First Exodus theory revised

António Pedro Marques · 11 Feb 2011, 02:07 · from 2011-February.txt.gz

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From: entonio at gmail.com (=?ISO-8859-1?Q?Ant=F3nio_Pedro_Marques?=)
Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2011 02:07:02 +0000
Subject: (urth) First Exodus theory revised
In-Reply-To: <8FF1E2264741495A927DB86865858E56@jill>
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	<8FF1E2264741495A927DB86865858E56@jill>
Message-ID: <4D5499C6.7070409 at gmail.com>

Gerry Quinn wrote:
>
> From: "Ant?nio Pedro Marques" <entonio at gmail.com>
>> Marc Aramini wrote:
>>>
>>> A real quick point I wanted to make. Typhon is definitely, to Severian,
>>> a personal tempter, analagous to the devil. However, I think the ACT of
>>> creating a world so painstakingly gave Pas a real love for his creation,
>>> one similar to the Outsider's. So by pretending to be God, he came to
>>> care and love his creation. This is ultimately why, as far as the whorl
>>> is concerned, I think Pas' plan, "endorsed by the Outsider", is not one
>>> of violent take over (like, say producing an heir and then taking away
>>> his free-will) but one, like any parent, of benevolence and pride :
>>> "Look, at my great creation, my beautiful heir!" This is why I think
>>> Silk was meant to BE free, not a puppet of Typhon besides working in
>>> conjunction with his rather benevolent plan for his worshipers. Even
>>> sinners love those who love them, and this transformed Pas into
>>> something almost good.
>>
>> I should again point out that regardless of Pas having been scanned
>> from Typhon, all he is is a computer program. Pas is Typhon's tool and
>> in all likelihood Typhon doesn't care one bit about Pas as long as Pas
>> fulfills his role. He should care more about his heir(s), who is/are
>> (a) real person(s). So Pas is there to serve Silk, not the opposite,
>> and Silk is either a true heir or a tenant (for Typhon, not Pas).
>
> Computer programs are real people in this story (and in most of Wolfe's
> work).

Not really. Robots are people, and you could *argue* that means the software 
running them is people. But all over, 'real people' don't consider robots 
'real people'. Silk does because he's Silk. Typhon doesn't.

> Also, surely if Silk is to be a tenant, it is Pas who will move in?

A viceroy for Typhon, who would one day come to (or pass by) Blue as a 
ruler. If he hadn't died in the meantime.

> [Also, I think Wolfe is on record as saying Pas *is* Typhon.]

Pas is Typhon, Typhon isn't Pas.

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