MDDM Ch. 70 The Obvious Question

[Bandwraith at aol.com]

In a message dated 8/16/02 2:17:40 AM, davidmmonroe at yahoo.com writes:

<< "Mason can think of no way to ask the obvious
Question, as he did of the Learned Dog, and has been
reluctant to of the Frenchman's Duck." (M&D, Ch. 70,
p. 685)

And note as well here ...

"If our world survives, the next great challenge to
watch out for will come - you heard it here first -
when the curves of research and development in
artificial intelligence, molecular biology and
robotics all converge...." <<


There is, indeed, a sense of confluence here,
a coming together or aggregation of elements
or forces in such a way that the resultant is
greater than and unpredictable from the mere
linear sum of its parts. A geometric figure for
this might be the convergence of the War Path-
a great river of Chi, analog, biological and sensitive 
to every nuance of the earth:

    As the Stars tell you where it is you
    must cut your Path, so do the Land
    and its Rivers tell us where our Tracks
    must go. [675.8]


and the abstract, digital conduit of Sha, heedlessly 
transecting the earth at, Mason would like to believe, 
the arbitrary whim of

    ...the Stars, in their Power... that only
    the Mightiest God may command...