'When the gates themselves are open, a sphere appears within the central area that is not so much black as pure nothingness.'—[i]Eclipse Phase[/i] Core, p. 378
I do wonder if there will be any more physical descriptions (or illustrations, for that matter) of the gates. I would imagine so.
I've seen this concept of 'not black, but [i]nothing[/i]' in a number of fantasy and sci-fi novels, and it's poetic, but what does it mean? How is 'pure nothingness' anything other than 'pure black'? If there's nothing, then there's no light reaching the eye, therefore it's black.
What I've tentatively gone with in my games so far is that it's just that: poetry. Understanding that you're looking into a wormhole created by a machine built by the machines that nearly exterminated transhumanity embellishes the picture a bit. Like looking into the center of a black hole: what you're seeing is black, but as you intellectually understand it to be an incomprehensibly dense object with massive destructive capabilities, you're likely to describe it with more awe and flourish than, 'it's a black circle with a big ring of light around it.'
Maybe the wormhole is even something of a very mild basilisk hack: there is sensory input the observer is not consciously aware of, inducing the sort of creeping dread that would tend to repel many people. An afterthought by the TITANs, perhaps. Practically an Easter egg in the code.
Whatever the case, I feel as if I'm probably missing other explanations of this turn of phrase, so if you have an interpretation of your own, shoot!
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Not So Much Black as Pure Nothingness
Fri, 2010-07-16 00:38
#1
Saerain
Not So Much Black as Pure Nothingness
Fri, 2010-07-16 05:28
#2
Decivre
Re: Not So Much Black as Pure Nothingness
If you look at a black object, you can still see definition. Observing black clothing closely will allow you to see threading, pattern, and shape, while looking at any number of other black objects will still allow you to see detail. This is because while black is not a color in the light spectrum, an object that is black still reflects and refracts enough light for you to actually see an object. In that sense, when you think of black in the sense that a pandora gate is black, no object can ever be that black. The inside of a Pandora gate has no definition, no detail, no shape. To call it "black" would be like calling the blinding flash that occurs during a nuclear explosion "white". It is dark to the point of visual loss.
This is generally intended to invoke an emotional fear of sorts. When people see black clothes, phones and cars, it doesn't invoke the same sensations as the "black" within a sense deprivation chamber. The former is stylish, the latter bone-chilling. This is the sort of black you'll see when you look into a Pandora gate... not like looking at some black ball floating in the air, but like looking into a pure void and not really knowing if it reaches to another place or gives you a doorway to nonexistence.
—
Transhumans will one day be the Luddites of the posthuman age.
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Fri, 2010-07-16 06:49
#3
UpliftedOctopi
Re: Not So Much Black as Pure Nothingness
I can't help but think of Event Horizon. So basically, these gates emit no light (at least not in the visible spectrum) but still interrupts light from objects behind it. I see why black hole pops into mind, but while similarities may exist these seem like rather docile black holes. Assuming light based vision, we can't see it but cant see through it either? This would suggest that just as the books notes that atmosphere does not "leak" through, if I remember correctly, light does not "leak" through either. Does this suggest that the gates lead through a transitory space rather than directly to the opposite gate? What is it that would allow a person, or any matter, through this gate but at the same time deny gases or mineral particles given sufficient force (assuming that is a factor) that same passage. Almost inevitably this discussing, followed through, leads to the "is light a wave or a particle" discussion. I'm content with calling it PFM or more setting appropriately "TITAN tech". I just finished China Mieville's "Iron Council" and the description of Toro's helmet in that (a thaumaturgic device capable of tearing a hole in reality which effectively acts as a teleport) is just too visceral to not use. Trips through my Pandora gates will be complete with an afterbirth of some strange unidentifiable substance accompanying any travelers on the way out.
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Fri, 2010-07-16 07:39
#4
Quincey Forder
Re: Not So Much Black as Pure Nothingness
That brings a though in my mind
what if the TITANs are hidden (prisonners?) in the void between two gates?
Like, say, the Daleks (Cue-in music "Doomsday" by Murray Gold)
I think staring in the wormhole should generate stress. lots of stress. I mean, for the human psyche it's like staring in The Colour Out of Space right before it eats you
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Fri, 2010-07-16 21:03
#5
Mandella
Re: Not So Much Black as Pure Nothingness
If I may add a couple of descriptive points:
Black is normally used to describe the color of an object, which, while black, still has texture and gloss. The eye can focus on a black object, no matter how black or far away. Nothingness, in the context of horror, is more like a blind spot. You can't focus on it. You can't assign a color to it. It's like looking through a hole in the universe, which is exactly what it is.
Fri, 2010-07-16 22:01
#6
UpliftedOctopi
Re: Not So Much Black as Pure Nothingness
@ mandella
Well put. but is it a hole that opens directly to another hole or is there a medium between the two holes which must be traveled through?
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Sat, 2010-07-17 02:02
#7
Decivre
Re: Not So Much Black as Pure Nothingness
Probably something we can't know yet. One of the key elements with the Pandora gates is that we have absolutely no clue how they work. We know what they can do, but little to nothing beyond that. We even required the assistance of the Prometheans to actually use them.
—
Transhumans will one day be the Luddites of the posthuman age.
[url=http://bit.ly/2p3wk7c]Help me get my gaming fix, if you want.[/url]
Sun, 2010-07-18 11:03
#8
matthew_lane
Re: Not So Much Black as Pure Nothingness
I can explain that so black its pure nothingness thing. I think it was best explained in Doctor Who (with the Dalek/Cyberman invasion of Earth episodes). Its not black, its trancandental... Your eyes say "there is something there" but as it has no visual properties, your eyes can only see black. No light reflects off of it, nor does it absorb light. You can see it only as a patch of pure darkness & it makes you feel uneasy, because even though you know it should be there, it doesn't register as real thing to your perception. You could even go further and say that the object cannot be scanned by human technology, which would mean that it would still just turn up as a sphere of black in other sensor ranges (such as ultra violet & even sonar). Its a patch of non-data. It only exists as a non-existant thing.
I honestly think thats the best way to describe it. In a game where data is everything & everywhere, something that is non-data would be completely terrifying & Eclipse Phase is nothing if not a horror game.
Wed, 2010-07-21 12:14
#9
Arenamontanus
Re: Not So Much Black as Pure Nothingness
I would probably describe it as a big blind spot since that sounds creepy. An even cooler, but in practice troublesome, description would be hemispatial neglect: you ignore it. The gate is optically visible but your mind refuses to process it. But this would make most people unable to even recognize it as a gate. Still, this property might apply to other ETI or TITAN things: you are wandering around big, bulky devices and ignoring them completely. Maybe this is why the gates were finally found - that system shut off.
In practice the appearance of the gate is likely just a user interface. Which might be why it looks odd - it is trying to look like something, and our brains are not quite getting the right result. The "real" gate is probably as invisible as quantum entanglement or an operating system.
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