"Indoctrinal Viruses" in THS.

[Cato the Elder]

Is the state of biotechnology in THS sufficiently advanced to produce "indoctrinal viruses", as depicted in the books Chasm City and Absolution Gap by Alastair Reynolds? For those that haven't read the books, they are tools used by religions to reinforce their faith in those infected by triggering regular visions, causing pain triggered by "sinful" behavior, unbalancing brain chemistry to instill moods approximating religious rapture, and even inflicting stigmata-like wounds up to and including the loss of limbs.

I would assume that this would take the form of a nanovirus if possible, but its effects seem rather too specific and extensive for the technology of the setting to reproduce. I am interested in hearing whether my opinion on the subject is accurate; thanks in advance for your response.

[Jonathan Willis]

Physical viruses (or nanotech) that does this would be beyond the technology of the setting.

But you could achieve most of these effects with software viruses, albeit only on people with brain implants.

[jeff_wilson]

Brain bugs could possibly produce some or all of the behavior, and the bugs would be contagiously delivered by microbot swarms similar to fleas delivering plague, but I don't know of a way to give it a self-reproducing character.

[Flyndaran]

I'm sure you could jack up one's propensity to religious experiences and visions. But you couldn't make them specific to one religion.

[Phil Masters]

TS nanoviruses can probably induce general states (lecherousness, paranoia, callousness, doubtless something like religious rapture), but probably can't wire for very specific images or triggers. You'd need to map each target brain individually for that. They could probably be designed to induce "stigmata".

However, they're not self-replicating. And even if they were, or if someone was spreading a lot of them somehow, I doubt that they'd propagate terribly well in a Fifth Wave population, unless the creators had a substantial technological edge on most other factions. Too many people with good defences. Fourth and Third Wave populations are another matter.

Still, a ruthless someone designing a well-budgeted religious/memetic campaign might throw in some custom-design nanoplague tricks for emphatic effect.