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A comment on "How to Build a Universe That Doesn't Fall Apart Two Days Later" – Philip K Dick. Parent comment

Re:"How to Build a Universe That Doesn't Fall Apart Two Days... by cortesoft on Monday October 16, 2023 @12:27PM (#37902219)
> Inertia would instead just go with the flow of power

No, inertia is specifically the characteristic of matter to continue in its current state, not the characteristic of not pushing back against another force.

If a stationary object is suddenly pushed by a force, inertia is the property that resists moving.

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Re:"How to Build a Universe That Doesn't Fall Apart Two Days... by coldtea on Monday October 16, 2023 @02:59PM (#37904498)
>No, inertia is specifically the characteristic of matter to continue in its current state, not the characteristic of not pushing back against another force.

In any case, we're not going for physics here, but for parable. After all inertia is not Dick's word for this, it's the [thread's] parent's.

Dick's point is: ordinary people are often the real heroes, not asking to the recognition as heroes nor through doing conventional heroic acts, but through resisting doing a bad thing they're asked to do, when it would be easier to just comply and follow the flow (where the flow is the society/order/army/historical flow towards some bad path).

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