Questions About Pushing Ice

by Alastair Reynolds

Reader Q&A

To ask other readers questions about Pushing Ice, please sign up.

Answered Questions (4)

This question contains spoilers... (view spoiler)

Chris

This answer contains spoilers… (view spoiler)[Some aspects of the Moon/Structure relationship aren't crystal clear, but my takeaway based on the rest of the story is that The Structure was intended to combat the statistical frustration that is the Drake Equation. IE: the probable likelihood that extraterrestrial civilizations are able to coexist with one another across interstellar space is extremely low, whether because one civilization may snuff itself out, or another may live, explore, and fade away before meeting any others, or yet another may evolve into purely digital beings.

(I could have sworn that characters have a conversation about this at some point in the novel, even if they don't use the same terms. It's been a little while since I read it.)

This concept is explored (somewhat, and also rather vaguely) in the discrepancies between what the Fountainheads tell the Janus Crew, and the exposition from Chromis' femtotech avatar that appears late in the novel.

The Fountainheads seem to have a lot of information about human history, but only up to a specific point, calculated to be roughly where the Janus crew think Earth would be in its development, relative to the time dilation experienced by the moon as it accelerated towards the structure near Virgo. (Some 160+ years in their future)

However, the cube sent out by Chromis had existed for millions, perhaps trillions of years prior to it being found by the Janus crew.

The Chromis cube doesn't know about the Fountainheads, which seems strange given its level of advancement is on-par or better than Fountainhead technology. Moreover, Bella is given the impression several times that the Fountainheads are not telling the Janus Crew everything they know about humanity.

If you connect two dots together, you realize that the Fountainheads likely existed long after the extinction of Chromis' society. Perhaps because that society evolved further, but beyond the capability for The Chromis Cube to understand. The Fountainheads would (through archaeology or trade) learn about this very primitive form of humans, but never meet them without the Moon/Structure.

There are a few other concepts that support this, like how the moon seems to be an active threat while in transit, but then just goes dormant when it reaches its destination. The characters believe that it was intended to filter for robots and to keep them mentally and socially stimulated during the long trip, which means that the lack of stimulus at then end was likely meant to be replaced by meeting new cultures.

I don't think the concept is explored super-well. The book suggests this concept but then uses the few alien species that the Janus Crew does meet as commentary on the relationship between the two main characters. (Bella being like the Fountainheads: preferring to withhold information for a perceived "greater good," and collaborating rather than competing. Versus Svetlana being more like the Musk Dogs: competitive, adhering to a more vindictive social order, and ultimately more destructive)

TL;DR:
The structure is likely intended as an "intergalactic meetup" by its builders, using the nature of relativistic time dilation to get civilizations from vastly different locations and time periods into the same box together.
The concept wasn't explored or explained super well, and in many respects might be better reserved for cosmic horror over standard science fiction. (hide spoiler)]

flag

Which is the best Alastair Reynolds starter-book for me, do you think?

Matt House of Suns. IMO still his best.

flag

Problem of relativistic physics, please help. I do not understand is how the thai space suit and the cube got first at the "zoo" than Janus? The earliest the fountainheads started their journey to the "zoo" was after the cut off point. If the journey of janus took 18000 year compressed on 13 years of relative time, the time dilation factor was supposed to be 1300x (99.999933% speed of light).

Chris It's implied that the journey was actually quite a bit longer than that. Perhaps millions or trillions of years. This ties into the (also implied) "po…moreIt's implied that the journey was actually quite a bit longer than that. Perhaps millions or trillions of years. This ties into the (also implied) "point" of the structure, which was to collect civilizations from across space and time and throw them into a kind of box together.

The Fountainheads and their human artifacts would have started later but arrived around the same time because the very slight differences in time dilation experienced by each civilization as they journeyed to the structure would have compressed the differences from 10,000+ years down to perhaps a few months or even minutes.

I hope that answers the question.(less)

flag

Is it in the Revelation Space Universe?

The Fizza It is NOT in the Revelation Space Universe.

flag

Unanswered Questions (1)

This question contains spoilers... (view spoiler)

About Goodreads Q&A

Ask and answer questions about books!

You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.

See Featured Authors Answering Questions

Learn more