And the evidence suggests that the souls are being used to power Mayfield...
I wonder what the number of permanently droned residents can tell us? Did you perhaps get a read on approximately how many souls were contained in this vat at the time you were in it? Did you recognize them as former residents, and were there any who were certainly from a time before this one?
The difference in this number may tell us something about the rate of conversion, and thereby, the mechanism...
I am afraid I do not know the exact amount who were in there, but I could discern there were thousands. Those who disappeared the most recently were stronger, whereas those who had some time ago were weaker.
It is likely that, any souls which originally existed within that thing, are long gone. When I attempted to blast my way out, a few hundred of the souls screamed and were sucked into the pipe connected to the vat, disappearing entirely.
I see... So they aren't used in discrete numbers, but in continuous amounts, gradually fading. A frightening prospect, no? I wonder if there are any who escaped this -- there have been people who have been droned for lengths of time that are longer than the typical 'temporary' droning, and yet they have returned, apparently none the worse for wear...
[She raises an eyebrow.] The pipe, hm? Do we know where the pipe leads? Or led?
Wilhelm had suggested that our consciousnesses, or souls if you prefer, may have been being pulled wholesale from our individual world's databases. Well, so to speak. So instead of being the original, we are instead a copy, then inserted inside a program, and let run in whatever course we take.
This would explain many things, such as the different times, people returning from droning, and the fact that one who has left and returned can retain, or forget, all their memories.
As for the pipe, it was not something I could reach. I assume it went to the generator that was blown up, but you would have to ask others on that. I was trapped inside the vat until that was destroyed.
I've considered a possibility like that myself... if souls are being used as energy, however, it seems to imply that Mayfield's true power source must be even deeper than this. That is because making a 'copy' of a soul with the same amount of energy the soul has must take at least as much energy as the soul already contains, and one cannot create energy wholesale out of nothing. This is a fundamental tenet of reality, after all. Either the 'soul' is not the most compact form of energy available and the true ultimate power source is something deeper, or it cannot be true, at least not in that specific manifestation.
It would not be true if we were to think of Mayfield as a computer, however. A computer that is using souls as it's parts and energy.
If this were to be the case, then the power needed to draw the souls may not be more than an extra amount to run an 'internet', and perhaps hack into other universe's own computers, downloading the data of it's residents, before converting them here into the necessary energy to run.
But when something large happened, such as us destroying pieces of this environment, the computer must then run a reconstruction program, or perhaps even a debugger, and at that time the souls are used more quickly as the computer has need for more power.
However, I do believe that we have not seen whatever it is that runs this place.
[ooc: Oh gawd I'm sorry if that makes NO sense. I think I mean processing power but I suck]
I believe I see what you mean. I agree it's a possibility; however, as you know, a computer is still ultimately powered by energy in a state of lower entropy than its output. For example, computers in the modern day-- along with most appliances of a household nature-- are powered by a 'reservoir' of alternating current, after which the operations within the computer are negligible in terms of power consumed relative to the overall power. Its output, furthermore tends to be non-physical data streams, which, to the best of my era's ability, would be difficult to convert into a form processed by minds. It may be possible with other capabilities, however, which I won't dispute.
However, again, this is the same process that construction robots of all kinds are driven by, though in this case also based on the reservoirs of energy available through an internal combustion engine. These devices can in fact in turn generate power for other devices-- but never more than is input
( ... )
But you forget that science, no matter how accurate it can be, has many things that can never be quantified. How life came into existence is one of the large ones, and no matter the theory you use, it still leaves questions.
It is difficult for one who believes in facts, but there is a probability that what we are dealing with is not human, and is a power akin to a God.
It isn't science. It's the coherency of the universe on a basic level. It isn't a quantification, either... I admit that science doesn't have all the answers, nor am I asking it to provide them. However, facts, scientific or not, must be established.
And regardless of my opinion on the status of a god, I can't imagine that a god is the entity which wrote the notes which people are describing having found in the wreckage. It seems extremely probable that this was designed by beings who might have been unimaginably more powerful than us, but nevertheless, beings that were constrained by the world around them--and therefore, subject to at least the most basic of natural laws.
Possible. Although, the coherency of this universe is quite strange, you must admit. We unfortunately don't know if it follows the same ideas as our own.
If it is not a God, then the entities may have managed to gain some power similar to what a human would perceive as a god's. The fact they have pulled beings of such magnitude as we have seen certainly points to, at minimum, them having found some very strong source of power.
That's true, but if we abandon the tenet of logical coherency, we really may as well just sit down and start knitting socks and give up on any meaningful discourse.
I agree with your second point, however, but I have to say that there are certain rules that any object within the universe must not be allowed to break.
It would be good if it followed those. I suppose, in time, we shall learn more about this place's rules, however, and be able to start fitting the pieces we've so far obtained into them.
I wonder what the number of permanently droned residents can tell us? Did you perhaps get a read on approximately how many souls were contained in this vat at the time you were in it? Did you recognize them as former residents, and were there any who were certainly from a time before this one?
The difference in this number may tell us something about the rate of conversion, and thereby, the mechanism...
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It is likely that, any souls which originally existed within that thing, are long gone. When I attempted to blast my way out, a few hundred of the souls screamed and were sucked into the pipe connected to the vat, disappearing entirely.
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[She raises an eyebrow.] The pipe, hm? Do we know where the pipe leads? Or led?
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This would explain many things, such as the different times, people returning from droning, and the fact that one who has left and returned can retain, or forget, all their memories.
As for the pipe, it was not something I could reach. I assume it went to the generator that was blown up, but you would have to ask others on that. I was trapped inside the vat until that was destroyed.
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If this were to be the case, then the power needed to draw the souls may not be more than an extra amount to run an 'internet', and perhaps hack into other universe's own computers, downloading the data of it's residents, before converting them here into the necessary energy to run.
But when something large happened, such as us destroying pieces of this environment, the computer must then run a reconstruction program, or perhaps even a debugger, and at that time the souls are used more quickly as the computer has need for more power.
However, I do believe that we have not seen whatever it is that runs this place.
[ooc: Oh gawd I'm sorry if that makes NO sense. I think I mean processing power but I suck]
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However, again, this is the same process that construction robots of all kinds are driven by, though in this case also based on the reservoirs of energy available through an internal combustion engine. These devices can in fact in turn generate power for other devices-- but never more than is input ( ... )
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It is difficult for one who believes in facts, but there is a probability that what we are dealing with is not human, and is a power akin to a God.
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And regardless of my opinion on the status of a god, I can't imagine that a god is the entity which wrote the notes which people are describing having found in the wreckage. It seems extremely probable that this was designed by beings who might have been unimaginably more powerful than us, but nevertheless, beings that were constrained by the world around them--and therefore, subject to at least the most basic of natural laws.
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If it is not a God, then the entities may have managed to gain some power similar to what a human would perceive as a god's. The fact they have pulled beings of such magnitude as we have seen certainly points to, at minimum, them having found some very strong source of power.
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I agree with your second point, however, but I have to say that there are certain rules that any object within the universe must not be allowed to break.
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Which rules do you mean?
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Well, thank you for the interesting dialogue, as usual.
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