Traveller-digest     Tuesday, October 19 1999     Volume 1999 : Number 1227



(R)1996. Traveller is a registered trademark of FarFuture Enterprises.
All rights reserved.

The following topics are covered in this digest:

Re: Zot!
Supporting our game
Re: Supporting our game
Re: Zot!
Velscur
Re: Supporting our game
Re: New gamers, old gamers
Re: Supporting our game
Cybernetic Implants / Tech
Re: Supporting our game
Amorphous Aliens
Re: Cybernetic Implants / Tech
Re: Supporting our game
Re: Amorphous Aliens
Re: Cybernetic Implants / Tech
Re: Traveller Auction Update
Re: Technology / Supporting our game (or is that "Whither Traveller"?)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Wed, 20 Oct 1999 11:19:26 +1300
From: "Andrew Moffatt-Vallance" <a.vallance@netaccess.co.nz>
Subject: Re: Zot!

From:           	"Bruce Macintosh" <bruce.macintosh@worldnet.att.net>
Date sent:      	Tue, 19 Oct 1999 07:33:05 -0700
 
> I've said before - once laser weapons get deployed, they're going to
> have roughly the same effect on aircraft that machineguns had on
> cavalry. You can't dodge a laser...the days of the high-performance
> manned fighter aircraft are numbered.

Uhmm, machineguns didn't kill cavalry, the internal combusion engine
did. Actually the MG had Llareggub effect on cavalry, the rise of repeating
rifles had already pretty much made them obsolete on the battlefield. I
actually think its not laser weapons that will killed manned aircraft but
masers. Much more effective to microwave the pilot.


Andrew etc
Homepage http://users.netaccess.co.nz/amv/
Traveller http://www.downport.com/amv/
 "What do you expect from a species who's females are
 always in heat" Ko of the Ilui clan on Humans and honour

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1999 15:39:16 -0700 (PDT)
From: Craig Berry <cberry@cinenet.net>
Subject: Supporting our game

> Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1999 12:13:16 -0500
> From: "Robert Eaglestone" <eaglesto@nortelnetworks.com>
> Subject: Technology / Supporting our game (or is that "Whither Traveller"?)
> 
> Chris Seamans pinpointed a lot of issues I'd only been vaguely aware of:
> that each generation has a different way of enjoying themselves. 

To a degree.  Note that a few forms (campfire stories, for example) go
back into prehistory, and many others (ball games of one form or another)
go back thousands of years.  Even modern card games date to late Medieval
times.  So there are quite a few forms of enjoyment that remain pretty
stable across the generations.

> I now have to face the possibility that Traveller may not be
> entertainment-in-a-vacuum -- that its appeal may be due to the 1970's,
> with all its hard-SF influences and veteran wargamers.

That much I do tend to agree with.  One thing I wonder about is why
wargaming as a hobby went into a decline.  Some people point to the rise
of computer gaming to explain this, but the decline of wargaming predated
the availability of similarly complex computer substitutes by at least a
decade.

> If Traveller needs to flex to survive, then so be it.  A Traveller
> that can accept the new trends while keeping the old might be
> fine.  And Traveller might have to flow with the times, because
> it is entertainment, and entertainment is not an objective reality.

The problem one runs into here is that Traveller is and always has been
more than a rule set -- which is good, because it's had at least four
major and quite distinct rule sets, while remaining unmistakeably
Traveller throughout.  Traveller's primary attraction (for most people) is
its richly detailed background.

Unfortunately, that background is fundamentally driven by the
technological assumptions underlying Traveller.  Change these in any
nontrivial way -- through introducing more realistic projections of
computer technology, or biotech, or nanotech, for example -- and the
canonical history of the Imperium, and most of the source materials
related to it, cease to make any sense whatsoever.

> So then, Traveller has some routes it can take that offer the new
> to the young while keeping the traditional for the old.  The flexibility
> is in options which the ref can keep or throw away.  For a classic
> example, take psionics.  Our campaign has psionics in it, but we
> haven't encountered it yet, nor do I think any of our characters
> have it.

You can use (one of) the Traveller rule set(s) and pick and choose which
rules to apply.  You can't use the canon background without psionics, as
the Zhodani are key to that background.

[snip]
> Nanotech need not be nanites-run-amok.  Set bounds on it and
> explain how it works in the Imperium and why.  Allow it in strictly
> controlled areas -- tiny, nanetic "clean boxes" -- becuase they're so
> dang good that they'll even process metals, wastes, organics, flesh
> and bone if set free.  A virus indeed.  Make them converters of
> raw materials only, not builders.  Banana peels into gold, or some
> such alchemy.

And even limited like this, nanites utterly ruin the entire economic model
of the Imperium.

- -- 
   |   Craig Berry - cberry@cinenet.net
 --*--  http://www.cinenet.net/users/cberry/home.html
   |   "They do not preach that their God will rouse them
      a little before the nuts work loose." - Kipling

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1999 15:57:27 -0700 (PDT)
From: Kiri Aradia Morgan <tiamat@tsoft.com>
Subject: Re: Supporting our game

On Tue, 19 Oct 1999, Craig Berry wrote:

> > entertainment-in-a-vacuum -- that its appeal may be due to the 1970's,
> > with all its hard-SF influences and veteran wargamers.
> 
> That much I do tend to agree with.  One thing I wonder about is why
> wargaming as a hobby went into a decline.  Some people point to the rise
> of computer gaming to explain this, but the decline of wargaming predated
> the availability of similarly complex computer substitutes by at least a
> decade.
> 
But I love Traveller-- and I've NEVER liked wargaming.  Not even a little
bit.  I get bored out of my *mind*.  The reason I so hated Magic: Crack
for Gamers and really hate computer games is that they killed face to face
roleplaying.  I don't want to interact with a screen and I want to play a
character in a world.  Traveller was such a huge universe-- so much to
explore, so much more to do than fight!

> The problem one runs into here is that Traveller is and always has been
> more than a rule set -- which is good, because it's had at least four
> major and quite distinct rule sets, while remaining unmistakeably
> Traveller throughout.  Traveller's primary attraction (for most people) is
> its richly detailed background.
> 
> Unfortunately, that background is fundamentally driven by the
> technological assumptions underlying Traveller.  Change these in any
> nontrivial way -- through introducing more realistic projections of
> computer technology, or biotech, or nanotech, for example -- and the
> canonical history of the Imperium, and most of the source materials
> related to it, cease to make any sense whatsoever.
> 
Traveller is space opera.  Not the game, but old fashioned space opera,
Empires in space, mysterious powers (the Zhodani) with mysterious powers,
nobles, messages that take forever to arrive, the final Frontier with the
emphasis on frontier, deadly and beautiful women (or boys/men), Imperial
warrants (right out of the Three Musketeers!), all that fun stuff.

And yes, pirates.

I think that including the new technologies would be possible-- but only
if you keep the feel of the universe in mind.

Space opera is what I love to write and read and play, always loved best.

Kiri

******************************************************************************
Kiri Aradia Morgan                                  93!  Thou Art God
tiamat@tsoft.com

"If time passes, everything turns into beauty
If the rains stop, tears clean the scars of memory away
Everything starts wearing fresh colors
Every sound begins playing a heartfelt melody
Jealousy embellishes a page of the epic
Desire is embraced in a dream..."              -- X-JAPAN 

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1999 16:03:25 -0700 (PDT)
From: Anthony Jackson <ajackson@molly.iii.com>
Subject: Re: Zot!

Andrew Moffatt-Vallance writes:
 
> Uhmm, machineguns didn't kill cavalry, the internal combusion engine
> did. Actually the MG had Llareggub effect on cavalry, the rise of repeating
> rifles had already pretty much made them obsolete on the battlefield. I
> actually think its not laser weapons that will killed manned aircraft but
> masers. Much more effective to microwave the pilot.

Not really.  Masers have the problem that they have relatively poor beam cohesion, unless your projector is extremely large, and that 'cooking the pilot' is absurdly simple to protect against.

There is some question as to whether a true weapons-grade laser (or maser) is even possible in atmosphere; high intensity lasers ionize air, making it opaque.  This is the advantage of a PAW in atmosphere -- ionization is a _bonus_ for them.

Assuming you can build cost-effective directed energy weapons capable of destroying aircraft, that will force aircraft to be heavily enough armored to deal with hits from directed energy weapons, or stealthy enough to avoid being hit, or with weaponry capable of taking out the projector; if none of these are possible, aircraft will be dramatically reduced in utility.  Note that improvements in missile technology have the same effect.

The most likely thing to kill manned aircraft is increased viability of unmanned aircraft.

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1999 19:25:04 -0400 (EDT)
From: Charles Collin <charles@hebb.psych.mcgill.ca>
Subject: Velscur

Hi all.  

Can anyone tell me if there's been any development (canonical or
otherwise) of the Velscur (1110 Trojan Reach) system?

Thanks,
Charles.

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1999 19:45:28 -0000
From: "Chris Seamans" <semo@pil.net>
Subject: Re: Supporting our game

From: Craig Berry <cberry@cinenet.net>


>To a degree.  Note that a few forms (campfire stories, for example) go
>back into prehistory, and many others (ball games of one form or another)
>go back thousands of years.  Even modern card games date to late Medieval
>times.  So there are quite a few forms of enjoyment that remain pretty
>stable across the generations.


Geez, here I was assuming that he simply meant that each generation has
different things that they sink their teeth into. ;)

>That much I do tend to agree with.  One thing I wonder about is why
>wargaming as a hobby went into a decline.  Some people point to the rise
>of computer gaming to explain this, but the decline of wargaming predated
>the availability of similarly complex computer substitutes by at least a
>decade.


The rise of computer games, the rise of roleplaying games, the complete lack
of an advertising market, fewer people interested in the subject matter and,
to put it bluntly, games that were generally too complex for their own good.

>The problem one runs into here is that Traveller is and always has been
>more than a rule set -- which is good, because it's had at least four
>major and quite distinct rule sets, while remaining unmistakeably
>Traveller throughout.  Traveller's primary attraction (for most people) is
>its richly detailed background.


More than a task system. Although TNE and G:T veered off the track, CT, MT
and T4 all had similar character generation systems.

>Unfortunately, that background is fundamentally driven by the
>technological assumptions underlying Traveller.  Change these in any
>nontrivial way -- through introducing more realistic projections of
>computer technology, or biotech, or nanotech, for example -- and the
>canonical history of the Imperium, and most of the source materials
>related to it, cease to make any sense whatsoever.


In the years I've been on this list, I've learned one very important thing:
canon is an illusion. That's not to say I disagree with having a relatively
solid foundation to build things on. It's a nifty peachy keen idea. I can
understand the reasoning for it. However, attention to canon can -- and
usually does -- go way too far. With the exception of a select few
fundamentals, no two Traveller players agree on elements of canon anyway,
and books frequently contradict each other. Still, self appointed guardians
of canon make sweeping changes on no authority whatsoever. Nobody ever asked
me if the Annic Nova should be de-canonized, or if Jump Torps should be
de-canonized, what about disposable Fuel Tanks? Are they canon this week or
not?

The debate that got started concerning Doug's concept for the Imperial
Marines was a perfect example of what I'm talking about. Doug's idea was
said to be non-canon, yet many canon sources (including one of the holiest
of holy LBBs, Book 4: Mercenary) supported it.

>You can use (one of) the Traveller rule set(s) and pick and choose which
>rules to apply.  You can't use the canon background without psionics, as
>the Zhodani are key to that background.


Really? What did Traveller players do before the Zhodani even existed? ;)

Besides, one can still use *huge* segments of the Imperial background
without psionics. I strongly disagree with the position that Traveller *is*
the Imperial background. Despite my distaste for it some days, CT's
character generation system is more Traveller for me than a number of
elements of DGP canon.

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 20 Oct 1999 09:52:58 +1000
From: david.d.jaques-watson@centrelink.gov.au
Subject: Re: New gamers, old gamers

Dear Doug -

You said:
>If somebody can contact Bill Keith for permission, I'll name the Battalion
>transport in S&S after him.

Try him via his website (one of my few links that still work!):
     http://users.sgi.net/~whkeith/

It says his email address is:
     whkeith@sgi.net
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------
David "Hyphen" Jaques-Watson        Beowulf Down (Tavonni/Vilis/SM 1520)
http://www.tip.net.au/~davidjw                       davidjw@pcug.org.au
"I file things in historical order, with a hashing algorithm of gravity"
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------
REQ'D DISCLAIMER - material & opinions contained within are solely those
of the author and do not necessarily represent, in whole or in part, the
position of Centrelink or any other Commonwealth Government agency.
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1999 20:07:45 -0000
From: "Chris Seamans" <semo@pil.net>
Subject: Re: Supporting our game

From: Kiri Aradia Morgan <tiamat@tsoft.com>


>But I love Traveller-- and I've NEVER liked wargaming.  Not even a little
>bit.

There's always an exception to the rule. ;)

>I get bored out of my *mind*.  The reason I so hated Magic: Crack
>for Gamers and really hate computer games is that they killed face to face
>roleplaying.

Yes... and Magic is also a large part of the reason that you can walk into
most comic stores in the U.S. and pick up roleplaying materials. The other
parts of the reason were Cyberpunk 2020 / Shadowrun and its successor The
Storyteller System.

[Before anyone calls me on this one, I *know* that the Storyteller System is
White Wold and Cyberpunk 2020 is R.Talsorian. Cyberpunk 2020, during its
very short period of popularity opened the door for "cool" roleplaying and
White Wolf stepped in and managed to do a better job].

Don't blame it all on computer games either. The RPG industry has had its
share of mismanagement and poor follow through (Imperium Games anyone?).
Very few RPG companies have actually advertised aggresively. TSR and White
Wolf both stand out... and not surprisingly, they're both the market
leaders.

[Of course, although computer games have "killed" face to face roleplaying,
they have created vast sprawling communities that are much more accessible
to your average teen in Podunksville, Alabama than RPGs ever were.]

>I don't want to interact with a screen and I want to play a
>character in a world.  Traveller was such a huge universe-- so much to
>explore, so much more to do than fight!


Yep. You can also pilot a ship and / or trade and stuff... and talk to
nobles and call it diplomacy. You can fight alot. In fact, one might say
that the Imperium is set up in a fashion that encourages fighting. ;)

Some people have been known to gamble. If you're an Ithklur, you can annoy
Hivers and eat K'Kree (is TNE considered canon by most this week?).

>Traveller is space opera.  Not the game, but old fashioned space opera,
>Empires in space, mysterious powers (the Zhodani) with mysterious powers,


Well as long as the mysterious powers stay with the mysterious powers, I
think we'll be all right. ;) [I know you probably meant something else, but
I couldn't resist.]

>Space opera is what I love to write and read and play, always loved best.


Well,  Kiri, the big problem is that you won't find a whole lot of support
for Traveller as space opera here on the list. If you corner most folks
'round here, they'll deny it vehemently. Personally, I don't disagree with
you too much, but there are still folks who cling to Traveller as some sort
of hard sci-fi.

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1999 19:07:34 -0500
From: "Robert Eaglestone" <eaglesto@nortelnetworks.com>
Subject: Cybernetic Implants / Tech

First, I'd say that biological engineering is going to be the preferred
method of information processing 1000+ years hence.  Remember
the "memory potto" anyone?  What book was that?  The Celestial
Steam Locomotive?

So forget your wristwatch computer.  Just buy a brain plug-in.

Ok, here's a pseudo-psychobabble concept to bounce off all
you tech-heads.  How about this: I once heard (eek!  unsubstantiated
rumor!) that there is a little bit 'o gray matter in the fingertips... that
is, your fingers do some data processing of their own... intelligent
peripherals, in a really vague sense.

Now, I also heard anecdotes -- not facts, mind you -- that folks
who received transplants had personality side-effects that *seemed*
to be related to the donor's personality... even though they didn't
know the donor... oooh, a nice X-Files episode.

Anyway, there is quite a lot of psychological attachment, if you please,
about keeping one's body as intact as possible.  You lose a part of
you when you lose a part of you.  Some philosophers think that the
soul and the body are only barely related, while others think perhaps
that the body affects the soul.

This is all too vague for supporting a Traveller rule; however, a push
in the right direction and you have psychological side-effects from
transplants which can't be altered.  The side effects may be good or
bad... just as physiological side-effects can be good or bad.

ObTrav: David buys a brain enhancement, grown in the University
of Rhylanor's Neural Vats Lab.  His ability to do spatial math
calculations goes off the scales, but he also starts lighting fires "just
to watch the flame burn"...  (advantage and disadvantage taken from
GURPS).

Just a thought.

Rob

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1999 17:06:54 -0700
From: "Benyamene' ZeAbe' Akella" <xrp@sierratel.com>
Subject: Re: Supporting our game

> Besides, one can still use *huge* segments of the Imperial background
> without psionics. I strongly disagree with the position that Traveller *is*
> the Imperial background. Despite my distaste for it some days, CT's
> character generation system is more Traveller for me than a number of
> elements of DGP canon.

Even if you were to limit it to the Imperial regions, it's huge. I could
easily see regions having their own technological flavor, even in the same
period of history. And there is a canon framework from which to work. The
Solomani are more advanced in bio/med, less so in gravitics, the Vilani
advanced in gravitics, less so in bio/med, etc.

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1999 20:16:15 -0400 (EDT)
From: Charles Collin <charles@hebb.psych.mcgill.ca>
Subject: Amorphous Aliens

Hi all.

One thing I've always thought was "cool but hard to swallow" in SF is
amorphous aliens.  Has anyone used something akin to these in their TU? 

To my mind there are two basic types of these:  The ameboid and the
doppleganger.  Star Frontiers' Dralasites were a fun but silly version of
the first type, while Odo from ST:DS9 is probably the most well-known
second type. Ameboids can change shape and maybe texture or color to a
limited degree but cannot imitate other beings or objects convincingly. 
Dopplegangers are more flexible and can mimic things with high fidelity.

IMO, the latter type are a little too "science-fantasy" for a Traveller
setting, but I've been toying with the idea of introducing an ameboid race
to MTU.  My problem is coming up with a reasonable evolutionary course for
their development.  

One rather bizarre and almost Lovecraftian notion I've been thinking about
is what I call the "bag of bugs" model of amorphous development.  In this
scenario the amoeba race is decended from some kind of hive-insect with a
queen+workers type of society.  Occasionally such hive-insects will mass
together for warmth and protection into a "big bundle of bugs" (the
technical term :-). I was thinking, what if such an insect species
developed the trait of creating a membranous sac around the mass for
further protection?  What if, over time, hives developed into essentially
single physical entities with queens at the center sending out pheromonal
messages to control her "body", made up of a mass of workers.  In some
sense this is what they already do, though in a more wide-rangeing and
less direct way.  The workers in the mass could hook together to create
different shapes.  Given enough time, sufficient control might be
developed to create manipulatory limbs and such.  

As evolution proceeded, the workers would lose much of the "baggage" 
needed to operate as individual entities, becoming essentially small cell
masses with the ability to interlock with others in various configurations
depending on the signals reaching them.  In order for intelligence to
develop, the queen would have to become a massively hypertrophied thing
with the brain integral to her alone, I think.  She would also become the
seat of primary metabolic function and so on, sending out nutrients to the
cell-masses that make up her body. 

Hmm, what about reproduction?  Essentially, one queen would lay another
queen, who would "lay" a bunch of workers to act as a body for herself.  

Well, I said the idea was bizarre, didn't I? :-)  I'd really like to get
people's input and reactions to this idea.  Too outlandish?  Are there
major problems I haven't thought of?  

Ciao,
Charles C.

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1999 17:18:07 -0700 (PDT)
From: Anthony Jackson <ajackson@molly.iii.com>
Subject: Re: Cybernetic Implants / Tech

Robert Eaglestone writes:
> Ok, here's a pseudo-psychobabble concept to bounce off all
> you tech-heads.  How about this: I once heard (eek!  unsubstantiated
> rumor!) that there is a little bit 'o gray matter in the fingertips... that
> is, your fingers do some data processing of their own... intelligent
> peripherals, in a really vague sense.

Sure.  We call those things 'nerves'.
> 
> Now, I also heard anecdotes -- not facts, mind you -- that folks
> who received transplants had personality side-effects that *seemed*
> to be related to the donor's personality... even though they didn't
> know the donor... oooh, a nice X-Files episode.

Anecdotes are great, because they're a self-selecting group, so you can find just about anything in them.
> 

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1999 17:21:16 -0700 (PDT)
From: Kiri Aradia Morgan <tiamat@tsoft.com>
Subject: Re: Supporting our game

On Tue, 19 Oct 1999, Chris Seamans wrote:

> From: Kiri Aradia Morgan <tiamat@tsoft.com>
> 
> 
> >But I love Traveller-- and I've NEVER liked wargaming.  Not even a little
> >bit.
> 
> There's always an exception to the rule. ;)
> 
OF course.

> >I don't want to interact with a screen and I want to play a
> >character in a world.  Traveller was such a huge universe-- so much to
> >explore, so much more to do than fight!
> 
> Yep. You can also pilot a ship and / or trade and stuff... and talk to
> nobles and call it diplomacy. You can fight alot. In fact, one might say
> that the Imperium is set up in a fashion that encourages fighting. ;)
> 
We did a lot of all that stuff.  And went hunting Ancient artifacts, and
ended up working for the nobility on secret missions, etc.

> Some people have been known to gamble. If you're an Ithklur, you can annoy
> Hivers and eat K'Kree (is TNE considered canon by most this week?).
> 
We gambled a lot.

> >Traveller is space opera.  Not the game, but old fashioned space opera,
> >Empires in space, mysterious powers (the Zhodani) with mysterious powers,
> 
> Well as long as the mysterious powers stay with the mysterious powers, I
> think we'll be all right. ;) [I know you probably meant something else, but
> I couldn't resist.]
> 
OK...

> >Space opera is what I love to write and read and play, always loved best.
> > 
> Well,  Kiri, the big problem is that you won't find a whole lot of support
> for Traveller as space opera here on the list. If you corner most folks
> 'round here, they'll deny it vehemently. Personally, I don't disagree with
> you too much, but there are still folks who cling to Traveller as some sort
> of hard sci-fi.
> 
The canon, the background, is pure space opera.  That doesn't mean it's
NOT hard SF.  You can have space opera without psionics, and with
gearheads.  We had gearheads in our campaign, and then there were people
like me.  Countess Julissa Myal haut-Baris was known to carry messages for
Iolanthe.  She was also very good at seducing our enemies into spilling
things we weren't supposed to know, hiding things in Plain Sight, etc.

Space opera is the character type and story type; hard SF just means we
don't violate the laws of physics to an unbelievable extent.

Kiri

******************************************************************************
Kiri Aradia Morgan                                  93!  Thou Art God
tiamat@tsoft.com

"If time passes, everything turns into beauty
If the rains stop, tears clean the scars of memory away
Everything starts wearing fresh colors
Every sound begins playing a heartfelt melody
Jealousy embellishes a page of the epic
Desire is embraced in a dream..."              -- X-JAPAN 

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1999 20:25:43 -0000
From: "Chris Seamans" <semo@pil.net>
Subject: Re: Amorphous Aliens

- -----Original Message-----
From: Charles Collin <charles@hebb.psych.mcgill.ca>
To: Traveller Mailing List <traveller@mpgn.com>
Date: Wednesday, October 20, 1999 12:14 AM
Subject: Amorphous Aliens


>Star Frontiers' Dralasites were a fun but silly version of
>the first type, 

They were shmoos, man! How can you not love a shmoo? ;)

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1999 17:25:54 -0700 (PDT)
From: Kiri Aradia Morgan <tiamat@tsoft.com>
Subject: Re: Cybernetic Implants / Tech

On Tue, 19 Oct 1999, Robert Eaglestone wrote:

> First, I'd say that biological engineering is going to be the preferred
> method of information processing 1000+ years hence.  Remember
> the "memory potto" anyone?  What book was that?  The Celestial
> Steam Locomotive?
> 
Sounds like a John M. Ford story to me!

> So forget your wristwatch computer.  Just buy a brain plug-in.
> 
Urp...

Forget pagers and cell phones, too-- replace them with brain plug-ins.
But now you have, for all practical purposes, telepathy.  None of the
"forced rapport" a la the Alton Gift or the Vulcan Mind Meld, but you can
transfer information and converse without being overheard.  And no one
else need know you're doing it.  I mean, imagine the privacy violation if
someone demanded to see the list of phone calls you made with just your
brain.  (This would make extramarital affairs much easier, too.  Anyone
who's ever been the Other Person knows that the hardest thing to do is
call without being overheard by the spouse.)

> Ok, here's a pseudo-psychobabble concept to bounce off all
> you tech-heads.  How about this: I once heard (eek!  unsubstantiated
> rumor!) that there is a little bit 'o gray matter in the fingertips... that
> is, your fingers do some data processing of their own... intelligent
> peripherals, in a really vague sense.
> 
I've heard that too.

> Now, I also heard anecdotes -- not facts, mind you -- that folks
> who received transplants had personality side-effects that *seemed*
> to be related to the donor's personality... even though they didn't
> know the donor... oooh, a nice X-Files episode.
> 
And also that.

> Anyway, there is quite a lot of psychological attachment, if you please,
> about keeping one's body as intact as possible.  You lose a part of
> you when you lose a part of you.  Some philosophers think that the
> soul and the body are only barely related, while others think perhaps
> that the body affects the soul.
> 
And some people think the body is an emanation of the soul.

> ObTrav: David buys a brain enhancement, grown in the University
> of Rhylanor's Neural Vats Lab.  His ability to do spatial math
> calculations goes off the scales, but he also starts lighting fires "just
> to watch the flame burn"...  (advantage and disadvantage taken from
> GURPS).
> 
scary...

Kiri

******************************************************************************
Kiri Aradia Morgan                                  93!  Thou Art God
tiamat@tsoft.com

"If time passes, everything turns into beauty
If the rains stop, tears clean the scars of memory away
Everything starts wearing fresh colors
Every sound begins playing a heartfelt melody
Jealousy embellishes a page of the epic
Desire is embraced in a dream..."              -- X-JAPAN 

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 20 Oct 1999 10:29:15 +1000
From: david.d.jaques-watson@centrelink.gov.au
Subject: Re: Traveller Auction Update

Dear Folks -

Scott said:
>The traveller auction is going very well...

keith@sjgames.com is going for the Cardboard Heroes??!!!

Isn't that like sending coal to Newcastle?!!  ;-)

- - Hyphen

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 20 Oct 1999 10:33:11 +1000
From: "Alan Bradley" <alanb@elf.brisnet.org.au>
Subject: Re: Technology / Supporting our game (or is that "Whither Traveller"?)

> From: "Robert Eaglestone" 
> My suggestions would be to allow, and more importantly, set
> bounds on, things relating to human/computer technology,
> including
> 
>     nanotech
>     cybernetics
>     human-computer data interface
> 
> Nanotech need not be nanites-run-amok.  Set bounds on it and
> explain how it works in the Imperium and why.  Allow it in strictly
> controlled areas -- tiny, nanetic "clean boxes" -- becuase they're so
> dang good that they'll even process metals, wastes, organics, flesh
> and bone if set free.  A virus indeed.  Make them converters of
> raw materials only, not builders.  Banana peels into gold, or some
> such alchemy.

The thing is, why should we *care* about what goes on in factories and
laboratories?  As long as nanotech is limited to industrial, (or medical)
settings, it's just another way of achieving the things we already assume
are happening.

The only real problem is that nanotech *might* upset Traveller's economics,
by making manufacturing trivially easy and cheap.  This would tend to lead
to something like Iain Banks' "Culture" books - which are damn fine books,
but not really Traveller.  Although - "Consider Phlebas" does mostly
involve relatively Travellerish gear - Lasers, Suits, anti-grav, and so on.

Nanotech might actually help explain Traveller's slow rates of
technological development.  You see, most goods are produced by these
mysterious black boxes - you push the raw materials in here, push buttons
to select what you want produced, and collect the goods at the other end of
the machine.  You don't really need to know what is going on inside.

Alan Bradley
alanb@elf.brisnet.org.au
 

------------------------------

End of Traveller-digest V1999 #1227
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