unforum

[Nos]

[QUESTION][SPEC] The possibility of two cubes?

[DrPiranha]

I like the Idea that they have lost theirs and plan on stealing ours by telling us that theirs was brought here so we give them ours.

Maybe the broke theirs by playing with it too much.

[Daffy889]

I do remember some early spec as to why the cube on Earth hadn't been discovered. I think it may have been when people were trying to figure out the point at which the timelines had diverged. I don't think it was heavily discussed though, and it is a good theory (and another reason not to trust Sente).

Maybe when we find the cube we should make him prove that it's his before we give it back?

[Nos]

How could he prove it was his cube, however? If my whole theory pans out, then both cubes would be exactly alike.

Also, if we could just find out where they found their cube, we could find ours, in theory, since it should be in the same spot...

[GuyP]

Unless, of course, our histories diverged prior to the creation/construction of the Cube...

[Daffy889]

[Nos]

[Daffy889]

[JebJoya]

Although don't we also know they didn't have the Ancient Greeks which was long time pre-cube, so presumably the two worlds at least differ there?

Jeb

[yanka]

[Leeravitz]

I would go further and say there is no firm indication that our histories have ever *truly* converged, at least as far back as we can follow Perplexian history. There are minor details relating to the period of nomadic settlement within the area that would later become the City which are hard to reconcile with anything we know of that would have happened at a contemporaneous time on Earth.

Equally, Perplexian development would appear to have pursued a torturous route by 'earth' standards. If the dating is equivalenced out, then we can easily discover that the Perplexians were still running about in the woods, and scratching bits of signage on rocks a good thousand years or so after certain literate urban civilizations were flourishing in our world. Thus, in a sense, our progress appears to have been in advance of theirs at this point, and we only lost ground at a later point.

It's possible, I suppose, if the 'parallel world' hypothesis is to be taken literally that the Perplexian civilization was born out of some variant development of a community which otherwise remained primitive, and was ultimately conquered, in our world. For instance, the dating equivalences would suggest that societies not unlike those of the 'nomadic' Perplexians would have been in existence in places like Britain and Scandinavia, parts of the Americas, the steppe lands of Eurasia etc. at this time. They may even have been vaguely reminiscent of the Perplexians (inasmuch as we understand much of the history of these pre - literate cultures at all). For instance, if a development of certain Celtic trends was hypothesised (the Celts evolved a more lasting civilization; they somehow prevented the Romans from conquering them, and eventually stifled the Roman threat etc.), then one might see something a little bit reminiscent of certain Perplexian trends (the emphasis on puzzles and riddles, independently created alphabets and push to craft technology, for instance) developing.

Theoretically, this *might* be the sort of thing that could command *some* plausibility: if there are no 'Dark Ages' because there was no Roman Empire, and yet the Celts maintain their love of technological creativity, then maybe you eventually get a society in which technological development surges ahead of ours over centuries, but with the provisio that certain inventions are never paralleled. If there is an early incentive to gloablise, then you reach a point whereby the society is more of a cultural melting pot that it currently is on earth, and so on.

But I don't know if the argument really holds water: as Yanka has been pointing out, it would seem that the two worlds are actually rather different places, and have had little in common for as long as we can trace back. It *is* curious that there are lots of names etc. rendered in language that is familiar to us on Earth, but, in itself, this may not prove a great deal - it could even be some kind of 'translation convention' Sente allows us to see so that we can more readily identify with Perplexian culture!

As far as Coralhouse's studies are concerned, I get the impression that we may all tend to take 'convergence theory' as a title too literally - we generally assume that this means there must have been a direct paralleling of evolution, and a divergence from 'accepted' history at a certain point. But it's equally probable that all that is meant by 'convergence' is the discovery, rather shockingly, I suppose, that two cultures sundered in time and space actually behave in extremely similar ways, use language in broadly the same patterns etc. Maybe that is deserving of a quantum physical or mathematical, rather than an historical analysis, because there is no necessary reason for the *cultural* histories of Earth and Perplex City to have ever been identical. All that we can really say is that some of basics of biology, physical law, etc. governing Earth and this 'sister world' appear to parallel. And this is always assuming that Perplex City really is another world per se, rather than a purely virtual environment, say. We're starting to think it must be the former, but I guess the jury may still be out on it.

[NovacaineX]

The Perplex City society always reminded me of Atlantis. Granted I don't know too much about Atlantis. But It is an area of our history thats widely disputed, and might be a good point of convergence.

[Crane]

Just a sudden thought, the "C" in BC/AC could stand for "Cataclysm". Mayeb there was a huge war, or a massive natural disaster or something... Why not ask Scarlett or Violet?

[dopefiend]

Convergence could be yet to come: there's a possibility that Perplex City is a bit like the Planet of the Apes (ie it's earth many years in the future).

[kayellehear]