[UA] Re: Enigma

[Nick Wedig]

>>    I'm not sure what this has to do with the subject any more, but...

It's another enigma, then.  (As my hero, the Mistranslated ship Captain would say: Another Mystery!!!)

>    I'm stuck on the fourth wheel. A viral message with an intentionally
>incomplete genetic code. So what part of the message is it *not* rewriting,
>and what does that tell us? An attempt to discover something by inference? An
>attempt to urge a mutation of the virus? Was the fourth wheel corrupted
>somehow and unusable? would its theft be required for decoding the virus?

Perhaps the fourth wheel wasn't needed, as the virus was an essentialy three part creation, perhaps mirroring either the Christian God or Bill in Three persons (or both, which is my typical take on Bi3P).  (allusion to Christianity and memetics in Snow Crash, thought there it's like the anti-meme and I'd say it's just a stronger one) The mad infomancer or whoever that created this memetic virus made it a self replicating creature, but with three sexes rather than our two (to decrease it's rate of reproduction, perhaps, or to increase it's rate of mutation, or both).

>    I can see the characters being toured through some bizarre literary
>'Andromeda Strain' complex, passing a room with a million monkeys at
>typewriters. 

Monkeys, numbers and you: http://www.brunching.com/features/feature-randommonkeys.html

There's also a play by David Ives (I'malmost totally certain) about monkeys composing Hamlet...

Not real point in mentioning those, butI just lot the idea of infinite monkeys and great works of literature.

>    Ten years in the past, Bill Bourroughs is outside the complex, sitting on
>a gorilla box full of ammo, firing into the horde of virally-infected zombies
>large, low-velocity wadcutters--probably .44 specials--

Star .380 automatic, actually.  I'd say, anyway.  The gun he shot his wife with, anyway.

Perhaps the memetic virus involves a cut-up, encrypted version of the King in Yellow (or perhaps the King In Yellow is an encrypted, cut-up memetic virus, which isn't quite the same thing).

>    Maybe that's more of an OTE scenario.

Yep, but that's why I dig it.

Mr. Teapot
wishes he could play OTE

_____________________________________________________________
Email your boss can't read - sign up for free disinfo.net email 
at http://www.disinfo.com, your gateway to the underground

_______________________________________________
UA mailing list
UA at lists.uchicago.edu
http://lists.uchicago.edu/mailman/listinfo/ua