If we're talking about replication (of reality electronically a la Iduna's Universe), it's not just calculation (by numbers), it's future possibilities.
Now, the impression you may have gotten from the last installment is that possibilities can be conditioned by upbringing - made easier and less tough. One way to look at this is that Man's primitive survivalism is bred-out of the factor for future generations.
In this context, I saw this quote from Richard Dawkins (of The Selfish Gene.)
In our prehistoric past, we lived in extended families. Now we live in big cities, we are not among kin or people who will reciprocate our good deeds. It doesn't matter.. the reason for do-gooding is because our ancestors lived in small groups.
Yes, exactly, but he doesn't actually say that is a primitive trait of tribes - which are simply extended families writ large. The 'primitivism' he espouses is at the beck-and-call of 'their' futurist agenda.
However, the idea of neighborhood glue and elders who establish an ethos for communes that are to a large extent self-governing (strong and social) is a theme I've been following - see passim Blaxploitation movies, Detroit, Drama3 etc.
Where there is a type of toughness, there is the 30s example of outdoor baby-cages (part 2), exposure to air and germs and a physical régime that enables a degree of psychic self-reliance and communal self-sufficiency (spirit.)
The physical situation - the strong commune - imbues the spiritual wealth. The two can't be separated. Dawkins would imply that somehow our brains are programmed to be altruistic, which is highly unlikely (in that the brain can be reconditioned by environment.)
More likely is that the physical situation influences our behaviour. This comes from things like melody, rhythm, night-life, balance and coordination of body.
In other words, the body as part of a larger whole or the commune (tribe, club.) In all cases, physical coordination is paramount. Going back to Dumarest, the 'primitive physical' is very apparent Bilal's illustrations.
In a typical plot, Dumarest arrives at a planet and slots into the dynasties and feudal developments that just happen to require a mercenary/fighter with a strong ethos. His primal nature attracts females within the upper echelons of the societies.
I wrote an essay for Roy Thomas's Alter Ego (rejected) ages ago describing the area round Soho of 80s London when there were myriads of pulp-type bookshops. These were generally contained alongside sleaze, and that atmosphere of kinkyness seems to perfectly fit the Dumarest saga (PS this type of shop is featured in Godard's One Plus One, prev.)
In a primitive situation, women are lusty and sort of available, and that is the nature of sleaze. 'Tidying up' these districts is just another name for taking out the primitivism that drives society (see prev Liza Minnelli quote on the Lyceum.)
Going back to Dawkins, his denial of 'God the designer' is in a way no real difference to Musk and other engineers of their breed. They are futurists as opposed to primitivists. They worship the head as opposed to the body.
As I said at the start, the future is not simply a matter of calculation, it's possibilities or what is often termed 'expectations' in the theory of probability.
I did a bit of reading on this, and the 17th century Pascal appears to presage a parallel system of possible futures ('expected value'). These expected values are bound to be numerical and therefore basically biased towards mathematics (see 'the problem of points' or stakes).
Quantum physics can be described as 'probability calculus', and the same goes for Relativity. So, what you could easily suppose is that probability theory leads to a future of numbers.
The number aren't calculated, they are simply 'expected values'. This basically means that they will happen - owing to the laws of probability. In other words, the future we are heading towards is controlled by numbers (and algorithms, natch.)
When 'they' envisage the future, they clearly don't include melody, rhythm, balance and bodily attributes of coordination and strength. They only mean numbers and therefore machines (see The Airtight Garage).
What that could say is the future they presage is a self-fulfilling prophecy of probability. In other words, the future is a way of thinking - by engineers - and not as you might think a sequence of events!
In EC Tubb's tales, there are references to the cybernetic way of thinking - the body as a machine to be eventually housed in another machine. Dumarest's ethos evokes spiritual value of the work of actions in the cosmos where there is something called Fortune.
"..The cyber. You could have killed him. Thrown him after the acolyte. Why didn't you, Earl? He was after you, wasn't he? Chasing you, as Bochner said. Why leave him alive?"
Dumarest said, dryly, "A thousand miles, Dilys. A long way over unknown ground, and we weren't fit to begin with. How long do you think it would have taken?"
"Too long, if we could have made it at all. But what's that got to do with it?" She blinked, understanding. "The raft, Faradoc brought us the raft "
"Yes."
"And saved us from having to walk. Perhaps he even saved our lives. And you spared him because of that?"
Because of that, and the man had been hurt, helpless and dying,perhaps already dead if Bochner had failed to administer aid, or the wound had proved beyond treatment.
"You're a strange man, Earl." Dilys reached out to touch his hair, her fingers travelling down over his cheek to linger on his lips. "So hard and strong, at times, and so gentle at others.." (The Quillian Sector, page 157)
The brain and body together, balanced and coordinated, exist in the acrobatic universe of Fortune (prev.) The physical man, the morality of the kinship of blood.
Fortune is a non-random situation, and therefore can't be explained by probability but, on the other hand, random events occur in non-random situations. If you take a wild west game of poker, this is a good example of random events that occur amongst the generally physical and primitive setting of a wild west town.
The salon-setting also is a regular feature of Dumarest, giving it quite an affinity to the Western genre (of which Tubb also apparently wrote.)
