Twenty Seven Seconds. Demiurge's Practicing

an experience of predetermining events within a limited territory and for a limited time

Preamble

Between houses number nine and eleven of the odd side of Aranskaya Street in Minsk you will find a controlled crosswalk to the even side of the street, which brings you to the house number five on Industrialnaya Street. The crosswalk works on demand. A pedestrian is to push a button and lights on a display on the opposite side of the street will show the total waiting time, in seconds, before the green allowing signal, and then, on the same board, counting down the remaining time-out will start. The waiting time depends on the time elapsed since the latest moment the demand button has been pressed – the more that time, the less the waiting time is. Practice shows that, when not in traffic, the waiting time is twenty-seven seconds.

The topography of the place is such that, if a pedestrian which is standing on the crosswalk on the side of the houses number nine and eleven, will look to his/her right (or – to his/her left, if he/she is standing on the even side), then his/her gaze will continue without any obstacle along the whole prospect of Aranskaya Street up to its intersection with Mayakovsky Street, after which the Aranskaya becomes already Mogilyovskaya Street. The beholder's naked eye will be also able to discern cars standing at a traffic light Mogilyovskaya-Mayakovsky Street on the other (from the observer's point of view) side of Mayakovsky Street.

If no traffic, cars overcome the distance from the intersection Mogilevskaya-Mayakovsky-Aranskaya to our crosswalk in the average time of twenty-nine seconds. Thus, if a pedestrian pushes the demand button right in the moment when the cars, standing at the traffic light beyond the intersection of Mayakovsky-Aranskaya, will start, on the green, their movement along Aranskaya Street in the direction of our crosswalk, it is virtually certain, that they do not have time to pass this crosswalk and will stop by the red light. Those in cars really do not know, whether they will be stopped by the red signal of our crosswalk or not. This is the pedestrian, the only one, who does know that, and who takes a decision while pushing the demand button.

Thus, a pedestrian, from the moment he/she pushes the demand button for crosswalking, is the sole owner of knowledge about the subsequent course of events for the cars moving towards our crosswalk along Aranskaya Street from its intersection with Mayakovsky Street. It also the pedestrian who is the exclusive creator of the situation.

Thereby, any person is provided with an opportunity to become a creator of a particular situation, and to become a sole holder of knowledge about its most likely finishing, as well as to monitor development of the situation, down to its predictable conclusion.

Instruction

1. Find the crosswalk we are talking about, and stay at one of its side. Wait untill there will be no one besides you willing to cross the street on the both sides.

2. Look to the right, if you are on the odd side of Aranskaya Street, or – to the left, if you are on the even side. In about three hundred meters you will see the intersection with Mayakovsky Street.

3. On that intersection find with your eyes the traffic light, which regulates movement of vehicles along the streets Mogilyovskaya-Aranskaya in your direction.

4. Wait until the red signal of that traffic light.

5. Notice the cars, standing on this traffic light and waiting to move along Aranskaya Street in your direction.

6. Experience the fleeting moment carefully – it is now in your authority to push the demanding button once the referred cars move.

7. Take your decision. You are the creator of the situation. The whole scene of its development, with all the actors who do not posses any knowledge about what is happening, is in front of your eyes.

8. Wait for a finale (*).

(*) Remark / Note

Due to unpredictable side-effects of interference of the pedestrian's will and force of Providence / superior force, unforeseen situations are possible

Igor Savchenko

Minsk, November 2010