The Host Revisited

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Chapter 1

Alex Farmer was a twenty one year old Sociology graduate from a moderately prestigious university in Sydney, when he first became acquainted with the writings of Maven Anderson, who was a renowned advocate of population and industrial growth control. It was early in the 2010s, human numbers had passed the seven billion mark, and industrial growth was becoming a major suspect in the emergence of global warming and climate change.

Maven was in her fifties when they met, she was speaking at a demonstration protesting the clearing of a residential area where a motorway was to be built, and it was the only way Alex could find to make contact with her. He tried to find her in the phone book, and he asked around his university contacts who told him she was notoriously difficult to track down.

He had rehearsed an approach he hoped would impress her, but when it came to trotting it out he found that it wasn't necessary anyway. She was quite approachable, and listened carefully to what he had to say.

"Excuse me, Ms Anderson," he began when the crowd looked like it was about to disperse.

"My name is Alex, and I've been reading your work on the relationship between population growth and the financial crisis, and I was wondering if I could sit down with you sometime to discuss it with you," he concluded.

"Oh?" she answered. "What is it about the relationship you wanted to discuss, Alex?"

"It's just that I've been thinking that the middle class is likely to be the biggest consumer of natural resources, and I was wondering if pricing the middle class out of existence could become a furtive economic objective," he said.

"Oh! That's provocative. But it does make a lot of ecological sense," she answered. "Do you have any other provocative things to say?"

"Not really. Why, do you have many provocative things to say?" he asked.

"Mmm," she thought slowly. "I do have one provocative thing I can tell you, but not here," she answered. "Meet me at the Duck Pond in Centennial Park tomorrow late in the afternoon. I have something to show you."

Chapter 2

Alex spent the following day in anticipation of his rendezvous with Maven. What could she have to show him at the Duck Pond, he wondered. What is there in the park that could be so provocative?

It was mid afternoon when he left home to meet her, he figured it would take him a couple of hours on the train and then the bus to get to the Randwick location.

It was a sunny afternoon, and the sun was about ten or fifteen degrees above the western horizon when he arrived. He circled the Duck Pond not knowing exactly where she would be, and found her a few feet back from the pond's eastern bank.

"Hi Maven," he said welcoming her, but with a little self-conscious feeling about the intimacy of their meeting there.

"Oh, hi Alex," she replied. "Come, sit down beside me," she said beckoning him to a grassy spot beside her.

They sat there quietly for a moment taking in the peaceful setting around them, but surrounded by the bustle of an otherwise busy city.

They exchanged formal pleasantries momentarily before Alex asked, "I've been wondering what could be so provocative in this tranquil setting?"

"Oh," she replied. "It's right there in front of you."

Alex took her quite seriously, and looked around him, not seeing anything out of place.

Eventually he felt perplexed. "I don't see anything particularly remarkable here."

"Ah, yes. There is something remarkable here, but you can't see it because your mind won't let you," she teased.

She gestured him to look up at the western horizon where the sun burnt brightly in his eyes. "There. Out there. About five hundred light-seconds from here," she assured him.

Alex was confused. Five hundred light-seconds, that sounded vaguely familiar to him. "Umm, that's the distance to the Sun, isn't it?" he replied.

"That's correct. It's the Sun. And the volume of space defined by the orbital radius of the Earth is something to behold, if only you could learn how to see it," she proposed with some certainty.

"If you picture a bubble of energy expanding steadily from the Sun, the perception of the volume of space it occupies is quite provocative, don't you think?" she went on.

"Hmm," Alex wasn't impressed. "It's a bit outside the comprehension of the mind, isn't it?"

"It does take practice," she assured him. "But it's not a waste of time. That thing out there isn't just an inanimate lump of matter, Alex. It's a being! It could be claimed that the entire solar system is our cosmic ancestor."

"That's an interesting proposition, Maven. But is there a basis on which you can support this claim?"

"Yeah, there is. But that is a question for another day, Alex. For today, just let your mind feel the beauty of the space you've spent your entire life ignoring."

Chapter 3

Alex and Maven exchanged numbers before they parted, and agreed to meet again in a few days. Maven would text him when she could be a little more confident about her schedule.

As for Alex he found her challenge to look out into space intriguing, and he spent a few odd moments attempting to think his mind out there, if that was going to be possible at all. He recognised quickly that it wasn't something the eyes had to practice. It was entirely up to the mind to give him permission to see it, so practice, and what seemed like negotiation would be the key. It also meant that he could practice indoors without even looking at the sky.

He got her message on the third day; they were to meet in the city at about three in the afternoon, at the foot of Fleet Steps on the eastern shore of Farm Cove.

He arrived early on the day because he wanted to see how punctual she was. She didn't disappoint him. She arrived with about five minutes to spare.

They greeted each other and sat down on the steps. Alex pulled a paper notebook out of his backpack ready to record what she had to say.

"What's that," she asked. "Don't you trust your memory?"

"It's probably just a habit," he answered. "And it makes me feel secure in case of uncertainty."

"Hmm," she nodded. "So, I was going to tell you what supports the claim that the Solar System could be our cosmic ancestor, wasn't I?"

"Yeah. I feel a little doubtful, but I'm interested to hear how you could explain it," he answered.

"Okay, let's start with a little irony, shall we. You know what irony is, don't you?" she asked.

"Yeah, it's a funny or sad comparison between unexpected opposites, isn't it?"

"That's close enough for our purposes." she answered. "Don't you think it's ironic that the shape of Italy may be associated with the perceived purity of judicial authority?"

"Hmm, yeah. Now that you mention it, it is ironic."

"It's not just the Catholic Church, is it. It's Sicily and the growth of a chronically offensive culture," she went on.

Alex was taken aback for a moment with an attack of cognitive dissonance. He experienced a moment of recognition, before his habitual belief about the world reimposed itself.

He sat there for a moment in disbelief, and nervously continued with his note taking. She enjoyed a little chuckle as she watched him try to recover from his dissonance.

"Italy is not the only example of geomorphic modelling to be found on planet Earth," she continued. "Once you see the big picture you will find them littered virtually everywhere."

"Oh? Do go on," he replied.

"Okay. What if I were to tell you that the entire continental topography of this planet were inscribed with similar examples of meaning?" she asked.

He winced slightly, and lingered for the duration of her rhetorical question.

"What if I were to say that the continents look like the figure of a planetary being?"

"I would say that that's a staggering claim," he answered.

"Yes, it is. So, let's say that the American continents look like the hind legs of our hypothetical planetary being. Let's say that Hudson Bay and the vast Canadian wetlands resemble the buttocks of this being. What would you say to that?" she asked again.

"Umm, I would say that the Pacific Ocean resembles a planetary belly, the African continent looks like its fore legs, and that Europe is positioned in the vicinity of its head," he answered trembling a little.

Maven paused for as long as it took for Alex to finish scribbling on his notebook. He took note of everything that had been said, she saw.

"Ha, you catch on quickly," she said in a complimentary tone. "Now, can you tell me about Australia?" she teased.

Alex had to stop and gather his thoughts. It took him a while before he answered, "If Indonesia is a kind of umbilicus, then Australia looks like a foetus, doesn't it?"

"Yes, indeed. Here on these steps we sit close to the forelegs of what looks like the planetary infant. Staggering, as you say," she confirmed.

They sat there looking west on this warm afternoon, she smiling a little bemused, and he with his mind racing around the far reaching implications of what had been said. She hadn't gotten around to explaining how the Solar System could be their cosmic ancestor, but he could join the dots without her.

He suddenly felt the need to get up and go home. His body was ringing with unexpected feelings that only activity could satisfy.

He hastily bid her farewell and promised to see her again when he had his feelings under control.

As she said goodbye, she smiled inwardly with the thought, yeah, he's been bitten!

Chapter 4

Alex made his way around the curve of Farm Cove in the direction of Circular Quay where he hoped to take the train back to Lakemba, his home suburb. But he could barely contain the fury erupting in his thoughts. He thought that surely this must be the most pressing news to emerge in human thinking for a very long time. Maybe even ever.

Why wasn't this already a matter of common knowledge, he thought. Who else knows about this, he wondered. Was there already a coordinated cover-up? Surely, I'm in no position to speak of it. I'm virtually nobody on this planet.

He thought about turning around and asking Maven some of these questions, but he thought better of it. There will be ample opportunity to ask her questions in future. Better play it cool with her, he thought, until more is known.

As he passed the Opera House, his energy began to subside, along with the fury of the past few minutes.

He began to think more constructively about this being. His training as a sociologist kicked in, and he started to consider the practicalities of what he had just heard.

Clearly, he thought, the planet is not a body like any number of bodies known to him. There were animals, and insects, which fitted a description of the variety of bodies known to him, but the planet is a body only superficially like these. It is much older for a start, and its birth was nothing like the births known to humans. Furthermore, animals undergo cell division throughout their lives, which is something the planet doesn't seem to experience.

The planet is surrounded by air, just as animal bodies are, but there is no sense in which it undertakes respiration, and even plants experience respiration.

When he arrived at the station he still felt too conflicted to sit quietly on a train, so he continued walking down George Street to Wynyard station.

As he considered these practicalities, he turned on them and thought, no! I wouldn't be so agitated if it was a mistaken perception. I'm agitated because the continents really do resemble an animal body, in spite of the fallacy of suggesting that it really is a body in the conventional sense.

He figuratively threw up his arms in surrender; he couldn't answer these questions. He surrendered to the belief that something was going on here, something that would likely be an anchor in his thinking for the rest of his life.

He made it to Town Hall station by the time he drew this conclusion, and hopped onto a train to Lakemba. He sat there listening to the rumbling of the train, blank faced, bewildered, and exhausted.

Chapter 5

Maven sat there at the foot of the steps as she watched Alex walk away, and considered the ethical practicalities of what she had just done to him. Alex was the fourth young and fertile mind she had done this to, so she wasn't unfamiliar with the ethical territory.

She declined to admit that she had done Alex any harm, although she would acknowledge that she had probably made an impression on him that would last a lifetime. She remembered the effect it had on her, not so long ago, when she first found out about it. It was life changing, but otherwise harmless. It was the same for her as it will probably be for everyone when they find out. Virtually unavoidable.

In spite of these ethical concerns she would admit to the guilty pleasure she got from unloading this on others. She got a mischievous delight from watching people squirm.

As she got up to go in the opposite direction she made up her mind to wait for him to call. The symbolic array she had given him was all she had to start with, so he could definitely make sense of it without her further intervention.

Chapter 6

When Alex got home that evening he was still awash with a perception he found irresistible. His attention gravitated from a general survey of the global pattern to the configuration of European topography, and how it could be adapted to a representation of the symbolic constitution of the planet as a whole.

He noticed how the Scandinavian Peninsula resembled a brain stem, and how the strait between the peninsula and Denmark resembled the synaptic cleft between adjacent neurones. But it was Britain that captured his imagination in particular. Maven had pointed out the irony of the relationship between Italy and Sicily, but he felt that Britain was the very pinnacle of this irony.

He saw how the relationship between the British Isles and the rest of the global pattern displayed a proportional symmetry; Britain looked a like a diminutive map of the entire planet. But in particular, he couldn't ignore the irony that the British people stand alone at the summit of global society, and how they could be seen to symbolically represent the larger body of humanity.

He thought about the history of the British Empire, and about the troubling conflict that broke out between Britain and the people of Ireland. Britain had once been a major global player; the ubiquity of the English language is now a testament to this. But he found it distressing to think that it has since fallen so far in recent times. Could this be our prognosis as a whole?

Or, could Britain be modelling ecologically adaptive behaviour? Could austerity be a successful foil to uncontrolled economic growth?

Alex had just stumbled on an array of spicy questions he could ask Maven the next time they met. With her interest in growth control, she will probably have been circling this thinking for a long time. Surely, she would have some answers.

Chapter 7

Alex woke up next morning feeling the same agitation he felt the day before, and it felt like the only solution to it was to get out of the house and do some walking. He had a simple breakfast before he left the house promising to get something decent to eat after he had done some exercise.

He called in sick at work. He had a few sick days up his sleeve, so he knew he could get away with it for a few days. He felt a strong desire to get together with his work mates to discuss what he had learned, but he thought he'd better be careful with what looked like highly sensitive material. He had a junior role at a newspaper where there were few opportunities to discuss issues of a sociological nature.

When he got out of the house he headed in the direction of the city because he knew he had plenty of energy to burn, and he liked the little cafe built into the facilities at Central railway station.

His feeling of agitation remained strong as he walked down Canterbury Rd, and he noticed odd words popping unexpectedly into mind as he walked. A couple of them caught his attention. One of them was 'Pliocene' and the other was 'negative entropy' which he couldn't figure out. He knew Pliocene was a geological epoch, and that negative entropy was a concept in information theory, but he couldn't see how these could relate to his present situation.

He began to suspect that he was showing signs of being adversely affected by Maven's proposition. She may not have been affected by an acquaintance with it, but her experience may not be commonplace. As he walked into town that day he entertained the fear that the words he was hearing may be an early sign of psychosis. He must look up these words sometime. They may be rich in vital information.

He felt a strong desire to avoid seeing Maven until he had time to assess the side effects of what she had done to him. He didn't feel sick exactly, but he couldn't ignore how his feelings about himself and his place in society had changed. The whole world was suddenly alive with half baked possibilities.

Chapter 8

A couple of days had passed before Alex was back at work at the newspaper having reassembled much of the constitution he enjoyed before his encounter with Maven's interesting intrusion.

He had looked up the meaning of 'Pliocene' and found that it was an epoch beginning about seven million years ago, and lasting another five million. He wasn't remotely interested in the geology, or the fauna for that matter which was itself very interesting but beyond his present range of interests. What he did find interesting was that the geomorphology of the Italian peninsula dated approximately from this interval.

He dismissed the several implications following this discovery and focused on the emergence of the word in the babble of his thinking. It seemed to suggest to him that the words he found popping into mind weren't the random aberration of a diseased mind, but the leaking of meaningful referents. He felt relieved by this conclusion, but also vaguely threatened by it. It meant he had to allow that the mind was a more complex organ than he had previously given it credit for.

What else was a mind with such abilities capable of, he wondered. He may have been at work, but the buzzing of these thoughts persisted relentlessly, not unlike the buzzing of the newsroom on a busy news day.

With his concern about the random appearance of meaning in his mind largely settled, he turned to the irreducibly symbolic nature of the shape of Italy.

He felt strongly about this nature, and it made him wonder how extensive symbolic representation could be in general. Could Britain be simply symbolic? Could biological identities be similarly symbolic? He could think of three organs he would like to grant a symbolic nature, but he couldn't help feeling a sense of hesitation.

He began to think that denying biology a symbolic nature was the consequence of privileging the human body. But with the identification of the planet as a collection of symbols, is it possible to turn the tables on the body and suggest that the planet is the relatively privileged one, and that biology is a derivative of this?

In this case he could conclude that biology isn't any less symbolic just because it happens to be sacred to us. The planet consists of symbolic behaviour, so does biology, and the two are consistent with the resemblance between the body and the planet's topographic configuration.

The three organs he would like to endow with symbolic contents are the pelvis, the heart, and the brain because of their evident symmetry, and because of their dominance in the practical functioning of bodies.

With this conclusion he began thinking about Maven again. Had she already thought this through? Could she shed some light on these difficult questions? He made up his mind to ring her sometime soon, and arrange another meeting.

Chapter 9

Alex felt a degree of apprehension as he sat there late in the evening planning his next conversation with Maven. He couldn't separate the impression she had made on him from the person herself, so he decided to run his questions by a disinterested third party before talking to her. He hoped the advice of a suitable confidant would give him a slight advantage with her.

He thought about approaching one of his sociology professors, but didn't like what that would look like. It would have meant the sort of asymmetry he would want avoid when asking risky questions. There must be someone else he could talk to.

He slowly went through a mental list of likely candidates until he got to Glen Smithers' name. He had been a class mate for a couple of semesters before he went on to major in philosophy, so he had all the necessary qualifications. Alex thought he would be perfect, and he liked to frequent the pub in the evening which would make him easy to find and reconnect with.

He arrived at the Vulcan Hotel early in the following evening not sure when Glen might arrive, so he ordered a beer and sat in a corner ready for what could be a long wait. Fortunately, he didn't have to wait long. He saw Glen stumble noisily in with a couple of other revellers who Alex didn't know, and he looked already intoxicated.

Alex immediately doubted if this was going to pan out and considered leaving, but Glen had already seen him and began to approach.

"Hey, long time, mate! How's it going with you?" he asked.

Alex answered in a tone reflecting Glen's joviality, and the two exchanged small talk before beers were ordered, and the evening's festivities were begun.

Talk progressed from work, to girls, to trivial things, and it was getting quite late before Glen settled down enough to entertain a serious discussion.

"Tell me about symbols, Glen," he asked.

"What, philosophically?" he answered.

"Yeah. I've got a system of disparate symbols, and I'm wondering if there's a way to confer inheritance between occupants of different levels. I want to be able to give body parts a symbolic identity in a broader context," Alex began.

"Oh, yeah. Body parts are no different, as long as you're careful not to mix categories. You've got to be careful not to confuse the symbol with the part itself.

"Say the heart is the body part you want to treat as a symbol of the Sun. You can relate them any way you like, as long as you don't imply that the heart is the Sun itself." he said reassuringly.

Glen proceeded to point out common errors in semiotics, but it wasn't long before the conversation devolved back to trivialities. Alex got the gist of what Glen was saying, and was prepared to call it a night.

The barkeeper called last drinks late in the evening and Alex and Glen spilled out onto Wattle St, before they promised to keep in touch and went their separate ways.

It wasn't entirely a wasted evening, Alex thought. I do feel better about my next encounter with Maven.

Chapter 10

Alex sat up at home the following evening brooding over the details he now had available to him. Being able to give body parts a symbolic character meant that he could assemble the system of symbolic regression he had been wrestling with since that fateful day on the shores of Farm Cove with Maven.

Being able to give organs a symbolic character meant that he could deny the human body the privilege of being the only rule against which everything was to be compared. In this case he could grant bodies equality in a system where they were equal members of a regression which appeared to be extensive.

He began with a recognition of the symbolic character of the planet as a whole, and proceeded to step through the regression to the British Isles. The regression then proceeded to human bodies, and finally to the human head which could be seen to share a symbolic equality with the planet itself. He couldn't claim to know much about molecular biology or elementary particles, but the regression he could observe was enough to demonstrate the validity of it.

He then boldly turned the regression in the opposite direction, and granted the Solar System and galaxy a symbolic character, the result of which was the view that human bodies ultimately inherited their symbolic character from the universe itself. He sat there astounded by the view that human bodies could consist of a schematic representation of the entire universe.

A little further reflection allowed him to suppose that the vast array of animals on the planet enjoy the same symbolic equality as humans, resulting in terms of the gradual evolution of countless small epigrams of cosmic thinking. The surface of the planet could be likened to a vast library of cosmic imagery.

Alex made a note of this in his notebook and thought, yeah. This is the bit of thinking I need to establish before I meet her again.

It was not too late in the evening, so he rang her and made a date to meet her at the Duck Pond the following Sunday afternoon.

Chapter 11

Alex arrived at the pond a few minutes early and found Maven waiting for him where they had met just a couple of weeks ago. They greeted each other and exchanged small talk for a few minutes before pausing for a moment while he produced his notebook.

"How far have you got with your map of the world," she asked after a lull.

"I've been doing well," he assured her. "I began with some disorientation, but I managed to sort my feelings out."

"I'm glad of that. I felt a little guilty dumping that on you. I hope you don't blame me for upsetting you."

"I feel fine now," he said. "Although I have spent the last couple of weeks chasing answers to my questions."

"Oh, tell me how far you have progressed," she enquired with interest.

"Um, I asked an old friend about a symbolic equality between the different scales of bodies," he answered. "And he said it was fine. The Earth and human bodies can symbolically reference each other."

"Well, that's good news. You're not drowning in it, at least," she said with some relief. "Have you figured out that the body can reference the entire universe?"

"Yeah, it's quite a spectacle, isn't it," he answered.

"What about the two ends of time? Have you thought about that yet?"

"Um, no I haven't actually. What do you mean?"

"Well, if the body can reference the entire universe then it could contain a reference to the two ends of time."

"Oh, yes. I guess you're right."

"Let's start with the heart, shall we," she began. "It's interesting to compare the heart with the original big bang of the universe, don't you think?"

"Yeah. I like that. It's restrained but exhilarating," he answered. "A heartbeat is not unlike an explosion. And the circulation of blood is like the cosmic microwave background radiation."

"Ha, you catch on easily," she replied. "What about the pelvis then. Can you tell me how that might symbolically reference the universe?"

"Um," he thought for a moment. "It's a primitive organ isn't it. It couldn't reference a black hole, could it?" he ventured with a little nervous laughter.

She laughed as well. "Yeah, it's primitive alright, and virtually ubiquitous. What about the brain then, tell me how that might fit."

"Well I doubt it can reference the end of time," he began. "But it could refer to what we call the present."

"Yeah, it's a place where the future is a matter of negotiation, it could be a symbolic reference to what we call the present."

Alex fell silent for a long moment. Surely this thing couldn't get any deeper, could it?

Suddenly he felt a little uneasy, and changed the subject to something lighter.

"Tell me," he began. "How did you choose me to tell these things to?"

"It was your comment about pricing the middle class out of existence," she explained. "You have the ability to think outside the box, and I thought you might be receptive to something new."

"Ah, yes. That fits," he answered. "I'm pretty sure it will happen too. It's just a matter of timing."

"Call me again if you have any more bright ideas," she said as she prepared to get up and leave.

"You can count on it," he replied and got up.

They parted amicably and went their separate ways.

What am I going to do with this thing now, he wondered, as he made his way to the bus stop on Anzac Parade.

Chapter 12

That evening Alex sat up combing through his memory of the last couple of weeks, beginning with that afternoon in the park when Maven got him to look deeply into the sky. He thought about how much his life had changed since then, and sat there relishing the honour he felt, to be in possession of such potent information.

He wasn't going to stop practicing his vision of the sky either. He didn't need to go outside to do this; he was quite able to capture the feeling of it just based on his memory of that day.

He then set about organising the notes he had been keeping because he wanted to write something more formal about it, and begin the difficult task of making it known to more people. It wasn't yet clear to him how this was going to go. An academic journal of some sort may take an interest in it, but he knew that a newspaper would just tell him to stop wasting their time.

Nevertheless, he cherished the piles of notes he had accumulated and enjoyed browsing through the memories as he thought about where to start. Perhaps he should start, as Maven did, with the unmistakable shape of Italy because it now implies that the planet, or perhaps the Solar System, could possess a visual consciousness.

As a symbolic figure Italy possessed a meaning known only to a very small group of humans, the Solar System itself, and to no other being. As if he needed to wrestle with more difficult meanings, he could infer that consciousness could be much more widespread than human thinkers had previously given it credit for.

Historically, humans have grudgingly given animals the property of consciousness, he thought, but have drawn the line at rocks and planets which have been relegated to the class of inanimate matter. This made it easy for them to exploit such things, but their attitude could change dramatically if they could take the planet out of this class, and restore it to a position of vivid and lively animation.

Surely, on the basis of what is now known about the shape of Italy, he thought, planets, stars and galaxies could no longer be dismissed as incapable of consciousness, a provocative view which in Alex's experience began a couple of weeks ago with provocation itself.

With a strong sense of satisfaction he remembered that sunny afternoon with Maven, but he began to sense just how difficult it was going be to turn people away from such deeply felt and habitual beliefs.

Chapter 13

Alex spent the next few days gathering his thoughts and making detailed notes about his experience before he logged into his computer and started typing Chapter 1 of a five thousand word essay.

It wasn't his first experience with a work of this size so he managed to make steady progress, and had a first draft finished by the end of the week. He then spent a couple of weeks combing through its thinking carefully, smoothing over any niggling bumps in his rhetorical style, and making sure it was largely safe from criticism.

He read through the text over and over, impressing on his memory a comprehensive grasp of what it was saying, so that he would be fluent in all of its individual features and subtleties.

When he was satisfied with its totality, he turned his attention to a consideration of what would be the most constructive avenue for its release. Most impressive on his mind was to inform a very small number of governments of its imminent release, governments who would likely have an interest in such things.

The work had been intended for publication, so he searched online for a suitable academic journal but couldn't find anything quickly, so he began looking at a number of global geopolitics forums.

He found a couple he liked, and didn't want to look any further because he would have been unable to keep track of any more. He signed into both, and after a couple of days of reading he felt equipped to venture his first post. It was titled A Symbolic Cosmology Impacting Global Geopolitics and went like this:

"The symbolic interpretation of Earth's surface proposes that its continents are not randomly formed topographical figures, on the contrary it suggests that they could model the figure of a planetary being.

"According to this view the American continents could symbolically represent the hind legs of this hypothetical being, and the North American continent could be seen to characterise its pelvic area.

"The continent of Africa could symbolically represent its forelegs, and the being's head could be modelled by European topography.

"The being's foetus could be symbolically depicted by Australia joined to a representation of an umbilicus, the Indonesian archipelago."

It wasn't long before the post got a few replies most of which were positive, but there were a few sceptics among them who promised to make this a controversial topic.

Slasher7 was one of the first critics to post, posting a comment about how many times the word 'symbolic' was mentioned when once would have been enough. They were also critical of the word 'could' which denoted its uncertainty.

Alex enjoyed the warmth of reflected glory for a moment. He could expect a degree of criticism on a public forum, he had seen how cruel a forum could be, but his post had not been roundly torched as is often the case with such a controversial topic.

Chapter 14

The initial wave of pedantic critiques from users like Slasher7 was quickly overtaken by a different, altogether heavier tone on the forum. By the second day, the thread had accumulated dozens of pages, and the focus shifted from a debate over semiotics to a grim analysis of structural power.

A user named Archon_Watcher posted a lengthy breakdown that completely altered the trajectory of the discussion.

"Think about the implications here," the post read. "Our entire global economy is predicated on the assumption that the Earth is a dead, exploitable rock. If the public ever realised the continents were an intelligent, inscribed anatomy mirroring the human form, the ethical framework of industrial capitalism would disintegrate overnight. You can't drill, mine, or clear-cut a living ancestor without it being recognized as mutilation. Higher powers wouldn't just ignore this model; they would actively, systematically suppress it to maintain the narrative of a dead universe."

Another user, Geo_Skeptic, chimed in with an eerie warning.

"OP, you need to delete this thread immediately. A model like this explains exactly why certain geographical zones are perpetually destabilized or kept under strict military lock and key. They are protecting the anatomy. Expect a shadow-ban or a total thread scrub within forty-eight hours. The algorithms don't let structural secrets of this scale float around on public geopolitical forums for long."

Alex sat at his desk in Lakemba, watching the notifications cascade across his screen with a rapidly growing sense of vertigo. What had started as a sociological essay was morphing into something genuinely threatening. The forum was no longer debating his theory; they were treating it as leaked, forbidden data.

He felt that familiar, pre-representational knot of anxiety tightening in his chest. He looked at his paper notebook, then at the digital words blinking back at him. He realized that by transforming the living geometry of the Earth into public tokens and symbols, he had unwittingly lit a fuse.

In the background forum moderators were frantically discussing what to do about this thread when the owner chimed in, and told them to close it, with a warning that the topic was not to be discussed any further. A few days later the entire thread was deleted without any further comment.

Chapter 15

Alex's initial feeling was claustrophobic, like his expansive vision of the Earth and sky was being pressed into a diminishingly tight confinement. He felt a great sense of self-consciousness like he had just committed the ultimately embarrassing faux pas.

His reception on the forum made him feel like he should just shut up and forget about drawing people's attention to this fascinating world view. But he remembered that day when he marched up George Street furiously trying to make sense of what Maven had just told him, and thought that surely others will feel the same way about it.

He sat there turning these things over in his mind before he arrived at a decisive conclusion. It was not beyond his means to build a website and discuss this theory in detail, for all the world to see whenever it was ready. His modest essay was just the beginning. There must be much more he could say about it.

He sat there feeling inspired with a cheeky grin, thinking, "Watch out World, this thing is coming to get you. It's already too late to stop it."