February 19
Comments migrated from WordPress:
Specialist290 <specialist290@hughes.net> on 2016-08-28 21:45:12 wrote:
Hoo boy… I have so many “question seeds” starting to blossom in my brain, but I think I’ll wait a bit before I start asking them (in case they’re covered in later sections in some way).
Alistair Young <athanasius.skytower@arkane-systems.net> on 2016-08-28 23:31:34 wrote:
Well, there’re thirteen sections, so you might want to start asking 'em now in the comments before they have time to slip your mind. If they come up in later sections, I’ll respond accordingly.
Specialist290 <specialist290@hughes.net> on 2016-08-28 23:59:42 wrote:
Well, starting with that last paragraph: I can take a crack at what the first three items on the list mean, but I’m a tad unclear on what, exactly, “autohegemonization” is.
And while I’m at it, again I can see why (and what kinds of) regulation of unfit parents and unfit circumstances might be necessary, but what sorts of perceived threats or dangers were they trying to counteract with the other two?
Alistair Young <athanasius.skytower@arkane-systems.net> on 2016-08-29 00:14:50 wrote:
Autohegemonization is basically extreme self-copying: turning yourself into a hegemonizing swarm by replicating again and again and again in an attempt to outcompete everyone else and turn the universe into endlessly repeated copies of yourself. (Becoming a runaway von Neumann machine is an obscure taste, but hey, some people juggle geese!)
On a smaller scale, while some self-copying is not a problem (and even the Sallantars of Valiár are not a particular problem because they’re just clones, not forks) there are some pretty nasty public health issues that come up when you have a significant chunk of your population all running off the exact same genotype and memotype. The generalized form of the Clone Army problem, you might say.
(As a side note, while not really a problem for the Empire - which doesn’t work this way - there has also been seen in some other polities a nasty interaction between forking and democracy. It turns out that despite being a terrible and unsustainable plan, there are more than a few political parties happy to try and stack the election by simply duplicating their voting base enough times to put them over the top…
…it never ends well, but since when has that ever stopped anyone.)
Specialist290 <specialist290@hughes.net> on 2016-08-29 00:21:14 wrote:
Autohegemonization is basically extreme self-copying: turning yourself into a hegemonizing swarm by replicating again and again and again in an attempt to outcompete everyone else and turn the universe into endlessly repeated copies of yourself.
So basically, like the Horatio from Endless Space?
(Courtesy link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cx_-I-VMbxA )
Alistair Young <athanasius.skytower@arkane-systems.net> on 2016-08-29 10:49:32 wrote:
Haven’t played it myself, but as far as I can tell from video & TV Tropes, yeah.
February 19
Now I’m wondering how frequently someone would have a coadjutor without being a member of the Transcend. I could see that being an intermediary step for an immigrant who was quite happy with living in the Empire and becoming an Imperial, but still had some reservations about the whole ‘soul-shard’ bit.
Although I suspect that occurred far more often in the early days of the Transcend, where those with a lower risk appetite might have been happy to take their time and see how their neighbours adjusted before leaping in themselves.
1 reply
March 6
▶ Morgrim
It’s probable that everyone relevant does, even if they don’t know it and have never had cause to ask for its advice and assistance, because the Transcend assigns such guardian angels at its discretion and it loves all its smol beans.
I like the way you think, though.
