Wednesday, July 10, 2019

Orthogonal, Acute, Oblique

Angry and Welcoming are opposites, point away from each other, like negative infinity and positive infinity on a number line. Hungry is orthogonal, is at right angles to that number line.

But Hunger is in some ways like Anger. So maybe it is "at angles" to Anger, like a line making an acute angle with the "number line" from Welcoming to Angry.

Then it is "oblique" to Welcoming.

But Hunger is a humbling feeling and can cause people to open themselves to other people in order to get food. In that case, Hungry could be at angles to or acute to Welcoming. So then, overall, Hungry is orthogonal to Angry and Welcoming. It favors both opposites in different circumstances and is also something distinct from both.

Hungry, then, is not purely orthogonal to Angry and Welcoming. Something purely orthogonal might be ... not easy to find. Maybe Symmetrical comes close (someone who is symmetrical (as much as humans are) doesn't find that symmetricalness affecting their Anger or Welcomingness).

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