Klein Bottle

A non-orientable surface, a theoretical shape that doesn’t actually exist in 3D space.

Slavoj Žižek used this shape as a way to conceptualize ideology. As you move away from the center, you invariably end up inside of it. As an example, this can be used to explain how a group of outsiders form their own group and eventually become the insiders keeping people out.

See also:

  • Möbius Strip

    A loop with a twist in it that is non-orientable. If you were to travel from a starting point on the strip and moved the full length of the strip you would end up moving along both sides without crossing an edge.

  • Capitalism Is Dead (Literature Notes)

    The essay Capitalism is dead: long live Technofeudalism by Yanis Varoufakis, former Greek Minister of Finance, describes how advancements in technology killed what we used to call capitalism and replaced it, unwittingly, with a form of feudalism.

  • Right-Half-Plane Zeros

    A right-half-plane zero is when the exponential growth rate of an input does not affect the output. For example, eating ice cream increases happiness but creates more unhappiness so you eat more ice cream to make up for it and so on until there is no ice cream anywhere.