Weekend is coming, remember to vote: Hmm, could it be the TopSiders are much smarter than we are, and have been able to replace the structures of the brain with some durable plastic? And still destroyed their world? TopSiders may be just figuring out they were the fall guys for the fall guys for the fall guys for the real power? Read Pythagoras’ dissertation on civilisation as an onion in the Eleusian Mystery substitute texts.(long before the Durants jumbled things up) Apologies for the digression. Please Vote!
. Vote ENDTOWN . Vote Doc Rat . Vote Hubris . Vote Kevin and Kell . Sincerely, . JusSayin
As I’ve said: With Endtown, we strip away the known and the comfortably familiar, weigh up the pieces of unknown, and ask ourselves how do we define what it means to be human.Sarah has had to turn into the shape of a lizard to begin her own journey.This is primal stuff.
“[While watching a news report about the use of napalm on a Vietnamese village,] my oldest son, who was about 10 at the time, asked brightly, “Hey Dad, what’s napalm?” “Oh,” I answered casually, “as I understand it, it’s a chemical that burns people; it also sticks so that if it gets on your skin, so you can’t remove it.” And I continued to watch the news. A few minutes later, I happened to glance at my son and saw tears streaming down his face. Struck by my son’s pain and grief, I grew dismayed as I began to wonder what had happened to me. Had I become so brutalized that I could answer his question so matter-of-factly— as if he had asked me how a baseball is made or how a leaf functions? Had I become so accustomed to human brutality?"-Eliot Aronson, The Social Animal
I read this last night and didn’t catch it then, but Sarah has a very refined sense of humor. In the first panel when Jim was talking about a short circuit he was referring to Clive. When Sarah answered, she was referring to herself.
I’ve often asked myself the question (probably ‘cause I’ve written oft-rejected SF stories on this very premise)—-how does a dead plasticized brain remember anything? How does its memory work?
Tiga-belax came in, very cheerful indeed… In his right hand there was a black plastic cube wih shimmering contact-points gleaming on its sides. The two technicians greeted him politely.
“I’ve got that beautiful child taken care of… I’ve used a mouse-brain.”
“If it’s frozen,” said the first technician, “we won’t be able to put in the computer…”
“This brain isn’t frozen,” said Tiga-belas indignantly. “It’s been laminated. We stiffened it with celluprime and then we veneered it down, about seven thousand layers. Each one has plastic of at least two molecules thickness. This mouse can’t spoil. As a matter of fact, this mouse is going to keep on thinking forever. He won’t think much, unless we put the voltage on him, but he’ll think. And he can’t spoil…”
From Think Blue, Count Two, by Cordwainer Smith.Published by Galaxy Publishing in 1962
DarwinK- I suspect, regardless of the nature of the TSers’s character going in, after all these years under extreme circumstance, they’ve become awfully ruthless, perhaps sociopathic at some levels. Not a surprise.
It is with deep sorrow that I feel I must pass a message along to the members of our Li’l fambly here, that one of our most faithful posters, who has promoted Endtown and Doc Rat has experienced a great loss. Level_Head’s beloved other half, The Lady Anne, has passed awayI learned this from a post by Kathy Garrison(Nightstar), creator of Carry On, and wife of Scott Kellogg, creator of 21st Century Fox. Nightstar posted this in Doc Rat’s forum. Please keep Level_Head in your thoughts as he goes through what must be a very difficult time. Thank You.Sincerely, Respectfully & Fraternally, JusSayin
The plastizied brain is clearly a step up from the earlier canned brain with life support. I wonder if it represents advancement or different levels of resource between TS groups? If so, then, perhaps it represents that it might not be APEX running things, but the various survivors using APEX tech? Or, APEX doesn’t have complete control and allows some level of autonomy, or can’t enforce more direct/intense control of far-flung survivor groups?
DarwinsK- In retrospect, one wonders, especially as if the guns really did have brains of some sort in them, they would clearly be too small for life support. For that matter, they may have had only sliced and diced enough brain to function. While the “using only 10% of your brain” isn’t quite true. A lot of memory and processing is , in effect, holographic and uses a lot more than one might suspect at first. But a plastic brain might get paired down to just enough to be functional, without the redundencies and nuances of a full system. But at least one canned brain was a full-on wet-ware with life support.
mr_sherman Premium Member about 10 years ago
As Arte Johnson sai on Laugh-In:Interesting.
pam Miner about 10 years ago
“Plasticized”? So is he not a real human brain, or it that what the reptile Thinks that is all he is?
Ida No about 10 years ago
He’s an ex-PT.
JusSayin about 10 years ago
Weekend is coming, remember to vote: Hmm, could it be the TopSiders are much smarter than we are, and have been able to replace the structures of the brain with some durable plastic? And still destroyed their world? TopSiders may be just figuring out they were the fall guys for the fall guys for the fall guys for the real power? Read Pythagoras’ dissertation on civilisation as an onion in the Eleusian Mystery substitute texts.(long before the Durants jumbled things up) Apologies for the digression. Please Vote!
. Vote ENDTOWN . Vote Doc Rat . Vote Hubris . Vote Kevin and Kell . Sincerely, . JusSayinJenner Premium Member about 10 years ago
As I’ve said: With Endtown, we strip away the known and the comfortably familiar, weigh up the pieces of unknown, and ask ourselves how do we define what it means to be human.Sarah has had to turn into the shape of a lizard to begin her own journey.This is primal stuff.
Palabrajot about 10 years ago
“[While watching a news report about the use of napalm on a Vietnamese village,] my oldest son, who was about 10 at the time, asked brightly, “Hey Dad, what’s napalm?” “Oh,” I answered casually, “as I understand it, it’s a chemical that burns people; it also sticks so that if it gets on your skin, so you can’t remove it.” And I continued to watch the news. A few minutes later, I happened to glance at my son and saw tears streaming down his face. Struck by my son’s pain and grief, I grew dismayed as I began to wonder what had happened to me. Had I become so brutalized that I could answer his question so matter-of-factly— as if he had asked me how a baseball is made or how a leaf functions? Had I become so accustomed to human brutality?"-Eliot Aronson, The Social Animal
Space_cat about 10 years ago
Do plasticized brains dream of Bakelite sheep"?
Robert Nowall Premium Member about 10 years ago
So I guess it was okay to keep Petey’s transporter friend in that cooler—-indefinitely.
RickD Premium Member about 10 years ago
Do PT’s dream of electric sheep?
mr_sherman Premium Member about 10 years ago
I read this last night and didn’t catch it then, but Sarah has a very refined sense of humor. In the first panel when Jim was talking about a short circuit he was referring to Clive. When Sarah answered, she was referring to herself.
sperry532 about 10 years ago
I wonder if Sarah actually knows the true nature of Clive.
I somehow doubt it.
Coyoty Premium Member about 10 years ago
Apparently things more horrifying than an undead plasticized brain are commonplace for Sarah.
Robert Nowall Premium Member about 10 years ago
I’ve often asked myself the question (probably ‘cause I’ve written oft-rejected SF stories on this very premise)—-how does a dead plasticized brain remember anything? How does its memory work?
LittleCatFeet about 10 years ago
@Robert Nowall: Yeah, what happened to her?
Tha_Hype about 10 years ago
Sarcastic wit much?
talewinds about 10 years ago
Cordwainer Smith used the concept of a plasticized brain:http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/content.asp?Bnum=1073
talewinds about 10 years ago
Tiga-belax came in, very cheerful indeed… In his right hand there was a black plastic cube wih shimmering contact-points gleaming on its sides. The two technicians greeted him politely.
“I’ve got that beautiful child taken care of… I’ve used a mouse-brain.”
“If it’s frozen,” said the first technician, “we won’t be able to put in the computer…”
“This brain isn’t frozen,” said Tiga-belas indignantly. “It’s been laminated. We stiffened it with celluprime and then we veneered it down, about seven thousand layers. Each one has plastic of at least two molecules thickness. This mouse can’t spoil. As a matter of fact, this mouse is going to keep on thinking forever. He won’t think much, unless we put the voltage on him, but he’ll think. And he can’t spoil…”
From Think Blue, Count Two, by Cordwainer Smith.Published by Galaxy Publishing in 1962
stevegallacci about 10 years ago
DarwinK- I suspect, regardless of the nature of the TSers’s character going in, after all these years under extreme circumstance, they’ve become awfully ruthless, perhaps sociopathic at some levels. Not a surprise.
JusSayin about 10 years ago
It is with deep sorrow that I feel I must pass a message along to the members of our Li’l fambly here, that one of our most faithful posters, who has promoted Endtown and Doc Rat has experienced a great loss. Level_Head’s beloved other half, The Lady Anne, has passed awayI learned this from a post by Kathy Garrison(Nightstar), creator of Carry On, and wife of Scott Kellogg, creator of 21st Century Fox. Nightstar posted this in Doc Rat’s forum. Please keep Level_Head in your thoughts as he goes through what must be a very difficult time. Thank You.Sincerely, Respectfully & Fraternally, JusSayin
stevegallacci about 10 years ago
The plastizied brain is clearly a step up from the earlier canned brain with life support. I wonder if it represents advancement or different levels of resource between TS groups? If so, then, perhaps it represents that it might not be APEX running things, but the various survivors using APEX tech? Or, APEX doesn’t have complete control and allows some level of autonomy, or can’t enforce more direct/intense control of far-flung survivor groups?
stevegallacci about 10 years ago
DarwinsK- In retrospect, one wonders, especially as if the guns really did have brains of some sort in them, they would clearly be too small for life support. For that matter, they may have had only sliced and diced enough brain to function. While the “using only 10% of your brain” isn’t quite true. A lot of memory and processing is , in effect, holographic and uses a lot more than one might suspect at first. But a plastic brain might get paired down to just enough to be functional, without the redundencies and nuances of a full system. But at least one canned brain was a full-on wet-ware with life support.