Chicago 02/20/2015

[Kurkistan]

Okay, here's a second-pass draft of the transcript from my signing line questions and the lightening round after the signing. In the second half, Argent and I were taking turns, but I only transcribed my own questions.

They'll need one last once-over before being Theoryland-ready, but I thought I'd post them for everyone's reading pleasure.

Kurkistan Chicago Transcript from 2/21/2015

Signing line:

Kurkistan: So, could you give us some examples of how the ideals that spren represent work in other magic systems, like we have Forging where you get plausibility, or Returned how they're beautiful or any other systems?
Brandon: Okay, one more time on that.
Kurkistan: Okay, so you know the ideals the spren are manifestations-
Brandon: Yes.
Kurkistan: How- do those have impacts on other magic systems?
Brandon: Yes, yes, in the same way the Returned- that's the exact same system at work there.
Kurkistan: Is it the same reason why the Lord Ruler _has_ to die of old age, and why you can't heal yourself into being an octopus or something?
Brandon: Um... _yes_, that is all connected in the exact same way.
Kurkistan: Okay, so it's all like these high falutin' spiritual ideals?
Brandon: Yes.
Kurkistan: And are there like, median Cognitive ideals that gradually kind of influence these, or-
Brandon: Yeah, they transcend between the three. I mean the original concept for the three realms is Platonic philosophy.
Kurkistan: So it goes up <makes absurd reverse-waterfall hand gesture>
Brandon: Yeah, it goes up and it comes back down.

Brandon: A lot of the Cognitive is- so like, the Cognitive has a bigger effect on how you can heal and things like that—does that make sense?
Kurkistan: Yeah.
Brandon: But the power to heal is a actually a spiritual thing.
Kurkistan: So it's like the spiritual says "I want to be like this" and the Cognitive is like "okay I'll try really hard to be like that, but I have a limit."
Brandon: Right. Right. Filtered through how you see yourself, yeah.

Kurkistan: So is that the same thing with Commands, are there like ideals that are Commands?
Brandon: This is more of a- for you to interface with the magic, you need to be able to comprehend it. And so forming a Command- the same thing happens in Elantris, you know they don't accidentally draw runes, right? The intention is part of interfacing with the magic. So it's like your mind reaching into the spiritual realm and you have to like conceive something.

Kurkistan: Speaking of time bubbles [Editors note: we were not speaking of time bubbles], can iron and steel and emotional Allomancy- Allomancy go beyond the boundaries of time bubbles; like if I'm inside a time bubble can I just like super steel push outside?
Brandon: Oh, time bubbles interfere with almost all forms of investiture.

Kurkistan: Speaking of interfering, if you shot an aluminum bullet through a time bubble, what would happen?
Brandon: Oooooh, that's a _good_ question. I'm gonna' RAFO that one. It's an excellent question.

----

Kurkistan lightning-round post signing questions:

Brandon: Alright, start hitting me with questions.

Kurkistan: Okay.

Kurkistan: Could you explain the relationship between spiritual DNA, spiritual aspects, and the spirit web, or are they all just terms for the same thing?
Brandon: They are all similar terms for the similar stuff, yeah.
Kurkistan: Okay. So it's not like the core is spiritual DNA then things as you spread out all spiritual aspect?
Brandon: No.

Kurkistan: So time bubbles again... How much control does a bubbler have over the bubble before and after it's cast? Can they just grow and shrink it or...
Brandon: Not very much.
Kurkistan: So Wayne could flare his metals make time go faster-
Brandon: Yes.
Kurkistan: But if he'd stopped flaring-
Brandon: Yeah, but- they have a bit of control over the speed of it, but once it's up moving it or anything like that, not much. The flaring of it and things like that, yes they can- it's mostly set when they start.
Kurkistan: But they have some discretion when they start it.
Brandon: They do have some discretion , yes.

Kurkistan: Why does Awakening need to drain color, and what determines the amount of color that's drained?
Brandon: I'm going to RAFO Awakening because I'm going to write another book and I- mostly it's a RAFO because I don't want to canonize things until I've got the book in hand.

Kurkistan: So for soulcasting—I talked a lot about those ideals that a lot of things are based on—is that also like there's an ideal of stone that when you soulcast stone if you don't do anything special, it just defaults as that-
Brandon: Yeah, there will be a default of all of them.
Kurkistan: And that's the same exact thing as spren and why the Lord Ruler dies of old age and all that stuff?
Brandon: Yes, that's the same sort of concept. Yes.

Kurkistan: You've said that the the laws of physics in the cosmere are ours except where they're messed with by the spiritual, but are the laws of physics actually in the Physical realm all the time, or are they in the spiritual realm doing their stuff on a spiritual level that's trickling down to the physical as a matter of course?
Brandon: The three are more closely aligned-
<at this point Brandon takes a break because he has to write words into the books he's signing for the store, and can't talk and write at the same time>
Kurkistan: So you were saying that physics- laws of physics- that the realms are a lot more closely bound and the laws of physics are not just tied to one of them?
Brandon: Yeah.

Kurkistan: So you've said that healing is like the spiritual wants to heal and then it filters through the Cognitive, but how's that work with healing wounds to the soul like Hemalurgy or Shardblades? What do you refer to to heal the soul at that point?
Brandon: You need to make a patch on the soul with investiture.
Kurkistan: So how's the investiture know where to go, what to look like?
Brandon: Well your soul _is_ an ideal. So if you can get it up there, there are ways to do- to recreate that with um- see I'm getting into stuff with later books.
Kurkistan: So when Hemalurgy rips something off the soul, is that the ideal soul or some sub-soul?
Brandon: That is off of your soul, and it can be healed; but what it's going to be doing is creating a patch of new soul. So it will not be your original soul. Does that make sense?
Kurkistan: Okay, that- well, not completely, but I think that's your intention.
Brandon: Yes.
Store Employee (Kevin, I think?): If you do that, is that like Frankenstein's monster, or is it like a graft that's absorb-
Brandon: Less horrifying- Less horrifying than Frankenstein's monster, but it is a graft that is like- it is not your original soul.
Kevin: Yeah, but in modern medicine stuff like that is absorbed-
Brandon: Yeah; in this you will always have a scar on your soul that something else has patched over.
Kurkistan: So Kaladin shouldn't just keep getting his arm chopped?
Brandon: <ignoring/not-hearing Kurkistan just now> But that is what happens with most forms of investiture in the first place.

Kurkistan: Is there- have you come up with a Realmatic explanation for why light isn't affected by time bubbles besides handwavium "please don't burn people with microwaves"?
Brandon: Peter's got one for us. 'Cause we were going to do redshift: like the actual original writing for it had redshifts; Peter's like "dude, you will microwave everybody"—I'm like "oh man". So the handwavium of that: there is a real- there is an actual explanation, but it-
<at this point we decamp to the sidewalk outside the store>
Brandon: What's the middle of this question?
Kurkistan: Middle of the question was you were thinking about explaining the realmatics behind light for time bubbles.
Brandon: Oh right, right right right right. I can't because it spoils future books; like that's spoiler for Mistborn... 10?
Kurkistan/Argent: <Laughter>
Brandon: So... if you count the four Alloys, so really gotta stay away from stuff like that.
Kurkistan/Argent: That's fair/fine.

Kurkistan: Could a Feruchemist manipulate their identity such that they could make a metalmind that anyone could tap?
Brandon: Ah.. RAFO.
Kurkistan: Okay; could they manipulate their identity such that they could pull Breaths out of something that somebody else Awakened?
Brandon: Ah.. ahahah, Awakened, oh yeah... That one's going to be harder, but you're thinking ar- You're thinking with portals. <smiles> Do you know what that means.
Kurkistan: Yes, I know what it means-
Brandon: You're starting to think with portals.
Kurkistan: I'm thinking with portals, okay, thank you.
Brandon: Yes. In other words you're wrapping your head around the way that the magic system is working, so.

Kurkistan: Okay, so I'm contractually obligated to ask about time bubbles one more time [this is a lie].
Brandon: Yes.
Kurkistan: So what's up with frame of reference for time bubbles; in that obviously if you make a bubble and it's still it's not really still, like time moves differently but-
Brandon: We deal with that a little bit in Era 2 Book 2 [shadows of Self], where we talk about the fact that you know- obviously the bubble is moving with the planet. So they're not- the frame of reference is not absolute.
Kurkistan: Yeah.
Brandon: And so we talk about sorta' the idea of mass and momentum and time bubbles and things like that.
Kurkistan: Okay
<Fun fact: at this point I was content to go home (actually to a hotel because I didn't feel like falling asleep at the wheel on the way home, but that's another story), but then Brandon just kept talking, and saying very interesting things.  >
Brandon: For instance you can make a time bubble on a train.
Kurkistan: Oh and it _stays_ on the train?!
Brandon: Yes, but when you start catching stuff off of the train, it's gonna' _jar_ each time, and it's probably going to ruin your time bubble, right?
Kurkistan: So does it get it's "anchor" from- it's asking all the things that are within it what they think "still" is?
Brandon: Yes. That's a good way of looking at it. Frame of reference for the cognitive things around.
Kurkistan: Okay; the things around or the things within it, specifically?
Brandon: The things that it's cutting into, specifically, but yeah.

----

After that (as he was fleeing to his car and to sleep at 12 in the morning after being chased out of a bookstore by crazed fans... ) Brandon mentioned how he was impressed with my and Argent's lists of questions, and asked if they were our own personal lists; I'll admit that, looking at my questions now, a fair number of the more interesting ones were borrowed/thefted from other Sharders, but still.

P.S. Also, unless something else is fundamentally wrong with either my own understanding of time bubbles so far or with my understanding of this last WoB, this gives us fully-realized FTL with known magical effects, so long as we can find a way to expand the size of/maintain time bubbles (and it's looking like that's going to be down to mechallomancy).

 

All you have to do is have the Cadmium bubble that's keeping everyone going-slow such that's its cutting through the ship, while have the Bendalloy bubble that's making everything go fast through space not intersect the ship at all. The Bendalloy bubble can then gets its frame of reference from the interstellar medium and congratulations you've realized FTL.

Edited February 23, 2015 by Kurkistan

[WeiryWriter]

Thanks guys!  Depending on how much other stuff I can get done this weekend I may be able to transcribe stuff soon-ish (as I'm writing this Kurk just posted his, so that's a little less I'd have to do... Woo!).

 

Brandon imitating people (such as us getting new readings and Peter "You'll microwave people") is hilarious.

 

On the Stormlight game, I saw a mention on tumblr that Brandon mentioned a boardgame at the event in Taiwan (unfortunately the link the comment was referring to doesn't work so I wasn't able to find out more--not that the original article would have helped much being in chinese...) ANYWAYS this sounds super exciting!

 

Nice to get confirmation on the Jim Butcher/Obliteration thing, someone asked him at one the Seattle signings and he was frustratingly cagey (it's like 99% confirmation but there's just that bit of doubt).

[masaru]

Thinking with portals lol. I admit the minutia of Mistborn questions always bores me in signing reports but this stuff was pretty fascinating.

[Kipper]

Wow...

[Kurkistan]

Thanks guys!  Depending on how much other stuff I can get done this weekend I may be able to transcribe stuff soon-ish (as I'm writing this Kurk just posted his, so that's a little less I'd have to do... Woo!).

 

Just a note that I haven't gone through all of this a second time just listening to it to make sure I caught everything. This was more "write down the words, check the words when I thought I might have written something wrong", so you'll almost certainly want to at least give my portions a listen while reading through my transcript before you set everything in stone.

[WeiryWriter]

Just a note that I haven't gone through all of this a second time just listening to it to make sure I caught everything. This was more "write down the words, check the words when I thought I might have written something wrong", so you'll almost certainly want to at least give my portions a listen while reading through my transcript before you set everything in stone.

 

Oh I'd be doing that anyway, but it still a little bit easier to proof a transcript than transcribe from scratch.

[Kurkistan]

@Weiry

 

Okay, cool. Just wanted to double check; and thanks again for being the transcription-master.

 

 

Thinking with portals lol. I admit the minutia of Mistborn questions always bores me in signing reports but this stuff was pretty fascinating.

 

Funny you should say that about Mistborn minutia being boring... :/

 

I made a few attempts to entice others who were like "I don't have any cool questions" by being all "ask some of my cool questions!" until I realized that, when I went to find any of my questions that would interesting to someone that wasn't me, there were like four of them total on the entire list. And I think at least half of those I stole from other Sharders. 

[Moogle]

Wow, thanks a bunch Kurk. Argent had me thinking there'd be very little... and that's only what you asked? I'm very eager for a transcription of Argent's now.

 

-The thing with intent having your mind reach into the Spiritual was very interesting and makes a previously seemingly vague process (the heck is 'intent' supposed to do???) make much more sense to me. This also gives me more confidence in my model of Allomancy.

-Healing soul wounds is very interesting with this 'scar' business. I am afraid I must demand Kaladin bow down to the whims of Science and submit for more testing of what happens from repeated cutting of his soul.

-The stuff with taking in someone else's Awakenings/metalminds fits very well with my previous thoughts on the matter (extending the mechanic, it should be possible to breathe in the Stormlight from someone else's Surgebindings too!), it's a very cool feeling to have theories sorta backed up.

-I get the feeling this doesn't confirm FTL since Brandon's been so adamant that we don't have the info needed to figure it out, but maybe. The theory certainly makes sense.

[Argent]

Wow, thanks a bunch Kurk. Argent had me thinking there'd be very little... and that's only what you asked?

 

It is possible that my idea about what constitutes "a few" questions asked may be a little skewed... I felt the same way during the Words of Radiance tour, but the events I attended ended up being some of the beefiest in terms of number of questions asked. 

[Kipper]

You can't just say that but not give us the questions!

[Argent]

Here 

[skaa]

Here 

 

I know those recordings will be transcribed at some point, but could you tell us which of the answers given last night (that you are allowed to share) do you think is the coolest?

[Argent]

Probably the answer to how exactly it is that Lift turns Stormlight into Investiture. Turns out she actually metabolizes food into Investiture. So, your body, your digestive system, it takes food, it breaks it down, it breaks it down, it breaks it down, and the pretty much final product  (or one of them) is sucrose, I believe, which is a very basic sugar. Your body then uses those sucrose molecules in special ways to create energy molecules - ATP - which your cells use to do everything they do. Well, in Lift's case, she doesn't get sucrose (or, rather, she can choose not to get sucrose - she can effectively tell her body "don't turn this into sugar, turn it into awesomeness!") - she gets Investiture. The example he gave was, think bread and sausage. Bread metabolizes quickly - at least white bread does - which gives you a sugar spike; so Lift would be able to get a lot of Investiture quickly if she were eating bread. On the other hand, sausage metabolizes slowly, so she would be able to kind of keep a "slow burn" of Investiture with it for a longer period of time. 

 

Oh, also. Somebody asked about the Recreance and when it had happened. I remember that off the top of my head, so you don't need to wait for the transcript. Brandon doesn't know exactly, but it is closer to the present than it is to the Last Desolation. So the Heralds abandoned their oaths 4,500 years ago. The Recreance was no more than about 2,000 years ago - probably somewhere between 1,000 and 2,000 because when I asked Brandon "in the hundreds or in the thousands" he said definitely in the thousands. 

[kari-no-sugata]

Oh, also. Somebody asked about the Recreance and when it had happened. I remember that off the top of my head, so you don't need to wait for the transcript. Brandon doesn't know exactly, but it is closer to the present than it is to the Last Desolation. So the Heralds abandoned their oaths 4,500 years ago. The Recreance was no more than about 2,000 years ago - probably somewhere between 1,000 and 2,000 because when I asked Brandon "in the hundreds or in the thousands" he said definitely in the thousands. 

 

Thanks!

 

Looks like my guess of 1500 years wasn't too bad.

 

I figured that the "modern" area followed on almost directly from the Recreance (I remember there being one or two hints in the text but it's hard to say how much to trust them). After the Recreance I figure there was a few hundred years of upheaval (including the modern Vorin split of male/female roles) before things stabilise and the modern calendar (year 0 of 1163) begins.

 

This also means there was approx 3000 years between the Last Desolation and the Recreance. So if you got a theory that Radiants by themselves can cause Desolations it has to be really really indirect...

 

[masaru]

Funny you should say that about Mistborn minutia being boring... :/

 

I made a few attempts to entice others who were like "I don't have any cool questions" by being all "ask some of my cool questions!" until I realized that, when I went to find any of my questions that would interesting to someone that wasn't me, there were like four of them total on the entire list. And I think at least half of those I stole from other Sharders. 

 

Just for the record, I didn't mean my comment to be a slight against your questions, but rather a revelation for me. Cosmere-wise, I'm just not as...invested*...in Mistborn systems.

 

 

 

*couldn't think of a better word so just went with the pun.

[dvoraen]

Thanks!

 

Looks like my guess of 1500 years wasn't too bad.

 

I figured that the "modern" area followed on almost directly from the Recreance (I remember there being one or two hints in the text but it's hard to say how much to trust them). After the Recreance I figure there was a few hundred years of upheaval (including the modern Vorin split of male/female roles) before things stabilise and the modern calendar (year 0 of 1163) begins.

 

This also means there was approx 3000 years between the Last Desolation and the Recreance. So if you got a theory that Radiants by themselves can cause Desolations it has to be really really indirect...

RE: bolded.  Plus, the possibility that during the Heraldic Epochs, a Desolation could be as little as three-fiddy years between the end of the last and start of the next.  I'm referencing when Dalinar asks the Radiant woman the year and she says "Eighth Epoch, 337" if memory serves.  I took that to mean "337 years after the Heralds departed upon completion of the 8th known Desolation" (after the Silver Kingdoms were established).

Edited February 23, 2015 by dvoraen

[Mistdork]

Thinking in portals...that's...a really interesting way to put it...errr...errr...(the image I get here is from Portal 1 and 2; I don't think the metaphor works with that game in mind...now I'm imaging each different way to use investiture or switch it or whatever as a room gotten to with a portal gun...no, nope...nah.) >.>

 

Seriously though, these are awesome. I'm always amazed with the cool things you guys find out...

[Argent]

If anyone's been holding out, by the way, I don't feel possessive of my own questions - if you want to transcribe, go right ahead. I won't get a chance for at least another few days.

 

Also, @Nymp, Brandon's "now you are thinking with portals" was meant to be more like "now you are starting to think about the problem in the right light". I thought he said that. Maybe it's on the audio.

Edited February 25, 2015 by Argent

[WeiryWriter]

If anyone's been holding out, by the way, I don't feel possessive of my own questions - if you want to transcribe, go right ahead. I won't get a chance for at least another few days.

 

Also, @Nymp, Brandon's "now you are thinking with portals" was meant to be more like "now you are starting to think about the problem in the right light". I thought he said that. Maybe it's on the audio.

 

I went through and timestamped the signing line audio, I'll try and get that typed up soon-ish.  Anyway a lot of interesting stuff in there!

[Kurkistan]

Also, @Nymp, Brandon's "now you are thinking with portals" was meant to be more like "now you are starting to think about the problem in the right light". I thought he said that. Maybe it's on the audio.

 

I've got it recorded as "Yes. In other words you're wrapping your head around the way that the magic system is working, so." And I don't think I cut anything off... Could you be sure to double-check me on this, Weiry? I don't have access to my recording at the moment.

 

P.S. Also, the main reason I tend to be a bit odd about getting my own questions is my mad hand gestures. The time bubble question from Philly would have made no sense whatsoever without a play-by-play of my pantomiming, so I've kind of got into a habit (very quick habit formation, it seems) of making sure I'm on hand to describe any relevant gestures.

 

I also made a "pushing" gesture when asking the iron/steel/emotional Allomancy through a time bubble question, but I deemed it unnecessary to record that, as the question and answer were clear enough.

Edited February 25, 2015 by Kurkistan

[WeiryWriter]

On the "thinking with portals" thing you have the gist of it, but I'll make sure to double check everything when I get to that point. BTW here's the google doc I've been working in.

[IceBaka]

Probably the answer to how exactly it is that Lift turns Stormlight into Investiture. Turns out she actually metabolizes food into Investiture. So, your body, your digestive system, it takes food, it breaks it down, it breaks it down, it breaks it down, and the pretty much final product  (or one of them) is sucrose, I believe, which is a very basic sugar. Your body then uses those sucrose molecules in special ways to create energy molecules - ATP - which your cells use to do everything they do. Well, in Lift's case, she doesn't get sucrose (or, rather, she can choose not to get sucrose - she can effectively tell her body "don't turn this into sugar, turn it into awesomeness!") - she gets Investiture. The example he gave was, think bread and sausage. Bread metabolizes quickly - at least white bread does - which gives you a sugar spike; so Lift would be able to get a lot of Investiture quickly if she were eating bread. On the other hand, sausage metabolizes slowly, so she would be able to kind of keep a "slow burn" of Investiture with it for a longer period of time. 

 

Based on this explanation and what Wyndle says about Lift having low body fat (WOR p. 699, kindle version), it sounds to me like Lift is able to selectively convert glucose (not sucrose, see below) into awesomeness when the glucose is in her blood, assuming Rosharan anatomy and physiology are nearly the same as ours.

 

Catabolism (break down) of carbohydrates results in monosaccharides (simple sugars).  There are a lot of these, but the three most common in the human diet are glucose, fructose, and galactose.  Sucrose (the sugar you buy at the store) is actually a disaccharide (double sugar) of glucose and fructose.  These monosaccharides are easily absorbed via cotransport by the the adluminal cells of the small intestine, and facilitated diffusion allows their rapid movement into the blood.  In other words, when you eat something with a lot of sugar, it can move into your blood fairly quickly.

 

Sausage is mostly proteins (which break down into amino acids) and lipids, aka fats and oils (which break down into monoglycerides and fatty acid chains).  The amino acids also can move into the blood pretty quickly after digestion, but then it will take some time for cells to absorb them, convert them into glucose by enzymatic action, and release them back to the blood.  Hence, the increase in blood glucose is slower and more prolonged.

 

Lift wouldn't even need to eat to derive some investiture from the molecules currently in her body.  Catabolism of carbohydrates and metabolism of other types of molecules into glucose, would allow her to "eat" herself to generate investiture.  However, as noted by Wyndle, that would make her dangerously emaciated, and could lead to death if pushed too far.  Unless she had large muscle and fat deposits, it would only be useful for small amounts of awesomeness.  Thus, she has to derive most of her awesomeness by ingesting materials.

 

What I'm getting at is that Lift could get a massive surge in investiture more quickly if she used a syringe to inject a glucose solution directly into a blood vessel.  I'm not sure if Roshar has that technology, but they do seem pretty advanced in medicine.  Lift could carry around little vials of "Instant Awesomeness".

[Kurkistan]

On the "thinking with portals" thing you have the gist of it, but I'll make sure to double check everything when I get to that point. BTW here's the google doc I've been working in.

 

Just so you know I've got my own copy of the audio, so just PM me or something if you're transcribing something and can't make it out.

-I neglected to turn my recording off during the "please don't post this answer" session of Argent's question session, and am not sure of my audio-editing skills (also I don't want to know whatever he asked/got answered), and so didn't post the audio online.

[Cheese Ninja]

It's a web serial, like HPMOR, though I guess HPMOR falls under the fanfiction umbrella. The author's description sums up the concept pretty well:

 

It's quite the fun read, and the author is just finishing it up. The magic is very soft compared to what Sanderson writes and the story is much darker, so I'm not sure if most people who like Sanderson would like it. Wildbow writes his stories in one go, and they tend to need some editing, but for the most part they're great.

 

The author is also somewhat better-known for doing Worm, which is a rather interesting take on doing people with superpowers. The main character is a girl with the power to control bugs (which you'd think would be an awful power, but she makes it work) who wants to be a superhero. At some point it turns into epic fantasy but much more modern. Again, very dark. I find it better written than Pact, except that the first few chapters of Worm are kind of meh.

 

Would recommend both! And HPMOR obviously, except that HPMOR is extremely polarizing in that some people and love it and some people can't stand it and I suspect the latter group is much more numerous.

 

It's funny that this came up, since I just spent the last two weeks into reading Worm. (baader-meinhof phenomenon) I keep planning to revisit HPMOR someday, but not quite yet.  I need to catch up on other media and daily life for a little while before I decide to start Pact as well.

 

Also, time bubbles on a train would move with the train?  That's new, isn't it?  Or rather it's more like "a time bubble is not so much fixed to a location on the planet, but instead to what the Misting perceives as a fixed area around themself."

[Kurkistan]

Also, time bubbles on a train would move with the train?  That's new, isn't it?  Or rather it's more like "a time bubble is not so much fixed to a location on the planet, but instead to what the Misting perceives as a fixed area around themself."

 

It is new. Contradicting our previous understanding of how it works, actually, and thus the tone of shock and surprise from me when Brandon said it.

 

Bubbles anchored by bond:

Q.Zas678- I’ve got a question kind of based off of the train fight. If you have a time bubble, and you were to make it while you are on the train, would the time bubble move with the train, or would it stay at the same spot relative to the planet?

A. Time bubbles don’t move, so it would pull you out of it, then it would vanish.

Q. (Mi’chelle)- If you were to pop up a time bubble and someone were to be stuck halfway in and halfway out, would they go splooch?

A. No, they would be in the time bubble. The time bubbles will move with the planet but not with the train.

Q. Yeah, I always thought it was relative to the person creating the time bubble.

A. No, you’ll see Wayne create one, then he’ll walk up to the perimeter, but if he leaves it, it ruins the time bubble.

Q. Zas678- So is that because it’s linked up to the spiritual gravitational bond between the planet?

A. Yes, and you’re digging very deeply into stuff that I now can’t answer. Time bubbles have some weirdness to them that I don’t want to dig in too deeply, but yes.

 

Charitable interpretations leave us to conclude that Brandon was talking about the long-term case in this older WoB, or assuming a bubble that was intersecting the ground where his new WoB/scenario assumes that it isn't or something.

 

---

 

Regardless, Brandon already told us how the bubble figures out what "still" is:

 

Brandon: Yes, but when you start catching stuff off of the train, it's gonna' _jar_ each time, and it's probably going to ruin your time bubble, right?

Kurkistan: So does it get it's "anchor" from- it's asking all the things that are within it what they think "still" is?

Brandon: Yes. That's a good way of looking at it. Frame of reference for the cognitive things around.

Kurkistan: Okay; the things around or the things within it, specifically?

Brandon: The things that it's cutting into, specifically, but yeah.

Edited February 26, 2015 by Kurkistan