Maybe its because I work in a university (though not for much longer, today was resignation day) that I find the reasoning that 'degrees churned out by the thousands' implies 'intellectual unity' rather hilarious.
And as for unified politically? I deliberately defined 'God Learner' to include not just the Jrusteli, but all the other allies of the Middle Sea Empire who had access to their magic techniques, many of whom owed no direct allegiance to the Emperor (ie the Six Leggeds, the pirates of Teleos, the early FDR).
Rather, its because they have universities that I imagine constant intellectual debate. Which in turn encourages them to test their theories.
I think of the God Learner movement is being in large part an intellectual revolution. Its was an intellectual revolution too primarily of a new methodology for dealing with magic, rather than simply a religious movement. I think the intellectual revolutionary atmosphere is bound to lead to disagreements, rival theories, cries of intellectual heresy, etc.
>Your take on the God Learners required people to have opposed the
>Manhatten Project before it left the Drawing Board.
No analogy is perfect. The Manhattan Project was, after all, secret. But take, for example, the current cloning humans debate.
>FWIW there were good reasons for pursuing the Manhattan project and
>they are still true.
There were some fairly good reasons for pursueing the Goddess Switch, Tanian, or even Zistor, and some of them may still be valid.
And the good reasons for the Manhattan project have not stopped people from condemning it.
Cheers
David
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