Nimue

Michael Everett wrote:

DrakBibliophile wrote:I think AClone meant that you left out the "head set".

Of course, what happened with Nahrmahn was an "over-riding" of the standard programming of the medical-nanites and we know that the process didn't work as well as it could.

Electronic Nahrmahn isn't "complete" so he couldn't be downloaded to a PICA.

It may be possible to develop special nanites that would copy a person's memories for later up-loading but David Weber hasn't given us enough info to know for sure.

Oh, right.
Sorry, I just kinda assumed that everyone would know that the headset (or a specialised version thereof) would be used during the uploading bit.
(shrug)
Mea culpa.

AClone, please remember to explain why someone might be wrong next time. It leaves you less open to salvoes of sarcasm.

The intimations in the books is that it could if a NEAT was installed, Merlin had to cludge together an alternative with a system that was almost never used - having the nanites construct an interface on the fly - because almost everyone had a NEAT installed.

DrakBibliophile wrote:Don't know about "friction" but over time they will have "different ideas" about actions to take.

Even now, they have "different points of view".

Remember, Merlin has had several years on Safehold that Nimue hasn't had.

DianeSilva wrote:I wonder if Nimue and Merlin will not agree on everything ? I sense that there might be some friction between them down the road

There are many time that I am of at least two minds about something all by myself. Their different experiences start right away, so differences are certain.

Remember, in LAMA Owl stated he only had enough of certain materials for his industrial unit that were not currently available on Safehold to build one PICA. So even if you could use nanites to record other individuals, you could only hold them in Owl's memory hoping that the industrial base of Safehold made it eventually possible to build more PICAs. That's not much use to Merlin at this time.

Nimues' appearance does offer an intriguing method of segueing from one epoch of Safehold to another.
F.ex. At the end of this post-CoG epoche, a war weary, guilt ridden Merlin with the last of his old friends (his Round Table!) passed away, asks a fully capable Nimue to terminate his existence so he can join his friends,(without damage to the PICA?)
Maybe even upload a new “virgin” version of Nimue in Merlins old shell.
Second guessing authors is fun but also an exercise in futility.
But I guess that DW will in the fullnesssss of timeeeee and over the passage of years, answer all our questions

I see Nimue as turning out to be a gift to Merlin to help him keep his sanity.

Yes, there will be differences, but unless the relationship is pretty fragile to start with, those differences don't destroy relationships. I think of my relationship with my parents, my children, my wife. We certainly don't agree all the time, but they certainly don't stop being my family.

Don

He could take it anywhere. It's the most fascinating thing about this series... there's no 'obvious' path for the plot to play out. I was quite surprised by the appearance of Nimue in the book

I don't see either Merlin or Nimue having to exist alone for ages, watching others die. Things seem to be coming to a head much faster than that with the Millenial Return happening in 20 years (IIRC.) If the Archangels are publicly and spectacularly defeated and revealed as a lie (my guess is with Schuler being on the good guys side), then you'll only need a generation or two to age out most of the current population that will never lose their 'faith'. At that point rapid re-industrialization will occur with Owl's and the temple's resources. With no CoGA in the way, I don't see it taking centuries to get back to near Terran levels of development... decades at most. It's all already there.. just needs to be broadly taught to people who are willing to listen.

Though I do like the 'war weary' idea for Merlin. She's pretty messed up with what she's had to do.

NervousEnergy wrote:He could take it anywhere. It's the most fascinating thing about this series... there's no 'obvious' path for the plot to play out. I was quite surprised by the appearance of Nimue in the book

I don't see either Merlin or Nimue having to exist alone for ages, watching others die. Things seem to be coming to a head much faster than that with the Millenial Return happening in 20 years (IIRC.) If the Archangels are publicly and spectacularly defeated and revealed as a lie (my guess is with Schuler being on the good guys side), then you'll only need a generation or two to age out most of the current population that will never lose their 'faith'. At that point rapid re-industrialization will occur with Owl's and the temple's resources. With no CoGA in the way, I don't see it taking centuries to get back to near Terran levels of development... decades at most. It's all already there.. just needs to be broadly taught to people who are willing to listen.

Though I do like the 'war weary' idea for Merlin. She's pretty messed up with what she's had to do.

I love your optimism. But about a century and a half after Darwin and all the scientific advances since, a majority of Americans still believe in a six day creation. Why would Safehold be different?

Don

n7axw wrote:

NervousEnergy wrote:He could take it anywhere. It's the most fascinating thing about this series... there's no 'obvious' path for the plot to play out. I was quite surprised by the appearance of Nimue in the book

I don't see either Merlin or Nimue having to exist alone for ages, watching others die. Things seem to be coming to a head much faster than that with the Millenial Return happening in 20 years (IIRC.) If the Archangels are publicly and spectacularly defeated and revealed as a lie (my guess is with Schuler being on the good guys side), then you'll only need a generation or two to age out most of the current population that will never lose their 'faith'. At that point rapid re-industrialization will occur with Owl's and the temple's resources. With no CoGA in the way, I don't see it taking centuries to get back to near Terran levels of development... decades at most. It's all already there.. just needs to be broadly taught to people who are willing to listen.

Though I do like the 'war weary' idea for Merlin. She's pretty messed up with what she's had to do.

I love your optimism. But about a century and a half after Darwin and all the scientific advances since, a majority of Americans still believe in a six day creation. Why would Safehold be different?

Don

Normaly I would tend to agree with your sentiment, but there is one thing that would mitigate against a mind set like that:
The Gbaba!
To paraphrase: "Nothing focuses the mind like the sight of the gallows"
Knowing that there are creepy crawlies that are totally bent on your destruction, will probably result in two schools of thoughts: the ostrich approach - hunker down and shiver and hope for the best, or the get-them-before-they-get-us school.

Who are the Ghabba?? Devils invented by those aweful heretics to scare us into giving up the true church... Believe it or not there are people in our real world who think like that... That, of course, slanders a perfectly respectable verb...THINK!!

Don

Time to modernization: centuries.

If you don't believe me, look at our own planet, the less well-to-do parts, and progress over the last 50 years.