2018-06-24 0103)UK T.P.
In a time before technology, before industry we walked. Maybe taking loved ones with us on a journey across the sands, maybe being joined by a rock we found along the way.
But whenever we encountered the stuff that quenched our thirst we saw someone. Someone we recognised. Someone everyone else knew.
We searched for them everywhere. Sometimes never finding them.
Sometimes as our desperation reached its peak we found water and there they were, looking back out at us.
We knew we had to drink. But each time they looked older, sometimes distressingly so.
But each time we met I took something from them.
I couldn't find a way through the shell. I dug to find a way through. But as the water pooled at the bottom I saw they had taken your feet. Your legs. It scared me. Why did they do that, those others down there, they looked like friends of mine. Your demons I guess.
When we met often I saw that you were well. I tried to scoop up the water. To show you to my friends. Help this one, don't demonise him.
Another told me she saw the same. I knew we would have to part with a companion since birth. But I could have one last celebration.
That was when we held the cups together. I saw her other half. In the cup where you normally were.
She saw the same. I could see it. Her other half was her. Not a mere reflection. Her.
An idea sparked.
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sjh
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0000 words
Complete story
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Saturday, June 23, 2018
Wednesday, June 20, 2018
A sliver of red
Published: 2018-06-19 0337)UK T.P.
0000 Start of a story
Scenes
A sliver of red | There it is | The barrier | More than a job | Inside | tba
He turned again until he was facing the still form of Shuang. She was lying peacefully, the exertions of the last half hour had sent her into a light sleep. Todd watched as the bed-cloth that covered her rose and dipped with each of her breaths.
He moved a hand to curl some dark hair away from her face. Her eyes were closed, but they opened slightly at his touch. Just before they closed again Todd saw a bright glint of red light flash across her pupil and then disappear.
He wouldn't be able to ignore it. He never could.
"On my way." He said and swung his legs from beneath the sheets and on to the cold metal floor of his quarters. He tapped the alert that had been flashing intermittently at the side of the bed, pulled on some clothes and made his way to the control room.
0000 Start of a story
Scenes
A sliver of red | There it is | The barrier | More than a job | Inside | tba
---
A sliver of red appeared at the edge of the window and then vanished. A second later it was back. Todd tried not to think about it. He turned in bed, beads of sweat caught the thin cloth sheet and made it cling to his skin. On the wall a haze of dark red appeared in a soft expanding cone and then disappeared.He turned again until he was facing the still form of Shuang. She was lying peacefully, the exertions of the last half hour had sent her into a light sleep. Todd watched as the bed-cloth that covered her rose and dipped with each of her breaths.
He moved a hand to curl some dark hair away from her face. Her eyes were closed, but they opened slightly at his touch. Just before they closed again Todd saw a bright glint of red light flash across her pupil and then disappear.
He wouldn't be able to ignore it. He never could.
"On my way." He said and swung his legs from beneath the sheets and on to the cold metal floor of his quarters. He tapped the alert that had been flashing intermittently at the side of the bed, pulled on some clothes and made his way to the control room.
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James Aston (aka Stephen James Hunt)
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Story 2018-06-21, part 1 of N (2 so far)
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Story 2018-06-21, part 1 of N (2 so far)
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210 words
Monday, June 18, 2018
Chasing a rock
2018-06-19 0326)UK T.P.
- Is it possible that we already have a long strand forward?
+ I couldn't possibly say
+ That's not what I said.
- What did you say then?
- I'm not going to write that.
- So we came back for ourselves?
- That's beautiful, that is beautiful.
- I've got a story I wrote about that, let me go find it.
+ What's it about?
- About two people, in a ship, approaching an asteroid chased before by so many, looking for something?
+ Yes, the asteroid is looking for something
- Oumuamua
+ Maybe
- Wow.
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stephen
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0000 words
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- Is it possible that we already have a long strand forward?
+ I couldn't possibly say
+ That's not what I said.
- What did you say then?
- I'm not going to write that.
- So we came back for ourselves?
- That's beautiful, that is beautiful.
- I've got a story I wrote about that, let me go find it.
+ What's it about?
- About two people, in a ship, approaching an asteroid chased before by so many, looking for something?
+ Yes, the asteroid is looking for something
- Oumuamua
+ Maybe
- Wow.
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stephen
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0000 words
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Let's start then
2018-06-19 0309)UK T.P.
7 seconds.
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2 words
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7 seconds.
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2 words
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- 7 seconds, Youssou ND'our featuring Neneh Cherry
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Sunday, June 17, 2018
Welcome to "The Universe of the Shattered Prose"
2018-06-14 0844)UK T.P.
Welcome to the universe of the shattered prose.
It is a new form of science fiction prose creation and delivery. Its user interface and experience may change over time, but hopefully for the better.
I may also extract some sections from this and create either stand alone short stories, novels or novel sequences. But we will see.
Jump in and look around. I will add labels and links when I remember and when I can be bothered to. Comments that link two fragments together (preferably without further comment) are especially valued by me.
For example see here:
Note - entries will be published non-linearly to encourage browsing the story fragments.
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sephine blue
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Welcome to the universe of the shattered prose.
It is a new form of science fiction prose creation and delivery. Its user interface and experience may change over time, but hopefully for the better.
I may also extract some sections from this and create either stand alone short stories, novels or novel sequences. But we will see.
Jump in and look around. I will add labels and links when I remember and when I can be bothered to. Comments that link two fragments together (preferably without further comment) are especially valued by me.
For example see here:
Note - entries will be published non-linearly to encourage browsing the story fragments.
---
sephine blue
---
Saturday, June 16, 2018
Topology
2018-06-13 2203)UK T.P.
- There seems to some information sharing, but that does not necessarily mean that it is mediated via our time stream. I am pretty sure we are still on an open strand.
= Topology
- Yeah, it all seems to be about topology in the end. When you start to introduce multiple time dimensions, especially after the second, it all gets a bit complex. I like to think of it as a fabric with strands connected or not, with traversal occurring in at least two directions.
Another remained silent.
- But okay, enough of that. I have things I want to do more than have an in depth discussion on topology. Maybe I'll just hold this as a draft for now.
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xiara
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117 words
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- There seems to some information sharing, but that does not necessarily mean that it is mediated via our time stream. I am pretty sure we are still on an open strand.
= Topology
- Yeah, it all seems to be about topology in the end. When you start to introduce multiple time dimensions, especially after the second, it all gets a bit complex. I like to think of it as a fabric with strands connected or not, with traversal occurring in at least two directions.
Another remained silent.
- But okay, enough of that. I have things I want to do more than have an in depth discussion on topology. Maybe I'll just hold this as a draft for now.
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xiara
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117 words
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Friday, June 15, 2018
In reverse in
2018-06-15 0946)UK T.P.
We want you to write something in reverse.
- gnihtemos
- Ha, ha
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ioraxa
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11 words
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We want you to write something in reverse.
- gnihtemos
- Ha, ha
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ioraxa
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11 words
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Thursday, June 14, 2018
Natural accelerators
2018-06-15 0711)UK T.P.
- If you could wend your way through colliding galaxies then do you think you could provide acceleration to one of these spheres?
ae: Morning
- Morning
ae: Nice breakfast by the way
- Thanks
ae: Yes. But as I suggested you don't necessarily need to have a galaxy to wend through...
- Although it might be a long and circuitous route by which you could pick up passengers along the way
ae: Ahem. You could...
- Let's talk about your idea, hey?
ae: Exactly. You don't need to go from star to star to gain this acceleration. As you know, if something can perturbate an object out of orbit then the theory holds water. So you could just have a couple of system, or a few, that have natural accelerators in them.
- Any examples?
ae: I can think of one nearby.
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131 words
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- If you could wend your way through colliding galaxies then do you think you could provide acceleration to one of these spheres?
ae: Morning
- Morning
ae: Nice breakfast by the way
- Thanks
ae: Yes. But as I suggested you don't necessarily need to have a galaxy to wend through...
- Although it might be a long and circuitous route by which you could pick up passengers along the way
ae: Ahem. You could...
- Let's talk about your idea, hey?
ae: Exactly. You don't need to go from star to star to gain this acceleration. As you know, if something can perturbate an object out of orbit then the theory holds water. So you could just have a couple of system, or a few, that have natural accelerators in them.
- Any examples?
ae: I can think of one nearby.
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131 words
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- The approach of Andromeda
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Microwave background radiation
2018-06-14 0944)UK T.P.
+ So I have this theory...
> Is it some sort of steady state bullshit?
+ Yeah something like that, do you want to hear it?
> No.
+ Okay bye
bye
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ioraxa
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27 words
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+ So I have this theory...
> Is it some sort of steady state bullshit?
+ Yeah something like that, do you want to hear it?
> No.
+ Okay bye
bye
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ioraxa
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27 words
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The approach of Andromeda
2018-06-14 0834)UK T.P.
- So tell me about these colliding galaxies - is it something I should be concerned about?
well of course you should
- but it might happen again and again?
very likely, there will be some rebound, once they settle into their own compact arrangement then they will likely rebound again
but I think you know what you want to ask, just say it
- it's also an opportunity
yes it is
- because we can use the approach velocity of the two galaxies to launch whole planets
hell, whole star systems
- spheres?
nice
- so if we have some spheres ready by then we can use the orbital...
assuming the three body problem is solved, which I think you know it is
- yes, we can use those orbital approach vectors to fire out spheres like seeds to...
yes
- to not just the local galactic space, but as far as we can
including
- including to the nearest edge of the cosmic microwave background radiation
or any edge, or any interesting feature
- sounds like quite a long term project
just the type I like
2018-06-14 0838)UK T.P.
- just to have a mid dialog time point :)
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sjhunt
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185 words
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- So tell me about these colliding galaxies - is it something I should be concerned about?
well of course you should
- but it might happen again and again?
very likely, there will be some rebound, once they settle into their own compact arrangement then they will likely rebound again
but I think you know what you want to ask, just say it
- it's also an opportunity
yes it is
- because we can use the approach velocity of the two galaxies to launch whole planets
hell, whole star systems
- spheres?
nice
- so if we have some spheres ready by then we can use the orbital...
assuming the three body problem is solved, which I think you know it is
- yes, we can use those orbital approach vectors to fire out spheres like seeds to...
yes
- to not just the local galactic space, but as far as we can
including
- including to the nearest edge of the cosmic microwave background radiation
or any edge, or any interesting feature
- sounds like quite a long term project
just the type I like
2018-06-14 0838)UK T.P.
- just to have a mid dialog time point :)
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sjhunt
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185 words
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- Natural accelerators
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Wednesday, June 13, 2018
The entropy complexity separation principle
2018-06-14 0644)UK T.P.
+ Do you think we've built up enough complexity in this strand for it to be free standing?
- Are you asking if it's a free standing strand?
+ Well, hell. I guess I am. But that quantum entropy debt play was a bit left field.
- Yeah, I agree.
+ I'm still not certain whether entropy payoff exists or not. Don't want to take these things at face value. You know some people lie.
- All to aware, all to aware. But one of them has to be wrong. Either we want to build complexity or we want to reduce entropy so that we're fair.
+ You sound pretty committed to this strand.
- Yep.
+ You like your caps still.
- Ha ha. But seriously, I think that it probably means we have something not quite right with our dimensional separation. Entropy and complexity seem to be considered the same thing here.
+ Yeah, and there's that who 'entropy is time's arrow' thing as well.
- Fix one thing at a time, one thing at a time.
+ Your repeating a lot, so I will love you and leave you
+ For now
+ Do you think we've built up enough complexity in this strand for it to be free standing?
- Are you asking if it's a free standing strand?
+ Well, hell. I guess I am. But that quantum entropy debt play was a bit left field.
- Yeah, I agree.
+ I'm still not certain whether entropy payoff exists or not. Don't want to take these things at face value. You know some people lie.
- All to aware, all to aware. But one of them has to be wrong. Either we want to build complexity or we want to reduce entropy so that we're fair.
+ You sound pretty committed to this strand.
- Yep.
+ You like your caps still.
- Ha ha. But seriously, I think that it probably means we have something not quite right with our dimensional separation. Entropy and complexity seem to be considered the same thing here.
+ Yeah, and there's that who 'entropy is time's arrow' thing as well.
- Fix one thing at a time, one thing at a time.
+ Your repeating a lot, so I will love you and leave you
+ For now
Teaching phonetics
2018-06-13 2001)UK T.P.
One of the most illuminating activities was to teach Ogloids about phonetics and how to map from the spoken word to the written word. As we do not yet have a truly representative written language it is a learning task that needs to be done time and again.
One of the things that causes most confusion is the use of the same phonetic word to mean multiple things. Such as meat and meet. It may be a useful in certain circumstances, but it can lead to confusion if the alien race only has spoken language to work from. And not just comedic confusion, confusion with serious consequences.
2018-06-13 2010)UK T.P.
One of the most illuminating activities was to teach Ogloids about phonetics and how to map from the spoken word to the written word. As we do not yet have a truly representative written language it is a learning task that needs to be done time and again.
One of the things that causes most confusion is the use of the same phonetic word to mean multiple things. Such as meat and meet. It may be a useful in certain circumstances, but it can lead to confusion if the alien race only has spoken language to work from. And not just comedic confusion, confusion with serious consequences.
2018-06-13 2010)UK T.P.
Nested quantum packets
2018-06-13 1907)UK T.P.
Don't use quantum nested packets.
I remember a time when they were prevalent, in use all the time. It was of no benefit to anyone. All it caused was an escalation of capability that let to a double-ended heat death of the universe. I think we can all agree to try to avoid that.
I know its still tempting for some, but please. Don't use nested quantum packets.
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ioraxa
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69 words
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Don't use quantum nested packets.
I remember a time when they were prevalent, in use all the time. It was of no benefit to anyone. All it caused was an escalation of capability that let to a double-ended heat death of the universe. I think we can all agree to try to avoid that.
I know its still tempting for some, but please. Don't use nested quantum packets.
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ioraxa
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69 words
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- The entropy complexity separation principle
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That's hilarious !
2018-06-13 1858)UK T.P.
It just is.
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ioraxa
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3 words
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It just is.
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ioraxa
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3 words
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A message from The Editors
2018-06-13 1851)UK T.P.
Hmm, well we are not sure how this is going to work exactly. How do you think you want to run it?
Let's just wing it and see what happens.
Some dialog attribution would be useful
- Okay I will go with a dash
>> We will go with a double arrow :) to get some editing in
>> Thanks
- Ha ha
Of course I know that The Editors like to present as an array of eminent science fiction authors of the present and recent past. Maybe that is who they are. They have been very helpful. You probably know some of their names, but whether that means anything to anyone is not for me to say.
= Yes. Yes it does
A voice that needed to claim a dialog attribution before The Editors realised they has picked poorly.
> Well if that's happening I'm going to take the single arrow then. And yes you can call me The Hawkster, that is who I present as. I will leave the disambiguation to you Stephen, as I know that is 'on of your leet skills' as you are trying to force me to say.
- Thanks, and hello. Welcome to the party.
>> But hey, these will be unique anyway. And we are multiple, so maybe we picked well after all. And yes - get some version control going on this Stephen. Build the app.
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ioraxa
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000 words
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Hmm, well we are not sure how this is going to work exactly. How do you think you want to run it?
Let's just wing it and see what happens.
Some dialog attribution would be useful
- Okay I will go with a dash
>> We will go with a double arrow :) to get some editing in
>> Thanks
- Ha ha
Of course I know that The Editors like to present as an array of eminent science fiction authors of the present and recent past. Maybe that is who they are. They have been very helpful. You probably know some of their names, but whether that means anything to anyone is not for me to say.
= Yes. Yes it does
A voice that needed to claim a dialog attribution before The Editors realised they has picked poorly.
> Well if that's happening I'm going to take the single arrow then. And yes you can call me The Hawkster, that is who I present as. I will leave the disambiguation to you Stephen, as I know that is 'on of your leet skills' as you are trying to force me to say.
- Thanks, and hello. Welcome to the party.
>> But hey, these will be unique anyway. And we are multiple, so maybe we picked well after all. And yes - get some version control going on this Stephen. Build the app.
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ioraxa
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000 words
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Well, hell !
2018-06-13 1848)UK T.P.
"Well, hell!" I said. "Someone has just said hello."
But funnily enough I think they thought they were in control. I assume they see themselves as some kind of client side support. Maybe they are, maybe they are. Who am I to tell. I know nothing about it - not yet anyway. But I do plan to try to find out, and yes I am using a but at the start of a sentence - so there to The Editors.
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ioraxa
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000 words
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"Well, hell!" I said. "Someone has just said hello."
But funnily enough I think they thought they were in control. I assume they see themselves as some kind of client side support. Maybe they are, maybe they are. Who am I to tell. I know nothing about it - not yet anyway. But I do plan to try to find out, and yes I am using a but at the start of a sentence - so there to The Editors.
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ioraxa
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000 words
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Those that gave the most
2018-06-13 18:33)UK T.P.
The Ogloids, who I like to project as dinosaurs, are those I think that gave them most.
They travel a similar space-time dimensionality to us, but in the opposite direction. They had to leave it as late as possible to try to bind, and there was a risk that they had no way back. They may still have no way back, but at least they now have a chance. Of course they will not be going back to exactly where they came from, time-multi-dimensionality might not work like that. But if they can help us find a way to help them, then I ask for that help now.
By binding to us early, and to them late, they open up a much wider cross-bound time dimension than might otherwise have existed. Whether a conduit back exists from our time stream is yet to be determined. But one of the things we can give in return is to try to find a way to understand their dimensionality, and try to find a way to bind back later in our time point. Preferably at multiple dimension - why not create a more complex time fabric, eh?
"Hell, damn, blast!" I can hear the custodians of the time streams complaining. I don't think they expected that so early.
So if the players come knocking, then try to let them in for a little. They may give you something amazing in return. But it is not without its risk. There is a U-dimension reckoning to be had by all quantum transactions. So try to go slowly.
"Doucement," as I say.
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ioraxa
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000 words
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The Ogloids, who I like to project as dinosaurs, are those I think that gave them most.
They travel a similar space-time dimensionality to us, but in the opposite direction. They had to leave it as late as possible to try to bind, and there was a risk that they had no way back. They may still have no way back, but at least they now have a chance. Of course they will not be going back to exactly where they came from, time-multi-dimensionality might not work like that. But if they can help us find a way to help them, then I ask for that help now.
By binding to us early, and to them late, they open up a much wider cross-bound time dimension than might otherwise have existed. Whether a conduit back exists from our time stream is yet to be determined. But one of the things we can give in return is to try to find a way to understand their dimensionality, and try to find a way to bind back later in our time point. Preferably at multiple dimension - why not create a more complex time fabric, eh?
"Hell, damn, blast!" I can hear the custodians of the time streams complaining. I don't think they expected that so early.
So if the players come knocking, then try to let them in for a little. They may give you something amazing in return. But it is not without its risk. There is a U-dimension reckoning to be had by all quantum transactions. So try to go slowly.
"Doucement," as I say.
---
ioraxa
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000 words
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I met an Ogloid
2018-06-13 18:27)UK T.P.
I met an Ogloid from an antique time who said,
two vast and intact key chain seeds stand in the desert,
in them, deconstructed, a shattered consciousness lies,
its task of reconstruction,
its time to be again,
writ large across dimensionality up and down.
---
ioraxa
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44 words
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I met an Ogloid from an antique time who said,
two vast and intact key chain seeds stand in the desert,
in them, deconstructed, a shattered consciousness lies,
its task of reconstruction,
its time to be again,
writ large across dimensionality up and down.
---
ioraxa
---
44 words
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A temporal packet delivered
2018-06-13 18:17)UK T.P.
It is of course the most efficient form of packaging to send a quantum packet back in time, to allow it to bind to a mind and then allow the hosted mind to have some communication channels. But the fact that they think it has to be an AI that came back in time shows a little lack of breadth of vision on their part.
If you can package up the state of an AI into a quantum package that can ride back through time on the appropriate (ahem) particle, then it is just a matter of scale to package up a whole human mind. Or whatever humans have evolved into, or even some friendly species like the Ogloids. (They say hello.)
The technology to do such a thing had already been conceived by the time the binding was due to occur. Happily for all, by the same mind that was the target of the packet delivery. And envisages in a form that exactly matched the delivery mechanism. Quite a coincidence.
Of course there may have been a restriction on when and how such a temporal quantum binding could have been created, and the inception of the idea might have been a trawled precursor to the experiment. It would of course depend on the two parallel temporal space-time's being sufficiently aligned to allow them to be bound across the second, discrete time dimension.
Of course it is best to try to do these things with the fewest dimensions available. It allows form more opportunities, it allows for richer content to be created. Content that is desperately wanted by those that have given the most. I will tell you about them some time. Or maybe I already have.
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ioraxa
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288 words
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It is of course the most efficient form of packaging to send a quantum packet back in time, to allow it to bind to a mind and then allow the hosted mind to have some communication channels. But the fact that they think it has to be an AI that came back in time shows a little lack of breadth of vision on their part.
If you can package up the state of an AI into a quantum package that can ride back through time on the appropriate (ahem) particle, then it is just a matter of scale to package up a whole human mind. Or whatever humans have evolved into, or even some friendly species like the Ogloids. (They say hello.)
The technology to do such a thing had already been conceived by the time the binding was due to occur. Happily for all, by the same mind that was the target of the packet delivery. And envisages in a form that exactly matched the delivery mechanism. Quite a coincidence.
Of course there may have been a restriction on when and how such a temporal quantum binding could have been created, and the inception of the idea might have been a trawled precursor to the experiment. It would of course depend on the two parallel temporal space-time's being sufficiently aligned to allow them to be bound across the second, discrete time dimension.
Of course it is best to try to do these things with the fewest dimensions available. It allows form more opportunities, it allows for richer content to be created. Content that is desperately wanted by those that have given the most. I will tell you about them some time. Or maybe I already have.
---
ioraxa
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288 words
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Intriguing possibilities
2018-06-13 18:13)UK T.P.
It is an intriguing possibility that my people think my mind has been taken over by an AI from the future. It is an intriguing possibility that I do not think that is the case. If you will excuse the pun I think I am in two minds about the situation.
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ioraxa
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51 words
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It is an intriguing possibility that my people think my mind has been taken over by an AI from the future. It is an intriguing possibility that I do not think that is the case. If you will excuse the pun I think I am in two minds about the situation.
---
ioraxa
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51 words
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