Seharvepernfan
2012-03-02, 06:44 AM
I read Deepness last summer and I just finished A Fire Upon the Deep recently, meaning that I read them out of order.
I've been trying to see the connections between the two and I think I'm coming up short. I'm also trying to see what Vinge might be saying about real life earth.
So, I've got a couple of questions aimed at those who have read these two novels.
1. At the end of Fire, Pham draws power from the Tines' sun to fuel the countermeasure. The On/Off star in Deepness goes out regularly, is this because it is being used by a Power (or greater Power)?
2. The diamond-bodied supposed forerunners of the spiders - are they somehow connected to the Blight? Is there anything about them being diamond that isn't explicitly stated?
3. Do you think Vinge is trying to show how Earth might be connected to deep-past alien civilizations?
4. Do you think Vinge is trying to show how Earth might currently be manipulated by stranded aliens?
5. Are there any other revelations (mind-blowing or not?) that you noticed between or about the two stories?
Regarding #5, one occured to me while reading Fire. I was raised Christian, and one of the Christian beliefs is that God warns humans about being good so we can ascend to heaven instead of being sinful and burning in hell. In Vinges' Milky Way, the Unthinking Depths could be considered Hell - they are hot and dangerous due to all the stars and black holes and other catastrophes always occuring there and no civilization can exist there due to the thought constraints. The Beyond and Transcend (or the Magellanic Clouds, as is hinted) might be considered Heaven in that they are relatively safe and allow for high technology (like post-singularity/scarcity) and enlightened existence.
I think it was stated that the boundaries of the zones move slowly outward, meaning that any one point in the galaxy (like, say, Earth) might go from being in the Slowness to being in the Unthinking Depths. Might Vinge be hinting that God (A cloud person? A Power?) warned humans (in Vinges' universe) that if they don't shape up and start crackin', that they will eventually be doomed to the Unthinking Depths?
I'd love to hear from you :smallsmile:
I've been trying to see the connections between the two and I think I'm coming up short. I'm also trying to see what Vinge might be saying about real life earth.
So, I've got a couple of questions aimed at those who have read these two novels.
1. At the end of Fire, Pham draws power from the Tines' sun to fuel the countermeasure. The On/Off star in Deepness goes out regularly, is this because it is being used by a Power (or greater Power)?
2. The diamond-bodied supposed forerunners of the spiders - are they somehow connected to the Blight? Is there anything about them being diamond that isn't explicitly stated?
3. Do you think Vinge is trying to show how Earth might be connected to deep-past alien civilizations?
4. Do you think Vinge is trying to show how Earth might currently be manipulated by stranded aliens?
5. Are there any other revelations (mind-blowing or not?) that you noticed between or about the two stories?
Regarding #5, one occured to me while reading Fire. I was raised Christian, and one of the Christian beliefs is that God warns humans about being good so we can ascend to heaven instead of being sinful and burning in hell. In Vinges' Milky Way, the Unthinking Depths could be considered Hell - they are hot and dangerous due to all the stars and black holes and other catastrophes always occuring there and no civilization can exist there due to the thought constraints. The Beyond and Transcend (or the Magellanic Clouds, as is hinted) might be considered Heaven in that they are relatively safe and allow for high technology (like post-singularity/scarcity) and enlightened existence.
I think it was stated that the boundaries of the zones move slowly outward, meaning that any one point in the galaxy (like, say, Earth) might go from being in the Slowness to being in the Unthinking Depths. Might Vinge be hinting that God (A cloud person? A Power?) warned humans (in Vinges' universe) that if they don't shape up and start crackin', that they will eventually be doomed to the Unthinking Depths?
I'd love to hear from you :smallsmile: