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The Nature of Predators 2-95
🕑 Added 2024-12-17 12:00:09 +0000 UTCMemory Transcription Subject: Adam Meier, Advisor to the Secretary-General
Date [standardized human time]: April 29, 2161
Without the backing and raw manufacturing power of the Listeners, and with the KC drone reinforcement taken off the grid with the UN assuming remote control, the Fed remnants didn’t have the capacity to withstand the Sapient Coalition and the Shield’s full might. Many had already offered their unconditional surrender, especially with the ghost Farsul headquarters (and its personnel) being unearthed by humanity. The Consortium had gone down with a more spiteful whimper, though the “easy” victory felt rather pyrrhic with the lives lost in their self-destruction.
One of the most horrifying things for me was reading the transcripts we’d pulled from their database, affirming that they’d had full consciousness but no autonomy. I had a deep-rooted concern that Terra Technologies could alter my mind in a way where I could trust neither my senses or my judgment; I might not even have control over my own actions. No sapient being should ever live with that fear. If we were going to tamper with these technologies long-term, an idea which I’d become more partial to over the past year, digital people needed the same right as flesh-and-blood.
It’s not just the biologics that have to be protected from us; the inverse needs to be true. The Consortium showed us the dangers—the vulnerability of the silicon mind as well as the possibility for synthetics to supplant the organics. This speech, my final one, is important.
“General Radai,” I greeted the Resket, as he arrived to finally meet in person following the war. I hadn’t thought he was fond of me in our earliest conversation, though I had new insight as to why that was now. He’d arrived and turned himself into us for his role in the war. “I know after all that’s happened, you feel that you’ve failed in your duty as a protector. For what it’s worth, we think you’re vital now to put the pieces back together.”
Radai bowed his head in shame. “My will to live, or to even care for the concepts of duty and honor, have been sapped. I did what I had to do on Avor without a care for any of that. I am the biggest fool in a land of fools, Adam.”
“Listen to me. You stood up for the Jaslip rebels when it counted; you didn’t blindly follow orders to the end. It’s never too late to stand up for what is right. You don’t have to accept some…finality that your honor is tarnished, and that your story is over. Take back control of your life, General—you’re a strong-willed soldier who can get things done.”
“Is this an order?”
“If that’s what it takes to relight your fire, perhaps. An inside track suggests that the SC will pass a motion to spare you from the ‘gross negligence’ charges in the interests of galactic security, and allow you to resume leadership of the Reskets…and any Consortium refugees who might follow you.”
“I am grateful that you persuaded the Paltans to take our civilians in. I only saw Avor with my own eyes, but the Underscales turned every world to ashes. I can’t fathom how to rebuild.”
“We’ll help you. Efforts already began to restore Esquo. It seems we’re popular in the Jaslips’ books, after the Osir project and our takedown of the Consortium. I have ideas in mind for similar restorations for other KC species, which I’m about to mention in my…farewell address. Suffice to say, I believe we can undo some of the damage, if you won’t give up just as the situation has a chance to get better.”
“I want my people to survive. That was all I ever wanted: security, peace. The Jaslip leader, Aulan, rode back with the Arxur fleet to pay a diplomatic visit to Wriss, but I…I came to you to embrace the consequences of my actions. If I am punished to live with the weight of my shame, so be it.”
I tilted my head, interest piqued by the mention of the Carnivore Alliance. “I suppose it was the Arxur who bailed the Jaslips out first, but that nearly derailed the Bissems’ membership. I can’t fault Aulan’s gratitude for the Collective’s unconditional backing, of course…I just wonder why they didn’t send a diplomat to us.”
“As I understand it, Delegate Frenelda has to be taken out of hiding, and is a few days behind me. Her complicity in the bombing of Delegates Tower forced her off-the-grid. They’re sending you a…proper diplomat, not a revolutionary. One of the few they have left living.”
“We’d be honored to receive Frenelda, so long as she checks any explosive packages at the door. That explains why the Jaslips aren’t with you. Where is Taylor Trench?”
“He had a…prior diplomatic obligation with the Sivkits on Tellus, which the UN agreed he should uphold. The Grand Herd was due to move in within a few weeks. Trench also said he had spent enough time cooped up in a spaceship for one year. It’s a month-long journey between Earth and Consortium space.”
“It’s even further between the Consortium and Wriss.” A gray reptilian cautiously crept out behind General Radai, which surprised me; there hadn’t been an Arxur visitor to these premises since Isif crashed the SC’s initial founding. I recognized their Ambassador to Humanity, Raza, who was also second-in-command to Kaisal. “With the humblest respect, Sir Meier, we would like to sit at the table this time, as a devastating war closes. It is our desire to end our isolation and rejoin the galaxy, as people rather than monsters.”
“If I may, the Arxur Collective saved many lives and stood up for the oppressed far better and far sooner than I could,” Radai remarked. “The drone attacks that I sent on my fool’s errand would have claimed more lives on Talsk, were it not for their interference. They’ve stood with our side with honor and civility, enough that I—if there’s any meaning that my word carries—would vouch for their reformation.”
I nodded, recalling Elias’ long-ago wish for a better future with the Arxur—his promise to help Isif. “I don’t agree with the jailing of entire species, and I hope not to see that mistake repeated. However, I am not the Secretary-General, so I can only implore others to strive for a more hopeful future and to make the right choices.”
“We should have a voice to implore others, to show that we’ve changed and you believe we have, enough to be worthy of participating. Please, at least allow us a word in our defense if you wish to put us back,” Raza said.
“I’m not preventing you from entering, am I, Ambassador Raza?”
“No. I suppose you’re not. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Don’t worry, I plan to do you one better—something a few people might call radical. I hope we can show that we truly learned from our past mistakes. I give forceful pushes in the right direction; it’s kind of my thing. Let’s see how my political swan song goes, shall we?”
I ushered Ambassador Raza and General Radai toward the auditorium, though I took care not to look too much like I was welcoming representatives of two prideful species that many SC members thought of as enemies. It felt strange to realize that this would be my final (intentional) public appearance, after how much of my remembered life had been spent on articulation and diplomacy. I had to have a little faith in the next generation to course correct, to give them the chance to make their own successes and failures. A few parting words of wisdom and challenges should be enough.
Secretary-General Osmani has shown himself to be ready to lead: cool, calm, and collected throughout this entire fiasco of a war. The embodiment of speaking softly and carrying a big stick. This will be the final advice from me, in my role as advisor. We must remain diligent to never be like the Consortium or the Federation.
I walked up to the podium with calm footsteps, staring out at the packed auditorium of humanity’s friends. As the first synthetic being on our side of Orion, I was deemed an expert on the pressing technological issues of our time. There were many questions that faced us far beyond just the invasive nature of the very lifeblood of modern society, and the rapid advancement we craved at our cores. I didn’t believe that an invention was evil of itself, but rather, how it was used defined the outcome. We had to take responsibility for our handling of such hardware, and recognize our power in other areas as well.
“Good day, everyone. Let us start off with the elephant in the room, as I’ve come to speak to you about the quintessentialism of cybernetic rights. I am a software built into a robotic form that mimics the human body, just like the legion. Terra Technologies built me from Elias Meier’s transcript in the hopes of cheating death. To my knowledge, I am my own person—but the fact that I cannot truly know disturbs me, and should disturb all of you,” I began. “We must forbid mind and personality alterations in any shape they take.”
Krakotl Ambassador Kelsel raised a tentative wing. “Forgive me, but would it be so bad to leave out our worst emotions? The capacity for hatred, sadism, or jealousy.”
“As someone who lived sedated by predator disease drugs, unable to feel anger for twenty years, yes, it is ‘that bad,’” Onso commented with a sly ear flick.
I pursed my lips, searching for an off-the-cuff response. “It is our free will that gives us the capacity for evil, but also the capacity for good. The full range of human emotions are messy, but they give us our most beautiful forms of expression: the highs and lows shape our worldview, our connections to others, and who we are. I think I’m qualified to speak to how much missing a little thing affects your experience of the world. We take it all for granted until it’s taken away.”
“Adam is right. Beyond that fact, tampering with a thinking person’s identity is a slippery slope. In the case of the Consortium, it involved removing their core memories and placing them in a false reality, all against their will,” Osmani added.
“Thank you, Mr. Secretary-General. While I’ve come around to Terra Technologies’ mission and found a desire to persevere, it must be acknowledged that some elements of their operation are a slippery slope as well. My proposal is simple: that the privileges, expectations and standards that would be applied to a biological being should apply to a digital one, and vice versa.”
“Hm. Could you be less specific?” Onso quipped.
“I’m saying that we’ve seen the peril in violations of privacy, being able to peek into someone’s thoughts. Brain scans or a synthetic’s live thoughts should not be accessible without consent; I, for instance, never agreed to technicians knowing my every whim at every second of the day. That kind of overreach must be eliminated. Your mind is your temple and should be treated with that reverence.”
Governor Laisa flicked an ear with approval, reminding me how much I adored the Venlil for their support throughout the years. “I think we all can agree that we need to pass privacy laws and limitations on the usage of this technology. We have to protect ourselves. Our entire society hinges on these decisions, so we must take care.”
“Yes! The Sapient Coalition has to seek more than just peace; we must be responsible stewards of the galaxy. As humans say, with great power comes great responsibility. I hope we will rise to the challenge, rather than shy away. To be clear, I’m not saying to lower our ambitions or to forbid this research because of the potential for misuse. In fact, I have an immediate project in mind.”
Fear and reservation flashed in Radai’s eyes. “What is it?”
“We can take the word ‘pyrrhic’ out of our victory against the Consortium. We now possess the fruits of their overreach. We can take back the lives they stole, and put the brain scan data to a better use than their legion. Long-term, my idea is for us to bring back anyone who didn’t make it off the Consortium worlds—the right way. Their personalities deserve the chance to be a part of a new life.”
I gave a look of defiance at the gathered diplomats, unsurprised as an uproar spread across the auditorium. I had no idea if the Sapient Coalition would back my idea, but such an outrageous proposition was certainly going to spark debate. I, for one, saw no reason why the innocent Consortium civilians deserved a second chance at life any less than I did.
A/N - 95! Meier wants Radai to look over the Consortium, and an Arxur diplomat attends an SC meeting for the first time since Isif; our narrator expresses support for the Arxur being released from isolation. He also learns what the Jaslips are up to, before giving a speech on the rights of digital beings after the KC’s cautionary tale. While he advises setting up guardrails, Adam wants humanity to bring back the dead transcripted citizens and deny the Underscales the last laugh.
What do you think about Adam’s idea to bring back the countless lives that the Underscales took in their final act of spite? What do you think should be done with the Fed remnants and the Arxur, and what changes should be made to what the SC were doing before?
As always, thank you for reading and supporting!
Comments
Some Lvm
@Jonathan: 1. We don't know if Kristin is still Kristin. It took Meir AI a while to start malfunctioning, and we got to meet Kristin for all of five minutes and never heard from her again. 2. There are no people here. There are just some recordings of thoughts of people who were murdered. Its like the "Ozirs" project where you take DNA from the dead and raise a species that is genetically Jaslips, but have no actual connection to the real Jaslips. At least, that would have been the case if the real Jaslips hadn't survived. And this one is worse, because you are basically taking people's most private memories, putting them in a digital blender, and shoving the resulting LLM out in to the world as a person, which by any metric it is not, and robo Meir is pretty much the proof of that. Honestly, I think at this point, the best most moral thing to do might be deleting those transcripts. If there is any freedom to be had for what scraps of information is left from the victims of the Underscales and the Listners, it is the freedom to move on. Being the raw material for what is sure to be a horrific scientific experiment is in no way freedom!
Xilacnog
Did she? If I recall, we only saw limited interaction between her and Meier before he changed his name to Adam. Either way, the technology is too dangerous to be applied on such a large scale without even a proper test sample.
Jonathan Cardoso Mota
It isn't a contradiction! He's his own person. Same were all of those people who were turned into robots by the Consortium. If you want to look at it this way: Those people might not have been the ones they were before, but they are still themselves. And they still suffered enslavement by the Consortium, and deserve to live free. Also, you need to remember: Kirstin, the other human we saw brought back, is still Kirstin. She doesn't think like Adam does, she IS Kirstin, the same one that died to terminal disease over a century ago. So... What do you do with this, then? If those who are LIVING the situation say both, contradicting things... Which is true?
Jonathan Cardoso Mota
Adam has admitted he's not the same as Elias... But the other human they brought back has admitted she's the same as herself. So... What now? Human synths has said BOTH are true, so what is it now?
REDemon14
I'm starting to think some people really haven't been paying attention to the story, or at least Meier's arc. Most of their concerns have been brought up and a solution is brought up in this chapter alone. Laws and rights for the synthetics.
Xilacnog
By now, I kind of expect people in NOPverse to be slow on the uptake but... HOW THE HELL has no one brought up that if Adam has admitted that he's not the same as Elias, then it's pointless to build more of them? Terra Technologies project failed. Even if they made clones instead, it's safe to assume that the same will happen. It may be cynical of me but the only reason why this project should continue is so that the brightest minds of every species can live on and ensuring that such talent isn't lost for future generations.
Luiz Henrique Alves
Okay so the KC have their minds back up but not their genetic code? Dont we already have some of those from criminals? And we are a lot less 1984 then they are so shouldnt they also have the genetic code of their every civilian? why are the Terran Tecnologies not making actual biological clones and putting people's minds inside a biological body instead of a robot?
Scarred Ragdoll
Sure let's transfer a few billion traumatised minds into superhuman metal bodies which any two-bit script kiddy can turn into weapons of mass destruction. What could go wrong? Not to mention the fact that these transcripts are clearly not the original mind as exemplified by Adam himself.
Roscuro
Nope. Stop making robot people. You make an entire planets worth of robot people, let alone 5, that don't age or die, all against their will, you're gonna have problems. It's a tragedy with little compare, but you need to move on. It's part of life.
Some Lvm
I don't get it: On the one hand "Adam" says he is his own person, not Elias, on the other hand he thinks instantiating a transcript would give the original murder victim a second life? That is a contradiction! Either you create a new person from a transcript, or you resurrect and old one, you can't have it both ways. And no, this isn't a "ship of Theseus" dilemma, people don't just wake up one morning and say "I had enough life experience to be a different person so I am changing my name". There is one interesting point: Meir's suggestion would give the Underscales an opportunity to enact the ultimate fail safe, having code hidden deep within the transcripts, in case they lost, their enemy would bring them back and trust them, allowing for the ultimate victory.
George Smith
I mean, yes and no. It’s like that episode of Star Trek where they revive the people who were frozen. They were dead when they were found the Federation didn’t have to do anything. However, once they revived those people, then they became their problem. By this logic, every brain scan is a person and deserves to be a person.
Wingit98
After the shit the KC just pulled, I'd definitely be pretty racist against the machines for a while
TheDudeAbides
That's quite the investment. "hey guys, I know we have refugees from multiple planets scattered all over our worlds but you know all those billions of people that got vaporized by the KC? The ones who would also be refugees if they hadn't been killed due to their homes being glassed? Yeah, let's build billions of robot bodies for everyone that we couldn't save.
Gumcel
Tellus and Tellis, refugee centres of the galaxy. “Long-term, my idea is for us to bring back anyone who didn’t make it off the Consortium worlds—the right way. Their personalities deserve the chance to be a part of a new life.” Horrible plan lol.
EliasArt2Life
Well, it looks like the chance of the Consortium’s defeat being a fake out is plummeting. I’m interested to see the outcome of this. Meier mentioned that he was going to do more for the Arxur than just let Raza in, but hasn’t mentioned the Arxur yet, so that’s probably going to pop up next chapter. Well, it looks like an idea I voiced a while back is being voiced in universe. I’ll avoid rehashing what I said and instead bring up a new point. The technology should veer towards organic synthetics. I mean organic parts fused with the machine ones. Muscles that are organic, with maybe SOME machine parts, brains that are at least decently organic, and would grow and change like an organic brain. If it lowers the synthetic’s capabilities to more of an organic level, that’s the goal. That would solve many of the problems both sides of the equation have: organics don’t have to be as afraid of synthetics when the synthetics are mostly equal to the organics in capability. On the other hand, the synthetics would get a body that is a lot more like the one they’re used to AND have a brain that adapts and changes, making hacking them much harder, if not impossible. In the end, this technology was created to bring deceased organics “back to life”, not to create super soldiers. So, why should we build the synthetics like super soldiers? Why SHOULDN’T we make them as close to organics as possible, even if it means that they don’t have metal skin and super fast computations capabilities?
Matthew Mclemore
And I completely agree that that's the only way to prevent the issues immortality brings to society. And as much as I dislike the idea of immortality, I dislike the idea of effectively killing a being that could live on otherwise.
Michael Halpern
its that or regulate by average life expectancy of organic counterparts.
Matthew Mclemore
So I get what you're saying, and that's basically the only way to regulate a technology like this to prevent immortality. However, what I'm saying, is that that being could live on after that computer erodes by transferring the mind to the next system. So a beings mechanical body begins to fall apart, is Terra tech supposed to just say, well that sucks guess you get to die when your robot body falls apart? Isn't that the same as refusing treatment to a human with cancer? If medical treatment can cure a human of their disease, we give them that treatment. Refusing to treat a mechanical illness is the same as refusing to treat illness in a biological being. Just as a human who receives treatment can go on and complete their biological life cycle, a mechanical being who gets put into a new body (treatment for a disease so to speak) can continue on with their life cycle. And that's the problem, a being that can hop from body to body does not have a defined life cycle. From what I got from what you're saying, a biological being is meant to play God and shut off said mechanical beings. In my eyes, one sapient should not control if another lives or dies, whether they be biological or mechanical. And once that's established, then a mechanized human is effectively immortal.
REDemon14
Very rarely can an army continue a fight when you destroy their factories
REDemon14
"I swear to God, if you are running me through Windows Vista-!"
REDemon14
Oh, also, since all KC worlds were bombed, the Yulchids are like, super dead
Michael Halpern
its technological aging not murder, the purpose of the technology (from the perspective of Terran Technologies) is to give people a second chance not to give infinite chance.
Shajenko
They should be able to alter the contents of their own mind, with informed consent. Without it? Not so much.
Shajenko
Ever'body gonna be a robot!
DDDragoni
Oh boy, reviving the populations of 5 devastated worlds... that's gonna be a LOT of robots
Wingit98
Yeah, no, they should stop with the robot people
Sci-fi reader
Yep. Same old ideas. Also, no upward mobility prospects for the young.
Sci-fi reader
Did you see Oblivion? This kind of reminds of that movie, minus Tom Cruise.
Shajenko
As has been pointed out multiple times, it's a new consciousness with different experiences, who deserves to exist as much as anyone else.
Sci-fi reader
Uncle Ben “…As humans say, with great power comes great responsibility…”
Lokyar
Boot them up and give them the explicit option to be shut down. Now that the technology is available, it should be a part of the standard brainscan form. "Do you give permission, in the event of your death, for this scan to be used to upload you into a synthetic body? Yes[] No []
REDemon14
With the fall of the KC, the Fed. Remnant can’t withstand the pressure of a united SC, Shield, and Arxur Collective. While the Fed. Remnant went down without too much of a complication (which is surprising coming from a bunch of Fed. Brains), the KC were the opposite. Spiteful to the end with untold suffering. Pyrrhic Victory is the only way to describe the KC front of the war. The horrors of the KC's use of the brainscan and synthetic body tech is the darkest version. The synths are still conscious But lack free will. Truly horrible and there needs to be protections for them. There needs to be protections for everyone while maintaining free will. Poor Radai. He is a man weighed down by the decisions he made in the past. He holds himself to such a high standard that he would have never met those standards in a situation that he and his honor system have never encountered before. The fact that he has to be “ordered” to not give up speaks volumes to how low he feels about himself. It is nice that the Paltans agreed to take in the KC refugees. It's just sad that they had to do it in the first place now that we know that all homeworlds were destroyed. So many lives lost. Considering that the UN/SC were at Avor, managing to rescue a few people, and not at the other planets, the population of the other species (Resket, Smigli, Ulchid, and Trombil) are probably near extinct. Adam is right with the fact that the best thing Radai can do now is to do what he can to fix the damage since by the KC. Luckily for him and the other KC survivors, Humanity is willing to help them with that. Understandable that the revolutionary Jaslip went to the Arxur, who were the ones to intervene on their behalf. To be fair to Humanity, they were unaware that the KC were basically the factory of the Remnant. If they had known, they would've assisted much sooner. At least the Jaslips will be sending Frenelda, the more diplomatic of the two. It's nice that the Jaslips have a foot in the door with both major factions after how they were treated in the KC. Especially since they are now the most populace species from the KC. I hope Taylor and Gress get to relax a bit during their “diplomatic obligation” with the Sivkits. Those two really deserve it. Hey, it's our new Arxur gal Raza! She got to leave Wriss for a bit to meet more social species! Oooh, yeah. Siffy dropping into the initial SC founding summit didn't go that well, especially for Glim at the time. Here's hoping Raza’s presence doesn't cause a similar scenario. At least the Arxur this time around have some ground to stand on when it comes to their reformation unlike last time, which was basically “we saved Earth” and that was it. They also have Radai and Meier to stand for them. Meier: “Let's start off with the elephant in the room.” *Everyone turns towards the Mazic* Mazic Cupo: “Screw you guys” Kessel did bring up a point that is naive and is perhaps coincidentally based on the Fed's idea of acceptable mindset. I also thing she forgot they already did that with drugs, PD facilities, and with what they did to Slanek. The tampering of ones mind unacceptable. (Unless it's a mental disorder and the individual is suffering from it, then maybe some medication could help, but these situations aren't the same). Both positive and negative emotions have a basis in our survival and what makes us “us”. One's mind is such a fragile, personal thing that protections of one's sovereignty and privacy are paramount and non-negotiable. Those protections *must* be put in place! Anything less is far too dangerous and, as has been brought up, a slippery slope. Adam makes one final call on the topic of synthetics; the revival of the KC citizens and those who fought and died resisting the Underscales and I'm all for it. I think they should be brought back, if they want to be. They didn't have any part in the actions of their government. They shouldn't take the blame and some of the SC members who are part of the uproar are hypocrites if they voice otherwise. They're more than willing to seem amnesty when it's for their part in the BoE or for their delayed sessecion from the Federation when the Omnivore and Archive revelations, but for the KC citizens who ceased hostilities and rebelled against the government the moment the truth was revealed? Nah, need to raise a stink about it. I believe that Arxur (at least the newer generation) should be able to travel where ever they are welcomed. Granted they will be rejected in certain places (anywhere where there is a sufficient Cattle Rescue population. Someone like Haysi probably can't handle seeing the species that forced her into the situation she had to endure. Those who know about her, you know what I'm talking about. Also, the Thafki will probably never accept the Arxur ever). The Fed Remnant is gonna be a bit more difficult to solve. They can't be ignored like they were before. There needs to be more interactions between the UN/SC and them in order to weed out the remaining Fed ideology. Perhaps through exchange programs and trade. They also can't be neglected like they were at the end of the Human/SC -Federation war. We saw what happened with the Kolshians and Farsul. That can't happen again. A great chapter as usual. Leaves a lot to think about. The end is in sight. NoP 2 may be finished before the end of the year. Looking forward to more!
Matthew Mclemore
Is that not murder then? Shutting off their consciousness and effectively having them die when they could otherwise continue to live? While we don't have a frame of reference for such tech, even our machines can last quite a while if maintained properly. One can only assume machines and computers in the NoP timeline would be designed much better, and obviously with much better technology. Such a computer could potentially last much longer than we can imagine. If we limit these beings to 1 or 2 computers, my point still stands that there would be ideological stagnation.
Michael Halpern
no computer lasts forever, if you limit the number of computers they can inhabit and only allow them to run on one at a time, they wouldn't be immortal
Michael Halpern
Cultural stagnation
Adam Myers
Why can’t they have immortality?
Adam Myers
Interesting, thought I think optional emotional dampening ought to be allowed (at the synth’s own volition).
John Benjamin Cate
I guess I have to disagree with the morality, as I think it’s a positive. Still a great debate
John Benjamin Cate
It’s a great goal, though.
John Benjamin Cate
That depends on if that’s even possible, as I don’t think a general laptop can really work as a brain.
Pineapplepilot
Maybe a good compromise is allowing surviving family of the deceased to choose to bring them back and support them through the transition of literally being dead to being a synthetic lifeform, but just resurrecting billions of dead people is a logistical nightmare, even Marvel covered that.
PhycoKrusk
Why not do the smart thing and load them up into a laptop first? Let them know what happened and inform them, "But we have the technology to bring you back into a new, synthetic body. It won't be exactly the same, but the option is there, of you want it." It won't avoid all the mess, but at the very least, it gives them the power to decide whether or not they'd like to start a NG+. If nothing else, some might like the option to help rebuild their home worlds: Droids, after all, didn't need to eat or sleep, don't get tired, and are less bothered by many environmental concerns.
Pineapplepilot
There is something they can do, they can help fix their planet, but that’s a long process and bringing the population back too soon will leave them planetless, but bring them back when their planets finished repairing and suddenly there’s a whole other population and then they’re still displaced. We can argue back and forth about the logistics of reviving several dozen billion people if you want, but I just don’t think it’s right morally either.
Matthew Mclemore
My concerns are of the implications of immortality. Too many digital beings that live forever would halt any ideological advancements. We see that in our world, when politicians stay in office too long.
Kevo
I wasn’t expecting the remnants to fold with the KC so quick but I suppose it makes sense, they still need consequences
DemonVee
I mean, Meier didn't give consent to being murdered either, and he also had issues being brought into life this way. This move is beneficial in a utilitarian sense, but it has great risks of harm.
Byron Ritchie
I hope the feds are throughly occupied until the last traces of its heinous ideology are erased
DemonVee
Hope we get to see the Arxur get a chance to speak with the SC. I imagine the Remnants would get vassalized until they can be inducted into the SC fully, a better solution to either imprisonment or letting them roam free like before, but that matter would be complicated since it was a joint victory between the SC and shield. Who gets what, that sort of thing? The Shield might still want to remain as their own polity, so they might not be in favour of the SC gaining too much power over the Remnants. Vice versa, the SC might not want the Remnants influenced by a "less forward thinking" Shield, or even for Remnant thinking to influence the Shield again. ------ Kinda split on the KC populace being reconstructed. With clones/replicants you're never actually giving the people that lost their lives a second chance. Their lives are lost, and the cyborgs would be new lives built in their image. On the other hand, with how desolated the KC worlds became, this might be a good way to build back their numbers fast. Especially if they figure out how to put the memories into biological bodies—which shouldn't be a huge issue considering the Trombil's cyber tech. It would make their "reincarnation" easier at least. I also assumed that the Underscales had this tech proper, considering Mafani's willingness to off himself (either like he has done this before or it didn't bother him to change into a completely different body) and their need to remain undetected in the populace, probably remaining as leaders while changing into new skins. If this is true, than it's possible that there could be some spiteful agents hidden among the refugees... Though it would speed up the process
John Benjamin Cate
And I also think that there should be an attempt to rectify mistakes first, and not just throwing your hands up going “oh well, nothing to do”
John Benjamin Cate
So many possibilities for the robopeople. And hope for the future with the Arxur and Consortium races. Here’s to the better future!
John Benjamin Cate
I don’t think it’s stupid, as these people were lost in an utter tragedy and I wouldn’t say they gave “consent” to being murdered on mass. So of course the best thing to do is try and give them all a second chance.
Alekss Žukovskis
we should make up a codename for when this happens. i propose *adamization*
Alekss Žukovskis
WHAT? WHY! its his countiousness. no reason it has to be reactivated again. especially because you can't shut it down. remember robomeier having an episode
Michael Halpern
honestly with the relife efforts, they will need parents for the lab grown generation. to avoid immortality, make it so there can only be one instance of them, and a digital instance can't be transferred to a new body except in the case of sensory upgrades. no computer lasts forever,
Pineapplepilot
Oh, that’s stupid. We just talked about consent and now he wants to rouse the billions of dead from their rest. I understand that they were untimely ripped from this life, but sometimes what’s done is done and we move onto making sure mistakes don’t happen again instead of trying to rectify the ones that have already occurred.
Cheesy Power
>“I suppose it was the Arxur who bailed the Jaslips out first, but that nearly derailed the Bissems’ membership.” The fuck they did! It was the SC that was blocking their membership initially, with the Yotul in particular blocking them until they agreed to form relations with the Arxur- and then it was Humanity that stepped in to complicate things further with Jones’ blackmail. Don’t try to deflect the sins of the SC onto the Arxur, Meier!
Alekss Žukovskis
i don't see it. puberty is a change in hormones and signalling that is already imprinted in the body
Alekss Žukovskis
i wonder if they'll be able to closely mimic the organic feeling as well as exhaustion, as those are very important for reasons that organics will fear these robots anyway.
REDemon14
I think they'd only bring back the victims of the Underscales, including the children you mentioned
Thomas Pignatelli
And not to mention "Adam being a good example of this" that a person brought back isn't necessarily the same person they were when they were alive, I mean sure at first but as their minds change with new experiences they become completely different people, you'd just be bringing back people temporarily until those AI believe themselves to be someone else with the minds of the people that died becoming More of a foundation and at that point you never really brought any of them back you just made a bunch of new people.
Kingarthur
I see 2 massive flaws with bringing back everyone that died. As far as we've been told they're fully synthetic beings with effectively makes them immortal and the second biggest issue. Given they killed whole planets that likely includes children which going back to problem 1 could be very fucked up without some kind of synthetic puberty which would by its very nature violate the hell out of the idea of not altering synthetic minds/emotions.
Shajenko
Expecting a scene with roboTyler being rehabilitated by fleshTyler.
