Here’s how it works: Each carrier has two
computers, using one to run the ship.
The humans sit inside and make one new.
They duplicate the second, chip by chip.
Both parents, then, have three brains when they breed.
The daughter gets the copy from each set,
and all three carriers will thence proceed
with two brains and a third one coming yet.
This method works for many other parts:
the furniture and lighting, I suppose,
the pumps that work the legs, and all the charts
that tell how all this works and where it goes.
The circuitry, while intricate as hell,
is reproducible by human hands.
Don’t tell me it’s impossible ’cuz, well,
we have to take the story as it stands.
© 2010 Louis A. Merrimac
Thursday, April 1, 2010
In the Next Life, Canto I, stanzas 46-49
Stanza #47 engendered some discussion on Facebook a few weeks ago. As I am disinclined to assume a higher degree of comprehension among the readership of this blog than among Jeff's friends, I would like to call attention to the absence of an annotation at that point.
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I can take a hint. I have yet to format anything as an annotation, but this is how I explained it on FB:
ReplyDeleteWhen a carrier is born, it has two computers. When the insiders have finished making a third one (and a third set of everything else), it's ready to breed. When it finds another one in the same condition, they start another carrier. They have 2 x 3 of each piece of equipment, and when they're done they have 3 x 2 of each.
That didn't seem to be enough, so I added this:
I have three goats, but I need only two to keep my lawn mowed. My neighbor has three goats. Someone else builds a house down the street, so we each give a goat to the new neighbor. Now there are three neighbors with two goats apiece. When I have three goats again, I look for another neighbor with three and another new neighbor.
Of course, Stanza 47 was out of context on FB. That's why I think Lou should post the entire first canto; 4 stanzas at a time is more helpful than one stanza at a time, but not much. Yes I know he doesn't want to (Jeff's not the only one with a line to Lou)& it is Lou's blog to blog as he wishes, but still.
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