A carpet is an interface device, in that it takes the purely vertical force
of gravity conducted from foot to floor and converts it into a plane. It does so
by being as a bed of cottony nails - a sheet of points as viewed from above or
below; a sheet of parallel lines from any side. The role of gravity as a
vertical line is exemplified by this, with the sheet a reflection of spilt water
that we may glide upon, and the deep shag carpet as gaseous as "walking on
air". Our legs, as pallbearers, will become the pile of a soft carpet to
our coffin-cradled passenger - a moving carpet: cilia to the paramecium. A tire, in
which only the treads move.
A carpet that is denser is more supportive - too much, and it becomes as a
solid by saturating space (compression of liquid), while shortening a
carpets height may render it unyielding by eliminating space (formation
of solid). Helping give the carpet a "just right" level of pliability
by semi-saturating space (plastic state) is preferred, provided this
plasticity does not give way to full liquidity by going too far.
A carpet, then, facilitates an interaction between two planes by being a
little of both, with some commodity being passed between. It fills the gap with
short parallel lines that conform evenly to every variation of the planes,
conducting the force with such evenness that all points on one plane are
effectively as equal distances from the other plane. A carpet turns a foot into
a plane and a plane into a foot, so that gravitational force may pass from body
to floor.
Of course, this plane-to-plane motif becomes rather stale when the carpet is
placed on the second storey of a house. The many vertical load-bearing members
of a house frame act as a carpet as well, distributing the force of gravity
between two planes. And heading in the other direction are the free-moving
metatarsal bones of the forefoot (shag carpet), or the gelatinous fat cells in
the heel (low-pile), each distributing the force of gravity best suited for
their working environments. We'll blast on past cartilage; as although a fitting
metaphor, I suffer arthritis and, frankly, talking about this stuff reminds me
how much it hurts!
It suffices to say that when a force is passed across two planes, there will
be a perpendicular force, a direction the force will travel and a distance
involved. Since a force is moving a distance, we can substitute this aspect with
"communication" - and since "transportation" is the weighty
twin of communication, we may find whole objects moving this way as well. Since
the force is moving from a plane and to a parallel plane of equal size,
we can say that the interaction involves two somethings of equal size.
What's more, is we may say that the object or force in question may change in
many ways during transit, but will never change in actual value - Freon in a
fridge may become a gas as it absorbs heat en route from the fridge to
the air, but it will soon be a liquid once again.
Parallel transportation and communication. Multi-lane highways or fiber optic
cable. Carpets?
A clutch of hatchlings form a carpet of mouths to the mother hen, who places
shares of her bounty at points on this plane, only to have these morsels vanish
as they are carried on waves down narrow wormholes and into a distant
space. She feeds this energy and matter into the ever-broadening plane of her
bloodline, making them more and more demanding as inflation sets in. Surely, the
legs of entropy must be hollow, she resigns.
A little food for thought: an audience fills in the rows of the
theater, becoming a carpet of eyes to the entertainer. They will take in
the show, responding as if a single cohesive unit - cells of the collective
conscious. A seating is a day in the performing arts, and a good day has a stellar
performance by one who "lights up the stage". Occasionally, a plant is
needed in the audience to seed responses, but a real star can bring the audience
to life with their warmth alone.
A river of information flows from the retina of each eye, along the optic
nerve and to the brain, where this data will collect into a pool of knowledge.
Within the eye lies a smaller carpet of mouths, agape and hungry throughout the
show, until the final curtain lowers. Silence will make them listen harder, and
high volume will make them cover their ears - potentially even permanently
deafening them. For this audience, familiarity breeds content.
A carpet of plant mouths covers the forest floor. Each mouth a carpet of
cells - each cell a mouth. As the years pass, the collective mouth of most
species will try to widen, biting off a bigger piece of the sun: a bigger,
deeper pile of green. Absorbing the shock of a continuous torrent of
photons, the plants will spread this energy over time-space, carpeting the floor
of the universe itself.
