AEG: Dr. Lao and Woldercan

James Wynn · 21 Sep 2009, 16:01 · from 2009-September.txt.gz

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From: crushtv at gmail.com (James Wynn)
Date: Mon, 21 Sep 2009 11:01:37 -0500
Subject: (urth) AEG: Dr. Lao and Woldercan
In-Reply-To: <4AB79EC2.1080108 at gmail.com>
References: <001001ca3a7f$df731800$e6d34a0c@rclackey>
	<4AB79EC2.1080108 at gmail.com>
Message-ID: <264AC8BBA0AE4A04B3F24C0DD0EC4782@eMachinePC>

>>  If there are duplictes of humans on
>> Woldercan, it eliminates the need for hypothetical time travel and other
>> problematic solutions.
>>
> I find that solution very unsatisfying. Even if Woldercan contains 
> duplicates of everyone on Earth (highly problematic -- how could such a 
> wild place support them?) or duplicates of humans who came there (a little 
> better -- it could be the original or an impostor who returns), how could 
> Cassie be sure that the double would love her, or be enough like Bill for 
> her to love?

If Wolfe intended this in his reference to the Woldercon of Dr. Lao, then I 
would presume that he intended it as a place like St. Anne, where being 
copied by native was a genuine possibility, maybe even a likely one, 
although probably not a foregone conclusion. If it were a *real* copy then 
it will love her because the real Reis did--if not immediately then when it 
learns that Reis loved her. This a lesson to be derived from The Fifth Head 
of Cerberus and the Whorl Chronicles (Long & Short Sun). If it is the *real* 
Reis, then the Cassie is relying on the quality of the copy.

Hmmm...in the first chapter of AEG, Chase makes copies of some photographs 
of Reis, tears up the originals. If this is intended as a metaphor then it 
does not bode well for the originals of any copies made on Woldercan. 
Perhaps *none* of the Reis's Cassie meets are real and the Reis she is going 
to find is not real either.

J.

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