Vitruvian Hamster Vs Black Cat
Idea Type
High concept
Summary
In the battle between superstition and reason, arch villain, “Black Cat” has acquired a time-machine and is
going back in time, kidnapping the great scientists and imprisoning them in dungeons which are
ironically based on the theories they invented. E.g. Archimedes is trapped in a water-filled labyrinth of
floating weights, crowns made of gold and floating bath tubs.
The champion of reason, Vitruvian Hamster, though stuck in his hamster-ball must apply the scientific
theories to solve the puzzles and rescue the scientists.
Vitruvian Hamster
Black Cat
Related thoughts
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Black Cat does not believe that the scientific theories offer anything beyond the predictive power
that superstitions have. He designs his dungeons such that they are solvable ONLY if the
prisoners’ theories hold up very precisely under a lot of stress (which, if applied properly, they
will)
It might be better to have Vitruvian Man as our protagonist (rather than a Hamster). Better
symbol of reason, and it adds a sense of the absurd – which I like.
There is something nice about our protagonist being in a ball:
o Enables him to take part in the mechanics etc. problems and legitimately be simplified to
a sphere.
o It represents the notion that scientists will make very simplistic models (“first assume all
humans are spherical…”) which might seem counter-productive, but actually enables
them to solve problems.
o It also represents the idea that scientific thinking is somewhat constraining (even if it is
powerful). Trapped in a ball, you are much less agile than a cat which can manoeuvre
through all sorts of contorted arguments, however, the predictive power of the models
you can employ give you the edge.
o Perhaps the Hamster can step out of the ball occasionally to deal with non-scientific
things (e.g. admiring the beauty of a painting).
The cat is alluring in its opaque mystery – the ball is transparent and simple.
The cat gives us the potential to play some games with quantum mechanics and Schrödinger’s
cat.
Perhaps the cat “highjacked” Schrödinger’s time machine (is there a plausible way to make a time
machine using quantum mechanics?) – in the same way that many pseudo-scientific areas
highjack the language of quantum theory to make their bogus proclamations seem more
scientific.
The use of real scientists allows for some humour (Newton can continuously have things falling
on him) as well as give some genuine historical background – which might help people connect to
it at an emotional level.