(urth) The Two Katharines

[Jeff Wilson]

On 8/17/2010 2:30 PM, Lee Berman wrote:
>
> Thanks for the thoughtful response Jeff. I'll try to make my rejoinder brief.
>
>> Jeff Wilson- Minimal hypothesis
>
> My argument is that in this book, time travel is not a maximized hypothesis
> It is as valid as proposing light as an explanation for illumination or
> gravity for why things fall.

Light and gravity are common and cheaper than dirt on Urth, while time 
travel requires a huge undertaking on the part of creatures whose 
sublime resources are neverhteless spread quite thin: each would require 
a trip to Yesod to consult with Tzadkiel the judge, who must split his 
time between several galaxy-islands. The five slots in the mausoleum 
hints subtextually that there are only so many interventions available.

>> It also avoids making the masters lying bastards like that shameless Ben Kenobi.
>
> Hah! Glad somebody agrees. "Luke, Darth Vader killed your father". "well, from a
> certain point of view..." George Lucas is the real liar though, pretending the whole
> series was in his head when he made the first movie. Unfortunately I do not find any
> of the masters of BotNS to be any more truthful, Tzadkiel included.

But it's a gratuitous lie. For example, the "dark father" could have 
faked the death of Anakin Skywalker, actually killed Darth Vader and 
taken his identity as part of some nefarious plot. Likewise, if it is so 
important that the blood be real and fresh, the masters can instead use 
a prop sword with one that has just enough edge to draw blood, then let 
Severian draw blood from the maid's neck without cutting too deeply. 
This is the sort of thing that khaibit-whores are expected to have done 
to them on occasion. "'If you strike her or use a grip, they'll charge 
more.'"

They could even import the transubstantiation meme and use wine, or even 
grape juice.

-- 
Jeff Wilson - jwilson at io.com
IEEE Student Chapter Blog at
< http://ieeetamut.org >