What's So Great About Ushas?

John Watkins · 17 Jul 2008, 16:57 · from 2008-July.txt.gz

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From: john.watkins04 at gmail.com (John Watkins)
Date: Thu, 17 Jul 2008 12:57:03 -0400
Subject: (urth) What's So Great About Ushas?
In-Reply-To: <3e1fa2e90807170940j63bb165an7d9db9579197d292 at mail.gmail.com>
References: <1bf4dd40807170854m33fd4cb3p4d9c31e7bd64c3e0 at mail.gmail.com>
	<3e1fa2e90807170940j63bb165an7d9db9579197d292 at mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <93d4039f0807170957l74696e0aw201e96dd8d56d32b at mail.gmail.com>

I'm not convinced that the Hierogrammates put the black hole in the sun in
the first place.

On 7/17/08, Paul B <pb.stuff at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> A few issues with this, and some inaccuracies.
>
> On Thu, Jul 17, 2008 at 11:54 AM, Dave Tallman <davetallman at msn.com>
> wrote:
>
>> By Paul B's standard of murder none of us have clean hands.
>>
>>
>
> Is there a problem with this, even if true?  I know some religions that
> consider everyone to be a sinner.
>
>
>
>>
>> We could start back with putting the black hole in the Sun, which caused
>> Typhon to lose his grip on power. This short-term goal could have been the
>> purpose. Suppose Ymar or one of his immediate successors had been able to
>> restore the Sun. Then there would have been very little loss of life.
>>
>
> Even considering the physical implications of your suggestion, you make a
> preposterous claim here without any evidence.  Presumably a white hole is
> the only way to remove the black one.  What would it matter how much time
> passes?  The physical anomalies produced by the New Sun don't care, unless
> the black hole got a lot bigger after a few hundred years.  Given that it's
> just had the sun to feed on, which it didn't even consume, it's unlikely.
>
> Incidentally, it's curious that the introduction of the black hole didn't
> have similar effects on Urth as that of the white one.
>
> As for the suggestion that Hierogrammates went to stellar engineering just
> to depose Typhon, it sounds like swatting a fly with a Buick.
>
>
>
>>
>> Restoring the Sun remained a good goal in itself. All the living systems
>> of Urth, Lune, and Verthandi were at stake.
>>
>
> No.  The Hierogrammates definitively say that Urth is all that matters.
>
>
>
>>
>> Paul B argued that a mass evacuation of Urth was feasible in the time of
>> Severian the Lame. I see no evidence for that. It was feasible in the time
>> of Master Ash, but that was centuries later, after the population was
>> desperate and greatly reduced by freezing and famine.
>>
>>
>
> You seem to conveniently forget that Hierogrammates do possess foresight,
> in addition to tech that allows creation of black holes.  These two alone
> should suggest they can do pretty much any "mundane" thing (here, building
> large ship(s) - [if Typhon could do it, they could too] and sending it to
> point Urth) at pretty much any time, no?
>
> When you can see probable futures, "feasibility" takes on a new meaning.
>
> Paul
>
>
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