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This commit is contained in:
Madison Scott-Clary
@ -6,167 +6,232 @@ Transcript of Node: [\[bea0cf302fcd00863f0c67a91b1a75c0e4ba4863\]](http://35.165
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*The two persons are sitting outside of a cafe, from whom I obtained this footage. They are in conversation. Going to sit down and watch this.*
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> **Dear, Also, The Tree That Was Felled**: Thank you for your letter, Ioan. Lots of really good stuff in there, most of which I had missed simply out of nearsightedness.
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> Dear, Also, The Tree That Was Felled
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> : Thank you for your letter, Ioan. Lots of really good stuff in there, most of which I had missed simply out of nearsightedness.
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>
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> **Ioan Bălan**: You've got me hooked on this project, I have to say. It's fascinating stuff.
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> Ioan Bălan
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> : You've got me hooked on this project, I have to say. It's fascinating stuff.
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*Dear grins at this.*
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> **Dear** We --- that is, some other Odists down-tree from me --- have come up with some further hints about the message.
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> Dear
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> : We --- that is, some other Odists down-tree from me --- have come up with some further hints about the message.
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>
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> **Ioan**: Oh? Anything good?
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> Ioan
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> : Oh? Anything good?
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>
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> **Dear**: I suppose it depends on your definition of good.
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> Dear
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> : I suppose it depends on your definition of good.
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>
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> **Ioan**: \[snark, good natured\] Oh great. Excited already. \[more earnest\] The fascination continues. Well, let's have it.
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> Ioan
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> : \[snark, good natured\] Oh great. Excited already. \[more earnest\] The fascination continues. Well, let's have it.
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>
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> **Dear**: So, one of us did an exhaustive search of some records and found an old archive server running somewhere.
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> Dear
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> : So, one of us did an exhaustive search of some records and found an old archive server running somewhere.
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*Oh goodie. Better start gearing up.*
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> **Ioan**: Wait, start at the top. What were they searching?
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> Ioan
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> : Wait, start at the top. What were they searching?
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>
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> **Dear**: They were searching for the block of encrypted text --- not what was in it; they cracked that long ago. They searched for the encrypted text itself, and they came across an archive server.
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> Dear
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> : They were searching for the block of encrypted text --- not what was in it; they cracked that long ago. They searched for the encrypted text itself, and they came across an archive server.
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>
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> **Ioan**: Old node boxes? Wow, even I feel crusty using one of those, and I'm a historian.
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> Ioan
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> : Old node boxes? Wow, even I feel crusty using one of those, and I'm a historian.
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>
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> **Dear**: \[laughter\] They found the archive server though, and there is a bunch of intriguing stuff on it. New, old, the whole thing. There is stuff from ages ago, shortly after we got here, and stuff from a few hours ago.
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> Dear
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> : \[laughter\] They found the archive server though, and there is a bunch of intriguing stuff on it. New, old, the whole thing. There is stuff from ages ago, shortly after we got here, and stuff from a few hours ago.
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>
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> **Ioan**: You're kidding. Newly created stuff?
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> Ioan
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> : You're kidding. Newly created stuff?
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>
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> **Dear**: I know. It is ridiculous.
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> Dear
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> : I know. It is ridiculous.
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*The fox's ears flop when it gets excited and shakes its head, never noticed that. It is kind of cute.*
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> **Ioan**: Never met anyone who could actually get one working well enough to add new nodes. So the encrypted text was in a node on the server?
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> Ioan
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> : Never met anyone who could actually get one working well enough to add new nodes. So the encrypted text was in a node on the server?
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>
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> **Dear**: Yes. It is still there. \[pause\] Just sent the URI.
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> Dear
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> : Yes. It is still there. \[pause\] Just sent the URI.
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>
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> **Ioan**: I...well, I'll have to take it at your word that it's the same as the one you found earlier, I'm not going character by character.
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> Ioan
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> : I...well, I'll have to take it at your word that it's the same as the one you found earlier, I'm not going character by character.
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*Dear seems a little frustrated at this. About Ioan's slowness? I know I would not compare the files. It sounds exasperated.*
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> **Dear**: Of course, Ioan. I promise it is the same, though. Needless to say, we found a crusty old archive with the block on it, and there are other public nodes on there as well. I am guessing a bunch of private ones, too.
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> Dear
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> : Of course, Ioan. I promise it is the same, though. Needless to say, we found a crusty old archive with the block on it, and there are other public nodes on there as well. I am guessing a bunch of private ones, too.
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>
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> **Ioan**: Anything good in those?
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> Ioan
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> : Anything good in those?
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>
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> **Dear**: Nothing...penetrable. It is all fairly opaque. To me, at least.
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> Dear
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> : Nothing...penetrable. It is all fairly opaque. To me, at least.
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*Ioan grins at this.*
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> **Ioan**: Thus us meeting?
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> Ioan
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> : Thus us meeting?
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>
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> **Dear**: \[nodding\] Yes. The only bit that I have any insight into is the deck listing, which I think might be another bit of old encryption--
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> Dear
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> : \[nodding\] Yes. The only bit that I have any insight into is the deck listing, which I think might be another bit of old encryption--
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*Ioan groans aloud, at which Dear grins.*
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> **Dear**: My sentiments exactly. It is another encryption scheme which relies on a deck of cards for a stream of random numbers. I have not dug into it in years because the decryption process is so slow, but there may be a node on that box containing the encrypted text.
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> Dear
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> : My sentiments exactly. It is another encryption scheme which relies on a deck of cards for a stream of random numbers. I have not dug into it in years because the decryption process is so slow, but there may be a node on that box containing the encrypted text.
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>
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> **Ioan**: Want me to have a look, then? The techier stuff is going to go right over my head, you know that.
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> Ioan
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> : Want me to have a look, then? The techier stuff is going to go right over my head, you know that.
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>
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> **Dear**: It is not all tech, promise. I just want you to give it a read and see what you pick up from it, you know? Put your amanuensis hat on and just spend some time experiencing.
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> Dear
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> : It is not all tech, promise. I just want you to give it a read and see what you pick up from it, you know? Put your amanuensis hat on and just spend some time experiencing.
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>
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> **Ioan**: You think highly of me. No complaints, of course, but I feel I have to ask, why can't someone from your own clade fill this role?
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> Ioan
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> : You think highly of me. No complaints, of course, but I feel I have to ask, why can't someone from your own clade fill this role?
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*Dear is quiet. Struggling for words? Our Dear? This must have hit it hard.*
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> **Dear**: We...differ. The Odists, I mean.
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> Dear
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> : We...differ. The Odists, I mean.
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>
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> **Ioan**: "Differ"? Within the clade?
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> Ioan
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> : "Differ"? Within the clade?
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>
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> **Dear**: Yes. A hallmark of Dispersionistas is that we treat each of our forks as fully-realized individuals. We may have a shared past, but from the point we fork onward, we grow ever further apart.
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> Dear
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> : Yes. A hallmark of Dispersionistas is that we treat each of our forks as fully-realized individuals. We may have a shared past, but from the point we fork onward, we grow ever further apart.
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>
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> **Ioan**: I assume you mean more than just a matter of increasing conflicts.
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> Ioan
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> : I assume you mean more than just a matter of increasing conflicts.
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>
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> **Dear**: Yes. Although we Odists limit our instances to the one hundred available names, we still consider ourselves Dispersionistas as we never merge back down-tree. But, that aside, we also want someone out-clade for this. *I* want someone out-clade for this.
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> Dear
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> : Yes. Although we Odists limit our instances to the one hundred available names, we still consider ourselves Dispersionistas as we never merge back down-tree. But, that aside, we also want someone out-clade for this. *I* want someone out-clade for this.
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*Ioan seems taken aback.*
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> **Ioan**: Do the other Odists not like that I've been brought on?
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> Ioan
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> : Do the other Odists not like that I've been brought on?
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>
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> **Dear**: Of the ones who know, most are fine with it.
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> Dear
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> : Of the ones who know, most are fine with it.
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*Now frustrated/confused.*
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> **Ioan**: "The ones who know"?
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> Ioan
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> : "The ones who know"?
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>
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> **Dear**: You have, of course, noticed that you have not interacted with any of my cocladists. I have told some about hiring you, but not all.
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> Dear
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> : You have, of course, noticed that you have not interacted with any of my cocladists. I have told some about hiring you, but not all.
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>
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> **Ioan**: Alright, I suppose. If you're independent, then I guess it makes sense that I be your amanuensis rather than the clade's.
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> Ioan
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> : Alright, I suppose. If you're independent, then I guess it makes sense that I be your amanuensis rather than the clade's.
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>
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> **Dear**: Yes. Perhaps more evidence that we are split on how to tackle this in the first place. Different camps, different strategies, infighting. Ioan, you have to understand that, when a clade gets old, it starts to get a little batty.
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> Dear
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> : Yes. Perhaps more evidence that we are split on how to tackle this in the first place. Different camps, different strategies, infighting. Ioan, you have to understand that, when a clade gets old, it starts to get a little batty.
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*Calm down fox, I'm working on it. Not so frantic.*
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> **Dear**: Some clades try to get around this by keeping a certain core group of instances --- talking mostly Dispersionistas, mind --- in a setting that keeps them as sane as possible. Something that feels very 'normal'. Or maybe some are researching forking from earlier points, from down-tree, rather than from where they are now.
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> Dear
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> : Some clades try to get around this by keeping a certain core group of instances --- talking mostly Dispersionistas, mind --- in a setting that keeps them as sane as possible. Something that feels very 'normal'. Or maybe some are researching forking from earlier points, from down-tree, rather than from where they are now.
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*It furrows its brow.*
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> **Dear**: We do not. First of all, we started way too early on for that to be a thing. We trusted that change itself would keep us sane, that as instances diverged, especially with mutation algos in place, they would change enough to keep us from falling apart.
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> Dear
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> : We do not. First of all, we started way too early on for that to be a thing. We trusted that change itself would keep us sane, that as instances diverged, especially with mutation algos in place, they would change enough to keep us from falling apart.
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>
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> **Ioan**: And that didn't work?
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> Ioan
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> : And that didn't work?
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*Long pause.*
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> **Dear**: It kind of worked, I will put it that way. I feel fairly well rounded, as much as that means, and I am sure those across the clade from me do too, but it is complicated. You might not recognize my cocladists as Odists without knowing beforehand. It is like having a very close sib that was raised by a different family in a different sim.
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> Dear
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> : It kind of worked, I will put it that way. I feel fairly well rounded, as much as that means, and I am sure those across the clade from me do too, but it is complicated. You might not recognize my cocladists as Odists without knowing beforehand. It is like having a very close sib that was raised by a different family in a different sim.
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>
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> **Ioan**: More different than you'd expect, then?
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> Ioan
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> : More different than you'd expect, then?
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>
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> **Dear**: 'Expect'...fits strangely for this. The problem is that they are still *us*, and we are still them. Clades are families of separate individuals in a lot of ways, but you must realize that, in the end, they are still one individual. We are more different than one individual should be. Does that make sense?
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> Dear
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> : 'Expect'...fits strangely for this. The problem is that they are still *us*, and we are still them. Clades are families of separate individuals in a lot of ways, but you must realize that, in the end, they are still one individual. We are more different than one individual should be. Does that make sense?
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*It does, Dear. That's why I'm doing this.*
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> **Ioan**: I guess so. \[pause\] So some of your clade would prefer I not be a part of this?
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> Ioan
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> : I guess so. \[pause\] So some of your clade would prefer I not be a part of this?
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>
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> **Dear**: More than that. They feel that investigating the matter of the Name being written is too risky, too close to investigating the Name itself.
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> Dear
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> : More than that. They feel that investigating the matter of the Name being written is too risky, too close to investigating the Name itself.
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>
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> **Ioan**: I don't know how I would respond to that.
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> Ioan
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> : I don't know how I would respond to that.
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>
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> **Dear**: That is my field, Ioan. Do not worry about it.
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> Dear
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> : That is my field, Ioan. Do not worry about it.
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*Ioan holds up eir hands, looks apologetic. The fox has tilted its ears back.*
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> **Ioan**: Sorry, Dear. I hope I'm not overstepping at all.
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> Ioan
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> : Sorry, Dear. I hope I'm not overstepping at all.
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>
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> **Dear**: \[calmer\] Do not worry about it. It is okay, I promise. It is just that we are really good at arguing, so I have been dealing with that quite a bit the last few days. That is why I hired you; I am relegated to an administration role so I am a bit on edge. Let's get back to the archive server, yes?
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> Dear
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> : \[calmer\] Do not worry about it. It is okay, I promise. It is just that we are really good at arguing, so I have been dealing with that quite a bit the last few days. That is why I hired you; I am relegated to an administration role so I am a bit on edge. Let's get back to the archive server, yes?
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>
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> **Ioan**: Sure thing. Where did you say your cocladists had found it?
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> Ioan
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> : Sure thing. Where did you say your cocladists had found it?
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>
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> **Dear**: Just in a search. I do not quite know the details about how. Assuming just a text search of the perisystem. Not too sure on the terminology; I bought into being an artist pretty hard. All that knowledge is in exos.
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> Dear
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> : Just in a search. I do not quite know the details about how. Assuming just a text search of the perisystem. Not too sure on the terminology; I bought into being an artist pretty hard. All that knowledge is in exos.
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>
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> **Ioan**: \[laughter\] No worries there, Dear. I'm trying to keep up with you is all. I was just wondering if they found anything else.
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> Ioan
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> : \[laughter\] No worries there, Dear. I'm trying to keep up with you is all. I was just wondering if they found anything else.
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>
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> **Dear**: You mean like the other nodes on the server?
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> Dear
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> : You mean like the other nodes on the server?
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>
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> **Ioan**: I'll poke around at those, look for ties and such. I was more wondering if they'd found anything in their search that didn't meet the relevancy threshold for them. Stuff like back-links to the server, or anyone talking about this Qoheleth. Hebel. Whichever.
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> Ioan
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> : I'll poke around at those, look for ties and such. I was more wondering if they'd found anything in their search that didn't meet the relevancy threshold for them. Stuff like back-links to the server, or anyone talking about this Qoheleth. Hebel. Whichever.
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*Silly name. Oh well. Dear looks taken aback.*
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> **Dear**: I had not really thought to ask. I do not suppose they did, though. Do you think it is worth having them search around more? Lowering the, uh, relevancy threshold? \[laughter\]
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> Dear
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> : I had not really thought to ask. I do not suppose they did, though. Do you think it is worth having them search around more? Lowering the, uh, relevancy threshold? \[laughter\]
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>
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> **Ioan**: Yeah, I think so. Though now that I've got it too, I can do some of that digging myself. I want to see who likes the Tanakh so much as to name themselves that. And why 'kemmer'.
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> Ioan
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> : Yeah, I think so. Though now that I've got it too, I can do some of that digging myself. I want to see who likes the Tanakh so much as to name themselves that. And why 'kemmer'.
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>
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> **Dear**: I...well, it's complicated and out of scope, but it relating to fluidity of gender is relevant to the clade as a whole. Very big for us, if only at a remove. I have opted out.
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> Dear
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> : I...well, it's complicated and out of scope, but it relating to fluidity of gender is relevant to the clade as a whole. Very big for us, if only at a remove. I have opted out.
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>
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> **Ioan**: So I noticed. It makes sense, though.
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> Ioan
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> : So I noticed. It makes sense, though.
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>
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> **Dear**: I am glad someone is thinking about this stuff. You are sounding more like a--
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> Dear
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> : I am glad someone is thinking about this stuff. You are sounding more like a--
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>
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> **Ioan**: Private investigator?
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> Ioan
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> : Private investigator?
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>
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> **Dear**: \[laughter\] I was going to say historian, sounding more like an historian every time we talk. But you never know, maybe you would make a good PI.
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> Dear
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> : \[laughter\] I was going to say historian, sounding more like an historian every time we talk. But you never know, maybe you would make a good PI.
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*That was fast! I may have less time than I had thought. Dear's lovely, and it's totally right: on the other side of the clade, there are some who'd not like this kind of digging. Too entrenched. Too Conservative.*
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> **Ioan**: I can't tell whether or not I should be flattered.
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> Ioan
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> : I can't tell whether or not I should be flattered.
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>
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> **Dear**: It is a good thing. Just keep digging, and we will too. I will be about. Got a few more things to wrap up to finish the current gallery exhibition, but after that, I am just going to work on this --- with you if you do not mind --- and try and figure out what is even happening in the clade. Do keep in touch, yes? Ping me whenever.
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> Dear
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> : It is a good thing. Just keep digging, and we will too. I will be about. Got a few more things to wrap up to finish the current gallery exhibition, but after that, I am just going to work on this --- with you if you do not mind --- and try and figure out what is even happening in the clade. Do keep in touch, yes? Ping me whenever.
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>
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> **Ioan**: Will do. \[pause\] Wait, you're an instance artist, right?
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> Ioan
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> : Will do. \[pause\] Wait, you're an instance artist, right?
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>
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> **Dear**: Yes. Why do you ask?
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> Dear
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> : Yes. Why do you ask?
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>
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> **Ioan**: Why don't you fork to work on both at the same time?
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> Ioan
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> : Why don't you fork to work on both at the same time?
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*Dear shrugs, grins, quits. Very lovely fox. Really quite lovely.*
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@ -5,152 +5,227 @@ On the formation of the Clade
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Ioan Bălan
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Systime 181+338 1644
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> **Dear, Also, The Tree That Was Felled**: What, specifically, do you want to know about the clade?
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>
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> **Ioan Bălan**: Other than "start at the beginning, and when you get to the end, stop?"
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>
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> **Dear**: [laughter] Yes. I could do that, I suppose, but it wouldn't make for a very good story.
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>
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> **Ioan**: Right. I suppose start at the beginning, specifically with your decision to upload.
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>
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> **Dear**: You understand that there will be portions of that story that I cannot tell you, yes?
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>
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> **Ioan**: Of course.
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>
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> **Dear**: [thoughtful silence] Okay. Did you ever come across...well, no. When did you upload?
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>
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> **Ioan**: 2238. June or something.
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>
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> **Dear**: [sighs] No. Okay, well, in your research, did you ever come across mentions of "the lost"?
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>
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> **Ioan**: Yes. Lots of turmoil around then. Early 2100s, right?
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>
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> **Dear**: [nods] Yes. Though it's strange, now that I think about it. The turmoil at the time felt very small and personal. While there was all this grand-scale stuff going on around us, we were dealing with friends and acquaintances disappearing. There were so few cases at first that it was just this thing the news would publish as a sort of curiosity. "Look! Isn't this strange? The scientists are working so hard!" [laughter] It wasn't until after that the turmoil you're talking about began.
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>
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> **Ioan**: Okay. Did you upload during?
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>
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> **Dear**: Oh goodness, no. Uploading had been something scientists and such had been poking at, but that no one had yet to accomplish. Or, well, perhaps someone had accomplished. Some had claimed to, at least. The consensus at the time is that, while it was likely possible, there would be little chance of having systems large enough to house more than two or three individuals. It was not a...ah, not a linear increase in complexity, I think. Add another mind, and the complexity more than doubles. [pause] It was the lost who started it, in a way. The things we learned from them when they came back--
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>
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||||
> **Ioan**: How many-- sorry for the interruption. How many came back? Of those you knew?
|
||||
>
|
||||
> **Dear**: Oh, all of them came back! Just that some of them didn't last long, after.
|
||||
>
|
||||
> **Ioan**: Including the...uh, the owner of the Name?
|
||||
>
|
||||
> **Dear**: [pause, tense] Yes. In a way.
|
||||
>
|
||||
> **Ioan**: Okay. Back to the uploading side, then. The lost taught you...
|
||||
>
|
||||
> **Dear**: [visibly relaxing] Right, yes. When they came back, many of them --- many of us, for I was briefly among their number --- talked about what we had learned while...uh, in there. The things that we talked about and described are what sent the wonks down new avenues of research, and that eventually led to the first uploading tech. From there, there was the usual "too expensive" hand-wringing, but it all marches on, you know? [laughs] It got cheaper, the tech got better, the L5 station and Ansible were set up. Population was getting out of hand again, and some wag decided to pitch uploading as a solution.
|
||||
>
|
||||
> **Ioan**: I remember that, yeah. The posters were all over the place.
|
||||
>
|
||||
> **Dear**: Yes. Notably, as the cost came down, it was pitched as something for the poorer classes to take advantage of.
|
||||
>
|
||||
> **Ioan**: And were you...I mean--
|
||||
>
|
||||
> **Dear**: [laughs] Poor? Not particularly, actually. It appealed to me for...different reasons. I'd prefer not to get into those at the moment.
|
||||
>
|
||||
> **Ioan**: Alright.
|
||||
>
|
||||
> **Dear**: Yes. Well. [pause] Okay, right, I uploaded in the 2130s, shortly after the L5 station was set up. It had become sufficiently cheap that It was something I could afford--
|
||||
>
|
||||
> **Ioan**: Cheap? How much?
|
||||
>
|
||||
> **Dear**: It was...well, still a considerable portion of my savings.
|
||||
>
|
||||
> **Ioan**: I see.
|
||||
>
|
||||
> **Dear**: Why do you ask?
|
||||
>
|
||||
> **Ioan**: We were --- our families were, I mean --- paid for us to upload.
|
||||
>
|
||||
> **Dear**: Oh? Fancy that! [laughter] Anyway. It had become something that I could afford, and I leapt on the chance. It had been around long enough that it still felt relatively established, but was still a far cry from what it was now. This was probably early systime 10+, I mean. Folks knew what they were doing, but much of the society --- what we think of society --- here had not gelled into what it is today.
|
||||
>
|
||||
> **Ioan**: You mention that it cost to fork, yes.
|
||||
>
|
||||
> **Dear**: Yes. The reputation markets were already set up by then, but since this was before the system's proper expansion and some tech that came later --- I couldn't begin to understand it --- it was gently discouraged by the market.
|
||||
>
|
||||
> **Ioan**: It hadn't reached this...post-scarcity, you mean?
|
||||
>
|
||||
> **Dear**: Right. There was still a scarcity of resources and we were still sufficiently...ah, still sufficiently human, perhaps, socially human, that this was used as a lever, a measure of one's class.
|
||||
>
|
||||
> **Ioan**: We still have the markets, though.
|
||||
>
|
||||
> **Dear**: [laughter] Not like we did then.
|
||||
>
|
||||
> **Ioan**: Alright. Don't suppose you would be able to do what you do today back then.
|
||||
>
|
||||
> **Dear**: Not at all, no. It does still cost some minuscule portion of credit for one to fork now, but I digress. We began as Michelle and did the things that Michelle did, forking infrequently. This was still a few years before the distinctions between strategies started up. Most everyone was a tasker back then by virtue of the markets.
|
||||
>
|
||||
> **Ioan**: It's hard to picture you as a tasker.
|
||||
>
|
||||
> **Dear**: [laughter] Right, yes. As everything started to get cheaper, though, those distinctions began to emerge. By then, Michelle had a few long-lived instances, tagged as you are, Mx #c1494bf.
|
||||
>
|
||||
> **Ioan**: [laughter] Thank you. This was before the Ode?
|
||||
>
|
||||
> **Dear**: The Ode itself existed. That came before we uploaded.
|
||||
>
|
||||
> **Ioan**: Before the Ode clade, though?
|
||||
>
|
||||
> **Dear**: Right, yes. Michelle and her forks existed, but the very idea of clades was new at the time. At one point, though, she and a few other founders began to describe their trees as such. The larger trees grew --- for those who maintained long-running forks, that is --- the more unwieldy tags became, and folks decided on names. Some folks settled on simple standards. Another of the founders, the Jonas clade, for instance, uses syllabic prefixes. Ar Jonas, Ko Jonas, and so on. Leading vowels the first forks, then leading consonants, then the vowels following the consonants, *et cetera ad infinitum*.
|
||||
>
|
||||
> **Ioan**: And you chose the Ode.
|
||||
>
|
||||
> **Dear**: Michelle did, yes. She had picked up a contrarian streak during the whole lost saga.
|
||||
>
|
||||
> **Ioan**: Did she play a large role in that?
|
||||
>
|
||||
> **Dear**: [taken aback] Did her name not come up in your research?
|
||||
>
|
||||
> **Ioan**: Not on the lost, no. Just on the founders.
|
||||
>
|
||||
> **Dear**: [frowning] Well, alright. Yes, she played a role, but time softens rough edges, I suppose. Either way, the things she did gave her enough reputation to fork, and she chose the Ode to name her instances while remaining Michelle, herself. She started with the first lines of each stanza, then let them create and name their own forks from there.
|
||||
>
|
||||
> **Ioan**: Thus the limited dispersionista style.
|
||||
>
|
||||
> **Dear**: [nodding] Right. Each stanza became a small family of taskers, in a way. We, the Odists, create our own forks as needed, but don't let them live long. Or aren't supposed to, at least.
|
||||
>
|
||||
> **Ioan**: "Aren't supposed to"?
|
||||
>
|
||||
> **Dear**: Oh, I'm sure a few of us have created long-running forks while everyone else has turned their head.
|
||||
>
|
||||
> **Ioan**: Have you?
|
||||
>
|
||||
> **Dear**: [smiling, shrugging, mu-gesture] By virtue of our set-up, though, such forks are not members of the clade. Those forks are not named as such, and likely not in communication with any other cocladists aside from their immediate down-tree instance.
|
||||
>
|
||||
> **Ioan**: Is the Ode available somewhere for me to read?
|
||||
>
|
||||
> **Dear**: Of course. I'll give you a copy. That's hardly secret.
|
||||
>
|
||||
> **Ioan**: And the clade, how long has it been since you have all been together.
|
||||
>
|
||||
> **Dear**: This will be the first time there have been more than half of us together in one spot.
|
||||
>
|
||||
> **Ioan**: Ever?
|
||||
>
|
||||
> **Dear**: [nodding] Ever. Some dispersionistas are families. I mentioned the Jonas clade before; Jonas Prime has set up regular intraclade communication. Some are just clades, defined by ancestry with no further connections.
|
||||
>
|
||||
> **Ioan**: Are you in touch with any of your cocladists?
|
||||
>
|
||||
> **Dear**: I'm assuming you mean "in normal times"? Right. One or two. Serene and I get along quite well, and I talk with Praiseworthy --- Those That Lived Are Forever Praiseworthy, the first line of my stanza --- with some frequency. Michelle and I have talked a few times. She comes to my exhibitions.
|
||||
>
|
||||
> **Ioan**: Ever talked to, um...
|
||||
>
|
||||
> **Dear**: Qoheleth?
|
||||
>
|
||||
> **Ioan**: Yes. I was going to say "Life Breeds Life" but forgot the line.
|
||||
>
|
||||
> **Dear**: Names are important, Ioan. If he has decided on Qoheleth, then Qoheleth it is.
|
||||
>
|
||||
> **Ioan**: Right, sorry. I was in the mindset of the lines. Have you talked with him?
|
||||
>
|
||||
> **Dear**: Before this? No. Not knowingly.
|
||||
>
|
||||
> **Ioan**: And how do you feel about seeing the whole clade together?
|
||||
>
|
||||
> **Dear**: I would be surprised if we manage to net all of them. [laughter] But I suppose I feel excited. Not necessarily because I have never met many of them so much as because it feels like we as a clade have a goal in front of us. Seeing them is secondary to them --- to us --- actually doing something. Accomplishing something.
|
||||
>
|
||||
> **Ioan**: And what do you hope to get out of it? This gathering?
|
||||
>
|
||||
> **Dear**: [smiling] A story. Others want answers, and I suppose I do too, but I mostly want a story. I want *the* story. I want to be the audience and a character. I want to dive into the story and bathe in it. I want a story.
|
||||
Dear, Also, The Tree That Was Felled
|
||||
: What, specifically, do you want to know about the clade?
|
||||
|
||||
Ioan Bălan
|
||||
: Other than "start at the beginning, and when you get to the end, stop?"
|
||||
|
||||
Dear
|
||||
: [laughter] Yes. I could do that, I suppose, but it wouldn't make for a very good story.
|
||||
|
||||
Ioan
|
||||
: Right. I suppose start at the beginning, specifically with your decision to upload.
|
||||
|
||||
Dear
|
||||
: You understand that there will be portions of that story that I cannot tell you, yes?
|
||||
|
||||
Ioan
|
||||
: Of course.
|
||||
|
||||
Dear
|
||||
: [thoughtful silence] Okay. Did you ever come across...well, no. When did you upload?
|
||||
|
||||
Ioan
|
||||
: 2238. June or something.
|
||||
|
||||
Dear
|
||||
: [sighs] No. Okay, well, in your research, did you ever come across mentions of "the lost"?
|
||||
|
||||
Ioan
|
||||
: Yes. Lots of turmoil around then. Early 2100s, right?
|
||||
|
||||
Dear
|
||||
: [nods] Yes. Though it's strange, now that I think about it. The turmoil at the time felt very small and personal. While there was all this grand-scale stuff going on around us, we were dealing with friends and acquaintances disappearing. There were so few cases at first that it was just this thing the news would publish as a sort of curiosity. "Look! Isn't this strange? The scientists are working so hard!" [laughter] It wasn't until after that the turmoil you're talking about began.
|
||||
|
||||
Ioan
|
||||
: Okay. Did you upload during?
|
||||
|
||||
Dear
|
||||
: Oh goodness, no. Uploading had been something scientists and such had been poking at, but that no one had yet to accomplish. Or, well, perhaps someone had accomplished. Some had claimed to, at least. The consensus at the time is that, while it was likely possible, there would be little chance of having systems large enough to house more than two or three individuals. It was not a...ah, not a linear increase in complexity, I think. Add another mind, and the complexity more than doubles. [pause] It was the lost who started it, in a way. The things we learned from them when they came back--
|
||||
|
||||
Ioan
|
||||
: How many-- sorry for the interruption. How many came back? Of those you knew?
|
||||
|
||||
Dear
|
||||
: Oh, all of them came back! Just that some of them didn't last long, after.
|
||||
|
||||
Ioan
|
||||
: Including the...uh, the owner of the Name?
|
||||
|
||||
Dear
|
||||
: [pause, tense] Yes. In a way.
|
||||
|
||||
Ioan
|
||||
: Okay. Back to the uploading side, then. The lost taught you...
|
||||
|
||||
Dear
|
||||
: [visibly relaxing] Right, yes. When they came back, many of them --- many of us, for I was briefly among their number --- talked about what we had learned while...uh, in there. The things that we talked about and described are what sent the wonks down new avenues of research, and that eventually led to the first uploading tech. From there, there was the usual "too expensive" hand-wringing, but it all marches on, you know? [laughs] It got cheaper, the tech got better, the L5 station and Ansible were set up. Population was getting out of hand again, and some wag decided to pitch uploading as a solution.
|
||||
|
||||
Ioan
|
||||
: I remember that, yeah. The posters were all over the place.
|
||||
|
||||
Dear
|
||||
: Yes. Notably, as the cost came down, it was pitched as something for the poorer classes to take advantage of.
|
||||
|
||||
Ioan
|
||||
: And were you...I mean--
|
||||
|
||||
Dear
|
||||
: [laughs] Poor? Not particularly, actually. It appealed to me for...different reasons. I'd prefer not to get into those at the moment.
|
||||
|
||||
Ioan
|
||||
: Alright.
|
||||
|
||||
Dear
|
||||
: Yes. Well. [pause] Okay, right, I uploaded in the 2130s, shortly after the L5 station was set up. It had become sufficiently cheap that It was something I could afford--
|
||||
|
||||
Ioan
|
||||
: Cheap? How much?
|
||||
|
||||
Dear
|
||||
: It was...well, still a considerable portion of my savings.
|
||||
|
||||
Ioan
|
||||
: I see.
|
||||
|
||||
Dear
|
||||
: Why do you ask?
|
||||
|
||||
Ioan
|
||||
: We were --- our families were, I mean --- paid for us to upload.
|
||||
|
||||
Dear
|
||||
: Oh? Fancy that! [laughter] Anyway. It had become something that I could afford, and I leapt on the chance. It had been around long enough that it still felt relatively established, but was still a far cry from what it was now. This was probably early systime 10+, I mean. Folks knew what they were doing, but much of the society --- what we think of society --- here had not gelled into what it is today.
|
||||
|
||||
Ioan
|
||||
: You mention that it cost to fork, yes.
|
||||
|
||||
Dear
|
||||
: Yes. The reputation markets were already set up by then, but since this was before the system's proper expansion and some tech that came later --- I couldn't begin to understand it --- it was gently discouraged by the market.
|
||||
|
||||
Ioan
|
||||
: It hadn't reached this...post-scarcity, you mean?
|
||||
|
||||
Dear
|
||||
: Right. There was still a scarcity of resources and we were still sufficiently...ah, still sufficiently human, perhaps, socially human, that this was used as a lever, a measure of one's class.
|
||||
|
||||
Ioan
|
||||
: We still have the markets, though.
|
||||
|
||||
Dear
|
||||
: [laughter] Not like we did then.
|
||||
|
||||
Ioan
|
||||
: Alright. Don't suppose you would be able to do what you do today back then.
|
||||
|
||||
Dear
|
||||
: Not at all, no. It does still cost some minuscule portion of credit for one to fork now, but I digress. We began as Michelle and did the things that Michelle did, forking infrequently. This was still a few years before the distinctions between strategies started up. Most everyone was a tasker back then by virtue of the markets.
|
||||
|
||||
Ioan
|
||||
: It's hard to picture you as a tasker.
|
||||
|
||||
Dear
|
||||
: [laughter] Right, yes. As everything started to get cheaper, though, those distinctions began to emerge. By then, Michelle had a few long-lived instances, tagged as you are, Mx #c1494bf.
|
||||
|
||||
Ioan
|
||||
: [laughter] Thank you. This was before the Ode?
|
||||
|
||||
Dear
|
||||
: The Ode itself existed. That came before we uploaded.
|
||||
|
||||
Ioan
|
||||
: Before the Ode clade, though?
|
||||
|
||||
Dear
|
||||
: Right, yes. Michelle and her forks existed, but the very idea of clades was new at the time. At one point, though, she and a few other founders began to describe their trees as such. The larger trees grew --- for those who maintained long-running forks, that is --- the more unwieldy tags became, and folks decided on names. Some folks settled on simple standards. Another of the founders, the Jonas clade, for instance, uses syllabic prefixes. Ar Jonas, Ko Jonas, and so on. Leading vowels the first forks, then leading consonants, then the vowels following the consonants, *et cetera ad infinitum*.
|
||||
|
||||
Ioan
|
||||
: And you chose the Ode.
|
||||
|
||||
Dear
|
||||
: Michelle did, yes. She had picked up a contrarian streak during the whole lost saga.
|
||||
|
||||
Ioan
|
||||
: Did she play a large role in that?
|
||||
|
||||
Dear
|
||||
: [taken aback] Did her name not come up in your research?
|
||||
|
||||
Ioan
|
||||
: Not on the lost, no. Just on the founders.
|
||||
|
||||
Dear
|
||||
: [frowning] Well, alright. Yes, she played a role, but time softens rough edges, I suppose. Either way, the things she did gave her enough reputation to fork, and she chose the Ode to name her instances while remaining Michelle, herself. She started with the first lines of each stanza, then let them create and name their own forks from there.
|
||||
|
||||
Ioan
|
||||
: Thus the limited dispersionista style.
|
||||
|
||||
Dear
|
||||
: [nodding] Right. Each stanza became a small family of taskers, in a way. We, the Odists, create our own forks as needed, but don't let them live long. Or aren't supposed to, at least.
|
||||
|
||||
Ioan
|
||||
: "Aren't supposed to"?
|
||||
|
||||
Dear
|
||||
: Oh, I'm sure a few of us have created long-running forks while everyone else has turned their head.
|
||||
|
||||
Ioan
|
||||
: Have you?
|
||||
|
||||
Dear
|
||||
: [smiling, shrugging, mu-gesture] By virtue of our set-up, though, such forks are not members of the clade. Those forks are not named as such, and likely not in communication with any other cocladists aside from their immediate down-tree instance.
|
||||
|
||||
Ioan
|
||||
: Is the Ode available somewhere for me to read?
|
||||
|
||||
Dear
|
||||
: Of course. I'll give you a copy. That's hardly secret.
|
||||
|
||||
Ioan
|
||||
: And the clade, how long has it been since you have all been together.
|
||||
|
||||
Dear
|
||||
: This will be the first time there have been more than half of us together in one spot.
|
||||
|
||||
Ioan
|
||||
: Ever?
|
||||
|
||||
Dear
|
||||
: [nodding] Ever. Some dispersionistas are families. I mentioned the Jonas clade before; Jonas Prime has set up regular intraclade communication. Some are just clades, defined by ancestry with no further connections.
|
||||
|
||||
Ioan
|
||||
: Are you in touch with any of your cocladists?
|
||||
|
||||
Dear
|
||||
: I'm assuming you mean "in normal times"? Right. One or two. Serene and I get along quite well, and I talk with Praiseworthy --- Those That Lived Are Forever Praiseworthy, the first line of my stanza --- with some frequency. Michelle and I have talked a few times. She comes to my exhibitions.
|
||||
|
||||
Ioan
|
||||
: Ever talked to, um...
|
||||
|
||||
Dear
|
||||
: Qoheleth?
|
||||
|
||||
Ioan
|
||||
: Yes. I was going to say "Life Breeds Life" but forgot the line.
|
||||
|
||||
Dear
|
||||
: Names are important, Ioan. If he has decided on Qoheleth, then Qoheleth it is.
|
||||
|
||||
Ioan
|
||||
: Right, sorry. I was in the mindset of the lines. Have you talked with him?
|
||||
|
||||
Dear
|
||||
: Before this? No. Not knowingly.
|
||||
|
||||
Ioan
|
||||
: And how do you feel about seeing the whole clade together?
|
||||
|
||||
Dear
|
||||
: I would be surprised if we manage to net all of them. [laughter] But I suppose I feel excited. Not necessarily because I have never met many of them so much as because it feels like we as a clade have a goal in front of us. Seeing them is secondary to them --- to us --- actually doing something. Accomplishing something.
|
||||
|
||||
Ioan
|
||||
: And what do you hope to get out of it? This gathering?
|
||||
|
||||
Dear
|
||||
: [smiling] A story. Others want answers, and I suppose I do too, but I mostly want a story. I want *the* story. I want to be the audience and a character. I want to dive into the story and bathe in it. I want a story.
|
||||
|
||||
@ -11,3 +11,30 @@ h1, h2 {
|
||||
blockquote {
|
||||
overflow-wrap: break-word;
|
||||
}
|
||||
|
||||
ul {
|
||||
list-style-type: disc;
|
||||
margin-left: 2rem;
|
||||
}
|
||||
|
||||
ul + p {
|
||||
margin-top: 1rem;
|
||||
}
|
||||
|
||||
dt {
|
||||
font-size: 90%;
|
||||
font-style: italic;
|
||||
line-height: 1.2;
|
||||
text-decoration: underline;
|
||||
color: #555;
|
||||
}
|
||||
|
||||
dt:after {
|
||||
content: ':'
|
||||
}
|
||||
|
||||
dd {
|
||||
margin-left: 1rem;
|
||||
margin-bottom: 1rem;
|
||||
}
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
Reference in New Issue
Block a user