Steve Jackson Games - Site Navigation
Home General Info Follow Us Search Illuminator Store Forums What's New Other Games Ogre GURPS Munchkin Our Games: Home

Go Back   Steve Jackson Games Forums > Roleplaying > GURPS

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 09-17-2019, 07:39 AM   #11
Flyndaran
Untagged
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Forest Grove, Beaverton, Oregon
Default Re: What sort of society do you get...

One wonders how they would deal with compassion fatigue.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compassion_fatigue
__________________
Beware, poor communication skills. No offense intended. If offended, it just means that I failed my writing skill check.
Flyndaran is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-17-2019, 07:53 AM   #12
whswhs
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
Default Re: What sort of society do you get...

Functionally I think this is a society with positive Empathy and positive Gregariousness. The Gregariousness gives you large, dense settlements with a lot of economic opportunities and probably a high division of labor. The Empathy gives you concern for others' feelings. Aliens may be in conflict between wanting to get away from constantly having to be surrounded by other aliens with needs, and being unhappy and less functional when they're alone.

I would guess that there will be a lot of projects done by large labor pools, but there won't be much use of technology, because investing in technology requires capital accumulation, and it's hard to accumulate capital if other people's needs are a claim on you.
__________________
Bill Stoddard

I don't think we're in Oz any more.
whswhs is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-17-2019, 09:19 AM   #13
smurf
Banned
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Bristol
Default Re: What sort of society do you get...

Quote:
Originally Posted by Joseph Paul View Post
Humanoid - Racial ability Telesend, Broadcast, Racial, Vague, Always On.

Species is Chummy to Gregarious.

Vague is very strictly emotions. Usually the recipient can learn that someone is experiencing an emotion and the magnitude of it but doesn't feel it themselves unless it is very strong or there is a close tie to the sender.

How does something like this play out on the macro scale?
How big is your macro scale.

In such a society any deception may be considered the height of bad manners.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Flyndaran View Post
Mob rule and mindless panic during disasters? That always on is the big killer, IMO.
There is no evidence of this. In most disasters there is panic but also the willingness to help and assist. Unless it is a war like situation where panic may ensue.

Quote:
Originally Posted by evileeyore View Post
Yeah... I see a "pure' communist mob that reacts in masses to threats, panics, etc. But also mobilizes easily and organizes naturally for relief efforts and group support.

Or more likely than pure communism would be groups of Big Man reciprocity societal/economic groups, "communist" in whole, but localized around central leadership. Possibly even being a republic in governmental form.

Did this idea arise from the latest Sluggy Freelance storyline?
The big man theory is nothing with this scenario. The only way a Big man can have an impact is with state of armed bodies of men.

The problem we have is the scenario is truly speculative. We have no historic examples to look back on to a view. It could be like a bee hive where if attacked they will swarm but with the added benefit of free will and the ability to abstractly think (eg what is the best way to swarm).
smurf is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-17-2019, 09:31 AM   #14
Varyon
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Default Re: What sort of society do you get...

This seems very reminiscent of Mercerism from Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, wherein those who are tapped into the Mercer “feed” (basically a VR “sensie” on constant loop) can feel the emotions of others. There is a great sense of community there, and “downers” are welcome, as while their negative emotions can bring others down, the positive emotions of the other users can help uplift them and get them out of their funk, deal with their loss, or whatever. Might be worth a look, at least. Of course, that version is optional.
__________________
GURPS Overhaul
Varyon is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-17-2019, 01:07 PM   #15
Black Leviathan
 
Join Date: Sep 2018
Default Re: What sort of society do you get...

Quote:
Originally Posted by Flyndaran View Post
One wonders how they would deal with compassion fatigue.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compassion_fatigue
I think the greater fatigue would be constantly having to explain to others that you're fine when they know you're not.

There would have to be some kind of social norm that even if you know someone is suffering you have to give them the illusion of privacy. Our entire idea of intimacy is based around these feelings that we share privately. If you had no way to stop others from knowing those feelings it's effectively like everyone is in your business all of the time.

This is starting to sound a lot like a species that doesn't go out much.
Black Leviathan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-17-2019, 01:11 PM   #16
Flyndaran
Untagged
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Forest Grove, Beaverton, Oregon
Default Re: What sort of society do you get...

Quote:
Originally Posted by smurf View Post
...
There is no evidence of this. In most disasters there is panic but also the willingness to help and assist. Unless it is a war like situation where panic may ensue.
...
I wasn't talking about real world humanity. We don't have to literally feel others' terrors and pain during disasters. Imagine if we did.
__________________
Beware, poor communication skills. No offense intended. If offended, it just means that I failed my writing skill check.
Flyndaran is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-17-2019, 02:36 PM   #17
AlexanderHowl
 
Join Date: Feb 2016
Default Re: What sort of society do you get...

I honestly think the aliens would be rather pathetic.

Now, how about an alien species that can turn its memory of pain into a weapon? You could have Affliction 1 (Agony, +100%; Malediction 1, +100%; No Signature, +20%, Psionic, -10%) [31], allowing the aliens to flay the minds of human visitors with their memories of pain. Battles would be conducted with Contests of Wills as well as with weapons.
AlexanderHowl is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-17-2019, 03:14 PM   #18
ericthered
Hero of Democracy
 
ericthered's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: far from the ocean
Default Re: What sort of society do you get...

Quote:
Originally Posted by Joseph Paul View Post
Usually the recipient can learn that someone is experiencing an emotion and the magnitude of it but doesn't feel it themselves unless it is very strong or there is a close tie to the sender.
I think a lot of answers are forgetting this: The communication doesn't make you feel the emotion, it just lets you know what it is. Unless its very strong. Which I'd argue is quite similar to human body language and speech. Its just that we can conceal our emotions when we feel like it.

While the society may be worse at deceit, they may also have a much stronger sense of irony and sarcasm, as its easier to be obvious that you mean something other than what you're saying.
__________________
Be helpful, not pedantic

Worlds Beyond Earth -- my blog

Check out the PbP forum! If you don't see a game you'd like, ask me about making one!
ericthered is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 09-17-2019, 03:32 PM   #19
evileeyore
Banned
 
evileeyore's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: 100 hurricane swamp
Default Re: What sort of society do you get...

Quote:
Originally Posted by smurf View Post
The big man theory is nothing with this scenario.
A properly charismatic Big Man could easily have people in his gravity that believe in him, after all they can see that he's genuine in his emotions! Cult of Personality leaderships would be way easier to implement, and they'd be far more likely to benevolent!
evileeyore is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-17-2019, 08:21 PM   #20
Joseph Paul
Custom User Title
 
Joseph Paul's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Indianapolis, IN
Default Re: What sort of society do you get...

Quote:
Originally Posted by whswhs View Post
There are pathologies of compassion. Your brother-in-law may have drunk up the rent money; but if you step in and give him a check so that your sister and her children won't be out in the street, you have just encouraged him to drink up the next month's rent money too.

Ethical philosophers, discussing utilitarian theories, have come up with the concept of a "utility monster": given that the ethical goal is the greatest happiness of the greatest number, if there are people who feel more intensely than the rest of us, they are entitled to be given greater consideration, to increase the sum of happiness. In our world it's not really possible to measure this. But in your world it would be. So if there are people who suffer deeply from any lack of satisfaction, other people will disproportionately try to do nice things from them, and they will gain from this, leading to a tendency to breed for intense feelings—in the long run, for the power to dominate other people by NEEDING things from them.

Or as C told me decades ago, when we first met, "Life is opportunistic."
Pathologies of compassion noted.

I wonder if in a society that experiences this if they would turn on the 'utility monsters'? Exile them from the family/village/company etc. It is not like the people feeling the broadcast of other people's despondency can't do resource allocation math. I would want to look at some counter intuitive responses that would look like the local group of family, friends, and co-workers just snap after being tasked for some time by such a utility monster and refuse to help any further. Tough love and all of that.

I think the society would put resources into manifesting the idea of being self-sufficient and helping others. Varying very far from the norm should make a person in that society question if they are being a drag on society?
__________________
Joseph Paul
Joseph Paul is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
broadcast, emotions, society, telesend

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Fnords are Off
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 01:50 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.