From: Charles [chalz@earthlink.net] Sent: Sunday, October 14, 2001 10:34 PM To: blue_planet@lists.ient.com Subject: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - Long John and 'Psi' powers.... > > So, again, also for the newer folks on the list: Peter F. Hamilton, "The > >Reality Dysfunction".. The total trilogy is about 6 normal sized paper > >backs, or 3 larger hard covers. Good stuff. > > > Just don't expect the ending of the 'Night's Dawn' Trilogy to live up > to everything trailed in the first two books. It was a major let down > when I read it. I think he wrote himself into a corner, and it just > didn't deliver compared to the earlier volumes. Actually, I rather liked the ending. He accounted for just about every thing and every one (note, however, that the UK hardcover was actually missing a part that was in the US hardcover), even if it did seem a little cobbled together. But he also seemed to be leading up to it anyways in the previous books, even if only "Well, I'm not sure how I'm going to want to eventually end this, so let's stick in a couple options ahead of time." I went ape over (without giving TOO much away to people who haven't read it yet) the neural nanonics stuff back on Earth with our little heroine. Mmmmm..... > My feelings about him only improved when I read 'A second chance at > Eden', his collection of shorts set in the same background,. This > book feels far more relevant to BP to me, and was very good, > especially the novella which is the volume's namesake. I actually read the first two primary parts, then the collection, then the third primary part, and I think, for me, it worked better in that sequence than if I'd read the short stories first, or last. Especially the story of Josh Calvert's father - he doesn't tell us the truth until the third book, and it would spoil the .. mystique, so to speak, to read the short story first. > If you like the background, I recommend you have a look at 'The > Confederation handbook', which is Hamilton's writer's notes detailing > the back ground done up as a standalone volume (like an RPG > sourcebook but without the stats!). Yeah... Saw it in hardcover in a Canadian bookstore. VERY pricey there, even if it was just toy mon -- I mean, Canadian money.. >;) Some sources claim that a paperback edition will come out some time before next summer in the US, so I'll wait until then. -C > > Dom > > ----dom@cybergoths.u-net.com---- > *************************************************************************** > To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.ient.com > with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. > *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.ient.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: Charles [chalz@earthlink.net] Sent: Sunday, October 14, 2001 10:29 PM To: blue_planet@lists.ient.com Subject: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - 'Psi' powers.... In the 'Hyperion' series, it's discussed that the megapowerful AI's came to consciousness as DNA-based computers, which is something I've been reading about a lot lately that doesn't seem too far off - maybe a couple decades at the earliest. The biggest trick is interface. What if one person's brain works like a Mac compared to another person's PC, running 98, compared to another person's PC running OS/2? It strikes me that, quite likely, if you were able to 'read' someone else's mind (be it the active thoughts or archived memories), that they'd probably float up occassionally as memories to you, after you've accessed them. If it's just a matter of taking the electrochemical cracklings in the target's brain and transferring the data of it (ie, convert it into binary to be sent across and re-encoded in an organic interface), then I see a possibility that such information would likely be cluttered with excess information and would probably be 'read' by the recipient with a particular bent or prejudice based upon his/her own brain decoding the signals. Of course, if you do get into the idea that the consciousness is some sort of separate entity from the host, then... I dono. You could basically forget electrochemical interface. Back to the shaman and tarot. Erf. Too much philosophy embedded in that one for 1130pm. -C > All pretty plausible. Remember, unless you believe that people have souls > (and since BP is hard SF, let's assume for now that characters in it don't) > then the human consciousness is nothing but a mass of chemical and electrical > impulses... In effect, nothing more than a biocomputer, such as is in common > use in the game. And as such, there are so many ways that it could be > "hacked" into and read/altered. all it would take is for somebody to decipher > the "languge" that the brain operates in (which will probably be slightly > different for everyone). > > DarrenK *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.ient.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: Charles [chalz@earthlink.net] Sent: Sunday, October 14, 2001 10:40 PM To: blue_planet@lists.ient.com Subject: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - The Culture & Blue Planet...(Spoilers at end) > running his spacesuit). Even if there aren't any AI's in the BP universe > (as far as anyone knows), I do recall that the embedded computer in, > say, a gun is fairly sophisticated and can be spoken to in English, which > might make for an interesting interaction if a GM is feeling a bit frisky. Ooo... "Egads!" cried Church. "My biomods have gained autonomy!" Mmm... I smell juicy plot element - incorp AI's breaking out and running rogue, ala Ghost in the Shell (btw, the original comic is really exceedingly different from the movie). > As far as the 'right' order to read the Culture books: according to the > Iain M. > Banks FAQ (drawn from the Usenet fan newsgroup discussions), there really > isn't any right order, although as you say, each book builds on the background > delineated by the previous one. This feels a bit like the Stainless Steel Rat series. It's kind of hard to really figure out what the sequence is supposed to be, since the whole series is spread out over something like 3 publishers who don't like to freely exchance information. I actually ended up reading the /last/ book first, but since it was basically prequel style material, it worked OK ;) > Maybe the Creators WERE the Culture. Even though they don't go out > for terraforming now, (due to a philosophical commitment to maintaining the > integrity of natural environments), there are factions within the Culture that > would probably love to tinker up a little world like Poseidon. Ooo.. TechnoCore in Hyperion - elements/factions which actually see Poseidon as a massive organic computing system, providing all of its own energy and data transferrence... wheee! Or even like in the Iconoclast game, a semi-benevolent ruling intelligence which is really trying to help mankind evolve, even if things look pretty bleak to the organism in the alley. -C > > As I mentioned above: just because the technology is almost absurdly > advanced (I mean, c'mon: being able to change your sex AT WILL thanks > to genetically engineered glands is just too silly) doesn't mean it has no > relevance to an enterprising GM. > > MikeC > > *************************************************************************** > To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.ient.com > with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. > *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.ient.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: Charles [chalz@earthlink.net] Sent: Sunday, October 14, 2001 10:44 PM To: blue_planet@lists.ient.com Subject: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - Movies A Rutger Hauer/Brion James movie, "Precious Find", for interplanetary mining expeditions with a miss-matched crew with plenty of back-stabbing and subterfuge. As I've read from reviews, the idea is basically the exact same thing as ... Oh crud... 'Treasure of the Sierra Madres' or something like that. Before my first game of BP, the GM gave a list of movies to watch to help give us a feel and frame of reference for the world and his particular game, including Alien, Split Second (another Rutger Hauer flick) and Outlands (Sean Connery - think it was mentioned just a couple days ago here). Oh, and Leviathan. Cool thing about a GM who has a .. er, vastly vast knowledge of films and books - he can say "Okay, for an idea of what is like, watch this" or "Think of and you get what you're up against." -C > > This has certainly been done before but its been a dull day and I got > > to thinking about movies that capture the spirit of Blue Planet. > > This isn't really what you're thinking of, but every time I try to come > up with a campaign to run, I keep thinking of "The Maltese Falcon" (the > Dashiell Hammett book or the movie starring Humphrey Bogart; the movie > follows the book very closely). > > A private eye, based in Haven, friend to the natives (possibly a native > himself, though that doesn't feel right), works on the cases the police > don't care enough about, or don't have the right contacts to solve. A > wily GM could lead a PI-style campaign towards some of the key mysteries > of the setting. > > -- S. Ben Melhuish > > *************************************************************************** > To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.ient.com > with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. > *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.ient.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: John TheGiantRat [ratkin71@onebox.com] Sent: Sunday, October 14, 2001 11:00 PM To: blue_planet@lists.ient.com Subject: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - Movies i THINK THE ABYSS WOULD BE A GREAT VIEW OF LIFE IN THE CORPERATE DEEPS -- "If you're a social malcontent like me, you might consider a career in ecoterrorism. The pay is lousy, but it offers unparralled job satisfaction" -Poseidon: a survival guide ratkin71@onebox.com - email (405)701-0210 ---- "Charles" wrote: > A Rutger Hauer/Brion James movie, "Precious Find", for interplanetary > mining expeditions with a miss-matched crew with plenty of back-stabbing > and > subterfuge. As I've read from reviews, the idea is basically the exact > same > thing as ... Oh crud... 'Treasure of the Sierra Madres' or something > like > that. Before my first game of BP, the GM gave a list of movies to > watch to > help give us a feel and frame of reference for the world and his particular > game, including Alien, Split Second (another Rutger Hauer flick) and > Outlands (Sean Connery - think it was mentioned just a couple days > ago > here). Oh, and Leviathan. > Cool thing about a GM who has a .. er, vastly vast knowledge of > films and > books - he can say "Okay, for an idea of what is like, watch > this" or > "Think of and you get what you're up against." > > -C > > > > This has certainly been done before but its been a dull day and > I got > > > to thinking about movies that capture the spirit of Blue Planet. > > > > This isn't really what you're thinking of, but every time I try to > come > > up with a campaign to run, I keep thinking of "The Maltese Falcon" > (the > > Dashiell Hammett book or the movie starring Humphrey Bogart; the > movie > > follows the book very closely). > > > > A private eye, based in Haven, friend to the natives (possibly a > native > > himself, though that doesn't feel right), works on the cases the > police > > don't care enough about, or don't have the right contacts to solve. > A > > wily GM could lead a PI-style campaign towards some of the key mysteries > > of the setting. > > > > -- S. Ben Melhuish > > > > > *************************************************************************** > > To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.ient.com > > with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. > > > > *************************************************************************** > To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.ient.com > with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. > > __________________________________________________ FREE voicemail, email, and fax...all in one place. Sign Up Now! http://www.onebox.com *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.ient.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message.