(urth) S&S vs. SF in BotNS

[Dan'l Danehy-Oakes]

I see the basic problem. You do not know the difference between a soul
and a mind.

I suggest you read some basic pneumatic theology.

On Wed, Dec 21, 2011 at 2:05 PM, Gerry Quinn <gerry at bindweed.com> wrote:
>
>
> From: Dan'l Danehy-Oakes
>
>
>> Gerry Quinn wrote:
>
>> > What powers of Mucor are you saying are magic?
>
>> All of them.
>
> But she has a modified brain, and the things she does are similar to the
> things done by others, who do not seem to do them by magic.  Why do you say
> Mucor in particular is magic?
>
>
>> > The Whorl gods’ possession
>> > of people is explicitly glossed as technology rather than magic,
>
>> Correct.
>
>> > and that surely also involves the soul.
>
>> Not so fast. We get nothing from the point of view of a possessed
>> person, except at a double remove (what is told to Silk, as re-related
>> from him to the authors of the Book of Silk).
>
> Yes, but since neither Silk nor Horn was ever possessed, that is the only
> information we can have.  It is intrinsic in the structure of the book, and
> not a reason to be suspicious.
>
> Possession by a god seems to be quite similar to possession by Mucor.  It
> leaves similar traces: Mamelta says “I feel I am Mucor”.  While the
> possessee may not remember events, they seem to be compatible with what we
> are told by Kypris-in-Chenille
>
>
>> > Do chems have souls?
>
>> They seem to!
>
>> > One imagines so, and Mucor doesn’t mistake Quetzal for one.  Yet
>> > their soul presumably starts off as a computer program.
>
>> No. A chem's _mind_ starts as a program. The mind is not the soul.
>
> If a chem’s soul is not its mind, what is it?
>
> And what about the Whorl gods?  We are told what they put inside possessees
> is the pattern of the god, the program.  That seems to identify the soul
> with the program, and by extension the mind.
>
> - Gerry Quinn
>
>
>
>
>
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-- 
Dan'l Danehy-Oakes