No, actually, that's not it at all, Alice. As most of us in this group know, the real answers to your questions (about why I get laid every night and Alvin doesn't) lie in natural selection, specifically, sexual selection.

A woman is attracted to me for several reasons, but the primary reasons are first, that I can provide shelter and a comfortable life for her, and second, that she wants to produce progeny with me so that our children will possess both her and my obvious physical and other visible attributes. These reasons are the best method of assuring her survival long enough to produce offspring and assuring the survival of said progeny so that they may reproduce successfully, hopefully assuring the survival of her genetic code into future generations. A gorgeous woman with the most sexually seductive physical attributes imaginable throws herself at me practically every night. She has carefully prepared herself in every detail to enhance her chances of capturing my attention and, when she has it, she offers her body to me in hopes of holding my attention long enough to produce offspring.

Few women discover in themselves any attraction at all to Alvin because he does not possess the physical traits I do. His only chance of attracting a moderately attractive female is to attain wealth. However, Alvin will quickly discover that she will leave him as quickly as possible, with as much of his wealth as she can grasp so she can continue trying to capture the attention of more suitable males like me while she still has a bit of her youthful attractiveness left.

Of course, you know all this already, which brings us back to you. What's the point of this interrogation, Alice?

You strut around this group as if you're a bully in a schoolyard, pretending you own it. If anyone dares to offer up content that doesn't pique your admittedly shallow and ephemeral interest, you ridicule the originator, punch him or her in the face and then walk away without consequence.

Like any bully, you ignore the facts, which I shall now list. Every time you have ridiculed participants and their contributions, we have gone on to have a stimulating discussion, which you then claim has become one of your reasons for living. You have yet to offer up a single original contribution for the group's examination because you're just too goddamned cool for the room. We don't see your slim, handsome body, your clothes and your cool demeanor; therefore, you don't impress us at all. We don't need or want you—for anything. You ignore all of these facts. You even ignore the fact that we call you the village idiot. Why is that?

So what? Your admission and apology hold no interest for us because we don't need you. You feed off our energy while contributing nothing and we're supposed to be grateful for your attention? You really are an idiot, Doug.

Try this: drop out, not just to the secondary group but completely out. Continue hitting the ball games, concerts and bars. Continue picking up gorgeous women and porking them. Continue reading the story and chats while making snide remarks, if you think of any. Just don't come back.

I wanted to ask you, Raj, whether or not you agreed that Alvin is probably a virgin. Does this assumption translate in Indian or Bengalaru culture?

Good point, Raj. I've studied Mic's writing and come up with a little analysis on exactly that point. What Mic does is he brings up a seemingly irrelevant topic and then buries one or more key facts in that seeming irrelevance. He appears to do this so that we, the readers, do not question those facts later when he brings them up again and they become not only relevant but crucial.

A good example is the racquetball game with Carlos, which he brought up to show the extent to which Jill will go to fit into society. He brings it up again to feed the growing tension between Jill and Kerry North. I have no doubt but that he will use it again because Mic tends to get a lot of mileage out of his details and seeming distractions.

In this part, he uses Alvin to explain the history of technology to Jill. Alvin explains that MILNET split off from ARPANET and CSNET last year, but that the latter two set up a gateway between them. What do you bet that this single fact will become crucial within a dozen chapter parts or so?

I won't take that bet, Benny, because I've noticed the same thing. I'll use the example of Jill's visit to the photographers, Tom and Penny. Doug uses this opportunity to dig up the fact that for several years, Jill served as a contract assassin for the US government. However, this not only has nothing to do with the story discussion but also precludes the group from discussing the real reason Mic included this detail.

During the visit with Tom and Penny, Jill picks up the phone and tells Le to cancel her scheduled series of appointments with A Pair of Aces. Now, Le had a business reason for setting up those appointments or she wouldn't have done it. Yet Jill takes her appointments. Earlier, we learned that Jill takes this position so she can distract Peter from noticing that Pere is preparing to raid Ferro assets in Las Vegas. What Jill does here is make a business decision between the priorities of the Baron Ranch requirements and the Pere requirements for raiding Ferro. Obviously, Jill decides that the Ferro raid has priority. The fact that Le doesn't argue means that she agrees.

Now, in this part, look at Jill's first reaction to her menu. This is her first look at Unix and she thinks it's cool. In fact, Mic uses the word `breathed' to state Jill's reaction to Unix. While Jill's reactions are significant, they certainly aren't surprising. Jill has been a motor head or gear head, I believe you call it in the US, all her life. We read about how quickly Jill fixed Detective Locaccio's vehicle when it was running poorly.

Alan, you knew Jill in the military 30yrs ago, or 10yrs before this story. Did you know she was a gear head back then?

Jill steps up and asks if he's "tuning the ol' Toyota," was what he said she said. Jill tells him to start it up and within a minute, the Toyota's purring like a kitten. Tells him to kill the engine and then touch the ignition twice. A few seconds later, Jill tells him to start it up and back it out. Toyota's running like brand new.

Sergeant Matta asks why Jill isn't running her own shop. Jill asks why he isn't teaching Socratic Method at Cornell. She watches as he backs out and drives away. After telling that story, Sergeant Matta, who had just earned his masters degree in philosophy, pauses as he looks off into the distance and says softly, "You know, I'd love to teach Socratic Method at Cornell University. Now, how in hell did she know that?"

Certainly, group learning is an important part of the educational process, but let's not forget the nature of that larger process. Some smart people are teaching, guiding and manipulating us for their own ends, some of which we know, some we suspect and others, we have no idea are occurring at all.

Having said that, I'd like to compliment you, Maria, on the important detail you called to our attention during the last chat, which led to a discussion with Le. We learned from Le that Pere has been recording Jill and probably all of the Pere executives for decades.

Thank you, Benny. I enjoy not only the larger process, as Raj and you have called it, but this particular discussion about noticing the important clues to that larger process that Mic hides in the story details. It's also fascinating to realize that the executives are manipulating us as we chat, whether we notice it or not.

I'd also like to add a tip to the two that you mentioned a bit earlier, Raj. Not only is Jill technically savvy about machines, she is also perceptive about people's physical capabilities. Jill evaluates such things rapidly to assess their level of competence or threat to her and others. However, Jill is definitely not savvy about people's emotions and relationships, mostly because she just doesn't care enough to pay attention. Would you agree?

But not today. Benny, regarding Jill checking out Alvin that you mentioned earlier in this chat, I found myself doing the same thing. Do you think we're beginning to look at people, things and events from Jill's perspective—through her eyes, so to speak?