The narrative is third person Dunham pov and applies equally to both. T(he)y handle(s) the philosophical question of personal identity. By screaming and banging on the steel walls, they establish that there is no Dunham One outside the box. He must have been dissolved into energy which became part of Two and Three.
We think that we are reading Dunham One reacting to Dunham Two whereas instead we are reading Dunhams Two and Three reacting to each other. After they have escaped, they will form a perfect partnership, gradually becoming different people, and will become impossibly rich in the time between "Symmetry" and "The Chapter Ends," maybe duplicating themselves indefinitely. Can the duplicator be reprogrammed to create younger duplicates?
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
There's also Anderson's relatively early novel THE ENEMY STARS, in which a matter transmitter is used for interstellar travel. The "original" traveler is somehow copied at the other end.
Sean
Sean,
Duplication and teleportation are conceptually related.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I agree. But we only see Poul Anderson experimenting with matter duplication and teleportation in one novel and two short stories. Maybe he thought it was too scientifically implausible to use in other stories.
Sean
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