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In the Nick Gevers interview, Wolfe is asked, in complex fashion, about the secret of the Inhumi. Here is Wolfe's answer:

Wolfe's answer does not (to me) address nate's concern. Horn is clear that the secret of the Inhumi must be something which, if revealed, would threaten their entire race. I'm not sure if Wolfe is being deliberately unclear or whether he had forgotten this aspect of it with this answer. My own answer tries (weakly) to springboard from Wolfe's answer. Those humans who prey on other humans generally rely on stealth and deception. Especially if we buy into Daniel Petersen's ideas regarding Wolfe's libertarianism, humans who prey upon other humans are to be considered parasites. One way of being a parasite is to be a stowaway. Apologies for rehashing a previous discussion but I think that's the inhumi secret which, if revealed, would threaten their species. A parasitic species needs to be able to travel. Stuck in one place, they would quickly deplete their hosts and be left without food. The secret is that inhumi cannot, as they claim, fly through space. Given Wolfe's awareness of scientific detail, I don't think the impossibility of unassisted biological space travel is something that escapes his attention. So, the inhumi are, by nature, a species which specializes in imitating a host and getting rides to other planets on their spacecraft. We see this practice in two of the best known inhumi, Quetzal and Krait. If this secret was revealed, the awareness and precautions would end up restricting the Inhumi to Green and end their species existence or at least their ability to expand outward.

the secret of the inhumi is that they are all that is left of humanity, a vestigial parasite that can no longer breed without a fresh infusion of human blood. For all intents and purposes, they are humans, and their little mating ritual where they pretend to be man and woman is just ontogeny recapitulating philogeny. --- On Mon, 11/26/12, Lee Berman <severiansola at hotmail.com> wrote:

In the Nick Gevers interview, Wolfe is asked, in complex fashion, about the secret of the Inhumi. Here is Wolfe's answer:

Wolfe's answer does not (to me) address nate's concern. Horn is clear that the secret of the Inhumi must be something which, if revealed, would threaten their entire race. I'm not sure if Wolfe is being deliberately unclear or whether he had forgotten this aspect of it with this answer. My own answer tries (weakly) to springboard from Wolfe's answer. Those humans who prey on other humans generally rely on stealth and deception. Especially if we buy into Daniel Petersen's ideas regarding Wolfe's libertarianism, humans who prey upon other humans are to be considered parasites. One way of being a parasite is to be a stowaway. Apologies for rehashing a previous discussion but I think that's the inhumi secret which, if revealed, would threaten their species. A parasitic species needs to be able to travel. Stuck in one place, they would quickly deplete their hosts and be left without food. The secret is that inhumi cannot, as they claim, fly through space. Given Wolfe's awareness of scientific detail, I don't think the impossibility of unassisted biological space travel is something that escapes his attention. So, the inhumi are, by nature, a species which specializes in imitating a host and getting rides to other planets on their spacecraft. We see this practice in two of the best known inhumi, Quetzal and Krait. If this secret was revealed, the awareness and precautions would end up restricting the Inhumi to Green and end their species existence or at least their ability to expand outward. ??? ???????? ?????? ??? ?

Especially if we buy into Daniel Petersen's ideas regarding Wolfe's libertarianism, humans who prey upon other humans are to be considered parasites. Forgive me for being pedantic and patronising, but I just want to make sure everyone understands I was talking about the concept of libertarian freewill in analytic philosophy. I was not at all referencing the political position known as Libertarian (as distinct from Republican, Democrat, etc.). Wolfe happens to be self-professedly the latter, but that's not immediately relevant to a philosophical discussion about freewill vs. determinism. (Is it?) -DOJP

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The ritual occurs in the discussion with Juganu, in "Return to the Whorl" - Sergei