unforum

[Mosestrotsky]

As another source of speculation - could the Cube actually be able to 'protect' the people of the City and with its absence they become more vulnerable?

Epidemics do occur and quite swiftly, I remember SARS recently, but I was more looking at the timing. Cube gets taken - everything spirals into decline.

Maybe just a coincidence

[bearq]

[SPEC]

[Violet]

[Leeravitz]

I still remain interested in the fact that all seems to imply that the Perplexians are susceptible to biological pathogens...which, in turn, perhaps gives the lie to the notion that they exist in a 'virtual world' vis - a vis 'our' world, and suggests that maybe they are, indeed, part of a parallel reality...

[toongoon]

Possibly another nail in the virtual world coffin - The radio interviewer did say "a parallel universe only contacted by email" when describing Perplex City. I would guess he was working from a fairly well-defined script so as not to give false information.

[Violet]

[Muffin]

[Violet]

lol, d'oh!

[Daffy889]

[Zedix]

[Leeravitz]

True, although there remains this odd question over how much of the info. we obtain goes through a mediator i.e. Mind Candy. If I wanted to be *really* pedantic, I could argue that even, say, our hearing "Violet"'s voice over the phone is, in fact, our hearing of a simulated recording of an actor portraying Violet, on Mind Candy's payroll. They will have distributed information according to how their 'client' (Sente) instructs them.

But I agree - that's an extreme (and slightly ridiculous point) of view. Perhaps what was meant was that the universe is only 'contactable' at a distance...

A pity, I concede, as I rather liked the idea of the City and its inhabitants being sims...

As to whether or not the parallel universe followed the pattern of *our* historical development up to a point and then diverged, I'd say we remain uncertain. Although it does seem as if certain divergences were happening very early on in the day (development of a writing system without an attendant civilization, for instance). It does sound, as well, as if most of the information the Perplexians hold relating to famous figures from Earth history (Bach etc.) is derived from their knowledge of Earth culture...and not a result of the parallel existence of those people in their world.

In what sense is Perplex City a parallel universe, then? Well, I suppose inasmuch as it exists in a separate 'pocket universe' at right angles to our own. It also seems to be built upon physical laws which are fundamentally similar to those that govern life on earth, although technology may well have evolved in subtly different ways. It doesn't appear, however, that the flow of time, the principles of mathematics, gravity etc. are not in effect in the Perplexian world - they follow much the same rules they do in this world. There may even have been a directly parallel evolution, inasmuch as the Perplexians look like, and behave in, human like manners (although, truthfully, we have no intimate details of their biology). So, whatever differences may have emerged appear to have been culturally constructed...which does imply a divergence at some point, but it may have been one well before recorded history, per se, began...

[sledgecallier]

Ng General Hospital? Do we think Ng is Newguard?

[Mikeyj]

[Leeravitz]

Good call with the Newguard theory. Could well be the case, although it's perhaps surprising that they don't have a more obvious usage of an abbreviated form - N.G., say, or N-G.

Either that, or we have to start recognising the input of Vietnamese into the babel that is Perplexian terminology:) (though as we've had English names, French names, Polish names, Latin names, Greek names etc. etc. what's one more language between friends?!)

[cassandra]