{
  "export": {
    "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/1659",
    "note": "Exported from an unofficial mirror of a public mailing list. Copyright in each message remains with the person who wrote it.  Email addresses are obscured as `user at host`, the form the original archive published. This file was rebuilt from parsed fields rather than retained headers, so it is faithful in content but not byte-exact.",
    "addresses": "obscured as 'user at host'"
  },
  "archive": "urth",
  "thread": {
    "id": 1659,
    "subject": "Jonas's parts",
    "messages": 1,
    "voices": 1,
    "first": "1999-06-01T15:46:13+00:00",
    "last": "1999-06-01T15:46:13+00:00"
  },
  "messages": [
    {
      "message_id": "<urth-v0027-0044@digest.urth.net>",
      "from": {
        "name": "Roy C. Lackey",
        "address": "rclackey at stic.net"
      },
      "date": "1999-06-01T15:46:13+00:00",
      "subject": "(urth) Re: Jonas's parts",
      "in_reply_to": null,
      "reply_link": null,
      "blocks": [
        {
          "kind": "quote",
          "depth": 2,
          "text": "On Mon, 31 May 1999 17:13:32, Mark Millman wrote:\nI wonder, by the way (and I don't recall whether we've discussed\nthis before) whether Jonas' distress mightn't be exacerbated\nbecause he used more human spare parts than was strictly\nnecessary, in an attempt to pass more easily among the low-tech\ninhabitants of Urth.  It's possible that his head wasn't badly (if at\nall) damaged, and that he's simply using a human face as camou-\nflage.  I realize that this raises questions, among others, of whether\na robot's designer would put the CPU in its head or its torso, but\nassuming Jonas' is in his head, his continued existence would\nargue that his head couldn't have been very badly damaged.<<"
        },
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "    The skimpy details we are given about the crash Jonas was in suggest\nthat his repairs were of the emergency, field-variety. I don't think they\nwere effected with an eye to passing for human -- what would have been the\npoint? --, but human parts were all that were available. Jonas and the crew\nwould have no way of knowing what the conditions were on Urth until after\nthe crash and after his repairs had been made. The way that Jonas phrases\nit: \"I needed his eyes and larynx, and I took some other parts.\" suggest\nthat he might have used more biological parts than was strictly necessary.\nBesides the face and hand, descriptions of Jonas necessitate many more\nbiological parts used. At least part of his torso is flesh. His breathing is\nmentioned several times; his face turns pale, his eyes tear and he sweats.\nThe first two of these imply a cardio-pulmonary system. He may or may not\nactually eat, but he seems to ingest liquids. Waste functions are not\ndescribed. The incorporation of all these biological elements in an android,\neven by a high-tech medical team under ideal conditions would be remarkable.\nTo have such repairs made by \"shipmates\" -- if his shipmates were anything\nlike the ignorant sailors Sev described on Tzad's ship -- under\nless-than-ideal conditions is incredible. And why would an android,\nregardless of where his \"CPU\" was located, need to sleep?\n\n    Sev adjusts his estimate of Jonas's age more than once -- always\nupward -- yet how old can he look, judging from the parts of flesh? 50, 60,\n70 years? His face and hand are not described as looking like those of an\nold man. Has Jonas found the fountain of youth? We are not given any reason\nto believe so. How long ago did he crash? 30 years? 50? Longer? What became\nof the other crewmembers that were on the same ship that Jonas crashed on?\nWhy did they scatter? How does someone such as Burgundofara or Purn ever get\na chance to sign on board a ship? Why couldn't Jonas do the same, since he\nalready knows the ropes, so to speak, and get back to the stars to be\nrepaired?\n\n    Speaking of \"other parts\"; Jonas's love for Jolenta seems to be of the\nEros, not Agape, sort. Even if she were willing, what could he have done\nabout it? When Jonas tells Sev: \"Don't you understand? I will come back for\nher when I have been repaired. When I am sane and whole.\", he means when he\nhas gotten rid of his disgusting, inferior biological parts. Sev's last\nwords to Jonas were: \"If I ever see Jolenta, I will tell her you once loved\nher, and nothing more.\" I guess that's why Sev nailed her within a day or so\nafter getting out of the antechamber. Sure beats saying it with flowers!\nWhat a good friend.\n\nRoy"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}