Date: Mon, 27 Jan 2003 11:37:26 +0000
From: Spectacled Bear 
Subject: (urth) DOORS: Tina's origins

The lady in the haberdasher's called Tina a "magic doll", and in
a world with a real goddess that has to be a possibility, as Mantis
suggested. But at lunch with Lora, Green talks about how Tina isn't
really magic, and that Heathkit will sell you a robot and the Air
Force have planes that can fly and fight and land themselves. "I
couldn't build her, and I don't know anybody who could. But somebody
here might be able to, if we put our minds to it." (p270)

Maybe they did?

I know it doesn't work if the time differential is constant.
I know artificial intelligence isn't as easy as it seemed, and it
never seemed very easy - though from the point of view of a mechanical
engineer, in the late Eighties, it might seem possible enough to allow
willing suspension of disbelief. I can believe it, for a story.

But the really interesting question about Tina, that I have not seen
addressed before, is: how does she know about Daddies? For his birthday,
"Didn't Mama and Daddy give you anything?" (p228) Green hasn't seen his
father for years, but Tina says his father still loves him. "I know about
Daddies, though. And you don't." And so on. Where in the world - in which
world - did she learn about Daddies?

Spectacled Bear. 


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