Steve Jackson Games Forums - View Single Post - [Psi/Space] Irar, the Jewel in the British Crown

Prince Charon · 11-05-2022, 05:09 PM

Psionics and the Law: Uncontrollable Abilities

This will probably be a series of posts, but psi abilities that go off against the users' wishes seem like a good place to start. On Irar, the standard is that anyone who possesses an Uncontrollable psi ability that a reasonable person would expect to be harmful to self or others must carry a psychotronic device (supplied at government expense, as long as you aren't found to have destroyed or 'lost' a previous one intentionally) which provides control or suppresses that ability; they are also offered training or psychological help (again, at government expense if not abused) to train in control (buy off the limitation). Due to cost, the device is rarely designed to suppress all use of the ability, and often needs work to adapt to the wearer (the more narrowly-specialized a device is, the cheaper it tends to be, and 'Mitigator for one limitation on one ability, and must be attuned to the user in order to work right' is really quite narrow). Laws basically like this have been adopted by the UK, the USA, Japan, and many other nations, though the details often differ.

Damage caused by an Uncontrollable ability that the user appears to have been unaware of will generally be ruled accidental, as will damage occurring despite the user having taken reasonable precautions (though what defines 'reasonable' varies by nation, and sometimes by locality within a nation). Damage cause by someone sabotaging another person's control methods will often be considered the responsibility of the saboteur, unless politicians get too involved, in which case the results vary wildly from case to case.

Some countries on Earth have begun using the psi drug Reminder (link to Psi Drugs article) to suppress psi abilities (some limiting it to those with Uncontrollable abilities, or criminals, some just trying to suppress psi in general), despite the long-term side effects being unknown. Others are not using it for this, or perhaps at all, because of the unknown long-term effects, and the availability of safe and reliable mitigating devices.

All this took time to implement, of course, and even as late as 2023, some legislatures were still arguing about what to do and how to do it. Often, laws were passed only after some incident or incidents got too much attention.

Thoughts?

(Not completely satisfied with this, but I'm not sure what else to add that belongs in this article.)

11-05-2022, 05:09 PM	#48
Prince Charon Join Date: Dec 2012	Re: [Psi/Space] Irar, the Jewel in the British Crown Psionics and the Law: Uncontrollable Abilities This will probably be a series of posts, but psi abilities that go off against the users' wishes seem like a good place to start. On Irar, the standard is that anyone who possesses an Uncontrollable psi ability that a reasonable person would expect to be harmful to self or others must carry a psychotronic device (supplied at government expense, as long as you aren't found to have destroyed or 'lost' a previous one intentionally) which provides control or suppresses that ability; they are also offered training or psychological help (again, at government expense if not abused) to train in control (buy off the limitation). Due to cost, the device is rarely designed to suppress all use of the ability, and often needs work to adapt to the wearer (the more narrowly-specialized a device is, the cheaper it tends to be, and 'Mitigator for one limitation on one ability, and must be attuned to the user in order to work right' is really quite narrow). Laws basically like this have been adopted by the UK, the USA, Japan, and many other nations, though the details often differ. Damage caused by an Uncontrollable ability that the user appears to have been unaware of will generally be ruled accidental, as will damage occurring despite the user having taken reasonable precautions (though what defines 'reasonable' varies by nation, and sometimes by locality within a nation). Damage cause by someone sabotaging another person's control methods will often be considered the responsibility of the saboteur, unless politicians get too involved, in which case the results vary wildly from case to case. Some countries on Earth have begun using the psi drug Reminder (link to Psi Drugs article) to suppress psi abilities (some limiting it to those with Uncontrollable abilities, or criminals, some just trying to suppress psi in general), despite the long-term side effects being unknown. Others are not using it for this, or perhaps at all, because of the unknown long-term effects, and the availability of safe and reliable mitigating devices. All this took time to implement, of course, and even as late as 2023, some legislatures were still arguing about what to do and how to do it. Often, laws were passed only after some incident or incidents got too much attention. Thoughts? (Not completely satisfied with this, but I'm not sure what else to add that belongs in this article.) __________________ Warning, I have the Distractible and Imaginative quirks in real life. "The more corrupt a government, the more it legislates." -- Tacitus Five Earths, All in a Row. Updated 12/17/2022: Apocrypha: Bridges out of Time, Part I has been posted. Last edited by Prince Charon; 11-09-2022 at 03:36 PM.