(urth) "been teaching literature for over 35 years"

David Stockhoff dstockhoff at verizon.net
Sun Sep 8 19:38:56 PDT 2013


On 9/8/2013 9:55 PM, Jeff Wilson wrote:
> On Sun, September 8, 2013 17:40, David Stockhoff wrote:
>> On 9/8/2013 6:07 PM, Jeff Wilson wrote:
>>> Back in ~1980, I believe the isotopic decay source was the only one
>>> generally recognized, and it's possible that the metal depletion
>>> mentioned
>>> in the Book would be of*radioactive*  metals, powering the great ships
>>> and
>>> robots aboard them. This explains a possible reason for there to be
>>> still
>>> funeral bronzes and moveable type in a metal poor world, and of course
>>> isotopes sent into space can't keep the crust lubricated.
>> How far down would humans have to strip the mantle (using robots, of
>> course) to mess with tectonics? Wouldn't the entire planetary surface
>> have to be mined? or just where plates meet?
> I have no idea, but it seems like no coincidence that *everywhere* in
> Sev's time anyone happens to delve into the earth, there is already
> evidence of previous diggers and builders.  Even underwater, he discovers
> another huge drowned city beyond his own huge, newly drowned city. It
> apparently took only a few centuries to carve faces into every mountain in
> Sudamerica with the gear Typhon brought with him and was able to scrounge,
> and there have been many nations on Urth for many chiliads before him....
>

That, and the bits of plastic everywhere. Well, that would do away with 
any need for truly geologic time scales to explain Severian's remarks.



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