49 réponses à ce sujet

[Filament]

I just played The Swapper. Two years late, I know.



I think it does a better job in a few hours exploring an alien form of consciousness than anything ME did with the reapers (lol) or geth (though this was a good effort before the whole Pinocchio aspect came along), much less the other aliens, who, despite having features that one might expect to rightly engender vastly different mindsets on account of thousand year versus thirty year lifespans, psychic powers, etc, are all characterized fundamentally as humans with rubber foreheads/tentacles/etc. and maybe a personality quirk to represent their race. It's no wonder people here want to bang everything, since everything is really just a thinly disguised person.

So will ME:A have more alien aliens?

[SlottsMachine]

Yeah. Plus, I don't see why it has to be either or, you can have more realistic aliens while also having 'humans in disguise' aliens. I think it would be cool if Mass Effect had some aliens similar to the Watchers. 

[Jeremiah12LGeek]

 

Hang on, I'm still working out the differences.

[Panda]

I'm into what Bioware is doing currently- though I'd like to also play as alien not only see NPC aliens- so I'd prefer that they just kept doing what they have this far.

[Beerfish]

If one of the races we encounter is even more bird of prey like than the Turians, and if that race gets sick due to human contact would that be an 'Ill Eagle alien'?

[Filament]

If one of the races we encounter is even more bird of prey like than the Turians, and if that race gets sick due to human contact would that be an 'Ill Eagle alien'?

I dunno, but that pun is a sosunsing.

[Xen]

 

Hang on, I'm still working out the differences.

If an alien doesn't have legs, arms and opposable thumbs, or speaks in first person plural all the time it's a real alien because reasons.

Not to mention this doesn't even get into the seperate distinction between normal and illegal aliens, who just wanna take our jobs and welfare

 

[Kabooooom]

I just played The Swapper. Two years late, I know.

https://www.youtube....h?v=ShPR4ABt0mk

I think it does a better job in a few hours exploring an alien form of consciousness than anything ME did with the reapers (lol) or geth (though this was a good effort before the whole Pinocchio aspect came along), much less the other aliens, who, despite having features that one might expect to rightly engender vastly different mindsets on account of thousand year versus thirty year lifespans, psychic powers, etc, are all characterized fundamentally as humans with rubber foreheads/tentacles/etc. and maybe a personality quirk to represent their race. It's no wonder people here want to bang everything, since everything is really just a thinly disguised person.

So will ME:A have more alien aliens?

It is interesting to me that you mention the Geth. I agree, before ME3, the Geth (as Legion describes them) are the most alien form of consciousness that I have ever seen in sci-fi. And I watch a lot of sci-fi. And as a neurologist, I was fascinated by the description of their hive-mind, and I thought a lot about whether a consciousness like the Geth (many bodies, many individual sentient awarenesses but each having the perception of a single gestalt sapient mind) would be possible with what we currently understand about neurocomputation and the neural correlates of consciousness. My opinion is that surprisingly...such a synthetic mind might actually be possible.

Which made them all the more interesting to me. They were my favorite alien "species" of Mass Effect, by far. And then ME3 rolled around and Legion went 180, and abandoned everything that made the Geth unique.

But the existence of the ME2 Geth makes me hopeful that Bioware can create a truly alien experience for Andromeda.

PS: Who wrote Legion's dialogue for Mass Effect 2? I'm curious.

[ABASOVA]

It is interesting to me that you mention the Geth. I agree, before ME3, the Geth (as Legion describes them) are the most alien form of consciousness that I have ever seen in sci-fi. And I watch a lot of sci-fi. And as a neurologist, I was fascinated by the description of their hive-mind, and I thought a lot about whether a consciousness like the Geth (many bodies, many individual sentient awarenesses but each having the perception of a single gestalt sapient mind) would be possible with what we currently understand about neurocomputation and the neural correlates of consciousness. My opinion is that surprisingly...such a synthetic mind might actually be possible.

Which made them all the more interesting to me. They were my favorite alien "species" of Mass Effect, by far. And then ME3 rolled around and Legion went 180, and abandoned everything that made the Geth unique.

But the existence of the ME2 Geth makes me hopeful that Bioware can create a truly alien experience for Andromeda.

PS: Who wrote Legion's dialogue for Mass Effect 2? I'm curious.

Chris L'Etoile!

 

He left BioWare because he was being forced to write a universe that he felt uncomfortable with. And he just hated being told to act against his own creativity. He is for the more alien aspects.

 

Other things he wrote/did:

 

• Developed and maintained the technical background of the Mass Effect IP. Served as go-to person for continuity and "technobabble" rationalization across multiple teams and titles.

Mass Effect 2
• Story planning and dialogue: party character Thane Krios
• Story planning and dialogue: party character Legion
• Story planning and dialogue: location Citadel Zakera Ward 
• Dialogue: character EDI
• Led multidisciplinary teams designing the Recruitment and Loyalty mission levels for Thane Krios and Legion.
• Developed mission level concepts and wrote first draft dialogue for party members Miranda Lawson, Tali’Zorah vas Neema, and Jacob Taylor.

Mass Effect: Bring Down the Sky (DLC)
• Dialogue: Simon Atwell
• PC Tutorial Codex entries

Mass Effect 1
• Story planning and dialogue: planet Noveria
• Story planning and dialogue: planet Therum
• Story planning and dialogue: planet Caleston (cut from final game; ~50k words of dialogue)
• Dialogue: Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams
• Wrote all in-game Codex entries.
• Rewrote procedural planet descriptions and edited Galaxy Map layout on personal initiative to improve quality and scientific accuracy.
• Produced lore-related marketing materials for BioWare's website and game news network sites.

Dragon Age: Origins
• Wrote the first draft of the Human Noble Origin.

 

 

Also:

 

[Kabooooom]

Chris L'Etoile!

He left BioWare because he was being forced to write a universe that he felt uncomfortable with. And he just hated being told to act against his own creativity. He is for the more alien aspects.

I am now in love with this human being. Do you know what he is writing for now? The guy is brilliant.

[Hair Serious Business]

[ABASOVA]

I am now in love with this human being. Do you know what he is writing for now? The guy is brilliant.

He is unemployed as of now to my knowledge (but freelancing probably). I wanted him to write for ME:A, but I think he had major issues with a particular individual, so it ain't happening.

[CrimsonN7]

If one of the races we encounter is even more bird of prey like than the Turians, and if that race gets sick due to human contact would that be an 'Ill Eagle alien'?

 

[Spectr61]

It is interesting to me that you mention the Geth. I agree, before ME3, the Geth (as Legion describes them) are the most alien form of consciousness that I have ever seen in sci-fi. And I watch a lot of sci-fi. And as a neurologist, I was fascinated by the description of their hive-mind, and I thought a lot about whether a consciousness like the Geth (many bodies, many individual sentient awarenesses but each having the perception of a single gestalt sapient mind) would be possible with what we currently understand about neurocomputation and the neural correlates of consciousness. My opinion is that surprisingly...such a synthetic mind might actually be possible.
Which made them all the more interesting to me. They were my favorite alien "species" of Mass Effect, by far. And then ME3 rolled around and Legion went 180, and abandoned everything that made the Geth unique.
But the existence of the ME2 Geth makes me hopeful that Bioware can create a truly alien experience for Andromeda.
PS: Who wrote Legion's dialogue for Mass Effect 2? I'm curious.

Good question, I too like to know. Same with most of Thane's.

Agree with the sentience and consciousness aspects of the Geth. A very promising start, disappointing evolution over the game however.

I would enjoy a take on distributed sentience, especially if non conscious.

Peter Watts modeled an alien antagonist like this in his excellent book "Blindsight". Modelled on the ideas of T. Metzinger (Being No One) and D.M. Wenger (The illusion of Consciousness).

It would be interesting and enjoyable to have a smart take on these concepts.

Edit (sp)

[The Hierophant]

"Can we bang em'?" - random BioWare Forum user

[The Real Pearl #2]

Beautiful music. The aliens are anything but alien...These are aliens:

 also this film really shows the depth of human/alien contact:

[Eryri]

It is interesting to me that you mention the Geth. I agree, before ME3, the Geth (as Legion describes them) are the most alien form of consciousness that I have ever seen in sci-fi. And I watch a lot of sci-fi. And as a neurologist, I was fascinated by the description of their hive-mind, and I thought a lot about whether a consciousness like the Geth (many bodies, many individual sentient awarenesses but each having the perception of a single gestalt sapient mind) would be possible with what we currently understand about neurocomputation and the neural correlates of consciousness. My opinion is that surprisingly...such a synthetic mind might actually be possible.
Which made them all the more interesting to me. They were my favorite alien "species" of Mass Effect, by far. And then ME3 rolled around and Legion went 180, and abandoned everything that made the Geth unique.

Agreed. I found those conversations with Legion to be one of the most memorable parts of ME2. Their unceremonious 'Pinocchification' in the following game was disappointing.

[The Real Pearl #2]

It is interesting to me that you mention the Geth. I agree, before ME3, the Geth (as Legion describes them) are the most alien form of consciousness that I have ever seen in sci-fi. And I watch a lot of sci-fi. And as a neurologist, I was fascinated by the description of their hive-mind, and I thought a lot about whether a consciousness like the Geth (many bodies, many individual sentient awarenesses but each having the perception of a single gestalt sapient mind) would be possible with what we currently understand about neurocomputation and the neural correlates of consciousness. My opinion is that surprisingly...such a synthetic mind might actually be possible.

Which made them all the more interesting to me. They were my favorite alien "species" of Mass Effect, by far. And then ME3 rolled around and Legion went 180, and abandoned everything that made the Geth unique.

But the existence of the ME2 Geth makes me hopeful that Bioware can create a truly alien experience for Andromeda.

PS: Who wrote Legion's dialogue for Mass Effect 2? I'm curious.

You described every reason why i love the geth, You deserve a beer

[Jaquio]

He is unemployed as of now to my knowledge (but freelancing probably). I wanted him to write for ME:A, but I think he had major issues with a particular individual, so it ain't happening.

 

Last AAA work I heard was that he was doing level design for Elder Scrolls Online (pre launch) but it wasn't listed for NDA reasons until he was done with his work.  I think he's doing freelance stuff with mobile developers at the moment.

 

I got into his stuff playing Asheron's Call.

 

 

Agreed. I found those conversations with Legion to be one of the most memorable parts of ME2. Their unceremonious 'Pinocchification' in the following game was disappointing.

 

Interestingly enough, in some of Chris's notorious complaints after he left Bioware, he spoke of dissatisfaction with bosses demanding "I'm a real boy" storylines for Legion that he didn't feel comfortable with.  I think he specifically used Pinocchio in his complaints.  I'd pull it up but this isn't really the appropriate place for that sort of thing.

 

 

 

As a general rule for ME - if the character sounds mature but flawed, nuanced and has relatable problems, it's probably L'Etoile.  As an example, Ashley Williams gets derided for being the "space racist" but she served an important narrative function to help flesh out the mistrust of humans and other aliens while providing backstory for the human-turian wars.

[Han Shot First]

 

Interestingly enough, in some of Chris's notorious complaints after he left Bioware, he spoke of dissatisfaction with bosses demanding "I'm a real boy" storylines for Legion that he didn't feel comfortable with.  I think he specifically used Pinocchio in his complaints.  I'd pull it up but this isn't really the appropriate place for that sort of thing.

 

 

I always got the impression that the complaints about 'higher paid' dictating that he humanize Legion, against his wishes, were thinly veiled references to Mac.

 

Mac's great with characters, but I think sometimes his comic background shines through a little too strongly. He needs a more hard Sci Fi guy or gal to counterbalance his worst tendencies.

[ABASOVA]

Last AAA work I heard was that he was doing level design for Elder Scrolls Online (pre launch) but it wasn't listed for NDA reasons until he was done with his work.  I think he's doing freelance stuff with mobile developers at the moment.

 

I got into his stuff playing Asheron's Call.

 

 

 

Interestingly enough, in some of Chris's notorious complaints after he left Bioware, he spoke of dissatisfaction with bosses demanding "I'm a real boy" storylines for Legion that he didn't feel comfortable with.  I think he specifically used Pinocchio in his complaints.  I'd pull it up but this isn't really the appropriate place for that sort of thing.

 

 

 

As a general rule for ME - if the character sounds mature but flawed, nuanced and has relatable problems, it's probably L'Etoile.  As an example, Ashley Williams gets derided for being the "space racist" but she served an important narrative function to help flesh out the mistrust of humans and other aliens while providing backstory for the human-turian wars.

I have been reading Shamus Young's retrospective (damn good IMO) on the ME trilogy (still a w.i.p and he updates weekly). He spoke about Ashley's "racism" and i'll long quote Mr. Young here:

 

From his blog:

 

Spoiler

"There’s something that’s always bothered me. Among fans, Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams is often referred to as the “space racist” of the team. Supposedly, she hates aliens. This reputation comes mostly from a few situations that everyone misunderstands.

The first comment is when, in a moment of wonder at visiting the Citadel for the first time, Ashley says, “I can’t tell the animals from the aliens!” I can understand that if she said this about humans: “I can’t tell Polish people from animals” then it would come off as incredibly prejudiced. But aliens are not humans, and the problem she’s dealing with is that she has no frame of reference. Presented with the lifeforms of the Citadel, you don’t know if one is sapient or not until you try to talk to it.

This comment would probably come off as rude or crass to a non-human, but note that she wasn’t saying aliens were equal to animals. She’s owning up to her own ignorance and fallibility, not passing judgement on others.

The other comment from her happens while protesting that so many aliens have free run of the ship. Early in the game, Ash has this exchange with Shepard:

 

Ashley: With all due respect, should they have full access to the ship?

Shepard: They may not serve the alliance, Chief, but they're allies. At least as far as Saren goes.

Ash: This is the most advanced ship in the alliance navy. I don't think we should give them free reign to poke around the vital systems.

Shepard: You don't trust the alliance's allies?

Ash: I'm not sure I'd call the council races allies. We - humanity I mean - have to learn to rely on ourselves.

 

Note how she’s referring the the council races here. She could have lumped all aliens in together, but she’s making a clear distinction between the powerful council races (Asari, Salarian, Turian) and the others. And this is understandable. Those three races are powerful, technologically advanced, and have not been kind to humanity in the past.

This is a simply practical political expediency. People do it all the time, and it’s not racism. She’s presumably okay with the Hanar, Elcor, and Volus, or she would have just lumped them all together. She’s not prejudiced against other races, she’s prejudiced against beings that have power over us. If anything, I’d say it shows Williams to be a fairly average person.

 

The problem here is coding. When an author wants to do some quick shorthand for “this character is a racist”, they often reveal it with comments like this. It’s kind of like parents yelling at their kids. In real life, it’s an ordinary thing that happens all the time. In a movie, a parent yelling at their kid is universal screenwriter shorthand for “this person is a horrible parent”. We’re used to picking up on these cues and extrapolating. If a parent yells at their kid in the first five minutes of a movie, we assume we’re being shown the world in its default state. “This parent is ALWAYS yelling at their kids.” I think some people get caught on Ashley’s dialog the same way. “Oh, she’s ALWAYS ranting about aliens.”

 

But I don’t think that’s how this is intended. I think the writer is just trying to show some tension and unease is a natural part of our culture. We had a war, we don’t get a lot of respect from the council races, and Ashley just lost her entire unit in a Geth attack led by a Turian. This isn’t racism, it’s realism.

 

Shepard: Standing up for ourselves doesn't mean standing alone.

 

Ash: I don't think we should turn down allies. I just think we shouldn't bet everything on them staying allies. As noble as the council members seem now, if their backs are against the wall, they'll abandon us.

 

Note that she’s in favor of being allies with aliens. Again, not a very hateful or xenophobic trait. She just thinks that aliens won’t always reciprocate. We should note that the story itself supports her view.

 

You got a pessimistic view of the universe, Williams.

 

Ash: A pessimist is what an optimist calls a realist. Look, if you're fighting a bear, and the only way to survive is to sic your dog on it and run, you'll do it. As much as you love your dog, it isn't human.

 

This is the line that gets her branded a space-racist. People think she’s saying the other species are like domesticated animals and that we should ditch them if trouble comes. But no, what she’s saying is that this is how they view us. She’s saying, “If something bad happened, the council races would look out for themselves first and foremost, and treat us like their dog.” And note that she’s not even mad at them. She’s just saying we need to be able to stand up for ourselves in case they do abandon us. And keep in mind they have already done so: The council scoffed at the idea of protecting Eden Prime after the Geth attack. That was fine, inasmuch as the humans put themselves in danger when they pushed so far out into the Attican Traverse, but the point is that the council did what was politically expedient instead of what what best for humanity, thus proving Ashley right.

 

Given that Williams has family members that were killed or disgraced in the war we fought with the Turians (a war they started) I’d say her worldview strikes me as being incredibly open-minded given those circumstances. Very few people can get through a war and remain this calm and practical regarding their views of the other side.

 

She doesn’t hate them, or wish them harm, or want to spy on them. She doesn’t want to take things from them. She isn’t even advocating overthrowing their power. She’s accepting of the idea that we’re ruled by non-humans, but doesn’t want us to become dependant on them. I can understand if you disagree with her worldview, but people act like she’s the KKK in space. Ashley Williams is not some hateful, xenophobic racist. She’s mildly and understandably distrustful.

 

I actually think her attitude grounds the setting and gives it a lot of authenticity. Movies like to sort everyone into “normal people” and “the KKK”, but it’s never that simple in real life. She reflects the attitudes of normal, honest people in the real world, who aren’t evil or dangerous, and who are guilty of nothing more monstrous than simple misunderstanding."

 

Through elevator conversations in ME1, I always perceived Ashley as very kind, understanding and caring to Tali, not a horrible racist.

 

If you have spare time and are sick of the romance threads, give his stuff a read. 

http://www.shamusyou...edtale/?p=27792

[ABASOVA]

I always got the impression that the complaints about 'higher paid' dictating that he humanize Legion, against his wishes, were thinly veiled references to Mac.

 

Mac's great with characters, but I think sometimes his comic background shines through a little too strongly. He needs a more hard Sci Fi guy or gal to counterbalance his worst tendencies.

Have you read any of his comics btw? The Foundation series perhaps? Sometimes I don't feel like i'm in the MEU anymore when I read them.

[Jaquio]

I always got the impression that the complaints about 'higher paid' dictating that he humanize Legion, against his wishes, were thinly veiled references to Mac.

 

Mac's great with characters, but I think sometimes his comic background shines through a little too strongly. He needs a more hard Sci Fi guy or gal to counterbalance his worst tendencies.

 

I don't think so, because at the time Drew was lead so Mac didn't necessarily outrank Chris in the writing room.  Based on other words of his I've read, I'm about 95% sure "higher paid" was Casey.

 

But I'm not positive, so your opinion is valid.

[Filament]

Peter Watts modeled an alien antagonist like this in his excellent book "Blindsight". Modelled on the ideas of T. Messenger (Being No One) and D.M. Wenger (The illusion of Consciousness).

It would be interesting and enjoyable to have a smart take on these concepts.

Edit (sp)

Now that you mention it, the Watchers and The Swapper in general may also be influenced by Metzinger's work.

Here is a great take on the ending that I found on youtube (who says youtube comments are all crap?)

Spoiler

From here.

Andrian Nord 7 months ago
My take is that both theories are right - mind is just a chemical process and there is something more as well. The "something more" is actually being a process. Not just some random reactions, but chain of reactions, a loop. If loop is broken and then restored - that's someone else is now.

So The Swapper should actually be called "The Linker" or "The Chainer", because it doesn't swap souls, but instead link brains. When you create a clone, you create a clone which brain is linked to yours - running the same process across two brains. I found operation systems analogue pretty close - it's like an OS running across multiple physical machines over the network, but with all the connection done on low-level. So for high-level OS it's just like once machine with multiple CPUs.

So, when you are cloning yourself, you are not multiplying your mind - it's still you, just running across multiple bodies. When a clone dies it's just like OS losing a CPU. Unless that was a CPU kernel was running on - that's ok. But if that was a CPU kernel was running on - the operation system will crash. So when you dies - game over. Same goes here - your mind is running across multiple brains, but one brain is a "host" one.

So the second option of The Swapper is send an energy jolt somehow forcing your mind process to swap the host brain. An OS kernel is usually capable of doing so, so, in OS with hotswap CPUs, you may move the kernel to other CPU and disconnect the one it was just working on. It's being done by sending a command to the kernel. The Swapper is such a command of kinds.

But it becomes interesting when you disconnect a clone from your brain without killing it - like when Scavanger jettisoned her clone (probably just because being afraid of what happened - hence clone swinging hands in panic). When a clustered OS loses connection between two parts it may became two OS each thinking it lost some of it's resources. It doesn't happen in case of hardware-level clusters, because there is only one kernel, but probably that's where the analogue stretches to it's limits. Human brain always runs a process even if it's just a part of bigger multi-hosted process. And if there is no host - it becomes a host. Like P2P games - host lost, new host. Some information is lost in a process and the result will probably be different from the original, but that's ok because it's not you anymore. It's someone else.

So The Watchers, I assume, were not intelligent initially. The only one was - The Head. Others were just reflections of his intelligence - his brains in a chain. But when humans came and started to bring them to the station, they became disconnected one by one and established their own intelligence - sometimes trivial, sometimes more complex - depending on what part of the process they where running and how much processing power they had. When humans took The Head from the planet in lost most of it's brains and processing power. It also reconnected with lost ones, but decided not to suppress their new minds for some reason, but it was capable of doing so (they talk to each other, but when The Trio swaps into The Head they all start talking as a trio).

Instead it's attempted to make new brains by connecting humans working around. That's the technology humans reverse-engineered into The Swapper. But human brain is not up to the constant connection. It needs rest to function properly. And The Head is a huge stone - it doesn't need rest. So once a human becomes connected to the chain, it sees strange dreams and become more and more tired. Eventually brain just switches off due to exhaust - that's the "sickness" that was killing the crew symptom of which was an ability to talk to/to hear The Watchers.

And the last part - when The Scavanger used The Swapper on brains she doesn't swapped with one of them. Instead - she created a connection between them. So they've got three processes running across three brains and one body. Each got enough processing power to think their thoughts, but only one was capable on controlling the body. So they did not merged - we know that human brain is capable of running two processes at the same time - hence split personality. When they've swapped/linked to The Head, they've just suppressed it (probably due to dominant human intelligence - sick humans were not "possessed" by The Watchers, they've only experienced mildly odd dreams when most of their brain should be switched off) and suppressed all other linked watchers. But they've got problems with that when station crashed into the planet - human mind is not used to work across so many hosts, so probably they've just assimilated in. The strongest mind (the aggressive one) was concentrated/focused enough to give you the last "advice".

I think it was possible to split them back by creating a clone, "swapping" the current host process into the clone (pushing other processes away from it and pulling the current process into it) and then instantly breaking the link somehow. Not an easy task and "pushing other processes" part is tricky, but that's the experiment that was clearly missing. Maybe it will work if there are three clones and you "swap" to all three at the same time - each mind goes to one and then link is broken. But maybe other processes leftovers (as only hosts/kernels are moving) will mess you up anyway.

So with all that the endings are pretty much logical. If you stay/jump off the ledge The Watches (who also are a community of minds now, as The Head was disconnected from them) will say that you've chosen to preserve identity, even for a short period. If you've swapped - you are not "swapped and killed Marcus", you've linked two brains, pushed your mind into Marcus' brain (and that the tricky part with the experiment proposed above - either you've pushed Marcus mind back into your body or you've just taken a place along with it.). Probably Macrus ended up with a split personality or it's you, but with Marcus identity partially merged into your process - creating a new person essentially.

Anyway, what's missing here is an ending when you swap-jump into the shadow below the blue light and "what the hell??!" run into the ship saving yourself and preserving your identity. You'll be probably save out of planet's reach and will also grant humanity The Swapper - a key to immortality and body change (as long as body doesn't posses it's own mind at the moment of swap)?

Though the question of the self is a pretty vast philosophical topic, there could be a lot of inspirations and interpretations. In any case, I like what they did with it a lot.

[Vortex13]

Good question, I too like to know. Same with most of Thane's.

Agree with the sentience and consciousness aspects of the Geth. A very promising start, disappointing evolution over the game however.

I would enjoy a take on distributed sentience, especially if non conscious.

Peter Watts modeled an alien antagonist like this in his excellent book "Blindsight". Modelled on the ideas of T. Messenger (Being No One) and D.M. Wenger (The illusion of Consciousness).

It would be interesting and enjoyable to have a smart take on these concepts.

Edit (sp)

 

 

A fellow fan of the Scramblers I see. Blindsight was an excellent science fiction exploration of the concepts of intelligences vs. consciousness as well as being one of the few narratives I've seen (though I will admit to not having a huge library of experience) to depict an 'alien' intelligence without resorting to the whole "Beyond our comprehension" copout either:

 

Spoiler

Imagine you're a scrambler.

 

Imagine you have intellect but no insight, agendas but no awareness. Your circuitry hums with strategies for survival and persistence, flexible, intelligent, even technological - but no other circuitry monitors it. You can think of anything, yet are conscious of nothing.

 

You can't imagine such a being can you? The term being doesn't even seem to apply, in some fundamental way you can't quite put your finger on.

 

Try.

 

Imagine that you encounter a signal. It is structured, and dense with information. It meets all the criteria of an intelligent transmission. Evolution and experience offer a variety of paths to follow, branch-points in the flowcharts that handle such input. Sometimes these signals come from conspecifics who have useful information to share, whose lives you'll defend according to the rules of kin selection. Sometimes they come from competitors or predators or other inimical entities that must be avoided or destroyed; in those cases, the information may prove of significant tactical value. Some signals may even arise from entities which, while not kin, can still serve as allies or symbionts in mutually beneficial pursuits. You can derive appropriate responses for any of these eventualities, and many others.

 

You decode the signals, and stumble:

 

I had a great time. I really enjoyed him. Even if he cost twice as much as any other hooker in the dome-

 

To fully appreciate Kesey's Quartet-

 

They hate us for our freedom-

 

Pay attention now-

 

Understand.

 

There are no meaningful translations for these terms. They are needlessly recursive. They contain no usable intelligence, yet they are structured intelligently; there is no chance they could have arisen by chance.

 

The only explanation is that something has coded nonsense in a way that poses as a useful message; only after wasting time and effort does the deception become apparent. The signal functions to consume the resources of a recipient for zero payoff and reduced fitness. The signal is a virus.

 

Viruses do not arise from kin, symbionts, or other allies.

 

The signal is an attack.

 

And it's coming from right about there.

 

*

 

"Now you get it," Sascha said.

 

I shook my head, trying to wrap it around that insane, impossible conclusion. "They're not even hostile." Not even capable of hostility. Just so profoundly alien that they couldn't help but treat human language itself as a form of combat.

 

How do you say We come in peace when the very words are an act of war?