(urth) Pike's ghost

[Sergei SOLOVIEV]

To me it seems that the vision when Silk sees his own head instead of 
one of Typhon's/Pas head
has to be interpreted "spiritually" - he feels the danger to become a 
monster because he
is (or is going to be) a leader of the people. Even the word "charisma" 
sounds a bit like
a name of a monster.

Sergei Soloviev


David Stockhoff wrote:
> On 11/28/2011 6:00 PM, António Marques wrote:
>> David, I think we're talking at cross-purposes here. 
>
> I heartily agree (I think).
>> You may go on, but as far as I can tell our only disagreements are on 
>> two points (to sum up what I also wrote below):
>>
>> - You (as many others) often like to assert "there's no reason to 
>> believe X" when in fact it's merely that "though the odds are for X, 
>> it may well be otherwise". That seriously gets on my nerves. If you 
>> don't see yourself in this picture, then maybe it's my wrong 
>> impression. If you don't like it as well, that's very good.
>
> Well, I wouldn't go so far as to put odds on anything, but I'm pretty 
> sure that kind of argument pisses me off too. You can't prove 
> negatives, so why argue for them? All that does is shoot down other 
> people's suggestions.
>>
>> - You (as probably others) seem to believe phenotypic plasticity can 
>> lead to clones being very different from their originals. That is 
>> just not the case in what regards higher animals, the more since the 
>> environments aren't radically different, and specifically it won't 
>> give you two persons with really different faces. Nor do I think that 
>> could have been GW's intention.
>>
>
> I have a few comments which may or may not be counterarguments:
>
> (1) You and I have never seen a human clone. Therefore, we really have 
> no idea of that plasticity or how much control one may have over it or 
> how we would react to it: Would you recognize your own cloned brother? 
> Maybe you would think so at first and then dismiss it for many reasons.
>
> (2) Human faces are as different from other species as one could 
> imagine. We have little facial fur and have evolved brains that focus 
> to an amazing degree on facial recognition and distinction. We see 
> resemblances easily, but also see differences: "Hey, that guy looks 
> like Tom Hanks, except for the beard and the hair and the clothes...."
>
> (3) Yet our memories are poor and we really only recognize well about 
> 80 face types. But most of the research on this came out since BNS if 
> not BLS.
>
> My point is that there is enough plasticity here for Wolfe to do 
> whatever he needs to do. It's a major plot problem for characters to 
> recognize one another when they can't be allowed to, as well as a 
> great tactic to have characters suspect one another when they "just 
> can't" be that person. Wolfe does all of this and more with great 
> deviousness and precision. If there are strong signals that Silk is a 
> clone of Typhon and strong signals that Silk doesn't look enough like 
> him to be recognized (even by himself!) in a whorl where Typhon is 
> forgotten or distorted, then that's the way it is. But this is not a 
> "just so" story---I hate those too.
>
> Both are true, and if you want a biological explanation it lies in 
> these 3 points and the fact that genotype is not phenotype, and the 
> cloning techniques are unknown anyway. Certainly we know embryos are 
> grown in vivo rather than in a vat, and that means "maternal" hormones 
> will directly and possibly hugely affect phenotype.
>
> I prefer text-based arguments such as those I laid out in my post to 
> Dan'l: Pas has been dead 30 years, the windows are all dark, and 
> Typhon is unknown.
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