The Inhumi-Destroying Secret

Josh Levitan · 20 Jan 2000, 21:05 · from whorl-v0010.mbox · original

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From: "Josh Levitan" <josh_levitan at hotmail.com>
Subject: (whorl) The Inhumi-Destroying Secret
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2000 13:05:48 PST
Message-ID: <whorl-v0010-0227 at digest.urth.net>
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David Wells wrote:

>a) I agree with several posters that the "you are what you eat" theory is=20
>by
>far the most morally/philosophically interesting candidate for the inhumi
>secret, and also the most consistent with what I would expect from Wolfe.
>But it doesn't seem to fit with Horn's description of the secret, as has
>also been pointed out. (And let's assume that this isn't just because Horn
>is far from the brightest bulb in the chandelier, and is also a somewhat
>incoherent and inconsistent narrator).
>A much more boring variation, but one which might fit the known facts
>better, is a bit more physical/literal. Suppose that it's _particular
>chemicals_ - e.g. adrenaline - which make the inhumi more
>intelligent/humanlike. So if the humans organise themselves to stay a bit
>calmer and be a little less afraid of the inhumi, the latter would become
>gradually less intelligent (and maybe eventually even our heroic narrator
>would be able to outsmart them ;-).
>I know this sounds like an old Star Trek script, and I rather hope it's
>_not_ the secret, but it seems to work a little better with respect to
>Horn's description of the secret. It allows the humans to continue to be
>intrinsically sinful creatures, but encourages them to try not to _act out_
>their sins, because this would fill their bloodstreams with
>inhumi-stimulating chemicals. Hmmm...

The problem with this is, it doesn't work any better than either the=20
"you-are-what-you-eat" theory or the do-unto-others theory.  Trying to=20
control involuntary glandular secretions (which are secreted as a reaction=20
to dangerous creatures) on a society-wide scale is not workable (and=20
probably not possible, with the technology the Blue colonists possess). =20
Nice thought, though.

And then Alga wrote:

>Look, you guys, you're all familiar with the author--what on earth makes=20
>you think that Wolfe is going to give you the secret before Book III (if=20
>then)? Would that be in characacter? Of course not! Not that it isn't fun=20
>to speculate in advance, but (IMO) the speculations have been spectacularl=
y=20
>un-Wolfean to date. Sweetness and Light is hardly his game.

As I said before, I think the sheer number of references made to the secret=20
in the text sort of hint at its solution.  This seems, knowing Wolfe's=20
favorite authors, like a deliberate reference to Borges' "The Sect of the=20
Phoenix."  I'm sure the secret will be made abundantly clear at some point,=20
perhaps in "Green," but I think we've got enough info to figure it out now,=20
although nobody has yet.

To reiterate, in the hopes somebody will crack this:
We've got a secret that Krait imparts to Horn, mainly because of the close,=20
father-son bond the two developed.  It's a secret that is extremely=20
dangerous to the inhumi, and can return them to the level of ignorant=20
predators.  It's obviously something that can be acted on fairly quickly,=20
something relatively simple (i.e., it doesn't require a high level of=20
technology), and, if the Rajan/Horn (whomever) spreads the secret, that wil=
l=20
pretty much enable everyone to act on it.  This rules out things like=20
preventing the inhumi from biting humans or changing society into a textboo=
k=20
Christian one, because these are not workable, and one person who doesn't=20
follow these "cures" would screw the whole thing up for everybody.

Narwhal (my new Vironese name -- thanks Alga, for your input on this)
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