SIMULACRUM OF THE CRYSTAL MANIFESTATION

TRANSMISSION FROM MEMENTO MOEBIUS 09-22-2016

0. Introduction
As a famous philosopher, me, once said, I
am, therefore I am.
Unknown Famous Philosopher

The above self-referential linguistic fixed point is part and parcel of the recursive logic underlying
the Survey Flags project first given unto us by Lead Vexillomancer Ian Elmore at Alchemy 2015,
First Muddy Year of Our Flag. Forthcoming sections are written to uncover this abracadabra and
immanentize the crystal manifestation.
The first part of this transmission is an overview of our fledgling meta-pseudoscience of Flag
Theory, which is some of the logic/metalogic behind Survey Flags which serves as background and
motivation for the effigy and has no information on the physical description.
The second part of this transmission is about the physical structure of the effigy.
The third part of this transmission details the build schedule, resources available, transportation,
and raw materials.
The fourth part is a portent.
1. Flag Theory
Our automaton engages in a metadialogue
about its own structure.
Recursive Distinctioning, Journal of Space
Philosophy, Vol 5., No. 1, Spring 2016

Our effigy, the Simulacrum of the Crystal Manifestation, is conceived of as being an extension
and expansion of Survey Flags. Survey Flags, already a funded art venture for Alchemy 2016,
consists of fifty identical yellow flags which are to be found all throughout the burn. Humorous
propaganda is placed on signs, at Connexus, in porta potties, and wherever else they can be stashed,
encouraging hippies to move any flags they see that seem out of place. In our era, attention is
currency, and the constant comings and goings of the flags will demand attention from the hippies.
Survey Flags was first deployed at Alchemy 2015 with six flags, and then again at Euphoria 2016
with eighteen flags.
1

TRANSMISSION FROM MEMENTO MOEBIUS

For those who pay attention to the flags,

games naturally develop.
Who has more
flags?
What is the dumbest place I can
put this flag? I hate flags, get them out
of my camp!
What can I trade a flag
for?
Individual flags and groups of flags
acquire purpose determined by those interacting with them, and those trying to acquire or move them. These memetic viruses
spread from person to person, the purpose
and use of the flags spreading like an infectious disease.
The rules governing the
use of the flags are then automatically determined by the community in which they are
in and who they can convince to obey those
rules.
In this way, the flags, having no initial ruleset, acquire their own ruleset (or
lack thereof) merely by the presence and
use of others.
The self-generating game
governing the flags then coincides with the
metagame governing the flags.
That is
to say, one cannot distinguish between the
game being played and the metagame governing emerging strategies. I am, therefore I
am.
The flags, generating their own meaning by
acting as its own metagame, may force hippies to confront the dangerous notion of the observer
being the same as the observed, possibly resulting in either enlightenment or terminal psychosis.
No one is an observer at a burn, and nobody is observed, but they are instead unified into a singular
whole. Similarly, all who are present are unable to escape the fact that they are cocreating the
flag game, even via non-participation. Thus the flags are a microcosm of the burn reflecting the
macrocosm surrounding it.
Anybody peering deeper into the mystery of the flags will be gradually sucked into a far deeper
conspiracy than they could have imagined. Who is the Geomantic Survey Committee that created all of these flags and propaganda? What the hell is geomancy anyways? Why is their roster
full of people with titles such as Lead Vexillomancer and Deputy Crystalologist? What is
crystal manifestation? What is the Materialist Abstractions Department?
The flag propaganda instructs the reader to report to the Third Floor Society for further information. There, a large map of the burn is revealed, covered in myths about the flags, markings of
ley lines and energy vortices, alignments of heavenly and Earthly objects, and other such things.
The flags control the weather, they can summon demons, they can make you new friends, the myths

SIMULACRUM OF THE CRYSTAL MANIFESTATION

claim. Associations to every possible kind of conspiracy, hippie bullshit, and pseudo-scientific theory is made. By ruthlessly abusing the pattern-matching ability of the human brain, we overfit
the data to happenings at the burn, and all possible things may be explained via unpredictive
postdiction by the movement and location of the flags.
Integral to the mythology of the flags put forward by the Third Floor Society is that they were
rotated into existence from another dimension by an otherworldly spinning crystal, perhaps even
by the giant rotating crystal that is the centerpiece of the Memento Moebius geodesic dome.
What role does the Simulacrum of the Crystal Manifestation play in this conspiracy? How will
this effigy affect the dynamics of the flags before and after it burns, and a fifty-first flag is revealed
within? Nobody knows yet, for it is yet another part of the story that must be self-generated by
the burn. Yet darker forces conspire to use the flags and the effigy to accomplish their own tasks...

2. Effigy Details
If conformal cyclic cosmology is true, then
God is the ouroboros of anal beads.
Unknown Crystal Immanentizer

Summary: The effigy is a giant crystal covered in mystical symbolism and imagery and stored
within it is a fireproof yellow flag, identical to the other 50 yellow flags that are a part of the Survey
Flags project.
The Simulacrum of the Crystal Manifestation, hereafter referred to as the effigy, expands upon
the Survey Flag project and realizes its mythology in physical form. According to deeper sources
within the Third Floor Society, the flags were rotated into existence from another dimension by
an otherworldly crystal. As is well-known to local crystalologists, the centerpiece of the Memento
Moebius geodesic dome is a large rotating crystal, directly responsible for numerous fractal time
loops and lurid reality warps at burns all throughout the multiverse. Thus the fates of the two
camps became inevitably entwined by the infinite lattice of coincidences, with this effigy being only
one of the multitude of guerrilla warfare projects against hippie brainminds to emerge from our
collective mental soup.
The outer visible structure of the Simulacrum of the Crystal Manifestation is that of an elongated
crystal whose sides are six hexagons and six rectangles. The top and bottom are smaller hexagons.
Each of the twelve side panels will be made of wood paneling with patterns designed using CAD
software and cut through with a CNC router. They will depict imagery that peels away the deeper
layers of the survey flags conspiracy. We will primarily take themes from Western Esotericism, using Hermetic/Kaballistic/Egyptian/Illuminati/Masonic/Astrological/etc imagery and symbolism.
Depicted on the following page is only an example. We plan to feature the Eye of Providence on
each rectangle, and have somewhere between two and six unique hexagons, depending on how many
designs our camp produces. This means a minimum of three designs will be sufficient to build the
effigy, allowing flexibility for unexpected mishaps during the build period.

TRANSMISSION FROM MEMENTO MOEBIUS

The dimensions of the panels are as follows:

(1) Large Hexagons: The top and bottom are short edges 22.5 long, while the four side edges
are longer at 34.5 tall. The internal angle between short and long edges is 109 and the
internal angle between two long edges is 142 .
(2) Rectangles: The rectangles are 22.5 wide and 34.5 tall.
(3) Small Hexagons: The small hexagons are 22.5 long on all sides, with 120 internal angles.
There probably will not be a bottom hexagon, but this decision will be made during the
construction phase when it more appropriate to assess it.
Within the effigy is a sturdier structure designed to hold up the crystal and sit upon the 30 by
30 pallet that each CORE effigy rests upon. It will be a rectangular prism stretching a little past
the full height of the effigy, connecting the pallet and the top hexagon.
The inner structure will connect with the crystal structure via 2x4s at several different heights
extending from the inner structure to the sides of the crystal and attached to the crystal with hinges.
To maintain the shape of the crystal, panels will also be connected to one another by hinges.
The naturally favorable crystalline structure, combined with the attachment to the inner structure
at several different heights should ensure structural integrity of the entire effigy, even in the event
of inclement weather or careening drunken hippies.
To accommodate nighttime, a battery powered lighting system will be installed within the effigy,
illuminating it from within. Plans will be made to make the lights weather resistant and the battery
easily replaceable if needed.
Finally, at the very center of the effigy, within the inner structure, is yet another yellow flag,
making for a total of fifty-one yellow survey flags at the burn. It will be made of flame-retardant
cloth and have a metal pole, so that it remains standing once the effigy has fallen. The addition
of a special fifty-first flag hidden inside of an esoteric and mysterious effigy will spark a new
unpredictable change in the self-generating rules governing the use of the flags. Being that the
designs will be cut out of the panels, the hidden flag will also be visible from the outside by those
who get close enough to the effigy to peer inside.

SIMULACRUM OF THE CRYSTAL MANIFESTATION

3. Build Plan and Available Resources

There are no differences but differences of
degree between different degrees of
difference and no difference.
William James

Build Plan:

Sunday 9/25/16: Hopeful notification of effigy approval.

Tuesday 9/27/16, Thursday 9/29/16: Acquire building supplies.
Saturday 10/1/16: Construct inner structure of effigy.
Sunday 10/2/16: Possibly finish building inner structure.
Tuesday 10/4/16: Deadline for Memento Moebius campmates to submit panel designs.
Begin cutting panels.
Thursday 10/6/16: Possibly finish cutting panels.
Saturday 10/8/16: Construct outer structure of effigy.
Sunday 10/9/16: Possibly finish building outer structure. Partially disassemble for relocation.
Wednesday 10/12/16: Reassemble effigy on-site.

Manpower: This year Memento Moebius is blessed with our largest showing yet, with at least
fifty-five registered campers. We already have numerous projects planned for Alchemy 2016 but we
still have many eager volunteers willing to help create this effigy. We have at least four volunteers
for panel design, and more volunteers than we really need for building, most of which are available
on both weekends preceding Alchemy. Due to the centralization of nearly all camp members around
Georgia Tech campus, it will be easy to have emergency build sessions in the case of something not
going right.
Panel Design: Panels are being designed by camp volunteers using CAD software. A rough design document is attached to the application which outlines the guidelines. The minimum goal is
to have at least three unique panels, but we expect more.
Construction Resources: Memento Moebius has available to us a common ground where we can
store the effigy during construction and a large open area to cut wood and assemble an effigy. We
possess power tools and other standard woodworking tools.
As for cutting the panels, most camp members have access to the Georgia Tech Invention Studio,
which features a CNC router which we plan to use to cut our designs into the panels of the effigy
using files generated by the CAD software. It is the responsibility of the Lead Effigomancer to cut
the panels, but there are many others who could take over in the event that this is not possible.
Transportation: Memento Moebius is already renting a moving truck, so the effigy will be transported with it. The effigy will be partially disassembled to take up less room in the truck and
then be reassembled on-site. The panels will be numbered and sides will be labelled to ensure that
everything is reassembled in the manner it was originally constructed. The following diagram will
be helpful for this.

TRANSMISSION FROM MEMENTO MOEBIUS

List of raw materials:

6 72x48 wooden panels.

8 48x48 wooden panels.
A reasonable number of 2x4s
Quite a number of hinges
Flame-retardant yellow cloth
Metal flag pole
Screws and nails
Lighting solution TBD

Set sane to false.

4. Final Levels
You think existence exists?
Unknown Space Future Renegade

Flags, flags, flags, everybody keeps talking about flags! Why was it flags all along? How did
the flags lead us here? When did they grow a mind of their own? How did they come to occupy
the entirety of our collective attention? A demon of our own making, as the flags gained their own
consciousness, they sucked in ours.
Building Stone Henge-like structures with pillars resting upon knotted lines drawn into the
ground will always result in many chance alignments between an observer, the Henge, and the
stars in the heavens. Knot theorists [DBN] have shown that the aggregate data of all such possible
cosmic coincidences constitutes a universal knot invariant, that is a property from which all
other properties of the knot can be derived. Why should all possible information be contained in
data that appears randomly generated and completely acausal? The mystic construction of the
universal knot invariant of course was connected to quantum theory by string theorist Ed Witten,
and it all went downhill from there.
Connecting all events to the unpredictable motion of the flags became the study of numerous
scholars of randomness and knowledge. Vexillomancy, the study of flags, was reborn anew. The
new astrology was born, and finally there was mathematical proof of order emerging from chaos.

SIMULACRUM OF THE CRYSTAL MANIFESTATION

Gradually they replaced one world for another, slowly detaching themselves from the old world and
absorbing themselves in the new one...
References
[DBN] Dror

Bar-Natan,

From

astrology

to

topology

via

Feynman

https://www.math.toronto.edu/drorbn/Talks/Srni-9901/notes.html
Spaceship Earth

diagrams

and

Lie

algebras,