Goofs
From Anathem Wiki
In this page you can find lists and discussions about the goofs and questionable issues in Anathem.
Contents |
[edit] Notes
This page exists to discuss possible problems in the novel, Anathem. See also this topic's discussion page.
[edit] Confirmed Goofs
None so far
[edit] Proposed Goofs
[edit] Pi
On page 919, uses "p" instead of "pi", and on page 298 uses "pi"
[edit] Cord's fetch
On page 513, gets driven - though it was left behind before crossing pole Page 580 confirms fetch not available
[edit] Striped Dragons
[edit] Context
On part IV, page 200, we find:
- "Restricting ourselves to nerve-gas-farting dragons, how many colors do you think we could distinguish?"
- Opinions varied between eight and a hundred. Tulia thought she could distinguish more, Lio fewer.
- "Say ten," Orolo said. "Now, let us allow for striped dragons with alternating colors."
- "Then there would be a hundred combinations," I said.
- "Ninety," Jesry corrected me. "You can't count red/red and so on".
[edit] Objection
I submit that the number of combinations for striped dragons is actually fortyfive: arguably there is no difference between a red/blue and a blue/red dragons, so only a half of the table of the combinations would be required.
[edit] Discussion
That assumes the stripes are of equal width.
- Uhm... that's a dangerous slope to get into. If we assume different widths, then why stop at the color of the stripes? We could be considering the relative widths, for instance, or the absolute width, for that matter. Arguably, a dragon whose red stripes are two thirds of the blue ones is different from a dragon with a 1/4 ratio even if they have the same color combination. Or one inch-wide stripes would be completely different from two feet-wide ones. We end up having many more than ninety combinations total.
- Can something be said to have "red stripes" if the non-red portions are equal to the red portions in width? If there is no width differential between the red and non-red portions, then the correct description of the object's appearance would be "red and ___ striped". So the stripes must be of lesser width than the base colour of the beast, meaning there would be a red striped blue and a blue striped red variant. Since variable width is not discussed in the original discussion, I don't it as a slope. The proposal is that we assume the dialogue in the book referred to equal stripe widths, but I think it is clear that since they did not use the terminology that would suggest that, this is not what they were getting at, and since variable width was not discussed they didn't concern themselves with that complexity.
Moving back to the original, assuming equal width stripes, I would posit one could still distinguish 90 rather than 45 possibilities. With it given that a) said dragon is a closed system (i.e. defined boundries, such as a nose and a tip of the tail), and b) that the stripes are time independent (i.e. they do not change like blinking lights on a christmas tree) the stripes must be linear or radial. Assuming a linear striping pattern (like a zebra) with the nose as the first stripe and the tip of the tail the last, one distinguishes red/blue from blue/red by the initialization state of the nose. Similarly, with a radial striping pattern (such as with a watermelon), it simply comes to choosing the position of the initial state, an international date line on the dragon, if you will (pun on given b intended). In either case this would apply equally whether the linear stripes were diagonal, or in the radial case if one choses poles other than the nose and tip.
Addendum to given a:
The farts may be a debatable point as to whether this is part of the dragon and whether they are closed or open and continuously expanding. The assumption of a well defined dragon is used here for simplicity, and whether the dragon (and/or its farts) is actually open or closed is a completely different discussion.
[edit] Accidental usage of the word "earth"
On page 633, Lodoghir, reacting to Jad's proposal that the geometers came from another Narrative, shouts out "What on earth is he going on about?" Up until this point, Earth has not been mentioned so Lodoghir should have no knowledge of it possibly existing. This idiom probably should be referring to Arbre instead. Although, it is italicized which makes its usage stranger. The red-shirted Valer's scream during the battle in Mahsht is described as "unearthly", although "unarbrely" would be more likely on Arbre.
Again on page 879, Erasmas is telling Quin about the first draft of the new math he is founding and mentions earth. "The first draft of everything is going to be wood and earth." He clearly means the dirt but given the lengths that Stephenson went to changing the language, I'm wondering why he didn't use "arbre" to mean ground instead. In fact, he uses the word "earth" to mean soil, dirt or "terra firma," and uses the word "earthquake" throughout the book.
- Well first, the entire book is 'translated' from Orth, and since 'earth' = 'dirt' and 'earthquake' = 'the ground shaking' it makes just as much sense to use those words as "tree" and mountain". Secondly, I get the feeling that 'Arbre' is to do with trees, life, Gaia etc, in the same way that Earth is, well earth. Tro and Fthos probably have similar connections with Fire Water, Wind or something.
A search through an electronic copy of the text shows that Stephenson uses the phrase "what/why on earth …?" somewhat freely:
- During Orolo's interview with Artisan Quin, Raz asks "What on earth does that mean?" when Quin says that Artisan Flec's speelycaptor was "too good" to be used in the Mynster.
- When Cord gives Arsibalt a tampon (for his bloody nose), he asks "What on earth are those?"
- Arsibalt asks Raz, "Then why on earth did you say them to a total stranger?" to challenge his conversation with Varax the Inquisitor.
- When Lio considers making gardening his avocation, Raz asks "“But why on earth would you want to?"
- Following the Voco of Ala, Raz recalls his tenth-night conversation with Varax the Inquisitor and wonders "What on earth did that mean?"
- During his initial "interview" during Raz's first Plenary at Convox after Inbrase, Fraa Lodoghir asks, "What on earth were you and Orolo doing on the top of the volcano after dark?"
Late in the book, there are the intentional mentions of the planet Antarct (Earth), along with planets Urnud, Tro and Fthos.
[edit] Yul talking when he's not there
On page 737 and again on 739, Yul is quoted even though he's not in the scene. Perhaps this was supposed to be Jules? In the audio version the quotes are given to two other characters (the audio version has quite a few small changes from the text version, most of them a matter of taste, but a clear correction in this case). Confirmed misprint; in the paperback edition Jules and Samman is qouted for these two lines (p 771 and 773 in first Harper Collins printing).
And then, on page 740: " 'A gazebo on top of a welding rig' was how Yul might have described it, if only he had been there'."
No, this makes perfect sense. Describe things in a fanciful way by a character that would sat things that way, who is not present.
[edit] Latin Dipthong æ
How come "Sæcular" has it but not "Hylaea"?
- Hylaea was the quasi-mythical daughter of Cnoüs, right? Was Old Orth in use back then, and is her name from Old Orth, or the same language that Cnoüs used, which uses an umlaut where no Orthic names do.
- "Sæcular" as a word couldn't have come into use until there was a mathic world to contrast it to. It would seem to be a mathic conceit. Hylaea predates even the old mathic world by 1500 years.
- Secondly, that isn't an umlaut in Cnoüs, it's a diaeresis, and is there purely to demonstrate pronunciation (see the language note, page xv). Though your point that the two vowel sounds next to each other isn't used in other languages or names is well taken.
[edit] Orolo's Unviewable Guidestar Laser Analemma
During Erasmus' conversation with Lio about "going over to the Antarcs" after the first messal, Lio proposes using the guidestar lasers to communicate with the geometers, explaining that "it can’t be intercepted by anyone who’s not right on the beam line." Later, when Erasmus meets with Ala at the open-air breakfast where the rucksacks and tags are handed out, she explains that Orolo had already done something like this: "Orolo had programmed the guidestar laser on the M & M to sweep out an analemma in the sky." Such an analemma would be visible only to viewers who happened to be already situated along its path, and to each of them only as a momentary flash of laser light.
- A laser would be diffused by its passage through the atmosphere (note that its stated purpose is to analyze the atmosphere to correct for distortions). Someone with the laser pointed at or nearly at them would see the bright beam surrounded by a halo of scattered light, its size depending on the local atmospheric conditions. Very little light would be scattered a full 180 degrees from its original direction unless it hit a cloud or other object, so the laser would remain nearly undetectable to someone on the surface. This is probably a candidate for "not actually goofs".
- "... It can’t be intercepted by anyone who’s not right on the beam line." What could possibly give you the idea that the Daban Urd wasn't directly on the beam line? I take it as read that Orolo knew to point the guide-star laser at them.
- In order to perceive the tracing of the analemma they need to have been directly on the beam line the whole time. So you seem to be suggesting that Orolo was able to trace the analemma out on the surface of the icosahedron. The icosahedron is very large but it is also very far away (and moving in a non-trivial way relative to the position of the telescope) so this is difficult to do. Also, it seems that Orolo probably didn't know how big the icosahedron was when he did this. Even assuming that this is possible, though, we still need to posit the existence of enough laser detectors on the surface of the icosahedron to make sense of the signal; a telescope at a vertex is not enough since it will only detect a flash of light as the laser (briefly) points toward it. An analogy: we can trace an analemma on the side of a large apartment building with a laser pointer. If there are only a couple of windows on this face of the building, though, the people in the building will never figure out what we're doing. There need to be enough windows for people to reconstruct the signal based on when our laser shines in each window. Since the icosahedron's exterior in mostly rubble it seems to be more like the building with few windows.
- The problem seems to be that you don't know how a guide star laser works. Such a laser works by stimulating the electrons of (partly ionized) particles in the upper atmosphere, such that they will emit visible light when they fall back to their original energy level. This has *nothing* to do with scattering, because it is absorption followed by emission in random directions. (Scattering is highly dependent on the angle of the incoming light.) The result is a long thin cylinder of glowing atmosphere that will look like a star when you look at it from a small angle. (e.g. from the ground, 10 meters away from the laser with the "star" being 100km or so up) Given good instruments and a relatively small angle between the laser beam (and thus the "artificial star cylinder") and observer, you could also see this "star" from the other direction and if you sweep the laser beam, the star will appear to move in the atmosphere. The part of the atmosphere where the laser excites the particles forms a kind of "milk screen" that you could project a star or even (faint) pictures on and see them from front and behind.
- Communication through laser beams is a different matter. For one thing, you will chose a wavelength that will *not* excite any particles along the path of the laser, as that would weaken the signal. And you would of course communicate directly using the light of the laser and not indirectly using some radiation emitted through stimulation of particles.
[edit] Not actually goofs
[edit] Antarct
| Issue At the Convox, the avout give the name "Antarct" to Earth. The reason is that in the picture on the Geometers' ship and with the blood vials, there is a large ice cap on the southern pole. (Presumably, the word "antarct" indicates "south" in Orth, as it does in English.) But how do the avout identify the south pole from the picture of the globe? Surely they wouldn't simply assume that "south is down", since they make no other cultural assumptions of the Geometers. If the planet is pictured so that its rotation axis lies in the plane of the drawing, the poles could be visually inferred if there are ice "caps" on two antipodal regions (also an equatorial bulge might be measurable which would let the poles be identified). But there would be no way to tell north from south.
| Counter Z'havern mentions at the Massal that the ice cap is at the south pole, Barb laughs at this, so he has to correct himself to "or whichever pole we see at the bottom in the picture". It later turns out, Z'havern is an alien from that planet, so he would obviously know. This planet is identified as Earth by Durand (who uses the French name for the Earth) and literally as Earth by the Gan.
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[edit] "Cob" vs. "Corn"
| Issue On page 136, the origins and makeup of the tangle agricultural system are outlined. A tall, kernel-bearing plant called "cob" is described; the passage refers to "cob stalks" acting as trellises for the tangle. However, on page 799, while testing a surveillance syndev, Raz and Jesry spin a nonsensical story about how they used to make Everything Killer out of "cornstalks and shoelaces" back at Edhar. I suppose "cornstalks" could be a nonsensical word in Orth, but the Gardan's Steelyard would indicate otherwise.
| Counter The note to the reader at the beginning of the book explains that translations are not consistent, but designed for the English language reader. They could be two different plants on Arbre. It should also be noted that "corn" can refer to any grain. American English is unusual in that it uses the word almost exclusively to identify the crop that most English speakers call "maize."
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[edit] Food vs Air Consumption
| Issue Jules would not be able to breathe Arbran air in addition to not being able to eat Arbran food (insofar as getting nutrition from it). Discussion The more basic the nucleus of an element, the more likely it is to be similar across the polycosmos. Hydrogen is the same across all cosmos, because it is but a single proton. The differences arise when the arrangements of the nucleus are different (isotopes). Oxygen is relatively similar across all cosmos, though not identical, which is why Erasmus and the other Avout suffered adverse symptoms when arriving on the Geometer's ship. However, the symptoms are similar to those suffered at higher altitudes, where there is less oxygen than at sea level. The body eventually adapts, by producing more red blood cells. It's worth considering that many metabolic functions are affeccted by elements and molecules in the natural environment- I too feel that to say that the Geometers only danger is starvation, and perhaps a slightly giddy feeling of altitude sickness is not a well thought out bit of plot. Consider the bit about blacking out- even if your red blood cells did increase in efficiency to take up more of the alien oxygen, you'd still black out- this is because it's not lack of oxygen that causes the breathing reflex, but an excess of carbon dioxide. If as Stephenson makes clear, alien carbohydrates cannot be digested, then it stands to reason that alien CO2 cannot trigger breathing. Hydrogen I'll grant you, it's dirt simple, and it's arguable you could even get a smidgen of good out of boosted levels of slightly different Oxygen. But carbon and CO2 are something of a show stopper, and for me, this bugged since the revalation of Jules. In terms of the story it gets dealt with rather perfunctorily in the last 50 pages, rather as a plot device to cover everyone blacking out, loosing conciousness and getting shuffled across naratives. Jules had been on Arbre for a period of time already, he would have grown accustomed to Arbran oxygen in the weeks before the Convox. | Counter Assumptions are being made here about a fictional universe with different laws of physics. If the creator of the universe says it works, we should assume it works. - Tomben (I did, and do, but I still contend this is a clear flaw in Stephenson's story) - Anonymous I see your point, but I think that is more of a literary criticism than a mistake on the part of the author. To me a goof is a typo or mistake that is not internally consistent. For instance in this page there are references to people talking who have been written out of the scene. Tomben 18:36, 8 May 2009 (UTC) |
[edit] Gripes
Moving issues of taste away from possible actual mistakes.
[edit] Jesry and Ala
It seemed to me that the subplot involving Jesry and Ala was never resolved. While Erasmus was stuck in quarantine, Jesry admitted that he and Ala were involved in a liason. This seemed like a set up for some sort of love-triangle subplot, but it was never addressed further. This felt like an oversight. But it wasn't really crucial to the plot. It does seem at least somewhat important, since the final scene in the novel is the wedding.
[edit] Gardan's steelyard
Pictures of a steelyard show a device where something in a pan is balanced against a sliding weight on an arm. This does not match the metaphor of weighing two hypotheses against one another. But steelyard is a more vivid term than balance.
