Saturday 30 September 2017

Genesis: Miscellaneous Points

"...the vatic utterances of prophets..."
-Poul Anderson, Genesis (New York, 2001), Part Two, III, p. 125.

"...always the trend was ineluctable." (ibid.) (And here.)

I never knew what either of those words meant before googling them.

The thoughts of an inorganic intelligence are:

"...a progression of quantum flickerings..." (op. cit., p. 103)

So could these "flickerings" change their rhythm, thus generating an alternative timeline? See Temporal Models.

"When did the last human foot tread this world?" (p. 125)

Since "this world" is Earth, Anderson's "In Memoriam" and "The Chapter Ends" present alternative answers to the question.

That is all for tonight but there should be more about Genesis.

3 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

What I think Anderson meant comparing the thoughts of an inorganic intelligence to "...a progression of quantum flickerings..." was to show how FAST an AI can think, vastly more swiftly than organic minds could do.

Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,
Of course, but I couldn't help making that comparison with a Time Patrol text.
Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Ha! I was being too literal minded! (Smiles)

Sean