Cat Gap

It is essential when we look at deep time, or any sufficiently high-dimensional and detailed time series, to remember that we are only looking at a tiny slice. We always like to talk of "the tree of life", which might mislead folks into thinking that we get a clean cross-section of every branch of some high-dimensional tree. But, in truth, what we get is more like a tiny wedge cut out from a beanstalk with many central vines; we have…

I once was thinking that if intelligent machines surpassed human intelligence, the end game would be human intelligence would atrophy but the machines would continue to serve us. Then I had a humorous thought - what if this already happened, i.e. cats were superintelligent, invented humans to serve them and then they had no need for their own intelligence.

The Undying Lands, which until that time had been part of the World, were removed forever from the reach of mortal Men, though the Cats could still sail West and come there, if they would. It is to the Undying Lands that the White Ship sails at the end of 3rd Age (25 million years ago). I like to think that the cats went off-world when the cat oracles foresaw that the age of man was coming.