Russell Chapman wrote:
> I happened to be looking for an old email in my mail folders
> when I came across some stuff I had saved from mid 1996 from
> the list. I know we went through all this 5 years ago, but I
> can't remember - did we ever determine when the list actually
> started? I'm sure there are people here who were here well
> before me (Julia and Steve for starters), so it must be close
> to a decade old.
The list is 10 years, 13 days old. Happy Anniversary!
I just searched through my hard drive to find my oldest saved
emails. I found a zip file containing archived digests from
before I joined, including digest number #1. The first post
of digest #1 was sent by Stewart Blandon on Mon, 15 Apr 1996
12:03:13 -0700 (PDT).
In fact, here it is...
Date: Mon, 15 Apr 1996 12:03:13 -0700 (PDT)
From: Stewart Blandon <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: your mail
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Hello Stefan,
Could you please tell me more about GURPS Uplift. I've never heard
about this. I assume it's a role playing game of some kind. There
seems to be a source of information on the Uplift universe. Did
David Brin write this information or is it speculations by other
authors?
> There's some discrepancy here. Startide Rising seems to state
> that the Milky Way is Galaxy One.
I just recently reread Startide Rising and did not get the impression
the Brin was locating it anywhere yet. It is in Brightness that a
definitive answer is give (if I can find the page no. I forward it
to you)
Stewart
[And here's the response:]
Date: Mon, 15 Apr 1996 19:39:36 -0400
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: your mail
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
In a message dated 96-04-15 16:08:13 EDT, you write:
> Could you please tell me more about GURPS Uplift. I've never
> heard about this.
GURPS is a role-playing system published by Steve Jackson Games
(http://www.io.com/sjgames).
GURPS Uplift was a "worldbook" that let you roleplay in the Uplift universe.
It's out of print, and probably will stay that way unless I have time to
update it. And people ask for it . . .
> I assume it's a role playing game of some kind. There seems to be a
> source of information on the Uplift universe.
Oooh yeah. Jam-packed. And some stuff got left out!
> Did David Brin write this
> information or is it speculations by other authors?
It's either derived from the books, supplied by Dave via notes, or
made up by me (and some friends) and given a stamp of approval. (The
Jophur/Treakie of Brightness Reef owe some to the "Jophur construction
kit" rules in the game book, which is fine by me!)
--Stefan
[Julia's first post was time stamped Tue, 23 Apr 1996 08:46:07 -0500
(CDT), eight days after the first list post.]
Date: Tue, 23 Apr 1996 08:46:07 -0500 (CDT)
From: Julia Thompson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Godel & Turing problem
On Tue, 23 Apr 1996, Yee Yang Li Hector wrote:
> Just wondering:
>
> If you're familiar with the Godel incompleteness theorem and the Turing
> halting problem (I've had a passing familiarity with them), could someone
> try to explain away the existence of sentient computers in the Galactic
> Center / the Startide universe / the Heart of the comet / Earth
universes?
>
> If I recall correctly, Godel's theorem shows that any formal system
that
> included arithmetic was either incomplete or inconsistent. Does that not
> mean that any computation system cannot be sentient because it cannot
> include arithmetic?
Someone mentioned this in one of the newsgroups I subscribe to (can't
remember which one, unfortunately) and pointed us to an essay he had put
on the web:
http://www.sdsc.edu/~jeff/Godel_vs_AI.html
I would recommend reading this, if you're interested in the Godel/AI issue.
Julia Thompson
[My first presence on the list was an email I'd sent to Hector, which
he forwarded to the list at Mon, 06 May 1996 15:19:48 -0400]
Date: Mon, 06 May 1996 15:19:48 -0400
From: Yee Yang Li Hector <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [email protected]
Subject: Why Asimov chose an all-human Galaxy
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Return-Path: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Date: Mon, 06 May 1996 13:54:36 -0500
> X-PH: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Cornell Modified)
> From: Steve Sloan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Yang Li Hector Yee)
> Subject: Why Asimov chose an all-human Galaxy
> X-URL: http://infinity.resnet.cornell.edu/brin/brin.html
> Actually, Isaac chose an all-human galaxy due to his editor, John W.
> Campbell. Campbell always believed humans would win out against aliens
> every time. He believed that even though aliens might have better
> technology, or other advantages, there was always something unusual
> about humans that would let our species win. Isaac felt this had
> something to do with some subconscious racist biases of Campbell's, and
> the two argued about it. Isaac wanted to avoid the whole matter by
> avoiding aliens.
YEE YANG LI HECTOR
Cornell University,
Ithaca, NY
Web: http://infinity.resnet.cornell.edu | My Web Server
Me: /hector/hector.html | About Me
Dreams: /hector/ddreams.html | 3D animations and graphics
BrinFAQ: /brin/brin.html | Brin/Benford List Owner
Shadows MPEG: /hector/final/shadows.html | B5 animations
Tel [removed]
[My first post as a member was Tue, 7 May 1996 12:15:31 -0500, 22 days
after the list's first post.]
Date: Tue, 7 May 1996 12:15:31 -0500
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Steve Sloan)
To: [email protected]
Subject: On Foundation and the Galactic Center
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
In later Foundation novels, when Isaac heard about the evidence for
a black hole at the center of the Galaxy, he decided to move Trantor
from the center to a close orbit around the Galactic nucleus. I wonder
if more than radiation scared away the first Trantorian colonists...
That may be the way to make the Galactic Center series compatible with
Asimov's Galaxy.
Steve Sloan II
home telephone: [removed]
Attends: University of Alabama in Huntsville
e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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