driftfleet | (no subject)

Who: Beverly Crusher and Wrath
Broadcast: yes, video
Action: Find Beverly and Wrath on the Blue Fish right now (Wrath on the Windrose later)
When: Current

Good afternoon, Fleet, I’m Dr. Crusher, of the Blue Fish, [She gestures a hand towards Wrath] this is Wrath, of the Windrose, and we have an important request of our fellow fleet members. Wrath needs to undergo complicated back surgery, involving the removal of cybernetic implants. I have the skills and done the research necessary in order to do this, but I do not have the facilities or all of the equipment that I need. If anyone with medical, engineering, or computer knowledge would be willing to help us construct a surgical suite, I would, of course, compensate you for your time and energy. Please send us any questions you may have and thank you!

[Wrath waves and grins. She's leaning on her familiar cane.] Hi everyone! Um! Like Dr. Crusher said, I really appreciate any help, it'd be great to be back up to full effectiveness and kicking ass! This is so great, I never thought this injury could get fixed so I'm really... just hopeful. So thank you everybody.

And uh. It'd probably also be good to have someone who can talk to the nanobots that regulate my bone growth and muscle fibers. Cuz my old doctor put a governor on the muscles so I wouldn't hurt myself, but once my back is fixed I should get retuned to full speed.

I'll definitely compensate anyone for help too!

[Responses can come from both Wrath and Dr. Crusher!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[He nods.]

Thor treated me as a fully realized individual from the beginning, but his culture has far more galactic contact than Earth does in my time. Simple exposure helps a great deal toward recognizing what one has in common.

Though I find it strange your technology is so advanced and you don't have more AI. Or are they typically not embodied?

A stable positronic brain has only ever been successfully built by one scientist, Dr. Soong - Data's father, who has now passed away. It's been something roboticists have researched for decades and many, including Data, have tried to replicate Dr. Soong's results, to no avail. Data had a daughter but...

[Beverly drops her gaze, saddened by the thought of Lal.]

She didn't make it past a few weeks.

I'm sorry to hear that. It must have been very difficult for him.

A positronic brain is far from the only way to develop artificial intelligence, though stability in any form is difficult to achieve. Perhaps that was the most dense memory material you had access to?

Honestly I believe the main reason is that artificial intelligence has simply not been a research priority. Humans particularly are wary of so-called supermen, because of some of the atrocities that occurred during World War Three. Even now, most forms of genetic manipulation are banned in the Federation, and I think for many, AIs hit too close to that as well.

AI seems to me to be very different than genetical manipulation of humans, but I suppose a board of inquiry might be hesitant regardless. Does your friend Data suffer from the association? Or has it been long enough they simply have difficulty interacting with him because he is different?

Dr. Soong was the descendant of a geneticist who almost brought about the resurgence of the augmented human beings who launched WWI, believing that they would not behave like their predecessors. But when they too tried to take over and even tried to kill him, he abandoned his hopes for genetic engineering. Instead, he turned to the development of artificial intelligence, in his quest for perfecting humanity. So the connection between the two is not entirely unwarranted.

[She sighs.]

It's... a complicated issue and I'm not a historian - I can't do the subject proper justice. All I can tell you is that we should not let our fears dictate our actions, yet we do, all the time. Not that fear is entirely the source of people's reactions to Data - others simply cannot see him as anything other than a machine for our use, like my tricorder.

Edited 2016-04-27 00:24 (UTC)

Judging people based on what their ancestors did is detestable, though that won't stop anyone.

[Which ties in directly to her next point, so he just nods.]

That's likely due to lack of exposure, then. Were there a thousand like him--or a million, or an entire planet--people would feel differently, I think. When you're the only one of your kind, you'll always be treated as an outsider by someone.

Very true. [Though... not that that stops the people of Daneel's world from treating him as less than.] Perhaps that is why people here are more willing to accept differences - most of us are here alone and for all of us, we're constantly encountering people from different worlds with completely different values and histories from our own, and we're all considered strange to someone.

That may be it. There's no standard of "normal" among us, so we must instead judge individuals on their own merit.

[He smiles faintly.]

Though that doesn't stop people from giving me odd looks due to my appearance.

I'm sorry. That must be frustrating.

[She's gotten the odd look or two in her life, the few times she's been on a planet that's never seen a human, but she knows that's nothing compared to having it happen every day, wherever you go.]

It's routine to me.

[He shrugs noncommittally.]

It's likely I could appear human if I desired, but I lack that particular desire. Better not to set up a false expectation.

[She tilts her head curiously.]

You are capable of changing your appearance?

[In answer he holds up a maroon hand. He concentrates for a brief moment and it turns a deep blue to match the rest of his "clothing", giving him the appearance of wearing a glove.]

With minimal effort, yes.

Fascinating.

[And she wonders, if Data had such an ability, what would he choose? Unlike Vision and Daneel, he is driven by a desire to be more human.]

May I ask how this is achieved?

It's a synergistic effect between the vibranium metal bonded to my cells and the Mind Stone. The red certainly comes from the vibranium, but the ability to alter it at will does not.

So probably not something that could be replicated without either vibranium or the Mind Stone. At least, not in the same manner.

[She shakes her head as if to clear it.]

Please let me know if any of this makes you uncomfortable to discuss. I'm sure this comes as no surprise that I'm very interested in physiology, whether it be organic or mechanical or both.

And vibranium is exceedingly rare. It's why the reaction was novel - there hadn't been enough of it to experiment in any kind of cost-effective measure.

[He blinks and then smiles lightly]

Actually, I'm pleased to have someone I can discuss it with. I'm afraid it goes over a lot of heads.

I'm glad I can help. I've studied cybernetics quite a bit and I help Data maintain his systems, so I'm very familiar with the subjects.

[That gets a little gleam in his eye, like he's teasing her.]

Is there any medical field you're not competent in?

[~~She's a sci-fi space doctor so no.~~

She laughs.]

My Starfleet education was very thorough.

(no subject)

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video; how the hell should I know it's a comic book ffs

video; fortunately she has a phd in technobabble

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