theory How the Snapshots are Made

[WeiryWriter]

So Snapshot is a novella Brandon wrote that is coming out in February. It depicts a world were they can recreate a single day, so that the courts can investigate crimes. I thought it was an interesting concept and wondered how they were able to do it. With the recent revelation that Snapshot takes place in the Reckoners multiverse I think I have an idea.

The snapshots are not artificial recreations, they operate in a similar way to Megan's powers, probably pulling from ephemeral possibilities which are nearly identical to their own core possibility.

This could also relate to the "terrible discovery" the main character makes that is mentioned in the blurb:

Quote

Snapshot is a Science Fiction detective story following Anthony Davis, a cop assigned to Snapshot Duty. In this vivid world that author Brandon Sanderson has built, society can create a snapshot of a specific day in time. The experiences people have, the paths they follow—all of them are real again for a one day in the snapshot. All for the purposes of investigation by the court.

Davis's job as a cop on Snapshot Duty is straight forward. Sometimes he is tasked with finding where a criminal dumped a weapon. Sometimes he is tasked with documenting domestic disputes. Simple. Mundane. One day, in between two snapshot assignments, Davis decides to investigate the memory of a call that was mysteriously never logged at the precinct, and he makes a horrifying discovery.

As in all many stories, Snapshot follows a wonderfully flawed character as he attempts to solve a horrific crime. Sanderson proves that no matter the genre, he is one of the most skilled storytellers in the business.

What if the people "created" in the snapshot aren't fake, but rather made real as part of the snapshot only to be destroyed when the snapshot is destroyed?

[Yata]

Mmmm it may be interesting but I don't know I think it would me more than that...also because with a similar tech you may gain infinite resources, I honestly am uncapable to see this tech used of law and order problem instead of money

[WeiryWriter]

Okay, so I actually re-listened to the reading Brandon did from this (which I neglected to do when first proposing this), and the narator does give an in-world tech explanation of how the snapshots are created. Namely that there are nano-robot things in people's blood and crawling over every surface in the city, and that the data they collect is used to create the snapshot. I am still in favor of my theory however, as I don't think the nano-robots could possibly be collecting enough data to possibly accomplish what they claim it does. It could re-create all the pieces, but I don't think it could accurate duplicate the human mind.

[Oversleep]

So... the nano-robot thing didn't make it into the final draft? (Haven't listened the read so I don't know whether it was in the fragment he read or was just Brandon talking about the book)

[Landis963]

On 5/2/2017 at 8:34 PM, Oversleep said:

So... the nano-robot thing didn't make it into the final draft? (Haven't listened the read so I don't know whether it was in the fragment he read or was just Brandon talking about the book)

No, there was a tech level issue.  Namely, if there's all this nanotech crawling over everything everywhere, why is everything in the Snapshot still 21st century tech?  Simpler to say "An Epic did it!" and leave it at that.  

[bjmgeek]

I like it better with "an Epic did it", but I do like that it's cloaked in military / government tech.  In a sense, it's a bit like 

Spoiler

the "tech" in the Reckoners that turns out to be just cells from an Epic.