In the ninth through eleventh chapters of The Science of Discworld, the wizards experiment with their newly-formed universe. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to read Discworld.
For splits like this one, I think it’s best for me to address the text in two sections. ONWARDS.
Discworld
I make fun of the wizards a lot, and it certainly seems dangerous to allow these weirdos to toy with their own universe. Indeed, as soon as The Project was opened up to all of Unseen University, chaos reigned. Seriously, the students started playing a game with all the balls of mass that they’d created. Which… first of all, bravo, that actually sounds like a lot of fun. There was a iPhone game I used to play years ago (that I think stopped getting updates) that involved something similar, in that you had to shoot these bubbles that would grow until they touched another bubble, and each new one would curve based on the gravitational pull of those already there. IT WAS REALLY GREAT, I IMAGINE THIS FELT THE SAME.
So my point is that while I still think the wizards are ridiculous, their curiosity simply manifested as this game. And that’s still fucking cool! It’s rooted in a desire to learn the mechanics of this universe and the “laws†that govern it. Does heat matter? What about the composition of the moons, planets, satellites, and other celestial bodies? Does that affect the speed or willingness of these balls of mass to collide with one another? That’s learning! That counts! It reminds me of all the teachers I had who used more hands-on methods of teaching. Not only did they engage with the students better, but I remember those lessons way more than the analytical stuff or times when I just had to memorize and regurgitate.
The wizards might be fools in their own way, but they’re trying to learn. And I respect that! Obviously, Ponder seems to be the sole person in the bunch who’s trying to do more than just crash things together, but that doesn’t mean he’s the only one learning. That being said: oh gods, please don’t give a whole universe to the wizards. DON’T DO IT.
Despite that this other thing I wanted to commented on has Roundworld implications, it was in a Discworld chapter, so I’m sticking it here. LET ME DISCUSS THIS:
Ponder Stibbons was an atheist. Most wizards were. This was because UU had some quite powerful standing spells against occult interference, and knowing that you’re immune from lightning bolts does wonders for an independent mind. Because the gods, of course, existed. Ponder wouldn’t even attempt to deny it. He just didn’t believe in them.
As I’ve mentioned before, I was a lot more vocal about my atheism when I first gave up on God and gods. My late teens and early twenties were my time to be aggravating and annoying, y’all, and I was so sure of myself. It is also, of course, when I held some of the WORST opinions. In hindsight, I understand why that happened. It was a reaction to the suppression of my sense of self in my teenage years. I was free, and by gods, I was going to be a loudmouth. I still am, to some extent, but I have learned that tact also exists.
But something stuck with me from those days when I’d write or speak about being an atheist a lot more than I do. I’m specifically reminded of how I would argue about God and Christianity in a forum I helped run, and while I can’t imagine ever doing something like that these days, it was something I needed then. It helped me refine arguments, empathize with other people, and learn the value of difference in ways I had not considered. There was a person in this forum who argued things with long, sprawling missives that were passionate and caring, and they were often who I had the most rewarding conversations with. At one point, they noted that for an atheist, I sure seemed to be willing to talk about the Christian God as if he existed.
And I had simply never thought of it that way. Much of my atheism was a reaction to the God I’d been raised with, sure. That wasn’t a mystery. But what if my atheism wasn’t a denial of the existence of God, but a rebellion? Did that make it intellectually dishonest? Was I not really an atheism?
I admit that this doesn’t really plague me these days. I live my life as if the world is godless, as if there is nothing for me after I die, and it works out for me. But if God was real, then I certainly have a bone to pick with him and the world that he created. It doesn’t change my day-to-day at all.
Roundworld
It’s weird how all the shit I’ve been watching over on Mark Watches has numbed me to the concept of faster-than-light travel. With Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica under my belt (mostly!), I’ve gotten used to the possibility that one day, humans will be able to travel at ridiculous speeds. Admittedly, that’s a strange thought to have when my only real exposure to these ideas was through one year-long physics class and two fictional television shows. But now I wonder: why don’t we see more of the effects described here? You know, where time slows down passes relative to the speed of the object? Shouldn’t that be happening more on Star Trek than it does?
Okay, look, it’s already weird for me to be bringing this up because THAT SHOW ISN’T REAL, and while there is a lot of cool science in that sprawling series, it’s not exactly the benchmark of scientific progress. Still, it’s fun to think about. Do Starfleet officers return from deep space missions younger than those they left behind? Is that something they have to warn cadets about? Is there a whole therapy system in place to deal with the mental ramifications of aging slower than all your contemporaries? Is their a hierarchy based on those officers who have traveled at different warp speeds? Like, if you’ve gone warp 9, you’re cooler/more messed up than someone who’s only gotten to warp 4?
THESE ARE THE THINGS I THINK ABOUT.
https://youtu.be/fipaTtMDE50
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