House Absolute

Jeff Wilson · 04 Dec 2008, 00:45 · from 2008-December.txt.gz

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From: jwilson at io.com (Jeff Wilson)
Date: Wed, 03 Dec 2008 18:45:04 -0600
Subject: (urth) House Absolute
In-Reply-To: <29661.198.1228345229.squirrel at o2.hostbaby.com>
References: <63FB9AC7E0AEC7459DBCC99DC44247CA01F6AFF4 at BOSIDEXDB.Bankofscotland.ie>	<4935C471.9050409 at io.com>	<40976.198.1228261518.squirrel at o2.hostbaby.com>	<4936FF06.5020501 at io.com>
	<29661.198.1228345229.squirrel at o2.hostbaby.com>
Message-ID: <49372810.9080000 at io.com>

Tim Walters wrote:
>>> What's the artistic point of the cliff scene, world-famous for its
>>> evocation of deep time, if not to show that a gazillion years have
>>> passed?
>> To show that many, many human societies have arisen, fallen, and been
>> trampled unto dust, and the dust piled upon dust until it has become
>> fused into rock.
> 
> Well, yes, exactly. That takes a gazillion years, not 20,000, and is more
> powerful for representing a gazillion years of human futility rather than
> 20,000.

Petrification and fossilization can happen in as little as 100,000 
years, and things might be sped up by the odd industrial spill of 
futuro-embalming fluid or nuclear bombardment could speed things up in 
theory. It would still take millions of years for the layers to be 
thrust upward on a mountainous scale without a cataclysm on the scale of 
the White Fountain's arrival.

> I thought you (or somebody) was proposing that Typhon had artificially
> created these cliffs, which completely vitiates this reading. Certainly
> there's no natural process that can create such a cliff in 20,000 years.
> 
>>> What's the artistic point of mentioning the cooling of Urth's core, if
>>> not
>>> to show that a gazillion years have passed?
>> To show the ironically ignorant nature of the far future civilization (
>> paraphrasing "there is another word for it I can't recall, but lightning
>> is what makes it go") who continue to be brought down by human hubris in
>> their attempts to ascend to godlike heights of wisdom.
> 
> This might fly if there were textual evidence for it.

"Lightning," Master Gurloes said as he rammed the loose cable home. 
"There's another word for it, but I forget. Anyway, the revolutionary 
here runs by lightning."

-- 
Jeff Wilson - jwilson at io.com
< http://www.io.com/~jwilson >

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