LNH: The Stomper Files #4 - Logic vs Drama

[David Van Domelen]

From the Files of Doctor Stomper #4
It's An Illogical World
copyright 1997 by Dave Van Domelen
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Abstract: A discussion on the nature of worlds driven by
logic and those driven by drama, and how the difference can
affect you.

1.0 Introduction

Those of us who participate in scientific endeavors are familiar with
logic and its uses. Logic allows the deduction of results from a set of
given information, and helps ensure that sloppy thinking doesn't get in the
way of scientific procedure. But for all of its uses, logic is hardly the
controlling force in the way the Looniverse works. As the reader should
already be aware, the Looniverse works according to the laws of Drama, with
logic merely handling less important decisions and the mundane operation of
everyday off-screen life. Still, in order to make use of this fact, it helps
to know how a logical world differs from a dramatic one.

2.0 Logical Worlds

Logical worlds, such as the hypothesized "Real World" that the Writers
live in, are primarily run by logic. Often, boring and anticlimactic events
take place because they are the only logically allowed path...dramatic
necessity isn't even a minor factor, sad to say.
Without going into unnecessary detail, a hallmark of the logical world
is that contradictions cannot exist. Something is, or it isn't, both
statements can't be true at the same time. The sky cannot be simultaneously
clear and overcast, it cannot be day and night at the same place and time,
you cannot be both Rob Liefeld and talented.
The classic example of this would be the "irresistable force" and the
"immovable object." In a logical world, they cannot both exist, because the
existence of one precludes the possibility of the other. If a force cannot
be resisted, then all objects must be movable by it, although they may be
unmovable by anything short of this irresistable force. If an object is
truly immovable, no force can move it, even if that force can move everything
else. Hence, the question of "What happens when an irresistable force meets
an immovable object?" cannot be validly posed within the context of a logical
world, since if the two things cannot exist in the same universe they
certainly will not meet. Mind you, it is possible for one or the other to
exist in a logical universe (gravity inside the event horizon of a black hole
is an irresistable force in the Real World, according to best theory
available), just not both.

3.0 Dramatic Worlds

Of course, in dramatic worlds such as the Looniverse, irresistable
forces meet immovable objects (and irresistable objects meet unmovable
forces) all the time. Which one wins depends on what would be *dramatically*
correct, not logically correct...since after all, logic has already been
overridden by having the two things in the same universe. Irresistable
forces tend to win more than half the time, because a dramatic explosion
tends to be favored over a stalwart immobility. And, of course, sometimes
the irresistable force simply turns the immovable object to dust, dust which
then does not move. Much. Unless it's dramatically correct to have a gentle
breeze waft it away.
In a situation where no one choice is more dramatically correct than
another, logic *usually* controls what happens. But given the interference
of Writers in the Looniverse, sometimes the logical thing is the least likely
to happen, even if the illogical thing isn't any more dramatic. We generally
put up with this silliness, because it is the Writers who help inject drama
into the Looniverse and keep things fresh. Or if not fresh, at least moving.
Or stagnant in a mildly interesting way. But without drama to drive things,
logic starts to assert itself and the world dies.

4.0 Death By Logic

Aside from the records the LNH has detailing how the lack of drama can
destroy a universe, it only makes sense (both dramatic and logical) that this
would be so.
Drama permeates the Looniverse down to an atomic level, which allows for
even the wildest of coincidences to occur if they are necessary. But this
drama displaces normal energy and acts as a sort of prosthetic replacement
for that energy. While individuals can survive without drama (i.e.
Limp-Asparagus Lad), and can live on ambient drama in more logical worlds
(i.e. any one of several LNH members who has spent time outside the
Looniverse, notably Sidewinder, who spent an extended time in a reality very
close to the Real World), if the drama flow is cut off from an entire
universe, the consequences are very grave. The vital energies replaced by
drama do not come back when the drama is gone, or at best they come back at
time scales much longer than life can survive without them. And as logic
reasserts itself, it becomes inevitable that no action at all is logically
allowed in this drama-less universe. And so the universe just...stops.
It is a tragic fact of life in the PluRealities that universes which
require drama rarely can create it, while universes which create drama tend
to run on logic instead. Only be establishing a flow from drama sources to
drama sinks can these high-drama universes survive. It is not known if the
drama source PluRealities gain any benefit from this process, although it is
possible that a too-high concentration of Drama can be as fatal to these
worlds as a too-low concentratrion would be to us. By releasing it to other
PluRealities, the drama sources may gain some psychological benefit, or even
a physical one, as the "safety valve" is opened. The only times dramatic
events can occur in these places is when logic permits them, and this can
lead to some rather deadly outbreaks of drama, such as wars and natural
disasters. By "exporting" drama through outlets such as Writers, these
worlds may see a decrease in such unpleasant types of dramatic events.

5.0 Conclusion

Logic is a useful tool, but only goes so far here. Always keep in mind
that logic can be ignored when dramatically appropriate, or even at the whim
of those beings who provide us with the energies of drama.