Restless Souls/Technology

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Revision as of 22:36, 6 October 2014 by Paradox-01 (talk | contribs) (Connecting AVATARA and SLD history.)
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While RS might display many technologies, currently this page focuses only on the four most important ones.

Remaining questions
Daodan
Overpower mode
Universal detectors
Cell communication
Daodan computer
Bioc
...
SLD
...
Shields
Dynamic structure for personal shields


Daodan Chrysalis

In RS the DC is a very complex genetic program designed to upgrade the human host and his microbiom.

The term primer symbiont refers to the human host and his microbiom because they are the more important partner in this symbiosis. The human body and his flora are a complete living being while the DC was just made for their support and couldn't exist on its own.

So, secondary symbiont stands for the upgraded biomass.

After the DC upgraded all cells there's no more primer and secondary symbiont. At this time point we have a new life form known as Imago.


Origin

BioCrisis

Humans' use of nuclear material contaminated whole countrysides. - At least nuclear weapons aren’t fired or tested these days but their remnants are still there. - To date, nuclear power plants produce radioactive waste while suitable locations for repositories are still subject of controversial debates. Due to that radioactive waste was officially and unofficially sunk in oceans. It was just a matter of time until the barrels would leak from rust. Besides the catastrophic accidents like Chernobyl and Fukushima, there was also a sneaking contamination of agriculture by phosphate fertilizers. Alone in Germany it's 160 metric tons uran each year[1].

After the WCG was established, they let labs realize plans to undo nuclear contaminations. [Mention motive here: justification, ergo demonstrating power of collected forces] Their solution was an artificial created mycorrhiza. That symbiosis of plants and fungi is supposed to absorb radioactive isotopes and store them in a kind of nut. Drones were going to collect them. The hull contained bitters so that animals didn't feed on them. The plant was unable to propagate because their cells, including DNA and its mutations, dissolved after one year. The time control was necessary because the mycorrhiza would not only clean the soil but also devour whole forests to collect the radionuclides inside non-animal organisms. To accelerate the development, all mechanisms were tested in silico against critical mutations. In the lab it seemed stable enough so the officials pushed for field tests. In nature the mycorrhiza accumulated mutations in an unpredicted way. With the silenced fail-safe measures, the mycorrhiza was able to spread out uncontrolled. During the next years it influenced other organisms. This marked the beginning of the BioCrisis. Since then reclamation teams are fighting back the wilderness and WCG is trying to hide their fatal errors from public. Nobody wanted to take the blame.

Jamie and Prof. Hasegawa searched in the Wilderness Preserves for minimal mutated mycorrhiza to prove that the problem was man-made. On their way into the wilderness Jamie got infected by the fungus. It liquefied her leg tissue. The CDC believed that it was caused by a virus because these symptoms reminded them of Ebola. Hasegawa caught later a tissue samples of Jamie and the fungus in the quarantine zone. He realized that it would need other and better security measures for the Daodan Chryalis to not endanger the environment.


Arguments of an in vitro Daodan

Kerr: "[...] We had never intended to implant those Chrysalises. [...]"

Why would they build prototypes when they weren't going to use them?

It can be argued that these prototypes were meant for in vitro experiments, not in vivo.

If I remember correctly the following bit has already been presented somewhere on the forums or Oni Galore. Namely that an in vitro Daodan could be carried inside a box for medical usage. Furthermore it could be like this: You could expose it to doses of negative stimuli such as toxins and grow adapted tissue or organs. Before transplanting the daodanized cells, their ability to adapt hyperregenerate would be turned off. Then it's like bioprinting (a.k.a. tissue engineering) with normal cells.
However, the question remains why Konoko's and Muro's DNA was taken for the prototypes.
  • During life, mutations accumulate inside the genetic and epigenetic code. The codes of children is less mutated, hence need less repair, also the telomeres are longer.
  • There's no need to draw attention to an illegal project by asking other parents for tissue samples from their children.
  • If Hasegawa and Kerr repetitively needs new samples they would have Muro and Mai as source without asking anyone else from the outside.
Still, this all sounds not 100% persuasive. And the WCG could easily spread doubts about the in vitro Daodan to an audience which lacks the technical background which would be pretty much everyone.


Arguments of an in vivo Daodan

13_65_35 Kerr: "[...] The effect of the mutation is influenced by the subject's nature."

A "Box-Daodan" could never get influenced by someone's personality.

If a hand or foot gets heavily wounded, the flesh and bones might regenerate but the extremity loses it functionality, it cripples.

For an accurate regeneration the Daodan needs an own self-awareness, mainly a genetic and anatomic model of itself, as already written in the explanation attempt section. The processing cell organelles in neurons open a little door so that the Doadan can get influenced. This might be the reason for Kerr's "wishful thinking".

The only way Hasegawa and Kerr could have discovered this possible side effect, is an entire brain simulation with Daodan cells.

A complete brain simulation seems less necessary if they were just aiming for an in vitro Daodan.

After all, Kerr's saying "We had never intended to implant those Chrysalises" sounds somewhat fishy.


ACCs

The government desperately tried to kill the mutated mycorrhiza by applying aggressive herbicides and fungicides. The chemical remnants were steadily accumulating in air, water and soil. The air was becoming toxic even to humans in a foreseeable time. This again forced the WCG to build the so-called Atmospheric Conversion Centers. They were trading a big evil against a marginal smaller one.


Hasegawa's motive: Jamie's Death

GRAD STUDENT DIES

MURDER OR MERCY ?

NEO TOKYO – A horrible scene unfolded yesterday at the Fuji Region Wilderness Preserve. Jamie Kerr Hasegawa, environment activist, top grad student, mother of two was found dead. Her grief-stricken husband, Prof. Hasegawa, is being held suspect for murder or homicide. Officials from the Center for Disease Control, however, attest that Hasegawa shot his wife to give her a merciful death. Mrs. Hasegawa had apparently contracted a new fatal viral infection that caused complete cellular breakdown. Investigators fail to identify the DNA trace of the virus which has the CDC in a panic.

The Hasegawas had embarked on an unauthorized investigation to uncover the truth behind the WPS territories and the government’s supposed land reclamation project. According to Mr. Hasegawa they had gone into the Fuji Region Wilderness where his wife brushed her leg against a little thorned twig of a flowering shrub. They went on with no concern. Within minutes of taking the diminutive injury the little scratch became a swelling wound then changing into a large ulcer. The intense pain overwhelmed Mrs. Hasegawa, the wound infections spread away from the scratch and lanced slowly the ulcers. Mr. Hasegawa applied antibiotic hypos but in less than an hour and wailful waiting the whole leg tissue was wracked wildly by deep chaps. By now it was clear that the virus would cause a total breakdown of the nervous system because of its all-devouring raging. The internal tissue was going to liquefy and bleed out. Mr. Hasegawa stated that it was an unbearable scene.

12_43_11 Hasegawa: "The world outside the Atmospheric Processors is poisonous. If something isn't done we are all doomed. Jamie's death won't be in vain. I'm going to do something about the nightmare that killed her. Her brother will help me. He misses her as much as I do."

The Daodan was here and then criticized to be unethical especially by geyser. (But I'm happy he did. That way we have more points of view). He said that with the Daodan a human loses / gives up a not unimportant amount of control over body and mind.

  • Sort of just look what happened to Muro. In that point I disagree: Muro's personality might be the one of an anarchist but it could be very possibly formed by education / influences of an certain super-criminal organization and not by the Daodan.
  • Also in his opinion Kerr is biased against Mai: The preservation of Mai personality is a wishful thinking. Indeed, it would be interesting to know from where Kerr takes the assumption that the personality change the Daodan body and not vice versa.
13_65_35 Kerr: "You are who you have always been. The Chrysalis can't change that. The effect of the mutation is influenced by the subject's nature."

More speculation on Daodan body and mind in the section "explanation attempt [...]".

At least Kerr admits that the Daodan is unknown terrain.

13_65_31 Kerr: Yes. We weren't sure what kind of mutation the prototypes would produce.

And now we are back to the term "control". I think it's one of our greatest modern fears to lose control. geyser described well how the Daodan can be feared: missing control, the emerging unknown, and possible (or not) mind changes.

We are used to the thinking that having control is good. But what if Hasegawa came to the conclusion that the world is in the hands of too many unwise men. The WCG doesn't represent their citizens. And for that reason passing on that kind of control wouldn't be so unethical.


Wasn't Hasegawa sentenced?

Hasegawa wasn't authorized to enter the Wilderness Preserve and he killed his wife. So, there must have been a lawsuit.

But it seems he doesn't had to spend time in a prison.

  • Either, WCG offered him some sort of deal for not using his connections and public sympathy to his advantage. (He and Jamie were active in the environmental movement.)
  • Or he was sentenced. But before reaching prison or later on, a syndicate/ninja group freed him.

Why speaks Kerr of himself as a criminal. Maybe he arranged Hasegawa's rescue. After that they had no other chance to work for the Syndicate anyway.

13_65_21 Kerr: "Your father and I were criminals, funded by the Syndicate. We couldn't get backing from any legitimate source. [...]"

At that time point, Hasegawa already must had a rough plan persuasive enough so that Kerr and more importantly the Syndicate would join.

12_43_11 Hasegawa: "[...] I'm going to do something about the nightmare that killed her. Her brother will help me. He misses her as much as I do."

It's said that Mai "orphaned at the age of 3" and she said that a Chrysalis was implanted at the age of 7. So the Chrysalis prototypes were created within approximately 4 years. How could this complex project be finished by a mere two-men army? Likely Hasegawa didn't started from scratch. Also, he and Kerr possibly used potent simulations of their time. (Another reason why Oni should take place in 2055.)


When did Mukade join?

Ninjas have always been interested in knowledge and new technology. So, at least Mukade, as a boss of his clan, monitored WCG's and the Syndicate's scientific projects. Either he would have become informed by reading the first summary of Hasegawa's simulations or even earlier when the two scientists made the deal with the Syndicate.


Introduction of Pensatore

Hasegawa and Kerr request more computing power.

Pensatore (meaning "the thinker") is an SLD scientists and leading the AVATARA project. He is consulted by Mukade to judge if the Chrysalis is really worth its cost.

Background:
The European Blue Brain Project as well as the American BRAIN Initiative failed.
The Blue Brain Project ignored glia cells and similar supporting elements. The BRAIN Initiative did better but still had no real neuronal input and no information from cells that messure concentration of oxygen, sugar, etc.
Also there are a lot neuros in the guts that connect to brain in one way or another.
It became more and more clear that reducing a brain to its neurons was far from enough.
After they had a full body simulation up and running the next step was to educatate the AI and let it control a body in the physical world.
At this point the networking supercomputer had clusters all over the world and was named AVATARA. (This full body simulation depicting AI was remote controlling a robot, its avatar.)
The collected data from this "SLD generation 0" was't enough to design an AI from scratch because most of the data still needed years to become fully analysed.
The bits of knownledge learned from generation 0 and with the ongoing technological progress Pensatore would soon start the research on SLD generation 1.
Meanwhile planet Earth faced its first AI which ironic task was to understand itself. In doing so it tried to read all available knownledge about the subjects the scientist worked it.
The AI got significant smarter and drew interest from more researchers to solve complex problems and calculations.
Pensatore was still in charge of AVATARA and granted Hasegawa a full week to complete the Daodan.

[...]


Hasegawa's philosophy: death is worse than questionable ethics

Hasegawa: "In a democracy you need the majority to change a situation. But in the WCG there's no such thing like a majority nor a democracy. We missed to accomplish our chances with normal means. Now, only a revolution can bring change. If you don't have the guts to pull it off then I will do it. Or rather... If the entire society's intelligence wasn't enough to ensure our survival then I will empower the human body to protect ourselves."

Pensatore: "Usually revolutions turn out to be quite bloody. Many people will die in the chaos. From a scientist I expected a more ethical suggestion."

"Ethics for its own sake is not an option. Look at history. On the verge of death men ate other men, even corpses. For the simple reason: to survive. Also, convinced Christian came to the conclusion that death to a megalomaniac dictators can be justified. -- Ethics are only as good as the situation allows it! Of how much worth are rules and laws which don't let you survive?"

"And you believe we are in such a situation? Certainly, the WCG isn't the optimum but this is a bit too much in my opinion. -- What do you have in mind? Do you want as a geneticist make a biological intervention that takes all of the control humans wrest from mother nature in the last 125,000 years?"

"What means the fire to men when they burn themselves and learn hardy from the mistakes? -- No, I'm not throwing it away, I just take a part and give it to a new instance of ourselves. The new possibilities will create a society where collision of interests and foul compromises can be avoided."

"What are the details of your plan?"

"All our cells collect information which they use in cases of emergency to transform themselves. That inner safeguard will have the possibility to compensate injuries caused by wrong decisions the human mind made."

"A biocracy ... on cellular level?"

"I call it a Daodan Chysalis."

"I must say it again, such radical changes will trigger fear, chaos and death!"

"We live in permanent evolution and that brings always unknown things. All I do is to speed things up. I bet you could sell it as a genetic upgrade against diseases and then there will be less problems."

"Do you suggest to lie to everybody?"

"Have you ever told your children that Santa brings the presents? -- Even if we aren't aware of it: we lie daily."

"That's something different. If Muro rips off your beard, then he might be disappointed to not see Santa. But if someone finds out what you project is really about then we have again a horror scenario."

"We don't need to force people to get them a Daodan."

"A parallel society with mutants doesn't make the situation necessarily better."

"Would you blame me for the racism of other people?"

"You want to put Daodan into this world and also know how people will react. So yes, you would be responsible."

"Oh, that's makes it really ease for you..."

"Listen, I know that Jamie's death was a tragedy for you and all others who knew her. But do you really think she would have wanted that innocents die by your innovation? -- You should find a way to introduce your project to the world in a slow pace."

"I want to use my anger and desperation to create a change."
"I don't want to return to a calm mindset where daily life takes over. This just brought us into this situation. -- I know the Daodan comes with risks. But life without the necessity of taking risks is an illusion."


At this point Mukade can drop in and suggest to use the Daodan as a carrot to infiltrate the Syndicate, then repairing the ACCs and bringing down the WCG little by little.

In that scenario the Daodan wouldn't change the people but the existing political system.


Ninja-SLDs a.k.a Daodan-droids?

[...]


Ego-Hybrida

[...]


What happened to Hasegawa?

A) Hasegawa is still kicking.

[...]

B) Hasegawa takes a nap.

In Pensatore's opinion Mukade accumulates too much power.

Inspired by the Daodan, he has his own plan now, the Omega-Chimera, successor of the SLD, is supposed to form a Biocracy.

He tries to take control over Muro. Sturmänderung is absolutely unnecessary.

Mukade (Ego-Hybrida) sends a man after Pensatore. The scientists are currently working in an underwater lab in Antarctica.

In an accident Hasegawa drowns. His body can be retrieved but his mind is beyond repair. (When Mai finds him, she collapses.)

Only Pensatore is able to repair Hasegawa's mind with brain-engramms Mukade using now but he refuses. Hasegawa is now a "frozen guarantee".


Side note: "When the wild wind blows" by Iron Maiden (up to time code 10:00) might fit for an AMV-styled video of a custom level featuring Jamie and the Prof. in the city and the wilderness. On a second thought it could be also used for the Sturmänderung event.


What arguments speak for the Daodan?

What arguments could someone use in public to advertise the Daodan?
1) regenerate lost limbs, faster wound healing, avoid cancer
2) compensate slow-paced invention cycles
3) compensate lack of natural selection
4) compensate human's behavior of putting himself in dangerous situations


1) I don't think the first point needs any explanation.


2) Some events just happen too fast for Bureaucracy and medical standard procedures.

Without a drastic improvement there could be never a cure for a new deadly pathogen what can kill within hours.

This is the point that Hasegawa would had in mind when he tried to find a cure for Jamie's disease.


3) Many humans aren't longer subject of natural selection which is good in short-term but bad in long-term.

In real life the lack of genetic fitness is somewhat compensated by human's mental fitness which is expressed in applied science, namely: medicine.

The health care systems (especially in the western world) enable even heavily diseased people to survive and raise children.

So, when people stay alive no matter their genetically fitness, natural selection can't take place and diseases continue to remain deadly.

Let's say, if HIV isn't treated at all, wouldn't the whole human race die out?

No. For instance every 10th European is naturally immune against HIV. So if we had a real plague only the immune people would survive and in the future HIV would be a far smaller problem.

An historic example of this kind of immunization is the Spanish Flu from 1918 which was the most catastrophic disease in human history so far. The price, immunity, came at the cost of a gigantic mountain of corpses, more than 50 million dead people if you trust the recent numbers.

With human's current knowledge and possibilities the first outbreak couldn't be prevented but at least it wouldn't kill good portions of the world population.

With HIV we are facing a dilemma: Either we keep everybody alive at the cost of a reduced life time, a weakened immune systems, social restrictions, discrimination, etc. or we let natural selection happen for the population's sake so gaining immunity. Both options are inacceptable for us humans as emotional beings. We seek for a better solutions but for some reasons we failed so far.


4) Humans often act unwise.

There's an increasing problem with antibiotics. We use them too often to keep ourselves and the livestock healthy. That puts bacteria under evolutionary pressure. There are concerns that more super bugs emerge. These multidrug resistant bacteria can't be easily cured. The media-popular MRSA strain residing in hospitals is such a danger.

Scientists try to come up with methods to reuse old antibiotic or find new ones. However, it can be assumed that the bacteria will also adapt to the new inventions. It's a neverending arms race.

A alternative to antibiotics are bacteriophages, or for short phages. Russia and Georgia officially uses these bacteria-eating viruses in some therapies. Usually viruses adapt even faster than bacteria but so-called mutators can win a biological arms race against phages.

If we imagine that all antibiotics will become useless, we would have no other chance to make massive use of phages which again causes further adaptions inside the super bugs.


What arguments speak against the Daodan?

1) drastic change of body
2) drastic change of mind
3) horizontal gene transfer


In order to successfully advertise the Daodan critical points must be rendered baseless. But can that be done or the Daodan really to be feared?

1a) Psychological impact on others.

Imagine someone's skin color changes to sky blue, that won't make you run. "Oh, just another cosplayer?"

How about an extra pair of arms? "Could be very convenient!"

Probably the whole appearance will matter.

At the latest when you run into a group of Abara look-alikes, this will stress your sense of safety.

When you can't distinguish between humans and animals you soon have a fantasy setting similar to some MMO. Cooperation will just depend of people's will to accept or reject the different appearance.


1b) Unwanted autoevolution (lack of control).

You might get traits that ensures better survival but are inconvenient in matter of ascetics. Or you planed to go somewhere and now physically it became impossible.

With cybernetics you wouldn't have such problem. You would be free to add or remove any feature.


1c) Evolutionary dead ends.

It's said that evolution can go only forward eventually leading in dead ends where no more adaption can take place due to the former adaptions.

However, the Daodan's analytic nature might circumnavigate this cliff.


2a) I am still myself, the original?

After the Daodan replaced all original cells what happened to the old personality. Was it killed and replaced by a clone's personality?

That's a very philosophic question. It would be very easy to spread fear with that one if not explained in detail.


This is similar to teleportation.

A person enters the teleporter. Information becomes copied and matter destroyer. The information becomes transfered. Then the person becomes rebuilt. If there's anything like a soul, was it killed? How can we be sure this is the same person?

Now let's imagine we teleport everything but the brain from place A to place B. The mind is still at A, isn't it?

Next, we teleport one brain cell. The brain will still work as it always did when we somehow manage to entangle all cell function at B with rest of the brain at A.

We are looking here at a mind that has physically different residences but it's still only one mind.

If we repeat this for every brain cells, there would be always just one mind at any time, also when 50% is at A and 50% at B.

After we completed this special teleportation we would have no doubt that the person is truly the person that went into the teleporter chamber.


Now let's look at cell growth/death a bit.

There's speculation on-going on how much cells die every second in the human body. The numbers range from many thousands to few millions.

The important point for us is that the body and hence brain is in constant state of change.

Cells divide and die everyday and we don't ask ourself "are we still the same?"

Apparently we are okay with that. Cells die, some get replaced.

So, for the Daodan we can imagine that our brain cells get replaced one by one whereby normal and upgraded cells are always linked.

The mind remains original at any time. We are just changing to another hardware.


2b) Does the Daodan changes the personality?

The DC enhances the body. It has no other intention.

Probably a change in personality would be caused indirectly.

An aggressive person might outlive his strategy and become more aggressive because negative consequences would have a smaller impact on him.


3) Horizontal gene transfer.

Why is this something bad? The Daodan gives humans an incredible huge advantage against all other lifeforms.

If the Daodan mechanisms are shared with the rest of nature, hyperevolution will take place everywhere making it harder to adapt again.

While viruses might learn some new tricks they should remain less potent than a multi-cellular Daodan.

So the actual thread would be bacterial colonies.


Explanation attempt of the biological dimension

to put it into a nutshell
Daodan-Chrysalis_2012_in_a_nutshell_tn.png
Finally wrote some “technobabble” lines that seem to provide a solid basis but also allow different interpretations. Paradox-01 18:28, 9 July 2010 (UTC)


The Daodan Chrysalis (short: Daodan) produces always mutations that are really needed. Only that way the same damage source won't be dangerous again in the future.

Thus the type of damage becomes analyzed and therefore the Daodan requires a sensor system.

In nature, "higher lifeforms" evolved by following – among other concepts – specialization and socialization. Those find their expression on one hand in different cell types – therefore multicellular organism – and on other hand in all kinds of symbiosis. So, for a hyperevolved organism, it wound be understandable if it work more intensely by those concepts.

A body realizes damage or harmful influences by stimuli. To detect all kind of stimuli, much space is surely needed.

Ninety percent of cells that can be found on and inside the human body aren't his own but microorganisms. Fortunately they weigh only a half up to one kilogram. Their assemblage is known as human flora. Depending on the organism, one of them can be a squatter (in metaphorical sense) against real health threatening germs or another one can hold an actual ability like vitamin K production.

Some abilities can't be simply or sufficiently integrated into an organism but its product can be received from a symbiont.

So, it seems likely to enlist microorganisms for more sensory tasks and abilities which are actually alien to the human. For this reason the Daodan needs to upgrade the genomes of all the microorganisms (microbiome) as well.

Next, communication between the symbionts has to be ensured. A new cell organelle might do the job by using messenger substances. Or it transmits different electromagnetic waves which existence doesn't seem too alien in comparison to the real bioelectric field of each living organism and wound give an explanation attempt of the Daodan glow. (Some metabolic waste products – which are released through the body surface together with perspiration – might become stimulated to glow by the field.)

For processing the received information, the Daodan might use an own self-awareness, mainly a (genetic and) anatomic model of itself formed by another organelle type inside every daodanized cell. The presence of such organelle in neurons opens the possibility for – how geyser coined it – “schizophrenia of the 3rd kind” but also Kerr's idea of a mental interface which allows influence on the Daodan's development by the host's personality.

If we want to know more about the decision making algorithms (and their physical structures) which calculates the mutations, we will need to ask Hasegawa. ;-)

Depending on the target – human Daodan genome, Daodan microbiome, both their epigenomes, or even organelle genomes (like mitochondrions and plastids have) – a few different “vectors” (e.g. viruses) need to be available to transport the mutation. (To ease further talk one might like to fall back on the terms holobiont, sum of symbionts, and hologenom, sum of symbionts' genomes.)

However, it's hard to believe that the Daodan could be able to come up with fitting mutations completely by its own. It seems more likely to me that it draws on “genetic building blocks” holding basis information for fast regeneration, resistances, different metabolisms, and so on. Maybe the Daodan can also make use of already existing genetic material of the microbes: after all, a human just has 23 000 genes (500 000 up to 1 000 000 proteins through alternative splicing) while his microbiome has more than 5 million genes/proteins.

The microbiome is very different among humans and would make the Daodan mass production surly no easy task. But after more than 15 years the Syndicate should have accomplished a way to simplify the process. This second generation would be independent from the host's sex (XX / YX chromosomes) and the microbiom's composition by providing level-zero stem cells. These can target any compatible symbiont cell and then do a “configuration” (whereby they dissolve the unnecessary genetic material) to become classic daodanized stem cells and microbes.


The Daodan computer

The Daodan's ability of producing non-random mutations doesn't exist in nature. So, its purposefulness should be the result of something man-made, probably some kind of computer. So far I had doubts that a computer could be produced inside a living system. Certainly, it wouldn't be a computer that has todays dimensions, materials or architecture.

The technological progress goes on and on. Nanotechnology is part of the party. It leads to further minimization of technology, brings new materials, and kicks the door to quantum mechanics wide open.

Ideas and prototypes of unconventional computers are in development. The size of their logic gates range from cells, to macromolecules like DNA up to groups of only a few molecules. Duroquinone is an example for the latter. In groups of 17 molecules duroquinone is allegedly able of parallel computing. According to a BBC article that "nano brain" sounds more like it's a signal hub. Another team later designed a molecule that seems more promising.

In 2013 scientists succeeded in combining logic gates and memory inside bacteria.

[...]


Immune system extension

One idea is to keep the genetic code of Daodan and natural organisms separated: If the Daodan uses another backbone for its base pairs then perhaps viruses wouldn't be able to incorporate their code for reasons of incompatibility. For instance, PNA has another type of backbone. But experiments showed that long PNA strains aren't stable. I don't know if there are other alternatives. Furthermore, there are other dangerous substances like toxins so I will bet on an analyzing element. In 2012 scientist succeeded to simplify the identification of nanosized objects. A minimized version of the device would be an ideal sensor for the Daodan.


High performance via polyploidy?

A genome can consist of many chromosomes. If all its chromosomes are unique then the chromosome set is haploid. A genome of two sets is diploid, a tripled set make it triploid, and so on. So polyploid means "having many chromosome sets".

Polyploidy can result in higher vitality. It can raise the rates of protein biosynthesis due to stronger parallelization of the processes. An already historic example can be seen in wheat. Humans bred wheat whereby they doubled repeatedly the plant's chromosome set to harvest more and bigger grains. Now wheat has 6 sets (hexaploid) each counting 7 chromosomes.

Problem

Humans with too many chromosome copies often dies before or shortly after birth or suffer diseases. A non-lethal disease is the Down syndrome which comes from a third copy of the 21st chromosome hence it's also called trisomy 21.

This shows us that simply multiplying chromosomes for a performance boost won't work.

Solution

Despite human cells have a diploid genome there are also cell types that are naturally polyploid. For instance this is true for heart muscle cells, liver cells and megakaryoblast (blood-forming cells).

Healthy constellations of multiple sets might be traced back to deactivations.

Example for single chromosome deactivation: In women one of the X chromosomes is epigenetically deactivated. That way men (XY) and women (XX) have both only one active X chromosome and hence they produce nearly the same dosis of gen products from the X chromosome(s).

Example for general deactivations: Epigentic processes like DNA-methylation generate different cell types despite the genetic code is the same in all cells. (Remember the liver cells which are differentiated cells but also polyploid.)

If Daodan cells are polyploid than they would require to deactivate unneeded regions of the other sets. However imposing real standards I think that polyploidy could be never the only reason for the marvelousness regeneration skill of Oni's hypothetical Daodan.


Transformation: control and power

Is Muro's transformation irreversible? Before he transformed he said "You are capable of so much more. Let me show you..." It implies that he has some control over his transformation. How much is not known.

A) He was able to delay the final transformation and triggered it later by will.
B) That of A plus more control so he can even untransform.

"Let me show you..." can be interpretated that he already knew how radical his change of appearance would be: he stands in front of Mai as a normal looking man and hence it could be a hint that he's able to revert the transformation.

The time of growth can be seen as another hint for the validity of option B. TCTF staff tried to avoid Daodan power bursts by instructing Konoko to tackle things not too forcefully and they even gave her Sytropin to slow down Daodan growth. But during a few days of combat Mai's Daodan developed fastly nonetheless. For Muro we can assume years of real combat experiences...

From a practical point of view he should be able to untransform because of following reasons.

- psychologic / social reason: he was only familiar with his human appearance (it could be more comfortable, he probably had the wish to stay human before he became used to it) / identity of and repect for a strong leader, fear of the strikers having a real monster as boss (With reverting the transformation Muro could have given the Strikers time to get used to him and showing them he wouldn't represent a one-way ticket to monstrosity but to a superior being.)
- physiologic reason: ergonomy - weapons, cars, mobile phones, door frames, seats, etc are all made in human dimensions ... Wouldn't it be stressful to walk through the land of man as a giant and watching out not to accidentally destroy everything?
- energy / resource: combat or active Imago skills probably use a lot of chemical bound energy. A human-like form could be some kind of energy saver mode.

It looks like the Imago stage was thought to have unlimited energy and Mai was just lucky Muro transform right before their fight.

(...) Muro has achieved the next level of Daodan evolution: the Imago stage. Muro's Daodan powers make him invulnerable, but having only just evolved he has limited energy reserves. You can hurt him when his energy is drained.

Infinite energy:

  • To be honest I don't like at all the point of unlimited energy. I'm rather a friend on realism and would like to keep the laws of nature. Especially the law of the conservation of energy and the conservation of matter. Energy and matter cannot be created from nothing and cannot vanish to nothing.
  • You could say that the Daodan also draws energy from another dimension and instead of infinite energy there's just more energy available than the DC can use. But still if this becomes reused as normal energy source you might get weapons that can easily erase Imagos.


Transformation: static metamorphosis

(Some text that might be from a researcher's diary.)
The name still bugs us.
All skills aside, also the Daodan is bounded to the laws of nature, it's not almighty. Extreme changes of the body in a short time probably requires a static state.
In that aspect we might translate the full name "Daodan Chrysalis" as "code allowing metamorphoses to reach new states, each best-adapted to the new present environmental conditions" whereas "Chrysalis" could be also almost literally taken as "Chrysalis" [pupal stage of butterflies]. In this case we think it's some biological material at the body's outside to provides shelter and stability so a major metamorphosis can take place.
We think that this second ability might exist still hidden inside the code. Single, fast adaptions have been reported; the existence of complete, static transformations still needs to become proofed.


Multiple Imago stages

(Some text that might be from a researcher's diary.)
Some part of the Daodan's code aren't fully understood yet. This and the "Chrysalis group" posited hyperevolution makes us slowly believe that the Imago stage isn't the "end". Of course new environmental catastrophes can mean a threat to imagos so a new transformation would become necessary. That's why we think that these cycles aren't limited. However, it might be a disadvantage to lose a fully developed adaption if situation change back then. A storage system might be involved.
DNA methylation and histone modifications can access to the genetic material. For example a modified gene could be copied and modified, then the old version becomes switched off. In later events the daodan could check its registry if there's already a suitable adaption that can be switched on again. This would avoid the necessity to calculate again the needed mutations.
An genetic overload cannot be excluded. But that must be solved by future researchers. Our visionary colleague Dr. Sandström (in memory of ReGenesis) points to something he calls "networked Omega Chimera" which makes use of advanced nanotechnology.
Addendum: After final analysis on xx xx 205x, the suspected ability has turn out to be only our wishful thinking: A storages system for adaption hasn't been found but the idea remains as an idea for a future upgrade of the DC.


Natural reproduction of human hosts

Iritscen's post on the OCF initiated me to think about following problem.

At new environmental conditions, randomly evolved traits helps members of a population to survive. The survivors then ensure the population's continuity by their reproduction.

The Daodan reacts directly on environmental influences and probably – or largely – doesn't know anymore randomness. Therefor it's uncertain if the Daodan can manage or allow random recombination of genetic material during the sexual reproduction of Daodan hosts. For the Daodan, there's actually no more necessity for recombination.

So, if no recombination happens, female gamete (egg cells) might become produced with or without genetic material whereby only empty egg cell can accept a male gamete. In any case, the chromosome set is already diploid which means that baby is a genetic clone of one of it's parents. (But you know, the personality is still shaped to a major degree by environment and education.) Contact of male hormones with female gamete (cell nucleus must be presented) marks the cell as fertilized. Implantation and embryonic development follows. The passing on of microbial Daodan symbionts happens during child's birth (...) and by intake of breast milk. (Bifidobacteria can be taken as kind of RL example).


Contamination of the ecosystem

GV's "Chrysalis" work group thinks that the Daodan will contaminate the environment sooner or later (in case it didn't already happen) because of horizontal gene transfer causing unseen threats. Hence the Daodan needs a patch. The idea was and is to protect the primer symbiont, the human host. To ensure that the microbial Daodan cells stays only at the human flora these cells need to die in absent of the primer symbiont by dissolving their genetic material with an enhanced lysosome.

(Will Pandora hunt down all hosts with an original Daodan (to patch them or kill the hosts) ?)

This patch solves only one part of the problem. Existing Daodans would be still a permanent danger, especially the unknown number in Syndicate 'property'. In worst case this threat had to be met on planetary scale. This would require full control over all matter and lifeforms.

Related topic: bioc


Future upgrades

I don't think this will happen in RS but later sequels. It's better to write it down than forgetting it again during time.

  • telomere regeneration: which allows biological immortality (overpopulation problem appears)
  • cyborg genes: construction genes which takes care of implants -- nothing special in comparison to our human growth genes -> Omega Chimera
  • memory chromosome: nanoscanner collect position and properties of neurons and other relevant stuff and code these information into a new chromosome


Omega Chimera

  • Omega Chimeras can make use of external memory storage for different Imago stages and also knowledge.
  • Long-range objective is to create a collective consciousness (via network) called Daimon.


Taking a look at real symbiosis

The word symbiosis means "living together". If the outcomes are good or not is an other question. However, in daily life symbiosis means a relationship of mutual gain.

symbiosis types by interaction symbiosis types by utility
on metabolic level (e.g. corals; lichens) mutualism
through behavior (e.g. flowering plants + insects, birds; ants + fungi / greenflies) parasitism
on genetic level (e.g. virus + host organism) interstages of mutualism and parasitism (commensalism, amensalism, etc.)


The following subsections are meant to show what real symbiosis is capable of and that it exist between very different species. Therefore those sections display combinations of the so-called kingdoms. (As a layman I still prefer the older and simpler model.) Unfortunately viruses are unranked so far.

Are viruses lifeforms?
The problem is that they are neither really dead nor alive. They are zombies so to say. They do nothing until they infect a suitable host cell and becomes active again. Living things were thought to have always an active metabolism. Then tardigrades have been found out to break that rule with their cryptobiosis ("hidden life"). In that stage their metabolism is almost too low for measures (under 0.01%). After that discovery scientists had the rethink the definition of death. The microbes' state of temporary death became some kind of extreme hibernation, namely cryptobiosis, and some Christians were happy that their religion was the sole promise again for resurrection.
A virus cannot reproduce itself without a host but that's also true for some endoparasites (parasitic organisms in other organisms). And a virus has no own metabolism but can take over the host's metabolism and organelles. In this view a virus might be a very mean and cleaver bastard but it lives.
From symbiosis to symbiogesesis.
So a virus makes the host its own body; the news are that there also exist symbiotic viruses. These have not taken over a host cell but sorta vice versa: they became fully incorporated into the host's genome. Two examples: First, the polydnavirus inside of ichneumonid (parasitic) wasps is only produced when the wasps lay eggs into a caterpillar. The virus helps the wasp eggs to survive inside the caterpillar by affecting the immune system and changing the metabolism in advantages of the wasp eggs. The second example is about us humans (and all animals with a placenta). The retrovirus ERVWE1 in our genome merge placenta cells by its produced protein "syncytin" to create a protection layer. That way the embryo keeps untouched by the mother's immune system. Otherwise it could be discovered as foreign body because of the father's genes. The retrovirus gives us an advantage compared to non-placental mammals.
The polydnavirus is still reproduced but the second virus gave up its independence to the fullest. They, the host and the virus are rather one new organism instead of two. This process of merging organisms is called symbiogenesis.
How much human DNA builds our body?
Incorporation of genetic material happened more than once. When the human genome was sequenced on a great scale, only 1.4% has been found out to encode our building material - the proteins - the rest appeared to be "junk" DNA. Today we know that 8.5% are old retroviruses (HERVs). -- This brings Agent Smith from the movie Matrix into mind when he classified humans as a virus because of certain similarities: according to him humans replicated unchecked, consume all resources, and spread to a new area (host) when one area ran out of resources. Now he would have a genetic proof you might think: our DNA is more "virus" than "human". -- Well, the old retroviruses are almost all defective so they don't matter much. Also, noncoding but function holding RNA and regulatory sequences - tools and building instructions - have been identified from the junk by now. So, yes, no need to panic, we are still human enough.


Insect and bacteria

Faithful allies since the Cretaceous: Symbiosis between beewolves and protective bacteria originated millions of years ago

[...] A particularly fascinating defensive alliance occurs in the European beewolf (Philanthus triangulum), a digger wasp that hunts honeybees and provisions them for its offspring in underground nests. Previous research has shown that bacterial symbionts of the genus Streptomyces live in the wasp's antennae and on the larval cocoons. The bacteria produce a cocktail of nine different antibiotics that fend off detrimental fungi and bacteria from infecting the developing larva in the cocoon. This strategy to avoid infections is comparable to the combination prophylaxis used in human medicine.

The scientists now reconstructed the phylogenies of different beewolf species and their symbionts. An analysis of the beewolf phylogeny revealed that the symbiosis with Streptomyces first originated in the late Cretaceous, between 68 and 110 million years ago. At present, about 170 species of wasps live in symbiosis with the protective bacteria. [...]

source:
- http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/04/140414154450.htm


Fungus and plant

More than 400 million years of evolution and some plants still can't make it on their own: plant stress tolerance via fungal symbiosis

All plants in natural ecosystems are thought to be symbiotic with mycorrhizal and/or endophytic fungi. Collectively, these fungi express different symbiotic lifestyles ranging from parasitism to mutualism. Analysis of Colletotrichum species indicates that individual isolates can express either parasitic or mutualistic lifestyles depending on the host genotype colonized. The endophyte colonization pattern and lifestyle expression indicate that plants can be discerned as either disease, non-disease, or non-hosts. Fitness benefits conferred by fungi expressing mutualistic lifestyles include biotic and abiotic stress tolerance, growth enhancement, and increased reproductive success. Analysis of plant–endophyte associations in high stress habitats revealed that at least some fungal endophytes confer habitat-specific stress tolerance to host plants. Without the habitat-adapted fungal endophytes, the plants are unable to survive in their native habitats. Moreover, the endophytes have a broad host range encompassing both monocots and eudicots, and confer habitat-specific stress tolerance to both plant groups.

source:
- http://jxb.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/59/5/1109
- (mirror) http://dl.dropbox.com/u/139715/OniGalore/RS_T_Sources/1109.full.pdf


Virus, fungus and plant

A Virus in a Fungus in a Plant: Three-Way Symbiosis Required for Thermal Tolerance

A mutualistic association between a fungal endophyte and a tropical panic grass allows both organisms to grow at high soil temperatures. We characterized a virus from this fungus that is involved in the mutualistic interaction. Fungal isolates cured of the virus are unable to confer heat tolerance, but heat tolerance is restored after the virus is reintroduced. The virus-infected fungus confers heat tolerance not only to its native monocot host but also to a eudicot host, which suggests that the underlying mechanism involves pathways conserved between these two groups of plants.

source:
- http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/315/5811/513
- http://www.rcn.montana.edu/pubs/pdf/2007/science%202007.pdf


Bioc

"Bioc" is an abbreviation for its nickname bio crystal. The name was given due to many borrowed mechanisms from living ("bio") systems and one of the prototypes macroscopic appearances is a crystal.

The bioc is a research project of Silver Village (SV) which is again financed by WCG's Aeronautics and Space Administration (the former NASA). The project involves nanorobots for terraforming other planets.

During high peaks of the environmental crisis an idea arose to repurpose the bots. They should be used to filter out the toxic substances from the environment of the own planet.

After the cataclysm, WCG politics demanded also its assignment to eliminate genetic material of Daodans in the wild.

Originally the bioc should be ASA's tool to find, analyze and eventually manipulate matter as well as extraterrestrial microbial life forms. Now it's going to be WCG last instrument against toxic air, Daodan threats and the Syndicate ...

The biological aspects of the research were outsourced to the sister facility Green Village (GV). A few different versions of bioc prototypes were produced there before the complex became partially destroyed.

A bare artificial approach would produce a massive address number for the individual bots and therefore computational problems. So the bioc is supposed to create a biological way of control whereby a kind of self-awareness is formed by sensor systems and neural networks (like SLD do). When the bot population reached a predefined critical mass specialized nodes (organs) becomes created for higher abilities like regional localization (via GPS, etc). These nodes also allow humans to take control over the bot collective.

To prevent the Daodan's continuing contamination and reconquering of already cleaned areas the bots needs to cloak all lifeforms at first, analyzing them, and then killing all separated microbial Daodan cells. This event is code named "silver dawn". It's planed that all bots on and inside of organism will destroyed themselves while the subterranean nodes will remain for sure for economic purposes.

However, some are worried that the responsible people will succumb to the tremendous power and let remain the bots inside the organisms especially humans. But just as well hackers could succeed in taking over the system. The WCG will think twice if they want to unleash the bots into the world. Silver Dawn could change everything - to the good or to the bad.


More notes:

  • Like the Daodan, the Bioc needs computing power to solve complex tasks. Due to its crystalline components, the creators decided to let it use valleytronics which is suitable for quantum computing.
  • How could daodan and bio merge? Probably by overlapping structures that process informations. -- Human mind and the daodan can interact because the daodan has its processing organelles also inside neurons. Now the bioc as third player could join the party when it invades the brain. Would the daodan be a hardware trojan to the bioc or the bioc to the daodan, or both to each other? In an uncontrolled interaction functions of any entity could go havoc, for the human it will mean extreme pain (the bioc invasion alone will stress/destroy a lot of nerves). In case of Daya it's one reason why she continues to take drugs of all sort.


Comparing DC and Bioc

Daodan Chrysalis Bioc

passive, defensive, protective, analyzing harmful stimuli, flexible

guidelines:
- observe the own organism
- identify harmful influences
- adapt to those influences
(idea based on "negative utilitarianism")

Survival by adapting own organism. -> Give up / loss of self-control.

Mirrors a possible new behavior.
(Based on Hasegawa's mindset.)

active, aggressive, possessive, analyzing all matter, somewhat inflexible

guidelines:
- observe the environment
- identify types of matter
- make resources available
(idea based on "utilitarianism")

Survival by adapting the environment. -> Total control.

Mirrors old human behavior.


The hybrid

The two technologies meet at cellular level and fight in hyperevolution.

It seem totally possible that synergy effects could occur if a both entities eventually merge.

However, the behavior of both - DC and Bioc - is extreme. And extremes tend to not last very long.

Therefor the new entity might work after new guidelines, for example:

  • Analyzing threats: Adapt to harmful stimuli if limits become exceeded.
  • Analyzing resources: Adapt to new energy sources if favorable source is unavailable.
  • Defense against or cooperation with other organisms. (developing immunity or integration)


Discussing a possible fusion

1 Overlapping processing structures

DC and Bioc start as small clusters. With more cells/units they unlock new abilities.

So, before a fusion can take place, both entities must have already reached their first critical volume.

Then, when their information processing structures overlap an interaction could become possible.

Both use computation to do their task whereby they need a model of themselves.

But even if both models overlap and somehow become one, their programming is still different.

  • If the models merged, the Bioc could try to use the human as a tool to fulfill its tasks.
  • Another problem could be (made in) the amount of units needed to reach the critical volume without destroying the daodanized human.

So, here we see that there's probably more things needed to make both entities work together.


1.1 Brain interface

Syndicate soldiers and TCTF agents might have brain interfaces to receive/send biometric/optical data.

Let's see.

09_31_08 Shinatama: I am an SLD, an android programmed with your brain engrams. I have seen everything you have seen, felt everything you have felt. They used me to monitor the growth of the Chrysalis inside you...
"I have seen everything" could be based on the brain engrams but after all Oni was inspired by "Ghost In The Shell" which also features BCI technology (e.g. for augmented reality).
06_21_01 Syndicate Henchman: I've been monitoring the woman tracking us as you instructed. Scanners indicate a standard comlink as well as a second set of sub dermal transmissions. Analysis suggests that she is neurolinked to an SLD.
The ComGuy was able to identify the BCI relative easily giving it a touch of being nothing so special.

Anyways. If the Bioc can't understand the Daodan's language, maybe it can understand the translated signals from the BCI?


1.2 Analytic code as requirement

For an interesting plot there could be the need of a certain programming to preserve life.

The idea of the final Bioc is to scan a planet for all kind of aspects including traces of life.

So, if the prototype doesn't have that programming an infected human could seek to obtain that code to ensuring his survival.

After the update, the human is one step away from realizing that he could write another update to simply force a fusion in his advantage.


1.3 Ability to enter a new symbiosis

A) The Daodan is heavily based on symbiosis. Why shouldn't it be possible to add new partners to an existing symbiosis?

In the end tools are just extensions of your body. If the Daodan realize the Bioc as tool it could stop fighting it.
As for the Bioc, could it falsely identify Daodan cells as its own, as some kind of higher Bioc organ?

B) How could two very different Imagos create offspring? If they can't, they will die out.

The bodies would have to merge at some point in order to form one virtual model for calculating the offspring's DNA and anatomy.
But what would make the Bioc work together with the Daodan? Maybe the Bioc could accidentally triggers this process.


1.4 Mental control

As described in "Arguments of an in vivo Daodan", the human mind might influence the transformation.

The more brain cells are daodanized the easier the transformation could be controlled.

This can be seen in contrast what Hasegawa actually wanted, adding automatic protection to the human body.

However, the possibility that messing with your own body can result in sickness or death should be common sense.

So, you better don't interfere unless you are an expert of genetics ("Study the handbook duh!") or you don't have no other choice and learn by trail and error.

Wouldn't that be very risky? With total control over DNA and anatomy it should be possible the test the changes only in a few cells before applying them to the rest.

Still, it would be wishful thinking that everything turns out okay.

For that reason Pensatore could have rejected the Daodan for himself. He believes that only more wisdom can bring a true solution. (Ref. Biocracy, Omega-Chimera)

To summarize the helpfulness of the human factor in this connection, with a total control and the technical knowledge it's theoretical possible to conquer the Bioc from within.

SLD

Simulated Life Doll.

The term brain engrams in Oni might be related to:


Speculation about brain components

generation 0

Improvements in silicon chips are reaching their limits. With all the promising research going on we can expect new standards in a foreseeable future.

What can change? Materials, information carrier and architecture.

The new standards will deliver more computing power, and with enough computing power, pretty much everything can be simulated.

It's thought that brain simulations require exascale computing.

Right now it looks like optical and neurosynaptic processors will hit the market before memristor- and spintronic-based processors do.

If we assume a human neocortex with 1 million cortical columns each with 60.000 neurons, it would take 60.000 of IBM's new neurosynaptic processors to do the job.

A SLD brain with components based on these technologies might be possible but would be still far to big in size. It might fill a little building and remote control its body. So that's generation 0.


generation I

memristors

  • memristors as complex networks can mimic biological brains better than transistors
  • they can execute fuzzy logic which is in contrast to boolean logic not fixed between two states
  • they are none-violent memory units even if they work with electric currency because with usage their inner matter changes


generation II

nanospintronics

  • higher energy efficiency - no electric current needed, less energy used
  • faster components - no electric charge is transported and thus no thermal problems appears which allows clock speed up to 10,000 GHz
  • smaller components - e.g. the OR gate (actual iron-atom gate counts approx. 3nm), these kind of components can be smaller than todays semiconductor
  • non-volatile memory - information doesn't become lost when power is turned off because they are stored magnetically (that way also the boot process of computer would become significant faster)
  • and nanospintronics would also allow hybrid components for calculation and memory (these information were adapted from here (mirror))

That's the point which is especially interessting because of the analogy to biological components. Also biological brains uses one type of components for two things - the nerons store and process information.


Why multiple generations?

To describe an SLD's brain on Oni's timeline at an early time point, this brain would rely on multiple new technologies but so far it seem those will not be available at the same time.

  • memristors are the first-choice components to create an AI brain but they would still "need transistors at the periphery" (src: "Spektrum der Wissenschaft Spezial Physik - Mathematik - Technik 3/2013", page 57)
  • at the moment it seems that memristors will hit the market before spintronic-based transistors do, so meanwhile conventional transistors would aid memristors in AIs


Are SLDs alive?

Let's see at the following points to discuss this topic.

  • "The SLD project is an attempt to recreate human physiology with artificial materials."
  • SLD are classified as androids.
The TCTF and the Syndicate's language has more weight on the technical side...
Konoko: "I don't know if they programmed fear into her but if they didn't she's probably figured it out on her own by now."
08_28_02 Muro: "Curious. Why bother programming you to feel pain so intensely?"
09_31_08 Shinatama: "I am an SLD, an android programmed with your brain engrams"
... while The SLD scientists seem also to be more open for psychological aspects.
"SLDs are individuals in many respects."
"This core personality is then given a chance to develop a unique neurolattice while experiencing accelerated streaming sensory feeds."
"Most SLDs have to spend at least three months in the senseloop, which we have come to think of as their psychological womb."
  • Emergence - new properties, behaviors, etc. of a system which the single parts not feature. Also commonly known under the phrase: "more than the sum of its parts". Two examples: gas has a temperature but not the single molecules, a brain has a mind but single neurons don't.


If they really recreated human physiology how can they rule out a new emerged mind? Why would it be a bare simulated one? The TCTF was surprised that Shinatama developed an own will.

"[...] an unprecedented degree of free will in the android [...]"

Maybe the TCTF argued that a SLD use just "programs" (because the hardware is not biological but artificial) and that programs aren't enough to create a mind. That's a pretty similar thinking to John Searle's Chinese Room. I wonder if a collection of interacting programs can show emergence.


What's the purpose of SLDs?

I don't think it's a desirable goal to create an android that can just feel pain, breath, sweat, and eat* and ... So you are saying it can produce artificial shit, eh? Is that everything you were able to accomplished after spending our research budget of 100 million dollar? Of course the real deal must be something else.

We have to ask why they didn't imitate another life form. Why not a bacteria, a plant, or an animal?

Side note: SLD are made of "artificial materials" and "micromechanical fabrication cells" and thus the basis is very unlikely to be DNA.

So the SLD project wasn't about immune systems, metabolisms, and not primarily about somatic functions. What's the big difference between humans and other life forms on earth? In all modesty it seems that the human mind is our biggest and most interesting difference. And it's still a mystery in Oni's story as well as in reality.

  • SLD scientist: "One thing we still cannot do is create an artificial system that adequately simulates the processes of the human mind."
  • Turing: "I do not wish to give the impression that I think there is no mystery about consciousness. There is, for instance, something of a paradox connected with any attempt to localise it."

So the solution seems to somewhat (if not entirely) copy an already existing brain.

In Oni "brain engrams" gave the SLD androids a mind and that way they could be a tool to study intelligence in an artificial environment.

With the obtained data, the mind doesn't need to become reinvented but analyzed. After the phase of analysis a true artificial intelligence could be designed.

Another side note: SLD brain engrams involves coping of brain information and that looks very similar to what is called mind uploading. That again is thought to be an approach to AIs. Ergo, in Oni AIs might be near although the Syndicate developed Deadly Brains. DB would be obsolete if AIs would already exist. (Or maybe AIs are not only much more difficult to construct but much more expensive as well...)

However, the abilities* claimed in the manual could be requirements for the SLD brain/mind to work normally because it simply awaits some body functions. Their food could be raw material for regeneration and a compounds of hydrogen and oxygen from which they can transform chemical energy to electric current. Their sweat then could be pure water from the reaction chemical reaction from inside the fuel cell.


Mukade, the SLD

At the time of Konoko's adventures, SLD technology seems to be in its final development stage.

Still, SLDs and their way of thinking is not fully understood, that's what Shinatama proof.

This has a logical consequence for a theory in which Mukade is actually Hasegawa with Mukade's brain engrams.

When could have the fusion happened? Somewhat after Mukade and Hasegawa met, or later just before Muro took over the Syndicate?
The later is more plausible and they would have needed one more expert. (Pensatore, SLD scientist.)
SLD technology draws on brain engrams because scientists couldn't create intelligences on their own yet.
One thing we still cannot do is create an artificial system that adequately simulates the processes of the human mind.
Instead SLDs contain a behavioral framework patterned on donor brain engram data fed into the system during its formation.
This core personality is then given a chance to develop a unique neurolattice while experiencing accelerated streaming sensory feeds.
Most SLDs have to spend at least three months in the senseloop, which we have come to think of as their psychological womb.
Because of the missing understanding it seems unlikely that they could have implanted Mukade's brain engrams into Hasegawa or vise verca.
Instead they could have created an SLD from two donor brains, an "ego hybrida". From that on Hasegawa and Kimura (original Mukade) could lean back and use Mukade (the SLD) as an instrument to control/watch Muro.


Mind upload

When the three maverick came together, on evening it happened that Kimura and Pensatore talked about Shinto and Buddhism. One topic was the human soul and that that Shinto knows multiple mitama can form one souls: ichirei shikon concept. Kimura's Shinobi philosophy was influenced by a small degree. But he mentioned enough to awake Pensatore's interest. He felt that there were similarities with the meme theory. Pensatore entered a new path. From that time on he understood the brain as a collection of memes running on biological hardware. His new goal was to create a digital mind that could run not in a robot brain but on common servers. Eventually he uploaded his own mind.


Shinatama's escape

[...] Shintama could have uploaded her mind to the internet with the help of Pensatore. I guess this can continue with Owldreamer's stuff.


Shields

Oni offers only two lines about its shield technology. The item description says also "force shield" which is maybe an inappropriate term

  • because the force shield is visible to the naked eye,
  • pieces can break away when a bullet hits it,
  • magnetic/electric fields couldn't protect its user against non-magnetic/non-inducting materials,
  • and magnetic and electric fields aren't blocky.

So the thought strokes one to think about a different background.

Side note: most of mentioned flaws can be explained by gameplay aspects again and the hardware/software limits during Oni's creation. However, I don't want those to be an "excuse" for not developing the fiction any further.


Atmospheric shields

Let's start with another question: Atmospheric Conversion Centers clean air for cities but what would keep the clean air inside and the toxins outside the cities?

Graphene oxide is known to be impermeable to everything except for water (and maybe hydrogen). Graphene has a so tight structure that almost nothing fits between its atoms. It's also pretty transparent which would let sunlight still reach the interior of our hypothetical shield.

Other graphene layers attached to the first one could align the material along a magnetic field. Pure graphene isn't magnetic but doping and defects can change properties of graphene in many ways.

What if the shield gets damaged? Ways of self-assembly and self-healing gets currently explored and could be probably of some help.

[...]


Personal shields

[...]


Heavy weapons


(hypothetical)

  • laser-induced plasma beam in tempests (src)
  • BEC + pyroelectric fusion


References

  1. 1.0 1.1 The documentation "Gefährliches Trinkwasser" ("Dangerous drinking water") aired on German (public broadcasting) TV channel "NDR": https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/139715/OniGalore/Gefaehrliches_Trinkwasser.flv
    Textual summary on the website of the German (public broadcasting) TV channel "3sat": http://www.3sat.de/page/?source=/ard/165954/index.html (mirror)