Science catches up to the New Sun

James Wynn · 14 Dec 2008, 19:20 · from 2008-December.txt.gz

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From: crushtv at gmail.com (James Wynn)
Date: Sun, 14 Dec 2008 13:20:07 -0600
Subject: (urth) Science catches up to the New Sun
References: <mailman.44348.1229240383.21489.urth-urth.net at lists.urth.net>
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Message-ID: <A8694DA3242641A78BABE4AD41BF992F@GATEWAY>

>Clearly, not only do all universes exist, but all time exists.
>What does this do to Apheta's agonistic model?
>Her race has already either won or lost its struggle.
>If it ever once misses in its aim of raising up Man or
>being raised up in turn, does it become always already extinct?
>And if it doesn't, who cares whether they succeed or not?
>Why is it SO IMPORTANT that their scheme succeed?
>(Humans don't care if their descendants go extinct in a
>few centuries--why should the Hieros care?)

Well, it is frustrating in that Apheta is clear about what they do and why 
they do it but not why it is necessary to do it as opposed to doing 
something else. So it is not clear whether Wolfe ever considered any of 
that. But --since I think manvantara are more like parallel dimensions than 
anything else-- let's go back to Green's guitar string analogy:
Adjacent dimensions are like adjacent parallel guitar strings that are tuned 
to the same note. When you play one, the other vibrates. Consequently 
adjacent dimensions seem to be similar. In "There Are Doors", men in the 
other dimension wear black at their weddings because men will die shortly 
after sex. But in our dimension, we do it because THEY do it. Well, what 
would have happened if a manvantara next to the Hieros's did not have the 
Hieros escape? What if they were never created? It could be a problem. What 
if another race of beings escaped to Yesod and began tinkering with other 
manvantara as the Hieros did?

It could be seen as a matter of existential importance for the Hieros to 
continue the process for every nearby manvantara and then for ever 
manvantara near those.

J.

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