You just read a magic word. Reading this word binds you to a contract. The content of the contract doesn't matter. You are now bound to fulfill the contract. It's unavoidable.

Cross-reference:
➡️ https://www.farsightprime.com/forums/general/78543-how-it-feels-to-be-released-from-prison#post-463484

This is a valuable thought experiment.

I did not give tacit consent by reading the word. But what I did do is influence my field of consent and allow methods of persuasion (whatever they may be) to implicate my psychology toward consent.

Perhaps if there was a sign saying "by clicking you agree to the following terms" and a giant adhesion contract in fine-print that nobody likes to read, and then if it turns out that it included the fact that you can come into my house and take all my things . . . there's a chance that I might argue and say the consent wasn't tacit, or there might be a side of me feeling the guilt of my own contradiction (yes, I remember clicking the box and denying the opportunity to read because I just said to hell with it I really want to know what happens on the other side of the click, without the boring and time-consuming sacrifice of reading).

With that said, the "words are spells" has some implications. Yes we're influenced by how we associate the sounds and spelling of words when they don't necessarily mean the same things at all.

And on the same token, a bit of healthy skepticism is fair. If I have the tenacity to insist that FAFHRD, whatever it would mean, was not consented by me just by clicking, then I am more likely to refuse the implications (like the drink that says FAFHRD on it and persuades me to drink it not for any rational reason but just because I saw it earlier so I feel like the connection is a reason . . . like inductive reasoning but without a cause).

Anyways what I'm saying is: we do indeed get controlled as a society by just clicking things and remembering things, especially when we have a terrible track record of understanding *why* we do any of it. And likewise, we should maintain that consent is malleable and it never has to be tacit, even after death. Believing a contract is eternally binding is a really bad and incorrect belief in my opinion. And sometimes actions are highly misconstrued as consent. It's the misconstruing that's often more damaging than just the chicanerous contracts themselves.

Bad people: The content of the contract doesn't matter? But it's still binding? What a wonderful idea! Let's use that to make people believe that they consented to nonsense. This will be fun!

Good people: The content of the contract doesn't matter? Then it's not a contract.

@Aéius Cercle: You don't have to withdraw anything, because we never made a contract.

@Nancy: You can relax as well, because we never made a contract just by debating. A contract is an agreement about privileges and obligations of the contracting parties. You don't have any obligations just because I say stuff. That's the authoritarian mindset. Only bad people think like that.

The toughest contracts to get out of are those you promise to yourself.

@Just Another Isby:

"The toughest contracts to get out of are those you promise to yourself."

I can't relate. Can you give an example?

@Just Another Isby:

"Sometimes we tell ourselves that we have to do things that we really don't have to do."

I see. Like saving the planet, for instance.

To everyone who still thinks that this was some kind of voodoo magic:

I know the term Fafhrd from the video game Baldur's Gate. It's the password you need to enter the building of the Thieves' Guild.

The actual origin of the word:

➡️ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fafhrd_and_the_Gray_Mouser

@Just Another Isby:

"But a choice is really a contract with yourself."

I see where you're coming from, but I have to say: I became very strict regarding definitions of words. In my definition of contract, you have to have more than one participant. A contract creates privileges and obligations for both sides. A privilege is the rightful claim (to use or acquire the property of another), and an obligation is the required action.

You can't make a contract with yourself, because this would mean that you grant yourself a privilege you already have.

But you certainly can create obligations for yourself. I put those in the category called "promises".

I want to make you aware of something.

I chose the word "Fafhrd" to make a point. The word in my mind is connected to the Thieves' Guild in a computer game.

A few days later, Farsight's spotlight is titled "Science as Thief".

Coincidence?