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Old 05-04-2021, 04:02 PM   #11
vicky_molokh
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Default Re: Abilities (Advantages) a Ghost Mind Emulation Can Develop

Quote:
Originally Posted by Phil Masters View Post
That’s the virtual equivalent of physically merging an organic brain with a digital computer, giving it instant, intuitive access to all the capabilities of the computer without compromising any of its own functions. Okay, so there’s less messing with squidgy grey stuff involved than in reality, but it’s no less complex a task. And I seem to recall that’s canonically impossible in TS.
I don't remember the books explicitly stating the impossibility of such a combination.

And the existing descriptions seem lead to some logical conclusions about the unspoken parts. Notice a Ghost is described as
Quote:
Originally Posted by THS120
Destructive uploading creates a perfect digital
copy of a living mind.
A Shadow is described as
Quote:
Originally Posted by THS120
A shadow is a less-than-perfect emulation of a
human mind patched into either an LAI or an SAI.
What isn't explored is what happens when you patch a perfect mind-instance into a SAI.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Phil Masters View Post
(And I mean, if it was possible, why would anybody bother with a mere standard Ghost?)
First, complexity. A SAI with an unpenalised IQ is C8. A Ghost is C7. A 'Spectre' (Perfect Shadow SAI) would be at least one Complexity more complex than a Ghost. That's ten times the memory and processing power required to run it.

Second, many Ghosts might still have philosophical objections to such a procedure, since the final entity would be significantly different from the unmerged Ghost.

Third reason is meta: the point cost jumps up. Infomorphs in general are expensive, but a template combining the best of both worlds while probably lacking at least some of the flaws of either (depending on legalities and implementation details) is even more expensive. And the value of a major trait in the template (ETS) is already questionable unless certain campaign switches (more actiony genre and/or expanded ETS rules) are in play.
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