diff --git a/writing/meeting-of-one.html b/writing/meeting-of-one.html index 1d7773820..ed22599c2 100644 --- a/writing/meeting-of-one.html +++ b/writing/meeting-of-one.html @@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ Ioan Bălan, despite all attempts to keep emself from sinking into the depths of whatever it was studying, always managed to find himself mired in details ey could not hope to escape. They twined and twisted around eir wrists, tripped em up about the ankles, and tugged em ever deeper into the fractal complications of whatever topic ey decided would be the subject of eir next work. -A recent paper ey had completed on an unnerving socialbreakdown in one of the old clades — those collection of individuals forked from a single uploaded consciousness — had garnered em no small amount of notoriety and plenty of credit on the reputation market. +A recent paper ey had completed on an unnerving social breakdown in one of the old clades — those collection of individuals forked from a single uploaded consciousness — had garnered em no small amount of notoriety and plenty of credit on the reputation market. It had also gained em a split of eir own. Dealing with the complex relations of a set of individuals created as clones from a single personality and sensorium had driven them deeper and deeper into the weeds of study. Ey had immersed emself in the problem so thoroughly that the Ioan that came out the other side of the research was no longer the Ioan that had gone in. The change was so great that the fork ey had sent to do the investigation had individuated, had undergone some process of speciation at some subtle level, leaving em unwilling to merge its experiences back with the Ioan prime. It had changed its name and left after sharing its memories, and moved out to live with a member of that ‘family’, such as it were. @@ -96,26 +96,28 @@ The name alone was enough to grab Ioan’s attention. Was it a meeting of one pe The note clarified: - Ioan Bălan: - - My name is Joseph Chace and I am the…well, the language fails me. Organizer? Sole member? Recorded minister? - - Either way, I am part of the Joseph Chace Friends Meeting. This meeting began on the occasion of my upload into the system as one of the first Quakers (or, at least recorded members). - - You must understand a fact about Quakers: if you are to run a meeting (church, as you might call it), you are going to have committees. That’s just a fact of life. Clearness committees to admit new members, committees on faith and worship, etc etc ad nauseum. - - It is not a requirement, but as someone who spent their embodied life bounded by the constraints of a Quaker meeting, not having those things felt like leaving home. - - To that end, and with the lack of other Quakers uploading, I devised a method for creating a meeting of my own. Given your work on the Ode Clade business (well done, by the way!), I thought you might appreciate my attempt at a meeting of one. I understand that you are a busy individual, but if you are able to, I would love to invite you to a meeting for worship. We will discuss more at the time should you accept. - - Many thanks, - - Joseph Chace (prime) +> Ioan Bălan: +> +> My name is Joseph Chace and I am the…well, the language fails me. Organizer? Sole member? Recorded minister? +> +> Either way, I am part of the Joseph Chace Friends Meeting. This meeting began on the occasion of my upload into the system as one of the first Quakers (or, at least recorded members). +> +> You must understand a fact about Quakers: if you are to run a meeting (church, as you might call it), you are going to have committees. That’s just a fact of life. Clearness committees to admit new members, committees on faith and worship, etc etc ad nauseum. +> +> It is not a requirement, but as someone who spent their embodied life bounded by the constraints of a Quaker meeting, not having those things felt like leaving home. +> +> To that end, and with the lack of other Quakers uploading, I devised a method for creating a meeting of my own. Given your work on the Ode Clade business (well done, by the way!), I thought you might appreciate my attempt at a meeting of one. I understand that you are a busy individual, but if you are able to, I would love to invite you to a meeting for worship. We will discuss more at the time should you accept. +> +> Many thanks, +> +> Joseph Chace (prime) This was not the first religious movement that Ioan had found or been asked to investigate. As an historian, ey was well acquainted with the unspoken maxim that, should one wish to be at the center of grand changes, whether in society or in thought, one ought to hang around centers of religion. In the past, ey had followed (with a fork, natch) more than one cult in whatever state of formation. Ah well, it was worth checking out, was it not? +----- + Ioan forked into Ioan Bălan#d116001, who left with a pad of nice paper and a nice pen to go along with it to investigate this meeting of one. Ey was greeted by Joseph Chace. A Joseph Chace, ey soon realized, for unassuming building, low-slung and painted drab, seemed to be populated entirely by copies of the same person. @@ -166,6 +168,8 @@ It was a means of interaction that went beyond conversation. It was not exactly It was, Ioan realized, not all that dissimilar from writing letters. One had the chance to chose and compose one’s words carefully and then share them out loud, while the others had time to read and digest, simply taking in this information or perhaps formulating a response. It was an epistolary of sorts, a series of statements given as epistles to a congregation, read aloud and taken to heart. +----- + Ioan sat across a long table from Joseph Chace Prime, a cup of cooling coffee next eir notepad. Chace talked, and Ioan listened. “I was the first of my meeting to upload. There were only about fifteen of us, and we were all getting old, all struggling to face a world moved on. I had cancer, so it seemed a natural choice to come here and complete what work I had left in me.