Amnesiac PCs in THS

[Michael Thayne]

Originally Posted by Phil Masters

Canonically, a very long way; look at that Deep beyond vignette again. The concept only makes any sort of sense if the maker can more or less pump memories and personality structures direct into the brain, and if you can do that, you can make one hell of a mess if you want to.

Hrm. I guess the real question I'm asking is whether bioroids "programming" can extend beyond being loaded up with simulated experiences. The Deep Beyond vignette makes it seem like the answer is "no", because the "basic language-socialization routine" apparently involves an elaborate simulation of an idyllic childhood, which seems pointless unless a simulated childhood is the only way to teach a bioroid things humans normally learn in childhood. That would make sense if bioroids are limited in other ways.

I guess there are some limitations that wouldn't make sense even on more limited interpretations of bioroids. I suppose there's no rule against a bioroid that more or less has the memories of a normal human, if you raised it on slinkies of normal-human expereinces. But some details of the "Dark Places of the Earth" article in Pyramid #3/15 seem to require a lot more flexibility. In particular the description of the Proving Ground mentions that "Sometimes the researchers reprogram an entire community of bioroids to think they’re long-term residents" which seems to require that bioroids can have their memories wiped.

And while it's true that humans can suffer amnesia, amnesia is usually not total and doesn't happen without the brain becoming impaired in other ways. Maybe you could remove a bioroid's memory centers and transplant a newly biofabricated one? But that's not what "reprogramming" implies, and I'm pretty sure you didn't mean that to be a possible backstory for Sally Xan.