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Like a good Neighbor

Lee Berman · 24 Nov 2011, 04:21 · from 2011-November.txt.gz

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From: severiansola at hotmail.com (Lee Berman)
Date: Wed, 23 Nov 2011 23:21:02 -0500
Subject: (urth) Like a good Neighbor
Message-ID: <SNT123-W2405234AB343245B6904DBCFCE0 at phx.gbl>



>David Stockhoff: I'm not arguing for anything but its plausibility. I think it's a cool 
>idea. I WANT to believe ... !

 

I know you do! Argh! LMAO, I swear I am going to throw a hissy fit tantrum on this. 

 

No, NO, NO!! It isn't plausible. Only the "dry, waterless husk body" scenario would

allow this sort of space travel. It isn't only temperature but also a matter of internal

cellular pressure. But the effort it would take to launch Inhumi from a planet would 

require muscular action. Gerry's rotisserie chicken spinning to catch the sun's radiation 

evenly would also require muscular action. Muscles cannot work without water-filled cells and

those cannot exist in the void.

 

I can see debating possibilities for fun. But not plausibility. There isn't any. As an 

effective Wolfe reader one *MUST* become aware of the lies of unreliable narrators. And the

inhumi are as unreliable as any narrator in any Wolfe story. This is our responsibility.

Let's not shirk it! ;- ).

 

>For me, the most compelling argument would be that inhumi do not 
>see---or at least are not blinded---in the human visual spectrum. Krait 
>says.....

 

Stop right there! There is not the slightest chance of a compelling argument here once the 

words, "Krait says.." appears. You know this! (you acknowledge this) But still you want to

believe the Great Deceivers and their pleasant, interesting, "cool" lies.

 


>(He could be lying, but if so the inhumi have a whole ad campaign worked 
>out, complete with talking points to insert into unrelated 
>conversations. Which is entirely possible.)

 

It is a veritable certainty. The campaign goes by the label of the great secret of the Inhumi.

SilkHorn has promised them he would not reveal it to us. And he does not. He even provides the

boondoggle of "You are what you eat" as their secret to show solidarity with any lying inhumi

who happen to read (or have read to them) the text.

 

But what Silkhorn does is provide the discerning reader with the means to determine what the 

real Inhumi secret is. This allows him to support the good guys against the bad guys without

breaking his vow. Wolfe's science may not be perfect in his stories but it is damn good. Far,

far too good to allow naked biological bodies to perform extended flight in the void.

 

(believe the inhumi and I've got an Iraq invasion to sell you, complete with yellowcake uranium,

hundreds of Iraqi nuclear warheads and 9/11 planned by Saddam Hussein ;-)) 		 	   		  

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