Re: Chaos, Nature and Evil...

From: Alex Ferguson <abf_at_yeats.ucc.ie>
Date: Thu, 22 Apr 1999 00:58:51 +0100 (BST)


David Lucas:
> This is a multi-part message in MIME format.

Naughty. ;-)

> It is necessary to agree as Gloranthan lore what Chaos (or whatever names
> you call it) looks like. What triggers the Stormbull Sense Chaos and when?

Chaos! And what's Chaos? Why, that which triggers the Stormbull Sense Chaos, of course! ;-) OK, OK, hold the flames, I do think it's more-or-less Reproducible in its working, so it does identify a class, however ad hoc, of 'choatic nasties'. But not necessarily one that has a coherent philosophical or cosmological basis.

> Whether mainstream Orlanthi *believe* you can be is an
> important social question. Whether there are circumstance where trusted
> indicators (e.g. showing up on Sense Chaos) cease to detect you is a matter
> of physics.

I hardly think 'physics' is a useful descriptor here, but certainly, there are such circumstances. Proof by example: Illumination. (So if you don't 'detect' as Chaotic, and the Storm Herd Human (!?) thinks you obviously are, anyway, this is ipso facto proof that you're Illuminated, and therefore deserve the _extra_-nasty treatment.)

> The single biggest issue is what Sense Chaos senses, since it seems to imply
> an objective definition.

One could argue that it detects Chaos _mutations_ (sufficiently broadly defined), if that helps any.

Cheers,
Alex.


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