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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>This seems to be the time for new faces to come
forward, so I guess I will step up as well. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I have been lurking on this list since January. In
March I read The Fifth Head of Cerberus for the first time, and upon finishing
it, immediately read it a second time. During that second reading I spent quite
a bit of time googling the archives of this list and reviewing discussions of
the book. I found a lot of helpful information and interesting viewpoints, but
there is one part of the story that I didn't really see addressed. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>In the first story ("The Fifth Head of Cerberus"),
Mr. Million and #5 have a discussion about Mr. Million being an unbound
simulator. #5 asks about the word "unbound," and Mr. Million explains the
difference between bound and unbound simulators. He says that if a simulator is
made to appear human, there is not enough room in the body to hold
the "brain" of the unit, and so the simulator has to have some kind of
connection to an outside processor -- thus, the simulator is
"bound."</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>When I read this conversation, I wondered what
the purpose of this bit of information was. It doesn't seem to further the plot
of the story unless we are meant to suspect that some other character might
really be a bound simulator -- someone who appears human but is actually a
reconstruction of another person. I'm not sure who that would be, or
even if that was the point of including this bit of dialogue. Maybe it was just
meant to make us question the identity of other characters, and wonder how we
can be sure who anyone really is. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I'm curious as to what the rest of you think of
this. Please forgive me if it has been discussed before. The only discussion of
this that I found in the archives seemed to be related to the
technology or to debating Mr. Millions' place in the numbering of heads of
household. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Brent Dunn</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><A
href="mailto:bedone@mindspring.com">bedone@mindspring.com</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
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