Powers of Extrapolation

In order to gain access to the interior of Hogwarts, the Death Eaters created a tunnel with two vanishing cabinets, one of which was within a magical room that would form into whatever is “required” by the one entering it. In both of these, the linguistic construction of the objects determines the magic of the objects. The function of a cabinet can be mapped as follows: “an object is placed inside, the door is shut, the door is later opened and the object is retrieved”. The vanishing cabinet, extrapolating upon this, changes small details in the usual script - object enters, object exits through a different, identical cabinet. The room of requirement does the same. A room is considered in relation to its inhabitants, an equation which is inverted such that the room is created in relation to its inhabitants.

Over the course of a Fortean text, the compilation of facts begins to slowly expand by extrapolation. Beginning with the recalling of a particular event or series of events, the text quickly expands into wider territory as Fort considers more possibilities, arguments, and tangential details or concerns that feed into what constitutes the “facts” or “data” he sets himself to compiling. The prose remains in the same voice, the witness delivering facts of the case, with the facts now encompassing theoretical, philosophical concerns. In doing so, Fort was able to extrapolate from facts to engage in theory, moving far beyond the original scope to encompass larger linguistic concerns.

One of the most terrifying vectors through which imaginary numbers were encountered was through Cardano’s cubic equations formulas where certain possibilities would work, but with completely enigmatic results. Square roots of negative numbers would, if belief was suspended, produce practically useful results despite being seemingly impossible in themselves. Here, that which should not exist was encountered by means of the situation forcing it to occur. Imaginary numbers were willed into existence by the extrapolation on the rules and rituals of conventional mathematics.

Language here reveals its mutationary powers. By creating a system of rules, the rules themselves begin to take on Pataphysical lives of their own. Things are made possible beyond the original confines of the author by the fact that the words can interact and form meaning through their own mechanics.