- 13,784
- 3,770
While High 1-B was already accepted in this thread, I was told it was probably better to make a new thread just for Low 1-A (or higher, depending on how people evaluate the evidence), so here it is.
Given the evidence presented here and in the cosmology page, Mount On seems to be just the mathematical representation of Absolute Infinity, while the White Light would the theological representation of Absolute Infinity, as Ultima also says here after I brought up the situation to him. In addition, you can see that they are not the same in the official map as well.
The abstract concepts they represent are specifically stated to be Number, Space, Logic, Infinity, and Information:
They are irrational, infinite, unlimited:
Their influence goes beyond what is merely geometrical or physical:
Mount On/Cimon
Mount On is a physical mountain of Absolute Infinite size:Jesus smiled. I finally had the courage to look at his eyes, filled with terrible peace. “Your body is with…friends. Mount On is on Cimön. It’s infinite, Absolutely Infinite, but you’ll find a way to the end.” - White Light Chapter 6
My thoughts turned to the Absolute Infinity. That was bigger than alef-null, bigger than alef-one—bigger than any conceivable level. I was supposed to go to Cimön and climb a mountain Absolutely Infinite in height. - White Light Chapter 6
“Of course. Now use your right-brain a little, Felix. Think of Cimön as an infinite strip of canvas with a painting on each side. I speak concisely. The lower portion is water on both sides. One can even sail across the bottom edge. On Flipside the top part is mountain. Mount On. A shrinking field fits the whole Absolute Infinity in. - White Light Chapter 14
Note
The Absolute Infinity of Mount On/Cimon should not be confused with the Absolute Infinity of the White Light. Cimon and the White Light are shown to be different things:As if he sensed my unspoken question, Franx began speaking again. “There is no way out of Cimön except into the Absolute. I have sought this way for many centuries. The time for surcease has come for me, will come for you.” - White Light Chapter 14
“Maybe you like it, and maybe you didn’t. But you came back. You materialized again, part-way up Mount On and as far from the Absolute as ever.” - White Light Chapter 14
Given the evidence presented here and in the cosmology page, Mount On seems to be just the mathematical representation of Absolute Infinity, while the White Light would the theological representation of Absolute Infinity, as Ultima also says here after I brought up the situation to him. In addition, you can see that they are not the same in the official map as well.
The Elemental Spirits/The Apeiron
The Elemental Spirits (also called the Apeiron) are entities/aliens who are abstract concepts that underlie all of reality. In addition, the Water Spirit in particular is stated to be "logically prior" to the other Spirits and more foundational than even them:“This is Earth, Air, Fire, and Water,” I told Harry. “They’re elemental spirits. Gnome, sprite, goblin, mermaid.”
“What about all the others?” asked Harry, sticking his head out through our broken windshield. There were zillions of other bright beings, darting and dancing as far as the eye could see.
“Those are all us, too,” said Earth, the gnome. “There’s only one of me, but I weave back and forth through all of space and time.”
“Me first,” corrected the goblin. “Only me in the wee, wee start.”
“I come before the start,” said Air melodiously. “I am the framework.”
“Wa glub,” said Water, waving a slack hand at the other three and then at herself. “Gaga me.”
“She means that she is logically prior to all of us,” said the sprite. “In the sense that form and becoming are more basic than substance and being.” - Inertia
“I don’t believe this,” said Harry, struggling with our spaceship. “This is so unscientific it makes me sick. I’d almost rather die than be saved by pixie-dust. Why don’t you…elementals tell me you’re from Betelgeuse or Proxima Centauri. It’d made me feel a whole lot better.”
“We’re not from anywhere in particular,” said the sprite, taking Harry’s arm to keep him from drifting off. “We’re abstract concepts personified. Like the electron. The electron is in each piece of matter right? Or space. Space is everywhere.” - Inertia
The abstract concepts they represent are specifically stated to be Number, Space, Logic, Infinity, and Information:
I have five of the apeiron beings, because I think of mathematics as having core concepts: Number, Space, Logic, Infinity and Information. These correspond to, respectively, the Tangled Tree, the Braided Worm, the Bristle Cat, the Swarm of Eyes and the Crooked Beetle. The Crooked Beetle is also our old friend the Mandelbrot Set. The creatures also represent, again in the same order, Earth, Water, Fire, Air and the Cosmos. - Rudy Rucker's Note on "The Square Root of Pythagoras"
They are irrational, infinite, unlimited:
Morning sunlight fell across Pythagoras’s face and he woke. For a few moments his mind was blessedly empty, free of the crooked, the infinite, the irrational, the unlimited—free of the apeiron. - The Square Root of Pythagoras
Their influence goes beyond what is merely geometrical or physical:
“Yes, I have taught that Earth is the cube, Air is the octahedron, Fire the tetrahedron, Water the icosahedron, and the Cosmos the dodecahedron. Well and good.” Pythagoras drew a deep breath and gathered the courage to continue. “But now I must tell you that these teachings are nursery rhymes, childish fables, the fond pratings of an old fool. The apeiron runs in and out of every earthly object, and, lo my little ones, the infinite even inhabits our minds.” A furious hubbub threatened to drown him out. Pythagoras raised his voice to a shriek. “Everything is crooked, irrational, unlimited, apeiron—” - The Square Root of Pythagoras
Last edited: