Date: Tue, 23 Apr 2002 01:09:18 -0700
Subject: Re: (urth) Human JPEGs
From: Jason Ingram 

One question that has perplexed me is why multiple copies couldn't have 
been 'downloaded' at the same time, and why all the 'data' seems to have 
left mainframe whenever downloading occurs.  I can think of reasons why 
the narrative might demand this, but I'm not sure what the logic is.

One possibility: there is a 'one copy per person' limit because of a 
rough analogy to  a soul (not identity, since Typhon and others seem to 
retain their personality even after uploading; and Silk remains 'in' 
Silk, presumably, even as Pig contains a downloaded Silk.  The timing of 
the last part might warrant some scrutiny, however).

If it's just data, why not have three or four or four hundred versions 
at the same time?  Perhaps Typhon wouldn't have trusted himself; maybe 
it's hypothetically possible, and an innate desire to think ourselves 
unique prevented duplication; but I seem to remember hints that the data 
were irreplacable . . . no backups possible.

Strange, considering Severian--or perhaps a purposeful contrast.  Serial 
versions of the new sun, single duplicates in the long sun, bilocation 
and identity sharing in the short sun.

Of course, maybe I've gotten my facts wrong again.

PS I hope this is now in plain text format.

Sepia

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Nigel Price" 
>> Having failed to learn my lesson, I have to confess that I too, like 
>> Dan,
>> have been whimsically speculating to myself whether, in the Whorl, the
>> copies of personalities which are transferred between windows and 
>> people
> and
>> windows and night choughs might not in fact be radically compressed in
> some
>> way, or use some sort of wonderfully super-advanced lossy algorithm


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