blargh and rapid evolution

maa32 · 13 Dec 2002, 14:09 · from urth-v0212.mbox · original

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From: maa32 <maa32 at dana.ucc.nau.edu>
Subject: (urth) blargh and rapid evolution
Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2002 07:09:35 -0700
Message-ID: <urth-v0212-2414 at digest.urth.net>
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I am not convinced that the interview is a valid criticism of Blue =3D Usha=
s.  I=20
do, however, want to make the claim that the secret of the inhumi is the=20
equivalent of rapid evolution - very, very rapid one generation evolution,=20
which is why I snagged on the term polyploidy - or, as I like to think of i=
t,=20
instant speciation.  Chromosomes may doubled in one generation in plants wh=
en=20
a mutation like polyploidy occurs, and a new species is produced, sometimes=20
with twice the chromosomal content.  This means that, on a symbolic level, =
you=20
might represent something like that going on by, say, doubling the limbs=20
(without giving your audience a dissertation on chromosomes that the=20
inhabitants of the planet probably wouldn't know about).  This is different=20
that natural selection - very very different.  In one generation,=20
hybridization creates new species.  NO TIME IS REQUIRED.  So we cannot make=20
any claims as to how long it would take the species of the Blue to evolve -=
 it=20
could be three generations - if the same kind of recombination (through=20
"canibal trees" eating) is going on planetwide.  Here is one bit of evidenc=
e=20
that supports the idea that the narrator is traveling astrally through a wh=
ite=20
hole:
in the crypt with Severian and Cillinia, Hide keeps talking about the eerie=20
light that radiates from the image of Silk in the corner - that light might=20
stem from the astral trail that Silk has taken - through the sun and into t=
he=20
past - and doesn't the ship in Urth of the New Sun travel freely to the pas=
t,=20
if it's there to block out the sun with its sails, as is generaly accepted,=
 at=20
the long night of Apu Punchau?  And I thought there was some kind of=20
description of this travel in which the ship goes through some kind of rift=
 in=20
space, and Severian sees the gravid matter of the universe, or something. =20
Whatever the general consensus is, I've quite convinced myself. =20
Marc Aramini

--=20

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