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These explanations about Truth, Essentiality, and Relevance:
"JOHN: what is it about our situation that you wanted to tell me? JOHN: is it bad?
ROSE: Good and bad are words that don't mean anything, beyond a certain threshold of mortal consideration.
ROSE: There's a different scale I've come to understand. Another dichotomy that's less... emotional, I guess?
ROSE: Consider, instead of the word "good," using the word "essential."
ROSE: And what exists at the opposite polarity from essential is...
ROSE: Something that is best not to contemplate."
"ROSE: Of course everything is fine here.
ROSE: We're outside of canon now.
JOHN: yeah, i know. what does that actually MEAN though?
JOHN: are you saying this isn't really happening?
ROSE: Of course it's happening.
ROSE: Just because certain events take place outside of canon, it doesn't mean those events are non-canon.
JOHN: oh.
ROSE: In other words, there is an important distinction between events which can be considered to occur inside canon, outside canon, and those which are not canon at all.
ROSE: The day we went through that door and claimed our reward, we passed a threshold between continua marked by differing degrees of relevance, truth, and essentiality.
ROSE: Those are the three pillars of canon."
"ROSE: Any event said to take place inside canon will have nonzero values of relevance and essentiality, while maintaining an absolute foundation in truth, by definition.
ROSE: Whereas events outside canon have diminished values of relevance and essentiality. Or, for the most part, can be considered neither relevant nor essential at all.
ROSE: But such events can't be said to be untrue either. Instead, it's better to regard their truth value as highly conditional."
"ROSE: So to be clear, everything that's taken place here on Earth C since we exited canon can be considered completely irrelevant, and for the most part, absolutely inessential. Yet none of it can be called untrue.
ROSE: At least, up until precisely today.
JOHN: ok.
JOHN: then what does non-canon mean?
ROSE: Events that are formally non-canon have no truth whatsoever, by definition.
ROSE: They may have relevance and essentiality values that are nonzero, or even quite high, but only as projections along an imaginary axis, resulting from highly subjective frames of reference.
ROSE: But due to those events having no truth, and thus carrying no real weight, the other properties are basically rendered meaningless."
"JOHN: it feels like it's been so long since i did, or even thought about... anything that mattered at all.
ROSE: Yes, the longer we live outside of canon, the more tenuous our relationship with canon becomes.
ROSE: Hence the urgency.
JOHN: then what's going to happen if we keep dragging our feet?
ROSE: I mentioned that events outside canon have a truth value that tends to be conditional, remember?
JOHN: um.
ROSE: Well, I did. But let me put it another way.
ROSE: As long as we live outside canon, everything that happens will technically be "real," but only conditionally.
ROSE: There are certain crucial events inside canon which must happen in order to continue to prop up the legitimacy of events here on Earth C.
ROSE: And you specifically, John, have a responsibility to make sure those events take place.
JOHN: and i take it that means going back and killing lord english?
ROSE: Yes.
ROSE: His defeat is the keystone to this entire continuity.
ROSE: Much like his life, in some sick way, governed the overall design of the bridge which that keystone was holding up.
ROSE: But without it, all of this falls apart. Every thing we've been through, in a way that's impossible for a single mind to fully comprehend, becomes retroactively discredited.
JOHN: so... reality will be destroyed, or something?
JOHN: hasn't that already sort of happened?
JOHN: i mean, when all the black space started cracking?
ROSE: No, this consequence isn't physical, or even a disruption of the timeline. It's more of a conceptual unraveling.
ROSE: If you miss the chance to authenticate canon events, something will take place that's a bit difficult to describe, but I've encountered a term for it.
ROSE: It's called "dissipation."
ROSE: Like, a notional fading. As if something, somewhere, is undergoing a process of "forgetting," and we are what is being forgotten.
ROSE: All ideas, people and their full potentialities, possible outcomes and their specific unfolding, all these things live inside conscious frameworks.
ROSE: The further removed we get from authentication of canon events, the less relevant they become, and they slowly fade from the conscious frameworks which kept them stable."
"JOHN: so if we're going to go back and kill him in time to "authenticate canon," i guess we have to get going soon.
JOHN: like today? ROSE: Yes.
JOHN: are you sure you're actually up for a fight though? no offense, but you're looking a little worse for the wear.
ROSE: I'm not going.
JOHN: oh.
ROSE: None of us are. Only you.
JOHN: what?? but you said...
ROSE: John, this is the victory state.
JOHN: what the hell does that even mean.
ROSE: When we went through the door, and passed beyond the threshold of canon, we effectively retired from bearing any responsibility for influencing canon events. We've all been sort of decommissioned as active players on the cosmic stage, with severely diminished relevance attributes.
ROSE: All of us except for you, of course, since you've retained your retcon abilities.
JOHN: ok, i get that. kind of.
JOHN: but... couldn't you all just come along anyway?
ROSE: We could. But it wouldn't serve any purpose.
ROSE: It wouldn't plug up the remaining dark spots in canon.
ROSE: You'll need a group of active players. Those still stuck inside the stream of canonic karma."
"JOHN: what is it about our situation that you wanted to tell me? JOHN: is it bad?
ROSE: Good and bad are words that don't mean anything, beyond a certain threshold of mortal consideration.
ROSE: There's a different scale I've come to understand. Another dichotomy that's less... emotional, I guess?
ROSE: Consider, instead of the word "good," using the word "essential."
ROSE: And what exists at the opposite polarity from essential is...
ROSE: Something that is best not to contemplate."
"ROSE: Of course everything is fine here.
ROSE: We're outside of canon now.
JOHN: yeah, i know. what does that actually MEAN though?
JOHN: are you saying this isn't really happening?
ROSE: Of course it's happening.
ROSE: Just because certain events take place outside of canon, it doesn't mean those events are non-canon.
JOHN: oh.
ROSE: In other words, there is an important distinction between events which can be considered to occur inside canon, outside canon, and those which are not canon at all.
ROSE: The day we went through that door and claimed our reward, we passed a threshold between continua marked by differing degrees of relevance, truth, and essentiality.
ROSE: Those are the three pillars of canon."
"ROSE: Any event said to take place inside canon will have nonzero values of relevance and essentiality, while maintaining an absolute foundation in truth, by definition.
ROSE: Whereas events outside canon have diminished values of relevance and essentiality. Or, for the most part, can be considered neither relevant nor essential at all.
ROSE: But such events can't be said to be untrue either. Instead, it's better to regard their truth value as highly conditional."
"ROSE: So to be clear, everything that's taken place here on Earth C since we exited canon can be considered completely irrelevant, and for the most part, absolutely inessential. Yet none of it can be called untrue.
ROSE: At least, up until precisely today.
JOHN: ok.
JOHN: then what does non-canon mean?
ROSE: Events that are formally non-canon have no truth whatsoever, by definition.
ROSE: They may have relevance and essentiality values that are nonzero, or even quite high, but only as projections along an imaginary axis, resulting from highly subjective frames of reference.
ROSE: But due to those events having no truth, and thus carrying no real weight, the other properties are basically rendered meaningless."
"JOHN: it feels like it's been so long since i did, or even thought about... anything that mattered at all.
ROSE: Yes, the longer we live outside of canon, the more tenuous our relationship with canon becomes.
ROSE: Hence the urgency.
JOHN: then what's going to happen if we keep dragging our feet?
ROSE: I mentioned that events outside canon have a truth value that tends to be conditional, remember?
JOHN: um.
ROSE: Well, I did. But let me put it another way.
ROSE: As long as we live outside canon, everything that happens will technically be "real," but only conditionally.
ROSE: There are certain crucial events inside canon which must happen in order to continue to prop up the legitimacy of events here on Earth C.
ROSE: And you specifically, John, have a responsibility to make sure those events take place.
JOHN: and i take it that means going back and killing lord english?
ROSE: Yes.
ROSE: His defeat is the keystone to this entire continuity.
ROSE: Much like his life, in some sick way, governed the overall design of the bridge which that keystone was holding up.
ROSE: But without it, all of this falls apart. Every thing we've been through, in a way that's impossible for a single mind to fully comprehend, becomes retroactively discredited.
JOHN: so... reality will be destroyed, or something?
JOHN: hasn't that already sort of happened?
JOHN: i mean, when all the black space started cracking?
ROSE: No, this consequence isn't physical, or even a disruption of the timeline. It's more of a conceptual unraveling.
ROSE: If you miss the chance to authenticate canon events, something will take place that's a bit difficult to describe, but I've encountered a term for it.
ROSE: It's called "dissipation."
ROSE: Like, a notional fading. As if something, somewhere, is undergoing a process of "forgetting," and we are what is being forgotten.
ROSE: All ideas, people and their full potentialities, possible outcomes and their specific unfolding, all these things live inside conscious frameworks.
ROSE: The further removed we get from authentication of canon events, the less relevant they become, and they slowly fade from the conscious frameworks which kept them stable."
"JOHN: so if we're going to go back and kill him in time to "authenticate canon," i guess we have to get going soon.
JOHN: like today? ROSE: Yes.
JOHN: are you sure you're actually up for a fight though? no offense, but you're looking a little worse for the wear.
ROSE: I'm not going.
JOHN: oh.
ROSE: None of us are. Only you.
JOHN: what?? but you said...
ROSE: John, this is the victory state.
JOHN: what the hell does that even mean.
ROSE: When we went through the door, and passed beyond the threshold of canon, we effectively retired from bearing any responsibility for influencing canon events. We've all been sort of decommissioned as active players on the cosmic stage, with severely diminished relevance attributes.
ROSE: All of us except for you, of course, since you've retained your retcon abilities.
JOHN: ok, i get that. kind of.
JOHN: but... couldn't you all just come along anyway?
ROSE: We could. But it wouldn't serve any purpose.
ROSE: It wouldn't plug up the remaining dark spots in canon.
ROSE: You'll need a group of active players. Those still stuck inside the stream of canonic karma."
