This principle can be considered the ‘modulus’ of Baudrillard’s thought. In mathematics, the ‘modulus’ describes the absolute value of a term, ignoring whether it is positive or negative: for instance, the ‘modulus’ of negative twelve and twelve is twelve. Along these lines, Galloway remarks: ‘Mathematically speaking, Baudrillard’s is the “absolute value” of the dialectic’ (p. 381). Baudrillard reinforces this idea in ‘Radical Thought’, where he remarks:
“Ultimately, it is not even a disavowal of the concept of reality. It is an illusion, or in other words a game with reality, just as seduction is a game with desire (it brings it into play) and just as metaphor is a game with the truth.” (p. 54)
Rather than avowal and disavowal, Baudrillard’s purpose is defined as bringing an idea into the argumentative field. Here ‘game’ and ‘play’ are used to describe the process of interacting with a concept or theme rather than affirming or negating it. Conceived in terms of play, theory becomes a tool rather than a truth. Baudrillard thus asserts that ‘the value of thought lies not so much in its inevitable convergences with the truth as in its immeasurable divergences from the truth’ (‘Radical Thought’, p. 53). The relationship is prioritised over the assertion, as the negative value of the thought is equivalent to its positive value.