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Lumifer comments on Open thread, Nov. 17 - Nov. 23, 2014 - Less Wrong Discussion

4 Post author: MrMind 17 November 2014 08:25AM

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Comment author: Lumifer 18 November 2014 09:09:57PM 6 points [-]

Bissonomy is the virtue of stability.

Specifically, bissonomy is the virtue of knowing (-nomy) how to attach yourself ("bissys" is the name for filaments by which certain bivalves attach themselves to rocks and other substrate) to some stable object.

Arguments:

  • The name. It basically tells you outright (and "bisso" is Portuguese for "bissys", just in case).
  • She was turned into oysters -- bivalves -- which is a big hint.
  • She was punished for throwing a mole. What do moles do? They dig! They undermine and clearly, the virtue of stability couldn't be seen undermining anything.
  • Two children is another hint at stability as families with two children neither increase nor decrease the population -- they keep it stable.
  • She was forgotten -- for the only thing constant in the world is change.