Transhuman Space 2110, 2130, 2200

[Phil Masters]

Originally Posted by jeff_wilson

They're not ridicuous, as there are creatures of earthly biology that apparently do without human-like sleep (sharks, dolphins), imperfect memory (Marilu Henner), and bordeom (sharks again).

One radical/dubious parahuman design that I can see the likes of the Red Duncanites contemplating would incorporate dolphin-style sleeplessness. As I understand it (warning; not an expert; may be laughed off the thread within three posts by an expert), dolphins seem to accomplish this by having large brains, frankly rather inefficient for their size by most mammalian standards, but capable of running something akin to consciousness on half power while the other half does the housekeeping that most mammals do in sleep.

So, steering back somewhere near the thread topic - in 2040, the Duncanites introduce their MEKON-class parahuman template, which toggles between IQ 150 and IQ 80 instead of sleeping. And the last of their transhumanist fans in the inner system listen to the first interviews with a 14-year-old alpha-release MEKON, look at the portrait holos, and say "okay, that's a bit creepy".