541. Living again, 3
It’s nice and also a little spooky, how much and how naturally there is a smile on my sister’s face now as we walk.
She just achieved one of her goals in life, just like that.
All the voluminous and colourful orbs of blood or experimental fluids she used to carry are now gone.
They’re only replaced by transparent beads she plays with between her fingers and within the palms of her hands.
We still walk around gorgeous landscapes that span an endless chain of mountains. The weather is clear and nice.
N - Catch.
She throws me one of her barely visible pearls. I almost miss it but I get it. I hold it between thumb and index above my head to look through it like a lens. Optically, it acts closer to a thin lens than the sphere it actually is. Another oddity caused by T.I. surely.
R - What’s inside that one?
N - You.
R - Me?
N - This one is programmed to create a copy of you, out of anything. It just requires a lot more energy to work.
R - Wha... What should I do with it? I don’t want to meet another copy of Rose that much.
B - I think Night sees it as a backup for your body. As we did before. Even though we’re looking after you right now, we know eventually something will happen to you.
R - Shut up you.
I give a little slap to the pale flowers growing there gently. Nightmare looks amused.
N - You can tweak it for different purposes, two of which you just mentioned. But there’s another one, at least.
R - Hm? Come on, don’t tease me.
N - If you use it differently, this is a human egg. Using no T.I., you could hatch it into a child, new born.
I feel a shiver, while I still hold that thing in my hand.
Good and awful memories flash in the very last corner of my skull. Where it’s happy or dark.
My mouth feels dry.
Nightmare snatches it back from me as she saw me frozen there.
N - You don’t have to decide right away. It’s yours if you want to.
R - I don’t know what to say.
She grins.
N - Just thank me I’m a god.
I only halfway get her jokes sometimes. At least enough to tell this was a joke of some sort.
She shows me another lens meanwhile.
N - This one holds the information to craft one of the rose petals salamanders. And this one, the turquoise grass.
R - You didn’t lose time.
N - It’s easier to copy than to reinvent.
R - Right. You did mention that before, and Blume too. Any bird yet then?
N - No... That is annoying... But I don’t have the entire full data for any bird species left in my memories. It would take longer work. I still have enough to design new ones though.
R - I just realised, we haven’t seen any real bird since we arrived on this continent, quite a while ago now.
B - Most species disappeared. Southern Americas may have been unlucky.
R - Hm... Well, maybe the jungle will still hold some. Are we still far?
B - Maybe one or two thousand kilometres. Hard to say. But once we finish crossing the Andes, we can’t really miss the Amazon.
R - I’m eager to see how it looks and how it evolved.
Nightmare seems to realise something.
N - That just reminded me of something.
R - What is it, sis’?
N - You often use the word evolution the wrong way.
I chuckle. I know that very well.
R - There’s the literary meaning indeed, and the more common meaning to it. I know I use it for both.
Since she started on the topic I’m passionate about, I easily go on.
R - The Darwinian meaning is of slow and various changes brought out through natural selection and generations. And thank you so much Blume for teaching me about genetics and mutations.
B - You are very welcome dear.
R - Evolution from the literary definition is the natural selection of the most adapted inherited mutations to a current context. Whereas the more common understanding of the word evolution means a slow progress, as if it was something linear like the progress in the making of a work of art. They are inherently different concepts but they do appear similar when you look at them retrospectively. Every mutation that didn’t bring an advantage is removed from history over a few generation of selection, and all that you see is the infinite and tenuous string of transformation. And it’s true that I talked about beings-like-you and dünyanın çiçekleri as evolving over their own lifetime. Which is altogether a mistake on a very literary conception of the principle, but also, dare I say, a relevant evolution of the meaning of that concept? Because you are less bound by genetics and reproduction, yet you adapt yourself, willingly, and you change a lot. I wanted to say there that you evolve a lot, but that is the more common and mistaken use of the word. You transform much faster, because you are closer to a concept like a culture or a society than an animal organism, being unbound by flesh. Which means beings-like-you bring a new set of rules to evolution, bringing the literal meaning much closer to the implied and common one. There’s also the definition, related to the second one, that sees evolution as an opposition in speed to a revolution. Instead of changing everything abruptly and with shocks, with great violence even, against greater resistance; bring it slower and frictionless over a longer period of time. And there will be far less resistance to your changes, as you give time to... adapt.
B - This also applies in mechanics.
R - That’s right! And that’s where the word evolution still has a relevant meaning, although that stretches further away from its root definition. But cogs will wear out faster if used more abruptly.
B - Would there have been other meanings to the word that would have quickly been discarded along the way?
My brain feels fuzzy and warm as I realise what she means. I burst out in laughter.
R - Oh good one Blume! Now you get it! That’s another thing that is great about evolution. It’s a principle that encompasses far more than just biology! That’s why the original meaning becomes a living fossil word meaning, while other kinds of meanings arise. Because they’re selected through use in languages, and because this concept discovered or popularised then truly applies easily to many a thing in life.
N - Now that is my lord of chaos speaking the truth.
R - Hey! I told you it’s a terrible nickname!
She laughs heartily now. We caw at each other then, in between grins and laughs. And slowly we progress on our way across the beautiful and desert Andes.
~
Debating with lover and family sure can be nice.
Evolution is one of those words that grew too big for itself and what it could encompass. I’m sure there were many more like it over time, with meaning diluting and separating in divergent species through spreading use. But this one is my favourite.
I may have evolved and transformed a lot over the years, in many more ways than one would expect, but this is something that remained true since I learnt about it as a child.
The word chaos has similar depth and importance for my sister.
Most would only hear the common definition of it when mentioned.
She and I understand and hear the same deeper and more profound one.
~
