- It is consistent for two identical entities to become different under deterministic and symmetrical laws. But, for that to happen, they must initially be more than just exact images of each other: they must be fungible (the g is pronounced as in 'plunger'), by which I mean identical in literally every way except that there are two of them. The concept of fungibility is going to appear repeatedly in my story. The term is borrowed from legal terminology, where it refers to the legal fiction that deems certain entities to be identical for purposes such as paying debts. For example, dollar bills are fungible in law, which means that, unless otherwise agreed, borrowing a dollar does not require one to return the specific banknote that one borrowed. Barrels of oil (of a given grade) are fungible too. Horses are not: borrowing someone's horse means that one has to return that specific horse; even its identical twin will not do. (Deutsch - Infinity)
- Sullivan basically ignored this question. The closest he came to an explanation was a passage saying that “global economic forces” hurt blue-collar workers in particular, forcing them to compete with lots of other unskilled and basically fungible human beings around the world. (Taibbi - Insane Clown President)