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Message no. 1
From: big_jake <big_jake@****.COM>
Subject: Entymology of neuromancy & cybermancy
Date: Fri, 1 Nov 1996 20:23:28 -0600
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There's been some discussion lately regarding the meaning of
necromancy, cybermancy, and neuromancy. The latter two are synthetic,
so I guess we could assign any meaning to them, but for the sake of
consistancy:

necromancy = divination by corpes, ie, foretelling the future
by communing with the spirits of the dead. (Staring at entrails is a
form of necromancy.) There is also some confusion between "nekros"
and "niger", meaning black, so necromancy can also mean black magic,
although that would actually be negromancy. (No offense intended.)

chiromancy = divination by hand (palmistry)

geomancy = divination by means of lines & figures (by analogy
to geometry, which uses lines & figures to measure land.)

hydromancy = divination by water

pyromancy = divination by fire

(Curiously, aeromancy doesn't appear in my dictionary...)

So, cyber- & neuromancy must be methods of divination.

Cybernetics is a term coined by Norbert Wiener meaning the
theoretical study of control processes, from the Greek "kubernetes"
menaing pilot or governor. (Especially the mathematical analysis of
information flow in such systems.)

cybermancy = divination by means of electronic control
systems, or more simply, divination by computer. (The pollsters who
use computer to predict the outcome of elections are engaged in
cybermancy.)

Neuro- means of or pertaining to the nervous system.

neuromancy = divination by means of the nervous system, or
more simply, divination by use of the brain. (People who think about
the future are engaging in neuromancy.)

OK, so if you take them literally, they aren't very useful words. But
they still sound kewl...

// - - - - - - - john jacobsma <big_jake@****.com> - - - - - - -
// for geek code & pgp public key, visit my web page:
// http://www.inil.com/users/big_jake/
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Message no. 2
From: Scam <scam@******.MUR.CSU.EDU.AU>
Subject: Re: Entymology of neuromancy & cybermancy
Date: Sat, 2 Nov 1996 16:55:56 +1100
On Fri, 1 Nov 1996, big_jake wrote:

[snip]
> So, cyber- & neuromancy must be methods of divination.
[snip]
> cybermancy = divination by means of electronic control
> systems, or more simply, divination by computer. (The pollsters who
> use computer to predict the outcome of elections are engaged in
> cybermancy.)
[snip]

I see where you're coming from and it is good, logical thinking. But, and
you may know this already and were justing broadening all our
intellectual horizons (which I whole-heartedly and sincerely thank you
for), but the term "cybermancy" in regards to Shadowrun refers to the
magical technique introduced in the Cybertechnology sourcebook with which
magicians (using many and varied nasty techniques) bond a persons spirit
to their own body (the person's body, not the magician's) for the purpose of
cramming as much cyberware into them as possible. Some of the archtypes
provided with the book had (from memory) -11 (ish) Essence. Really nasty
fraggers to say the least.

I was _shattered_ when I looked in the 'Man, Myth & Magic' Encylopedia
back in high school (ah that brings back memories) and found out that
necromancy was a form of divination and not actually creating zombies
and such :(

Scam-who-has-taken-to-stealing-Bull's-signature-at-the-end-of-his-emails-the
-wannabe-zombie-master-lich-king-;)

*******************************************************************
* scam@**********.mur.csu.edu.au *
* http://itclub.mur.csu.edu.au/~scam *
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Thwap!