Ventus by Karl Schroeder

Karl Schroeder / Ventus / Page 600
no heresy such as thalience could ever occur there. Wolfgang
Kreiger, the team leader, said, "Science has no way to show or
access the metaphysical essences supposed to lie behind
appearances. If these essences do not exist in themselves, we
will create them." The understanding was that they would be
creating them in the image of scientific truth.
But what if, for whatever reason, the designers were to
uncouple the nano from the requirement that it use human
semantic categories? What if the real agenda was to let the
Ventus intelligences develop their own conceptual languages?
Theorists as early as Chomsky had suggested that languages
can exist that humans cannot even in principle understand.
to have developed such a language.
All it would take would be for one of the programmers to
explain why the self-aware nanotech that blanketed the planet
grew to fruition, then suddenly become incoherent and cut off
all contact with their creators.
Her theory must be right. She knew it on a deep level, and
apprehension and excitement made her almost skip as she
moved down the tunnel.
The corridor ended in a huge metal valve door, which
was currently open. A serling with the appearance of a kindly
old man waited for her inside the archive itself. "May I help
you?" it inquired; since it was part of inscape, and ultimately
part of the Government, it already knew why she was here.
Serlings had their ways, however.
papers of the thalience riots. Also some of the original Ventus
Project papers."