The same room. The same arrangement. Mr Blottisham appears energised, as though having slept well on his previous near-success.
Blottisham:
I have resolved the matter of instantiation.
Quillibrace:
That was quick.
Blottisham:
It was straightforward. Instantiation is simply what happens when a system produces an event over time.
Quillibrace:
No.
Blottisham (with composure):
You say that reflexively now.
Quillibrace:
I say it accurately.
Blottisham waves this aside.
Blottisham:
Let us proceed carefully. A system exists—pardon me, is inferred—and then, at some moment, it generates an instance. That is instantiation.
Elowen:
You have reintroduced both existence and generation.
Blottisham:
Temporarily. For clarity.
Quillibrace:
Clarity is not assisted by error.
Blottisham leans forward.
Blottisham:
Very well. Let us remove “generation.” The system does not generate the instance—it constrains it. At a given time, those constraints produce a particular outcome. That outcome is the instantiation.
Quillibrace:
No.
A pause.
Blottisham:
You cannot simply continue to say “no.”
Quillibrace:
I can, provided you continue to say the same thing.
Elowen intervenes gently.
Elowen:
You are treating instantiation as if it were an event that occurs after the system.
Blottisham:
Naturally. The system is stable; the event is fleeting.
Elowen:
But we established that the system is inferred from recurrence across events.
Blottisham:
Yes, but once inferred, it may be said to exist.
Quillibrace:
It may not.
Blottisham presses on, undeterred.
Blottisham:
Let us try a different angle. Instantiation is the moment at which a possibility becomes actual.
Quillibrace:
No.
Blottisham (irritated):
Surely you cannot object to that.
Quillibrace:
I can object to “moment,” “becomes,” and “actual.”
A longer pause.
Blottisham:
Then what remains?
Quillibrace:
Instantiation.
Blottisham stares.
Blottisham:
You are being deliberately unhelpful.
Elowen:
He is trying to prevent you from placing instantiation inside a timeline.
Blottisham:
But events occur in time.
Quillibrace:
Events are how time is inferred.
Blottisham blinks.
Blottisham:
I beg your pardon?
Quillibrace:
You are treating time as a container in which instantiations occur.
It is a stabilised inference over sequences of instantiation.
Blottisham considers this with visible reluctance.
Blottisham:
Then instantiation is not in time?
Quillibrace:
Not in the way you are using the phrase.
Blottisham:
This is becoming metaphysical.
Quillibrace:
It was always metaphysical. You have only just noticed.
Elowen folds her hands.
Elowen:
Perhaps it would help to shift the question. Instead of asking when instantiation occurs, ask what distinguishes an instantiation from anything else.
Blottisham:
Very well. It is a particular event.
Quillibrace:
No.
Blottisham:
You object even to that?
Quillibrace:
To “particular,” yes.
Blottisham exhales sharply.
Blottisham:
Then define it.
Quillibrace:
Instantiation is the co-actualisation of constraint-consistent selections across orthogonal systems.
Blottisham pauses, then nods slowly.
Blottisham:
Yes. That is what I meant.
Quillibrace:
It is not.
Elowen smiles faintly.
Elowen:
You are still treating it as if those selections occur in sequence.
Blottisham:
Do they not?
Elowen:
No. They are simultaneous.
Blottisham:
Everything cannot be simultaneous.
Quillibrace:
Everything is not. Instantiation is.
Blottisham leans back, sceptical.
Blottisham:
So in a single instantiation, biological, social, and semiotic selections all occur at once?
Quillibrace:
Yes.
Blottisham:
Without influencing one another?
Quillibrace:
Without causing one another.
Blottisham seizes on this.
Blottisham:
Ah! Then they must interact.
Quillibrace:
No.
Blottisham:
But if they constrain one another—
Quillibrace:
They do not constrain one another.
They are constrained together.
A pause.
Blottisham:
That sounds like a distinction without a difference.
Elowen:
It is the entire difference.
Blottisham frowns.
Blottisham:
Explain.
Elowen:
If one system constrained another, you would have causation between systems.
If they are constrained together, you have a shared condition of compatibility.
Blottisham:
So nothing acts on anything else?
Quillibrace:
Not in the way you are proposing.
Blottisham taps the arm of his chair.
Blottisham:
Then instantiation is a kind of intersection.
Quillibrace:
Yes.
Blottisham (pleased):
An intersection in time.
Quillibrace:
No.
Elowen intervenes again.
Elowen:
An intersection of constraint-consistent selections.
Blottisham:
Very well. An intersection of selections, occurring at a moment—
Quillibrace:
No.
Blottisham laughs, slightly frayed.
Blottisham:
You will not permit even a moment.
Quillibrace:
I will not permit you to smuggle in a container.
A quiet settles.
Blottisham:
Let me attempt a final statement. Instantiation is not something that happens in time, nor something produced by a system. It is the simultaneous co-actualisation of constraint-consistent selections across orthogonal systems, from which temporal order may later be inferred.
Quillibrace:
Acceptable.
Blottisham (with satisfaction):
Then we are agreed.
Elowen:
Until you decide that one of those systems must act first.
Blottisham pauses.
Blottisham:
It is very difficult to resist.
Quillibrace:
Yes.
Another quiet.
Blottisham looks faintly unsettled, as though time itself has become unreliable.
Quillibrace appears unchanged.
Elowen watches the structure hold.
End of Dialogue II
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