If he had thought about this, it would have bothered him, because sigmaself > sigmaother has troubling implications-particularly if the values of these quantities w.r.t. the all-important sigmac are not fixed. If it weren't for this inequality, then Waterhouse could function as a totally self-contained and independent unit. But sigmaself > sigmaother implies that he is, in the long run, dependent on other human beings for his mental clarity and, therefore, his happiness. What a pain in the ass!
( Neal Stephenson )
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