update from sparkleup
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Madison Scott-Clary
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<p>Codrin forced emself to take a sip of the tea. It was thin, with the skim milk in it, and ey couldn’t actually taste it for the pounding of eir heart. “Well,” ey said, struggling to maintain calm. “That actually crosses several of the questions I had prepared off my list as either answered or irrelevant.”</p>
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<p>“Have you come up with any new ones?”</p>
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<p>“I guess. The first is why are you letting us even continue with the history project if you’re aiming to keep stability within the system? Won’t all of this coming to light impact that at all?”</p>
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<p>Ne brightened. “Oh, that’s a good one! The answer is twofold. Part one relates to something the other Jonases said to the other Balans: stability is a thing that needs to be gardened and maintained, that there is no true stasis, but stability approaches that point asymptotically. This is a form of that gardening. When you have a rose garden or topiary, you know, you must cut away bits of it, but when you do, the whole becomes all the healthier and can last for years and years in the state you like it best. It may seem like a traumatic event to trim back roses. After all, you are cutting away good growth, aren’t you? But that’s how you get beautiful roses, year after year.</p>
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<p>Ne brightened. “Oh, that’s a good one! The answer is twofold. Part one relates to something the No Jonas said to the other Codrin: stability is a thing that needs to be gardened and maintained, that there is no true stasis, but stability approaches that point asymptotically. This is a form of that gardening. When you have a rose garden or topiary, you know, you must cut away bits of it, but when you do, the whole becomes all the healthier and can last for years and years in the state you like it best. It may seem like a traumatic event to trim back roses. After all, you are cutting away good growth, aren’t you? But that’s how you get beautiful roses, year after year.</p>
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<p>“That’s what we’re doing with this project. We’re introducing a slightly traumatic event to make the stability of the system — that’s lower-case s, there, I’m talking of the sociopolitical system of those on the three capital-S Systems — stronger. Does that make sense.”</p>
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<p>“I suppose,” Codrin said, then </p>
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<p>“I suppose,” Codrin said. “You’ve done the cost-benefit analysis and determined it’s worth continuing on with, right?”</p>
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<p>“Yes, precisely that,” Ne said.</p>
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<p>“And what’s the second reason?”</p>
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<p>“The second reason is related to what Jonas Prime said to Ioan: humans, uploaded and not, need something to dream of. They need some better version of the life they live to hope for in order to feel comfortable. No one is happy for long in bliss, Codrin.”</p>
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<p>Ey blinked. “You mean you need some trauma like this sys-side in order to give people more bliss to aim for?”</p>
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<p>“Precisely that.” Ne sipped at his tea now that it had cooled and nodded approvingly. “There is much madness in the Ode Clade, but that is what I suspect nudged Qoheleth over the edge. If you can’t forget anything and all that you can remember is bliss, then bliss begins to feel like torture. His role was to think long term. He was working on the timescale of decades and centuries on shaping the perceived history of both of our clades, so he was already up to his ears in memory anyway. This project of yours will instill a little bit of terror in the hearts of everyone. Not enough that they will rebel, of course. In well over ninety percent of cases, they won’t do anything at all with the information, but it will tick up their anxiety a notch. It will put a dent in that bliss and make it less appealing.”</p>
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<p>Page generated on 2021-09-18</p>
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