apply the full powers of epistemological analysis to prove that there would be no strange loop. But his mindset is not important: what is relevant is that it is mistaken.

The Isiah: What do you mean?

Me: Suppose I wrote a song with the lyrics, "Isiah is so paranoid he thinks I'm out to get him," and then it went to #1 on the Billboard chart. I make huge royalties off it and buy a mansion and an albino tiger. Wouldn't you say that I really am getting rich by being out to get you, regardless of whether you believe I am?

The Isiah: Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're out to get you.

Me: Exactly. There is a set of paranoid people, and a subset of which really do have people out to get them. Their paranoia is not relevant, only the objective fact of whether someone is out to get them. She is making an objective statement independent of his mindset.

The Isiah: I think it hinges on "about." Suppose I wrote a book about a guy named John who went to Canisius College and then worked at a garbage dump. The book is about John, but is isomorphic to you. The implicit aboutness is a loophole- the song is only indirectly about the vain person.

Me: Even implicit reference is covered by the mistaken belief of vanity.

The Isiah: I'll give you four arguments explaining it.

[Time passes]

Me: Those are invalid. Let's apply Bayesian probability. What is the probability that the song is about him given that he is vain. What is the probability that given that product probability, she believes he is mistaken about his belief?

The Isiah: This conversation is giving me a headache.

Me: I feel an awkward silence coming on.

The Isiah:

The Isiah: He. Another strange loop.

Me: No, I really do.

The Isiah:

Me:

Posted by: Tom "The Pooklekufr" Treloar at November 10, 2007 15:25 EST | Permalink | comments |
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