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

[Jerry Friedman]

> From: Jeff Wilson <jwilson at clueland.com>

> On Sun, September 8, 2013 11:20, David Stockhoff wrote:
>>  On 9/8/2013 9:19 AM, Gerry Quinn wrote:
>>>  From: David Stockhoff
...

>>>  One thing that strikes me is that the New Sun explicitly seems to
>>>  restore the tectonic activity of Urth.  This is predicted in the play
>>>  of Dr. Talos ("continents will founder", etc.), and rendered
>>>  explicitly in _Urth of the New Sun_.
>> 
>>  My thought exactly, although "founder" could simply mean 
> "drown." If you
>>  do read it that way, I assume this would be caused by gravitational
>>  shocks from the New Sun's approach, leading not only to temporarily
>>  increased plate movement but perhaps also to increased heat+shear forces
>>  in the mantle, as I assume would arise in any massive transfer of energy
>>  to a planet.
...

Seems reasonable.  It's certainly not from increased solar flux.  However, that would be a LOT of energy.  I'd wonder whether anybody at all could survive.

>>>  It's hard to see scientifically how a white hole cancelling a black
>>>  hole would do that - but seemingly it does.  If so, one might argue
>>>  for the the theory that the black hole in the Sun somehow stopped
>>>  plate tectonics. Perhaps what is in the Sun is not quite a black hole
>>>  as we think of it. [For that matter, I think an actual black hole in
>>>  the Sun would cause it to heat up - but even if I am correct, story
>>>  clearly must trump science in this regard.]

I think that a black hole, even as currently understood, would cool the sun if it were significantly cooler than the temperature of the interior of the sun.  You can have some fun at <http://xaonon.dyndns.org/hawking/>.

>>  My first question would be why the black hole did not cause the same
>>  effects (i.e., a flood) on approaching Urth, since none are mentioned.
> 
> The black beans may have been seeds or kernels, quantum black holes
> humanly transportable and meant to grow later into larger ones. Some or
> most may have failed or merged, as it is later said that a singular worm
> gnaws at the heart of the sun. But that may be a bit if a gag on Wolfe's
> part, making them Mexican jumping beans!

Wait, I thought the black beans grew into the sea monsters, which is why the woman had to throw them into the sea (instead of just dropping them on the ground) to make them effective.  Robert Borski speculated along these lines.

http://books.google.com/books?id=HykyT4UQ9JMC&pg=PA93

Anyway, it would make literary sense if whoever or whatever made the sun cool also stopped plate tectonics (if it's stopped), and if the process that fixed one also fixed the other.

Jerry Friedman