There has always been a controversy over the basic difference between a
mechanism and an organism.
In classical times and before, the notion of life being instilled into previously inanimate matter gave a common theme in myth and legend.
But it was only after the first industrial revolution and the development of sophisticated electronics that the engineer was able to design a rough parallel of a biological system.
From that point onwards, the spiral of knowledge accelerated.
Logical research developments to advance the complexity of artificial over living response mechanisms.
And the two disciplines became more and more difficult to distinguish.
For the great mass of people, there was no obvious problem in view.
Someone who can barely distinguish intelligence in a man is hardly likely to spend much time considering the implications of intelligence in a machine.
But ignorance of the problem didn't make it go away.
And in this agnostic age, where any attempt to reduce the awesome and spectacular universe into the simplified package of a personable deity was more difficult than ever, there was no way we could sidestep the issue.
The distinction between life and design grew ever more blurred, and the boundaries were redrawn with each new advance.
Man and machine began to merge, medically as well as socially.
Any single feature that distinguished a man could eventually be true of a machine.
And almost as much energy went into conceiving new definitions as was spent on disproving the old ones.
All we could eventually say was that by comparison, man was more fragile and unstable.
He was capable of less, and he wore out faster.
Randall wasn't about to declare defeat without a fight.
So convinced was he of the superiority of the elite, so confident of the inferiority of the single acre, that setback and defeat meant little to him.
The slow drive of a world ship to survive left him unimpressed, even as it left him unsuccessful.
Back at the ice palace, Calorum was proving to be more susceptible to disillusionment.
He had managed to capture the icebreaker ship only to find it disabled and useless, Even as he contemplates the ruptured stabilizers and the uncooperative inboard computer, his chief, along with Lobo, Morton, and the simulator Mitchell, is on the cargo shuttle.
They are leaving the world ship in a hurry.
Valum is not far behind.
There has always been a controversy over the basic difference between a
mechanism and an organism.
In classical times and before, the notion of life being instilled into previously inanimate matter gave a common theme in myth and legend.
But it was only after the first industrial revolution and the development of sophisticated electronics that the engineer was able to design a rough parallel of a biological system.
From that point onwards, the spiral of knowledge accelerated.
Logical research developments to advance the complexity of artificial over living response mechanisms.
And the two disciplines became more and more difficult to distinguish.
For the great mass of people, there was no obvious problem in view.
Someone who can barely distinguish intelligence in a man is hardly likely to spend much time considering the implications of intelligence in a machine.
But ignorance of the problem didn't make it go away.
And in this agnostic age, where any attempt to reduce the awesome and spectacular universe into the simplified package of a personable deity was more difficult than ever, there was no way we could sidestep the issue.
The distinction between life and design grew ever more blurred, and the boundaries were redrawn with each new advance.
Man and machine began to merge, medically as well as socially.
Any single feature that distinguished a man could eventually be true of a machine.
And almost as much energy went into conceiving new definitions as was spent on disproving the old ones.
All we could eventually say was that by comparison, man was more fragile and unstable.
He was capable of less, and he wore out faster.
Randall wasn't about to declare defeat without a fight.
So convinced was he of the superiority of the elite, so confident of the inferiority of the single acre, that setback and defeat meant little to him.
The slow drive of a world ship to survive left him unimpressed, even as it left him unsuccessful.
Back at the ice palace, Calorum was proving to be more susceptible to disillusionment.
He had managed to capture the icebreaker ship only to find it disabled and useless, Even as he contemplates the ruptured stabilizers and the uncooperative inboard computer, his chief, along with Lobo, Morton, and the simulator Mitchell, is on the cargo shuttle.
They are leaving the world ship in a hurry.
Valum is not far behind.
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