Re: "All of an Instant"

On 15 May 2006 20:43:17 -0400, William December Starr wrote:

In article <rgpwq2f16i2a.10p8j62m18zay.dlg@xxxxxxxxxx>,
Alexey Romanov <alexey_r@xxxxxxx> said:

Have you read Garfinkle's ALL OF AN INSTANT? It's involves
conflict between time travellers in a universe whose history is
extremely maliable. The mechanism for this, the Instant, doesn't
seem to have duration as we know it and how to measure the
duration of the conflict outside it is not obvious. [James
Nicoll]

It is not obvious, because it is meaningless. The vital point of
resolution is <rot-13>gung gurer ernyyl vf _ab_ cnffntr bs gvzr va
gur Vafgnag</rot-13>. However, we do know that the time span
involved is approximately one hunred thousand years.

Did that -- the part you rot13'd -- make any sense? It didn't to
me, but I may just not be smart/flexible enough to understand it.

Enough rot13; let's just go with spoiler space...
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It looked to me like handwaving -- the narration _said_ that that
there really is no passage of time in the Instant, and that this was
somehow the key insight, but it sure looked to me like there was.
Characters had linear thoughts (until they reached the ends of their
timelines and looped back to their start, which also made no sense
to me but never mind), events occurred before or after other events,
effects followed causes, and so on. It sure *looked* like time was
passing in that environment.

Well, I have to agree. On the other hand, how _could_ you describe what
happened without bringing in the illusion of time?
.

Relevant Pages

  • "All of an Instant" (was: On Topic Thursday: The Eternal Conflict)
    ... conflict between time travellers in a universe whose history is ... duration of the conflict outside it is not obvious. ...
    (rec.arts.sf.written)
  • Re: On Topic Thursday: The Eternal Conflict
    ... SF has the advantage that while history only goes back perhaps 9,000 ... how do you count a conflict that spands parallel ... seem to have duration as we know it and how to measure the duration ...
    (rec.arts.sf.written)
  • Re: On Topic Thursday: The Eternal Conflict
    ... SF has the advantage that while history only goes back perhaps 9,000 ... how do you count a conflict that spands parallel ... the Time Wars might be somewhat more c omplicated ... seem to have duration as we know it and how to measure the duration ...
    (rec.arts.sf.written)
  • Re: On Topic Thursday: The Eternal Conflict
    ... conflict between time travellers in a universe whose history is extremely maliable. ... seem to have duration as we know it and how to measure the duration ...
    (rec.arts.sf.written)
  • Re: Questions about the Holocaust
    ... into conflict with all of their neighbors throughout history, ... and are central to the Religious Wars of the 2000's. ... I think that history is littered with abortions and injustices. ... of who was actively instigating the Class Wars of the 1900's, ...
    (sci.physics)