SM Stirling, The Peshawar Lancers (New York, 2003), Chapter Seven.
This blog discusses a novel by SM Stirling both because there are several points of comparison with Poul Anderson and because the blogger regards Stirling as a worthy successor of Anderson, making original contributions to sf.
Cassandra King observes the massive "...Analytical Engine..." (p. 101), her timeline's equivalent of a primitive computer, described on p. 102 as "...the giant mechanical mind..." I think that, by definition, any "mechanical" process is unconscious whereas mental processes necessarily involve some consciousness despite the paradox of unconscious mental processes.
By mechanically manipulating inputted symbols according to programmed rules, the Engine generates outputted symbols comprehensible to (the conscious minds of) its users though not to itself. For further discussion of this issue, see here, here and here.
Other passing points:
Unlike Athelstane King, I would not have turned my back on the hill man until he had taken the oath (p. 97);
King's enemies are indeed vile, preserving the purity of the Dreamer/precog line by enforced inbreeding and also confirming by torture that girls who are no longer virgins no longer "dream;"
again, their knowledge of alternative pasts and futures has given them a use for the term "...world line..." (p. 98) which, in our timeline, is associated with relativistic physics;
what are the "...the Third Coming, the Secret Reign that was to come..."? (p. 99) - I am almost afraid to find out.
7 comments:
Hi, Paul!
The "Analytical Engine" mentioned in THE PESHAWAR LANCERS was based on the plans and designs of Charles Babbage (died 1871), the father of computer technology. He also made plans for an earlier model he called "the difference engine." Plainly, by AD 2025 in the alternative timeline, the sciences had recovered enough from the chaos caused by the Fall that scientists and engineers were able to build primitive mechanical computers.
I can't think of any stories or novels by Poul Anderson which at least mentions Charles Babbage and his difference engine/analytical engine.
Sean
Hi, Paul!
I've thought of an analogy to be found in the works of Poul Anderson for the dark religion followed by Count Ignatieff we in THE PESHAWAR LANCERS. The cult associated with "...The Third Coming, the Secret Reign that was to come.." reminded me of the esoteric, neo-Gnostic Johannine Church we see in OPERATION CHAOS.
Sean
Ah, you noticed! 8-).
Hi both,
But I didn't think that the Johnnies were anywhere near as bad as the Russian Devil-worshipers!
Paul.
Dear Mr. Stirling and Paul:
Mr. Stirling: Interesting, that you too had the Johannine Church we see in Anderson's OPERATION CHAOS in mind while writing THE PESHAWAR LANCERS. You are TRULY a fan of Poul Anderson! (Smiles)
Paul: True, we don't see the Johnnies behaving as vilely as the Satanists of THE PESHAWAR LANCERS. But, the Johannine Church was set up by Satan, no less, in OPERATION CHAOS. I can't help but wonder if it had lasted longer and grown in power and numbers, that truly dark and vile rites would have been introduced. As part of Satan's plans for corrupting and debasing mankind.
Sean
Sean,
Yes, Satan was literally behind it (whereas only believed to exist in THE PESHAWAR LANCERS) so it (the Johannine Church) cannot have been going anywhere good.
Paul.
Hi, Paul!
Exactly, the Johannnine Church was not a good thing! And, we do see indications in OPERATION CHAOS of darker things connected to it before its diabolic origins were exposed. For example, this is what Steven Matuchek said in Chapter XXV: "I thought of the frank assertion that their adepts held powers no one else imagined, and that more was revealed to them every year. I thought of stories told by certain apostates, who hadn't advanced far in their degrees when they experienced that which scared them off: nothing illegal, immoral, or otherwise titillating; merely ugly, hateful, sorrowful, and hence not very newsworthy; deniable or ignorable by those who didn't want to believe them."
No doubt a big part of the training of Johannine adepts as they rose in the hierarchy was to weed out those who would have nothing to do with any worship or serving of Satan. Hence the hint about ugly, hateful, and sorrowful things. And I can imagine how those ugly, hateful, and sorrowful things might haved led to the horrors we see the Satanists of THE PESHAWAR LANCERS perpetrating. A pity Anderson gives us no examples or dertails as to what those things were!
Sean
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