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Oni2:Slaves of War/Polylectiloquy: Difference between revisions
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:'''Enigmata''' | :'''Enigmata''' | ||
::Pros: Preserves the mystery of the Daodan, especially if it's even more low-level than a virus. Cf. [[wp:Viroid|viroids]], [[wp:Plasmid|plasmids]] (rolling circles, electroporation and replicons, oh my!), [[wp:Prion|prions]], [[wp: | ::Pros: Preserves the mystery of the Daodan, especially if it's even more low-level than a virus. Cf. [[wp:Viroid|viroids]], [[wp:Plasmid|plasmids]] (rolling circles, electroporation and replicons, oh my!), [[wp:Prion|prions]], [[wp:Transposable element|transposons]]. | ||
::Cons: It's complicated! Much easier to just say that the Daodan is a special plant. Also, if the Daodan is transferred on the genetic level, might it be contagious? That would run counter to Hasegawa's notion of the Daodan needing to be implanted, person by person. This would have story-changing implications. | ::Cons: It's complicated! Much easier to just say that the Daodan is a special plant. Also, if the Daodan is transferred on the genetic level, might it be contagious? That would run counter to Hasegawa's notion of the Daodan needing to be implanted, person by person. This would have story-changing implications. | ||
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:If all the Daodan did was re-tool the human body a little, we could assume that it was simply running off the normal fuels of the human body: food, water, and air. But in its advanced state, it allows a host to do some pretty amazing things, like throwing around energy balls and generating force fields. Either the Daodan is vastly superior to our bodies at energy generation, or else it's receiving energy from somewhere else. | :If all the Daodan did was re-tool the human body a little, we could assume that it was simply running off the normal fuels of the human body: food, water, and air. But in its advanced state, it allows a host to do some pretty amazing things, like throwing around energy balls and generating force fields. Either the Daodan is vastly superior to our bodies at energy generation, or else it's receiving energy from somewhere else. | ||
:A. The Daodan is tied to the "other side". In other words, there's a sort of phase portal inside the host that draws energy from there. This only displaces the question of where the energy comes from to "somewhere else, somehow". | :A. The Daodan is tied to the "other side". In other words, there's a sort of phase portal inside the host that draws energy from there. This only displaces the question of where the energy comes from to "somewhere else, somehow". | ||
:B. The Daodan is tied to the rest of the Wilderness. Perhaps some of the plants in the Wilderness broadcast energy, either as [[wp: | :B. The Daodan is tied to the rest of the Wilderness. Perhaps some of the plants in the Wilderness broadcast energy, either as [[wp:Wireless power transfer|conventional waves]] or through something more exotic like "phase transference" that only the plants of the Wilderness can use. Perhaps the energy that is drawn on by the Daodan is collected by lifeforms like the Screaming Cell. Does the Screaming Cell really need all that energy for itself? Perhaps the excess energy stolen from other life collects somewhere, then is broadcast, either by the Screaming Cell's "base station" or by a third plant that serves as a kind of phase-based [[wp:Wardenclyffe_Tower|Wardenclyffe Tower]]. | ||
:One final thing to think about: if the Daodan replaces human cells with its own... and it draws its energy from the Wilderness, not food... and some people want to eradicate the Wilderness... what happens to the Daodan hosts if they find a way to destroy the Wilderness? | :One final thing to think about: if the Daodan replaces human cells with its own... and it draws its energy from the Wilderness, not food... and some people want to eradicate the Wilderness... what happens to the Daodan hosts if they find a way to destroy the Wilderness? | ||
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:A. The Daodan is not perfect, so it cannot make the host perfect (i.e., remove a basic flaw in the cellular processes). | :A. The Daodan is not perfect, so it cannot make the host perfect (i.e., remove a basic flaw in the cellular processes). | ||
:B. The Daodan was designed to improve an organism but not to grant it immortality. The designers may have a philosophical or cultural reason for Daodan hosts or the general populace not living forever. | :B. The Daodan was designed to improve an organism but not to grant it immortality. The designers may have a philosophical or cultural reason for Daodan hosts or the general populace not living forever. | ||
:C. The Daodan has no effect on aging because it doesn't affect the shortening of [[wp: | :C. The Daodan has no effect on aging because it doesn't affect the shortening of [[wp:Telomere|telomeres]]. It can only heal the body as long as it can create new cells, but since telomere-shortening is part of the program in human DNA, the Daodan will eventually run out of the physical means to keep the body going, regardless of how much energy the Daodan can access. | ||
:D. The Daodan actually shortens the host lifespan because it forces rapid cell doubling. More frequent cell division accelerates the aging process. | :D. The Daodan actually shortens the host lifespan because it forces rapid cell doubling. More frequent cell division accelerates the aging process. | ||