> -----Original Message----- > From: David Churvis [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Thursday, February 03, 2005 12:24 AM > To: CF-Community > Subject: Re: It's Dead, Jim! > > I don't know how stupid it is really. The Cylons see themselves as > children > of humanity, so they'd probably be versed in human psychology. And as for > making them realistic, there are modern-day companies that make highly > realistic human dolls out of silicone and such - it's believable that > hundreds of years in the future, a highly intelligent robot race could do > better.
No doubt: I've got absolutely no problem with the premise of making believable artificial humans. None at all. > And I don't know if they ever said "can only build" those twelve versions > I think they just said that there *are* twelve "races" of Cylon - six > humanoid, six robotoid. No one ever said they couldn't do more... this > may > just be a first wave. They've said that they built only six models but mass produced those - so there are thousands upon thousands of those six models (I believe the statement is even in the opening of the show). Let's assume the reason that there are only six is that the equipment needed to generate them (the "factory") is so very complex that it can easily pump out identical units, but can't easily change them. Why can't they be changed later? If they're just like humans (as they've said they can't be distinguished medically even) then they must heal. Why not simply plastic surgery after the fact. Make thousands of completely identical drones into thousands of similar-but-not-identical drones? We might also assume that the process is an construction and not a growth process (like a clone would be). If it were the latter then we could have these six cylons at different "ages" (stages of development). Also, as we have to assume that medicine is more advanced (although not amazing so as they still haven't licked cancer) we can assume that the human cylons have to be completely organic in nature. They really aren't mechanical constructs (robots) rather they're just as organic as you or I. We have to assume from the description that a human Cyclon is wounded and heals like a human. If not there's your "cylon test" right there: make a small cut and see how it heals. And I guess that's the problem for me: we have two conflicting plots elements 1) that there are only six models of human cylons and 2) that it's nigh impossible to determine who is a cylon and who is "normal". It just seems like once you found one you found thousands. Also it seems like the human Cylon can't have any more capability that regular humans. Once there's any episode that shows something "robot like" about them (removing limbs, embedding machinery, etc) then it blows the who "impossible to test" theory out of the water. By the way: this was the same problem I had with the "Terminator" movies. The first "Terminator" did it right: they showed and infiltration unit (Arnie) but in a flash back showed the same model unit with a different "skin". However in the later movies (to bring Arnie back) it's inferred that all the T500's looked like that. So how good is an infiltration unit that can't change its looks? But at least in that case the disguise was (literally) only skin deep. I don't let things like this prevent me from enjoying the shows at all - but I do like to consider them. Bringing it back to "Enterprise" that was always a subtle annoyance last season: we were to believe that the "Xindi" were all one species even tho' there were mammal, arboreal, aquatics, insects, avians and lizards. They could have made me happy by just once saying that the races came from a common ancestor or were all genetically altered or something... but instead they said (several times) that all these races had the same "Xindi" DNA. It's just a silly statement that wasn't needed. Again, it didn't affect my enjoyment of the show, but it did irk me. Jim Davis ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Purchase RoboHelp from House of Fusion, a Macromedia Authorized Affiliate and support the CF community. http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=59 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:146015 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
