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I still think people are significantly kinder and more peaceful across the world now than they were 5000 years ago. Moreover Jeff, I think your expressed outrage is an example of…
14 Mar 2012, 14:41
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Yes, but Earth's population is in the 10 figures. Anthropological estimates suggest pre-civilized humanity died at a rate of up to 25% from warfare/violence. Accuse me of optimism …
14 Mar 2012, 12:37
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Perhaps so. But perhaps at a different speed. There is nothing to rule out the possibility minor changes between iterations such as a moving of the Andes to the east of S. Amer…
13 Mar 2012, 20:44
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Thanks Antonio. I have noticed your linguistic knowledgeablity before and I always appreciate your help in this area. Maybe if I amend my statement from "english" to Indo-Europea…
13 Mar 2012, 02:18
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I am quite aware of the superficial context of the references. You ignore that the text can be understood at more than one literary level. I don't think there is a particularly go…
12 Mar 2012, 19:54
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I don't think we can be. And I agree that the interview, by itself, could be dismissed as retrofitting. Much as we'd hate to think of Wolfe doing that, he is human. Here is wha…
12 Mar 2012, 13:52
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I think this misses Antonio's point and does miss mine (and I think the point Wolfe is trying to make). Of course there are spritually bad things in our world. There always will…
12 Mar 2012, 04:11
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Hm. I'm not aware of any Muslim members of this board. If there were, would they find evidence of their faith in the Sun Series? Perhaps in the numerous star and moon reference…
11 Mar 2012, 17:15
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Thanks Nick. My own response to Gerry would have been about the same though probably less erudite. This is Dan''s view also and I can see the validity. My own initial view was th…
11 Mar 2012, 04:39
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Thanks Craig. That was fanstastic! I'd seen excerpts from that interview before but never the whole thing. One significant thing I noticed regarding the previous debate (whic…
11 Mar 2012, 04:31
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I am not familiar with that one. I'd appreciate a link to it very much if it the identity happens to come to mind. I am familiar with a Wolfe quote saying that Jesus, given his s…
10 Mar 2012, 15:49
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Nice post Dan'l. I can actually see how this scenario explains the situation in an equivalent way to the the idea that Christ is someday coming to Urth in its future. I can see h…
09 Mar 2012, 18:25
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Because it isn't. Quasi-Christian symbols and concepts can be found from pre-Christ times on earth. Notably in the Egyptian and Roman cultures from which the Whorl society is most …
09 Mar 2012, 18:10
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True, early on, vis Agia, iirc. And at that point in the story we might be prompted to think the god in humanform referenced is Jesus Christ. But as the story progresses I think Th…
09 Mar 2012, 12:38
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Heh. Thanks for a very well written post Daniel. We haven't interacted in here all that much so I can forgive you for mistaking me for some militant atheist with an agenda like Ric…
08 Mar 2012, 15:26
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By your own principle, Wolfe would not put Christians in his story by mentioning them 0 times. You are suggesting that Wolfe is presenting a future in which we can degenerate into…
08 Mar 2012, 15:06
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Well, I answered that before, but apparently not suffiently. I take this as Wolfe's way of saying that a Jesus-like figure appeared on Urth but it wasn't Christ. The concept of Chr…
08 Mar 2012, 12:48
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I agree. And I find Dan'l's earlier, similar post expressing thing almost exactly as I would express my own personal views. Clearly, Wolfe is also very aware of the human bia…
07 Mar 2012, 23:50
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No offense taken, Daniel. I am more concerned that I have offended your beliefs, which I did not intend to do. Still, you might correctly infer from my name that I was raised in t…
07 Mar 2012, 18:12
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I think this may be the very crux of our disagreement, and perhaps applies to Dan'l and Jerry as well. I know it is canonical in modern Judeo-Christianity that the God of the Jews…
07 Mar 2012, 14:25
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For me also. If there is agreement on this concept I think any other disagreements are fairly inconsequential. Agreed! I've always maintained that Urth is not a hopeless world.…
07 Mar 2012, 14:07
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Well, I tend to agree. I think "The Increate" mentioned in the Sun Series does represent the one true God. However I think "The Pancreator" and "The Demiurge" represent something d…
06 Mar 2012, 20:10
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Heh. The funny thing is that I would tend to agree with you if your position was that pagan/gnostic religious references were primary in the Sun Series. That is what seems obvious…
06 Mar 2012, 18:33
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Perhaps we can all agree that what we see as "primary" might say more about who we are than what is clear in the books. Allusions to pagan mythology and Christianity are both th…
06 Mar 2012, 03:01
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For me the reference to Silenus and Silvanus is similar to the earlier "Bird Of the Woods" reference to Rhea Silvia. The Latin name doesn't refer to a bird but I think we are sup…
05 Mar 2012, 21:19
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I'm not comprehending this post. I am suggesting that most/all the improbable occurrences are connected to him, including the eclipse. That perhaps it is Severian's doing and not…
11 Jan 2012, 06:04
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Wrong story ;-). That's the beginning of Shadow and we are all the way to the end of Urth. Severian has gone through some changes in the duration, yes? Anyway, there is no suspici…
10 Jan 2012, 18:15
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Hm..who would be a major lord, in this case? Anyway, I'm curious where you get the comparison in size to "island". I'm curious because in Severian's first view of Tzadkiel he…
10 Jan 2012, 17:41
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I don't see why. Can't a beast have a biography? Especially a sentient beast. The examples of this are too numerous to mention but "mega" implies large size. It isn't too hard to…
10 Jan 2012, 17:26
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Well, there is a significant contingent who think the exclipse was caused by Tzadkiel's ship and I acknowledge and respect that. My objection are: Until that point, when he is d…
09 Jan 2012, 19:04
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Meant to mention the dedication of 5HoC which thanks Damon Knight "who one night in 1966 grew me from a bean." Might have nothing to do the black beans which grown into megathe…
06 Jan 2012, 20:09
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Yep, a regular solar eclipse is fairly local as seen here: http://mail.colonial.net/~hkaiter/Aaa_web_images2012/SolarEclipse.jpg Are you thinking it is even more local because ot…
06 Jan 2012, 19:52
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This could be a could time to resurrect a discussion regarding Apu Punchau's miracle. I think the pertinent information we are given is: In my first reading I took the "thoughtf…
06 Jan 2012, 17:36
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I really think you are onto something with this. Tzadkiel is meant to depict a higher being than humanity and he/she demonstrates a full spectrum of expression from lower being to …
04 Jan 2012, 13:03
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Yep, I think this supports Jane's contention that Severian's power resides mostly within himself. So perhaps he can draw from various celestial bodies (Tzadkiel's ship being …
02 Jan 2012, 18:41
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I noticed also and it has been a part of my Father Inire theory. With recognition that it could also simply be a folksy way of talking. I like this part of your post the best. …
28 Dec 2011, 13:31
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I don't see that. It is still a human being who is calling the crater circular. People see a crater as resembling a round bowl. An alien intelligence might find nothing in comm…
24 Dec 2011, 13:25
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But isn't the question more on whether it was harder to do that 30 years ago or image an electron today? Anyway, I still think it is cool. But I temper the temptation to pride in t…
23 Dec 2011, 18:58
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Heh, yep. Not to detract from the coolness of Dave's link! It is on a par with that photo spelling of "IBM" with atoms. But I think it is an important part of retaining our esse…
23 Dec 2011, 15:32
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Well, Severian does see the White Fountain as he breaks out of Apu Punchau's tomb. Previous to that, Barbatus twice suggests to Severian that he will have access to the White Fount…
23 Dec 2011, 14:46
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As I see it, if it is human-created it is, by definition, not objective truth. How could it be? Only God is objective. The rest of us were gestated in a womb and raised in an ape-l…
23 Dec 2011, 14:22
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So you say. An understandable sentiment of faith from a believer of the religion of science. Likewise believers in other modern religions often think their own current belief in Go…
23 Dec 2011, 14:10
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But IIRC, Decuman is humming and chanting the whole time. I think this might be the "hypnotism" Wolfe mentions in Jerry's quote. The "twin hemispheres" brain might be just Severia…
22 Dec 2011, 21:01
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Well of course you would think that. Your belief in science is akin to the ancient Greek's belief in Zeus or a Medieval villager's belief in witchcraft. If asked, they would predic…
22 Dec 2011, 20:20
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Well, of course you should not ignore it! But I think reading in context is important. By saying BotNS has no "fantasy" sort of magic, I think he is saying there is no Harry Potter…
22 Dec 2011, 19:57
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I really feel that Wolfe is trying to send a diffferent message. What the ancients called magic, we call science and we tend to denigrate magic to fakery. But 10,000 years hence wo…
22 Dec 2011, 18:57
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Yes! I think that's it. I almost chimed in earlier with a similar suggestion but I'm glad your pas de deux with Gerry got there on its own. Wolfe is Catholic and it is common for …
22 Dec 2011, 17:20
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Dorcas does suggest the Claw works by warping time. So, maybe because Severian's life is stretched from primitive times to the far future, his energy source is sort of like a te…
22 Dec 2011, 14:21
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Fair enough. I agree that fallen angels chose to reject God. And I can cautiously agree that human women knowingly engaged in intercourse with these demons, though I'm not sure it …
22 Dec 2011, 13:56
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Perhaps. If they managed to kill off Severian and prevent the New Sun from coming, I'm sure they wouldn't lament. But I think they know he can't die. There will always be reality…
21 Dec 2011, 20:18
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