# Alien Stones, the charts *The Urth list — 1 messages, 1 voices, 11 Feb 2003* > 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. --- ### Michael Andre-Driussi *11 Feb 2003, 16:28* > Fernando Q. Gouvea wrote: > On re-reading "Alien Stones", I did find myself wondering about one thing: > if the aliens are some form of artificial intelligence, why do they have > star charts that the captain can inspect? Wouldn't any such charts simply > be kept as software? Is this just a slip of Wolfe's imagination (Homer nods > again?) or is there something I'm missing? Hey, that book seminar sounds like a lot of fun! As for the charts. IIRC, the aliens are kinda sorta robotic rather than "pure thought" A.I. entities. Possible reasons for physical charts: 1) It is good to have hardcopy! 2) They might not be real tools, they might just be art objects recalling earlier times. 3) They might just be toys for soft lifes to play with when they come visiting, like the amusements in the waiting/screening room at a doctor's office (magazines, toys). =mantis= ---