shroedinger's cat (was Re: [UA] Request from a new guy)

[James McGraw]

>>> aegis at wanadoo.es 04/28/01 01:19am >>>

SPOILER SPACE FOR THE STRESS OF HER REGARD







>Yup, it's inspired by the Eye Artifact showed in The Stress of Her
>Regard. I don't remember much about it, but it was supposed to change
>states of certainty/uncertainty, right? 

IIRC, if the Graiae had the Eye and were awake, everything was fixed and obeyed strictly Newtonian physics, with no quantum uncertainty. If the Graiae were awake without the Eye, however, things became even more uncertain- literally anything could happen (this was why Perseus took the Eye from the Graiae before asking them how to kill Medusa. In doing so, he made killing Medusa become possible, or something). They could also use blood as a substitute Eye- I think because blood contains the complete set of an individual's DNA, thus embodying certainty (this doesn't make a great deal of sense, though, because all cells in the body contain a complete set of the human genome. Something tells me genetics isn't Tim Powers' strong suit). Having sex in the square containing the Graiae would have negated the power of the blood, because sexual reproduction involves "reshuffling" the genomes of the 2 people involved. Oh, and gambling was legal in the Square, which also helped to negate t!
he power of the Eye.
Or something.

james the cat

"22:00: I am now standing opposite Bruce Forsyth 
shouting 'higher' or 'lower'.  I don't know why.  I do 
know, however, that Armageddon is actually 
a place."
       Paul Tooby


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