> > > > I'd always rather assumed that the gods (or whatever entities created > > and maintain the Cycle -- which I think is something rather "higher" > > on the scale) > > This is an excellent point - shall we say anything capable of creating > an artifact that can warp causality on a detailed society-wide scale is a > Brust-level entity? I can see an Uebergodly pencil descending from beyond > and scratching out Gods like Tri'nagore who won't get with the program... > But if there is such an entity why doesn't it quash the Jenoine? Possible answers: A) It can't; its power is restricted to the immediate vicinity of Dragaera. B) It doesn't care; its *interest* is restricted to the immediate vicinity of Dragaera. Note that all Jenoine incursions to Dragaera *have* been quashed. C) It doesn't want to, because the occasional Jenoine incursion to Dragaera serves its purposes. [snip] > My point (or assertion since we know squat about magic) was that humans > function, therefore technology does - I can much more easily imagine > changes in physics that would allow cars and computers but not cats than > vice versa. A protein or a synapse is a lot more sensitive to such > changes than a piston or a semiconductor. Good point. And one that's perfectly valid in a universe where the Strong Anthropic Principle doesn't hold. I suspect that Dragaera is not such a universe :-) > Also note that higher-order physics is (in our experience anyway) often > simpler (esp. if one is mathematically sophisticated) - for example > relativity turns out to be a simpler way of looking at things than > Newton's, Simpler for explaining the workings of the entire universe, sure. Simpler for explaining what happens in the everyday realm of human experience, I don't think so. > Vernor Vinge fans will ask, Is the Empire heading for a sorcerous > Singularity? (I.e., will there be general Orb-building then Orb-building > Orbs or Orb-assisted Elder Sorcery learning and boom everyone's godlike?) I don't think so. I think that they're being deliberately held back from such a thing by the Cycle-entity. Alexx Alexx Kay Opinions expressed are my own and not necessarily those of my employers alexx at world.std.com http://world.std.com/~alexx No matter how good-looking she is, someone, somewhere, is sick of her shit! -- found on the men's room wall in Valhalla, the Rice graduate student pub