# Took a trip to a parallel universe, need help deciphering

I recently traveled to a parallel universe where the people wrote in a symbol-heavy language seemingly derived from English. While there, I attended various sorts of collegiate lectures to get a feel for the language; during a particular lecture, I saw this inscription written upon the board:

$$\bbox[13px,border:1px solid black]{(\vee\sqcup):\quad2\text{think}\enspace\wedge\enspace\square=\blacksquare\enspace\wedge\enspace\text{GABA}+\text{crime}}$$

What does it say? What was the lecture about?

I'm pretty sure the lecture (or at least that part of it) was about

George Orwell's novel 1984.

The inscription

refers to three key notions of the Party's thought-control in that book:
$$\mathrm{2think}$$: doublethink
$$\square=\blacksquare$$: blackwhite
$$\mathrm{GABA}+\mathrm{crime}$$: crimestop
(GABA is the main inhibitory neurotransmitter in our nervous systems).
These are joined together with $$\wedge$$ which I assume simply signifies "and" as it does in our universe's mathematical logic.

The mysterious prefix $$\vee\sqcup$$

is a terrible pun: $$\vee$$ signifies OR and $$\sqcup$$ is a picture of a WELL.

• That's actually a stupendous pun, IMO. Upvote to OP :) – Brandon_J Apr 4 at 19:05
• SPOILER ALERT: I haven’t read that novel in a long time, but wouldn’t “thoughtcrime” fit? – jhocking Apr 5 at 17:48
• I guess it would fit about as well as "crimestop", depending on whether you say GABA is an inhibitory neurotransmitter or an inhibitory neurotransmitter :-). – Gareth McCaughan Apr 5 at 18:56