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Potential Spoiler - Last Chapter - Din between factions

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Re: Potential Spoiler - Last Chapter - Din between factions
Post by dwileye13   » Thu Mar 21, 2019 1:37 pm

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If there are any AI's or other systems monitoring scientific progress or signals of pushing the proscriptions it would be clearly obvious that Terran knowledge has been introduced to Safehold by agents of/or equal to one of the original factions surrounding the WatF.

Arabic Numerals would not spontaneously appear in an identical format. The CAT (Schrodinger's if you will) . . .is out of the BOX.

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I am not young enough to know everything!
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Re: Potential Spoiler - Last Chapter - Din between factions
Post by DMcCunney   » Thu Mar 21, 2019 5:54 pm

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dwileye13 wrote:If there are any AI's or other systems monitoring scientific progress or signals of pushing the proscriptions it would be clearly obvious that Terran knowledge has been introduced to Safehold by agents of/or equal to one of the original factions surrounding the WatF.

Arabic Numerals would not spontaneously appear in an identical format. The CAT (Schrodinger's if you will) . . .is out of the BOX.
Agreed that Arabic numerals (and specifically called Arabic numerals by Merlin) are evidence of leaking TF level technology to anyone aware of TF technology.

But if there are any AI's or other systems monitoring what's going on and noticing such things, they haven't communicated it to human beings, like the Vicarate in the Temple.

The Temple is certainly aware of the new numbering system (and I suspect Duchairn's subordinates in Treasury pounced on them gleefully as a much better tool to do their jobs.) There was nothing in the Proscriptions or the rest of the Writ forbidding them, so they could be adopted without qualms. And nobody alive on Safehold save Merlin and the IC will understand the significance of the name.

So we're left with a variant of the question the IC confronts - the OBS is still up there, and active enough to have point defense swat stealthed probes Merlin and Owl send for a closer look. But nothing the IC has done thus far has triggered any visible signs the IC can detect that the OBS or something that might be in the Temple has even noticed.

The Vicarate has noticed, and the Temple Lands are running as fast as they can to replicate Charis's industrial development, but nobody sees it as a Proscriptions violation.

(I would not be surprised if Paity's attestations as Intendent of Charis are accepted by the Temple for stuff like that. The Church of Charis may have split from the CoGA, but no one ever impugned Paityr's piety or determination to properly discharge his duties. The more conservative and change resistant might think some of his rulings are mistaken, but won't see him as an evil servant of Shan Wei.)

Whether there is something active and looking in the OBS or a ground based controller is something no one knows, and the way anyone might find out is having rocks dropped on them. No surprise the IC isn't trying too hard to find out.
______
Dennis
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Re: Potential Spoiler - Last Chapter - Din between factions
Post by Imaginos1892   » Sat Jun 08, 2019 11:52 pm

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The one question that jumps out at me is:

Does that fancy new Testament of Schuler contain a password for the Key of Schuler?

Oooooooooo…
———————————
Dukhat: "I have never known the truth or Delenn to speak only when it is appropriate."
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Re: Potential Spoiler - Last Chapter - Din between factions
Post by Owlish48   » Sun Jun 09, 2019 2:07 am

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I have seen a number of comments here about how Owl was able to build a PICA because Nimue Alban's PICA could be reverse-engineered. This is specifically contrary to textev. Specifically, in LAMA, (hardback, p. 440-444), Nahrmahn says:
Some time ago you asked Owl about building additional PICAs, but he told you he lacked the necessary plans and technical data and that there was an uncomfortably high probability of rendering you ioperable if he analyzed your chassis to obtain the necessary information.
The quote goes on to say that Owl spent the equivalent of about a man-century in virtual R&D to develop the technology to build a new-design PICA. I can recall the prior conversation in the text of an earlier book, but do not have the full series at hand to look it up.

Now one issue that remained was that they didn't have a virtual personality to load into this new-design PICA... but Owl found that he had a copy of Niume Alban's VP in one of Proctor's old files. And just as a reminder, Owl could only build one due to a lack of certain materials.

Just because Owl's files did not include the detailed assembly directions for a PICA does not necessarily mean that Hamilcar's files didn't, but it implies that such instructions were not spread about the TF all willy-nilly. And the lack of a VP for a PICA might still be a constraint, except that the original colonists (and of course the command staff) all had high-speed data ports, so they could have downloaded a VP from any (or several) of the command staff in advance, just in case... and it's not unreasonable to assume Hamilcar had sufficient materials for one (or more) PICAs, but not certain, of course.

But the old design would still have had the time limit for independent operation... unless the Hamilcar's data base included design specs and software for the emancipated PICAs...

I'm afraid my recollection neither makes the existence of one (or more) PICAs with a command staff personality embedded impossible or probable - as I suspect TMWW intended. That one, he keeps his secrets close, he does...
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