This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Zeke: Of course, some would argue that all koans are ice cream koans.
Krypfto: While others might argue that all ice cream koans are koans. Also, kudos to whomever it was that contributed those five pounds of flax.
Andyroid: That was me. And thanks!
Malicious Illusion: Minor correction to that part: Discordia didn't come from Illuminatus, it'd been around for at least 10 years when Illuminatus was written.
Sean Tucker: How is the picture an example? The koan itself makes sense, even if the picture doesn't fit.
Scifantasy: What I want to know is, why wasn't the actual Ice Cream Koan put in. I fixed that.
Cosmetor: I disagree with putting the Doctor Strange movie here. As disappointing as it was in general, the symbolism was pretty clear to me: the wall was impossible to break down, just like his sister's illness was impossible to cure, and he had to stop feeling guilty for not completing an impossible task.
Scifantasy: I pulled the Irregular Webcomic example, as that's just a reference to the same joke. Reproduced here:
- It's also similar to this
Irregular Webcomic!
- It's also similar to this
Gotta disagree with the MIT one. It's got a clear and genuine meaning: Knight can fix the problem because he understands it, even though his actual action is apparently the same as the student's.
Seven Seals: Yes, but it's clearly humorous as presented — Knight doesn't just do something that's apparently the same, he does literally the same thing, which logically should have the same effect whether he understands what he's doing or not.
I would call it a "koan light" rather than an ice cream koan, though. It's not complete nonsense, it's just superficial compared to actual koans. It's hacker humor playfully dressed up in a logical absurdity (actually, most of it is).
