Paul Durham

Paul Durham is one of the main characters in the story. He is a middle-aged man from Sydney, Australia. As a young man he drops out of college and travels before spending ten years in a mental institution suffering from delusions. He is cured after brain surgery, released from the institution and finishes college. He becomes an insurance salesman, selling insurance to copies against the loss of their computer facilities.

During his period of mental instability, Durham develops his theory that the universe is made of bits of information taken from various places and times. He extends his theory to predict that it is possible to create a new self-sustaining universe out of this "dust." He successfully proves his dust theory by creating such a universe.

The flesh-and-blood Paul Durham commits suicide shortly after launching his universe without ever knowing if it is successful. His copy, who...