David Brin wrote: > --- Warren Ockrassa <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote some > cool kiln speculations. I already did deal with > religious conservative opposition to kilning and with > sexual variations. > > The alien idea though is one that I was intending to > deal With. I mean, how could you tell?
Considering some of the ground Warren covered, *We* are the aliens. But what if one of our "alien" types were to be the one to make "First Contact"? That could lead to a comedy of misconceptions and perhaps then to an even greater undertanding of "Otherness" and self. Kiln Distance, anyone?<G> > > Pregnancy. Interesting. If I understand the concept correctly, the ditto body would not be pregnant, but the ditto's mind would be. This would entail an interesting sort of cognitive dissonance (explored to some degree in the past by other SF writers I'm sure) that would make an interesting and perhaps complimentary parallel to the "Alien" concept above. Kiln Humanity What if some group of ditto hackers were combining the "mental states" of seperate people to create "new entity dittos"? Take two different people, combine the ditto info and average it out, and apply it in a ditto body. What you would have is a completely new person to some degree. The uniquness of such an individual would change the tone of the ditto rights argument. What if such a counterculture hack were to be studied seriously? You might find recombinant dittoing to have legitimate uses. Marriage counciling. Diplomacy (Dittoplomacy) Recombine the Head Coaches of opposing sports teams and you would have an ultimate referee. What if an entire tribe or nation used the recombinant hack to "Create" their leader/ president (By averaging the entire population)? What if this leader were a real jerk? Would this lead to social change or not? What if, in such a scenario, the hack was hacked by nefarious groups vying for control? What if ditto mind information were to be (successfully) uploaded into the mind of a human in order to control that person, perhaps to make him/her think he/she were someone else, or to change their political views? Or you could use the same method to punish criminals with a first person view of their victims experience. How would *that* change criminal justice? Doc, don't let anyone tell you your books do not make people think about *implications*! <G> xponent Savage Hours Maru rob _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
