From: Ryan Cumming <ryan@completely.kicks-ass.org>
To: Rob Landley <landley@trommello.org>
Subject: Re: Alright, I give up.  What does the "i" in "inode" stand for?
Date: Fri, 19 Jul 2002 06:09:05 -0700
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On July 18, 2002 17:21, Rob Landley wrote:
> That's probably good enough for me, actually.  Now my NEXT unanswered
> question is why the heck Darpa's "Information Awareness Office" has a
> picture of the Bavarian Illuminati in its logo, but I doubt that's
> something this list can help me with.  Me, I would have picked the gnomes
> of zurich.  Or the UFOs, for the second attack.  Or in the expansion pack,
> The Networks, since transferrable power is so useful anyway...
That one's easier. The pyramid with the radiant eye is actually the reverse of 
the Great Seal of the United States of America, dreamed up by a bunch of 
committees shortly after the US gained independence. It also appears on the 
one dollar bill. And because it was designed by committee, it's about as 
complex as the POSIX standard.

The pyramid signifies strength and duration. It was an appropriate symbol at 
the time, because there was an Egypt fad, and everyone though pyramids and 
mummy were really novel. The pyramid has thirteen levels, symbolising the 
thirteen original states. The partially completed state of the pyramid is 
intended to represent the nation under construction. I guess they crammed 38 
more levels in at the very tip.

The single opening eye has always been an artistic symbol of omniscience. This 
represents the "God" [1] of the founders, and is referred to in the caption 
"Annuit Coeptis". This roughly translates to "It has favoured our 
undertakings", meaning that the omniscient eye likes the US. The radial lines 
originating at the omniscient eye are supposed to stand for it extending 
radiance out in to infinity.

> (P.S. I'm not quite kidding: http://www.darpa.mil/iao/ ).
Now, the symbolism used in the IOA logo is poor at best. The omniscient eye 
was never supposed to represent the United States itself, but God [1]. Unless 
they're calling themselves God lately, they really broke the metaphor by 
having the eye looking over the Earth. It just goes to show that the US was a 
lot cooler when it was founded than it is now.

-Ryan

[1] Joseph Campbell suggested that the God referred to by the founders was not 
the Christian God, but the "God" of logic and reason. One argument for this 
may be that the opening eye is also used to represent the "third eye". The 
third eye stands for enlightenment and introspection, which is very 
suggestive of the sort of God Joseph Campbell talks about. I haven't done 
nearly enough independent research to back that up, though.
-
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