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Old 02-10-2013, 01:27 PM   #21
whswhs
 
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Default Re: Social Engineering questions for Transhuman Space

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Originally Posted by vicky_molokh View Post
The option of having an avatar (or bioshell!) express an emotional state other than that of the infomorph crossed my mind before (and other people's minds too, surely). But that's a benefit that probably should have some cost, either as cash (software) or an Advantage. Any guidelines?
It sort of sounds like Acting, at first glance.

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Old 02-10-2013, 01:30 PM   #22
vicky_molokh
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Default Re: Social Engineering questions for Transhuman Space

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Originally Posted by whswhs View Post
It sort of sounds like Acting, at first glance.

Bill Stoddard
So it's some sort of Modular Ability that is available even for Ghosts for a limited number of skills/bonuses? (Since it's a program that needs running.)
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Old 02-10-2013, 01:54 PM   #23
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Default Re: Social Engineering questions for Transhuman Space

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So it's some sort of Modular Ability that is available even for Ghosts for a limited number of skills/bonuses? (Since it's a program that needs running.)
I don't think a ghost would necessarily need it. The human brain has perceptual centers for the face, and volitional centers to control the facial muscles; if you're emulating the human brain, you're going to be emulating the neural processes that underlie facial expressions. It seems plausible that you can use their output to control the movements of a simulated face with simulated muscles in a virtual environment.

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Old 02-10-2013, 02:02 PM   #24
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Default Re: Social Engineering questions for Transhuman Space

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It seems plausible that you can use their output to control the movements of a simulated face with simulated muscles in a virtual environment.
Indeed. But if you want to provide the appearance of a different emotional state to the actual one - which is what Vicky was considering - you're going to need some software to do it. Providing none would be simpler, but will tend to make humans doubt you're a real ghost.

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Old 02-10-2013, 02:12 PM   #25
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Default Re: Social Engineering questions for Transhuman Space

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Obviously anything with the Telepathic modifier will fail against Digital Minds.
Again, not obvious to me. Or to Dr Doom and his Doombots, or to the producers of THE VENTURE BROTHERS.
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Old 02-10-2013, 02:17 PM   #26
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Default Re: Social Engineering questions for Transhuman Space

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Again, not obvious to me. Or to Dr Doom and his Doombots, or to the producers of THE VENTURE BROTHERS.
Neither of those sources portrayed characters with the GURPS trait of Digital Mind, for obvious reasons. So their relevance is dubious.

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Old 02-10-2013, 02:25 PM   #27
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Default Re: Social Engineering questions for Transhuman Space

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Would you say that Ghosts fall under some other category of Empathy? They're not Spirits, nor Animals (usually). I suppose they can be grouped under Machine for campaigns which have this optional group, but this looks weird. (And also what is their group in campaigns that don't use the optional ME trait?)
I would say that a Ghost is a a program that runs on a computer and doesn't have a face to be face with. If Empathy works on a Ghost in a bioshell because the Ghost is a nigh-perfect personality sim, it makes Empathy either a magic detector of the provenance of bits or allows a face-to-face power extend thousands of miles.
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Old 02-10-2013, 02:36 PM   #28
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Default Re: Social Engineering questions for Transhuman Space

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Obviously anything with the Telepathic modifier will fail against Digital Minds. What about the mundane version (simply put, the unmodified variant from Basic Set)?
It only works on natural beings. Nothing with a Digital Mind is a natural being. And that includes digital ghosts.
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Old 02-10-2013, 06:49 PM   #29
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Default Re: Social Engineering questions for Transhuman Space

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Neither of those sources portrayed characters with the GURPS trait of Digital Mind, for obvious reasons. So their relevance is dubious.

Bill Stoddard
Again, not a value of "obvious" I find meaningful. But the proposition may not be meaningful, since the materialistic TS setting doesn't include telepathy, so not only would the occasion never happen but there would be no reasonably similar precedent occasions from which to generalize.

However, TS does have a precedent (IIRC in "memetic counseling") for verbal and somatic behaviors as a medium for transferring hints about emotional states and intentions that could be used as the basis for Empathy. This could then include bioshells and their riders at a penalty for the alienness and the rider and for how little effort was put into the shell's biocontroller to match them.
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Old 02-10-2013, 07:30 PM   #30
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Again, not a value of "obvious" I find meaningful.
What, you're saying that it's not obvious to you why the people who came up with Dr. Doom's Doombots would not have been asking themselves, "Do these entities have the trait of Digital Mind as defined in GURPS 4/e, and does this prevent telepathy from working on them?" Well, to start with, the abilities of Marvel characters have no requirement to be described in the terms of any rpg, and certainly not of one that has never published licensed versions of Marvel characters. Beyond that, GURPS 4/e is less than ten years old, and Marvel had Doom building robots long before that. If that's not obvious it will do till obvious comes along.

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