I think that the Greensong running could be viewed as a variation of Jane's FTL travel. Consider, if the Greensong is viewed as "Information" awareness of the local area that is stored in the common awareness of native flora and fauna and the Doodlebug is viewed as a Philotic knot, then that knot can go out, link with the local web of info and allow one with awareness of the self to move Faster Then Light a short distance. Maybe just a few millimeters.
Then it just becomes a series of FTL jumps operating as the illusion of running.
I think Alvin should be able to sieze upon a location with his bug, scan himself, and then move there. At the least he should be able to move objects.
It seems obvious, if you postulate that both series are sharing a common set of postulates as far as physical laws.
Just a notion
BC
Posted by Brian_Berlin (Member # 6900) on :
YES!
I swear, I'd love for OSC to write the "Grand Unifying Theory of Card" - wherein all things from all books are tied together.
Wouldn't it be cool if Alvin's crystal became the do-dad Nafai went through to don the cloak of the starmaster?
And I'd love for Alvin to have created intelligence in the buggers. perhaps he manipulated an insect genetically... to be the perfect making creation... but then for some reason thought better of it and sent them (somehow) out across the universe to another planet.
[ October 22, 2004, 10:47 AM: Message edited by: Brian_Berlin ]
Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
That is an interesting idea, BC. It is like the consciousness sought through meditation.
Posted by Bean Counter (Member # 6001) on :
I think that OSC is within striking distance of the the way things really are with his theory of what goes on behind the scene. The only thing he seems to leave out is the guided nature of things. That is that the greater the power of an idividual the more the currents of power guide them and move them about.
That being my premise then it is to be expected that all spiritualism should have its reflection in OSC's work.
BC
Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
The Greensong does not provide instantaneous transportation, the way that Jane's FTL solution does. When Tecumseh and Alvin traveled to all the different tribes, it still took them time to do the travelling.
Posted by Bean Counter (Member # 6001) on :
But if the time is the split second it takes to get oriented, then each small leap could be FTL! Like a series of stills that becomes a movie!
BC
Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
I thought the Greensong just allowed them to travel without tiring, etc., but not that it was timeless travel.....
Farmgirl
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
Guys, any time an author's done a Grand Unifying Superego stunt, it's turned out badly. Don't give him any ideas -- not that I think he'd do it, anyway.
Posted by Goody Scrivener (Member # 6742) on :
Oh you mean like Stephen King did with Dark Tower? <ugh> Posted by CRash (Member # 7754) on :
Although I like the way the series could be compatable with one another, I'd have to say I think they work better as seperate worlds.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
quote:YES!
I swear, I'd love for OSC to write the "Grand Unifying Theory of Card" - wherein all things from all books are tied together.
NO!
It would probably be as lame as when Asimov did the same thing.
Posted by Art Vandelay (Member # 8690) on :
What he said ^^^^
Posted by Bean Counter (Member # 6001) on :
Actually internal cosistency has always helped me stay involved in a story, aided the suspension of disbelief.
BC
Posted by Art Vandelay (Member # 8690) on :
That's the case when it's within a single story. What you're proposing unites several unrelated stories, while adding nothing of value.
Posted by 0range7Penguin (Member # 7337) on :
Hey I like the Dark Tower!
And to me the greensong was about being one with nature and being in balance. Very diffent than philotic jumping.
Posted by Joshua Newberry (Member # 7864) on :
Instead of Asimov's treatement, think on Heinlein...Uniting his science fiction and fantasy late in his carreer...Would you REALLY want that?
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
What did he unite? I haven't read much of his later stuff.
Posted by Soara (Member # 6729) on :
The greensong and Jane's tricks aren't really connected at all in my mind. The Inside/outside thing was all physics and stuff, while the greensong is something much different, it has to do with your connection to the living forest.
However there is one thing that is VERY similar to Alvin Maker in Xenocide: when Ender goes Outside, whatever he dreams up becomes reality (like Peter and Val). This is exactly what Alvin does--the atoms rearrange themselves according to what Alvin thinks in his head.
Posted by Bean Counter (Member # 6001) on :
The Number of the Beast unites all fantasy within an overstructure of a Sciece Fiction Multiverse. It was not merely his work but everything. It was a good slice at it, but I think he was trying to write himself into his own stories, a very interesting attempt to become immortal.
BC
Posted by Joshua Newberry (Member # 7864) on :
What BC said. Instead of trying to figure out some way of uniting storylines and keeping a coherent, interesting story in between, Heinlein introduced the Multiverse concept.
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