(urth) The green man is a fake

[Jack Smith]

I think you're absolutely right in your scientific analysis of the green
man.  But perhaps Wolfe just did not think things through as you have done.
 Even Homer nods.


On Sun, Jan 16, 2011 at 12:03 PM, Lee Berman <severiansola at hotmail.com>wrote:

>
>
> Since the list has taken a turn toward hard science it might be time to
> expose
> the green man for the carnival huckster he really is. There is no way for
> internal
> algae to provide the energy requirements of a warm blooded animal. Simply
> no way.
> The surface to volume ratio of a solid being is part of it. Trees need
> thousands of
> flat leaves (or 10x the number of needles) to achieve their energy needs
> and they don't
> have a fraction of the energy costs of a being which moves and stays warm.
> Moreover,
> trees have massive reserves of stored energy that a human-sized body
> couldn't come
> close to.
>
> No quibble about "new, high efficiency chlorphyll.." blah blah.  Our green
> plants already
> have a very high energy conversion efficiency after half a billion years of
> competition and
> natural selection (much higher efficiency than animal energy conversion).
> There are laws of
> physics to follow. You can't convert more than 100% of received sunlight
> energy into sugar
> and ATP energy.
>
> The amount of sunlight hitting the area of human skin is not enough energty
> to allow
> homeothermy and movement. And we know that the Green Man is a walker
> through the corridors
> of time, which requires energy approaching full stellar output. Something
> is not right with
> this guy.
>
> It could be argued that Wolfe was aware of these problems but created a
> fictional green man anyway
> just because he is a cool character. I'd be happy with this explanation
> except the green man
> is not a cool guy. He is a self-admitted liar and he has the creepy laugh
> that is even worse
> than the alzabo's. What purpose does this laugh serve? He also fails to
> live up to his promise
> to rescue Severian in repayment for being rescued by him.
>
> There is a religious figure called The Green Man, associated with Dionysus
> and Great God Pan
> and other pagan deities. Some Christians associate this guy with a certain,
> trickster, a liar
> The Great Deceiver. I'm not sure if Ushas or Green is this guy's goal for
> Urth but I think we
> should be very leery in considering His future to be the right path.
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-- 
Best wishes,
Jack
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