| From: | "Robert A. Hayden" <hayden@******.MANKATO.MSUS.EDU> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | A (perhaps) better description of cyberpsionics |
| Date: | Sat, 23 Jul 1994 14:43:06 +0100 |
'cyberpsionics'. I very well might not make any sense here either.
-------------
First, in order to have cyberpsionics and make it both realistic and
feasible, there are a few things that must be assumed.
1) plugging via datajack makes your brain suseptible to energies
emmitted from the matrix (ie, this is what can cause Black ICe
to turn your brain into pate'.)
2) You are able to interject energies from your mind into the
matrix (much of it is reprocessed by a deck, but even just a
datajack will allow you to talk to another person by just
thinking)
3) Psionics is the ability to take energies emitting from your
brain and manipulate them into a useful (and different) form
(ie, this is how you can create telekinetic abilites or
telepathic abilities.)
4) Unlike magic, Psionics is not necessarily the antithesis of
magic.
--------------
If the above are assumed to be true, and at the very least #1 and #2 have
ample evidence to show they are true, then 'cyberpsionics' becomes a very
simple reality.
If you remember my original posting, I posted of a Psionic who was able
to use his cyberpsionic ability to read the mind of the (person) target,
much like he would be able to do telepathically in person. Another
example I gave was the ability to sieze control of the decker's mind and
prevent them from logging out or doing anything (helpful for guaranteeing
that the cops have somebody to find when a Trace-and-Report is issued).
The final example was the ability to read the headware memory of the
target decker.
All of these, in some form or another, are available as telepathic
abilities. The matrix versions (a seperate dicipline) gives you the
ability to carry out these abilities using the matrix as a medium for the
transference of these psionic energies.
Psionic powers can ONLY effect other people in the matrix. You cannot
psionically attack ICe. You cannot psionically manipulate data. You can
only mess with real minds (we are ignoring the question of AIs, as they
do not officially exist).
The only protection (so far, we can add more) that a target decker has
against a psionic attack is their decker hardening, signal routers (from
Shadowlore I), and willpower. This signifies that a psionic attack, at
the same time it can't attack rpgrams, cannot be stopped by them either.
Hardening is in reality a series of filters and such and remove
impurities from the signal (and thus will defend against a psionic
attack).
All this is possible because the Psi has the ability to manipulate and
transmit is own mental powers. A person with these abilites can
manipulate his transmissions into a pattern that is compatible with the
matrix.
This does not seem far-fetched when you consider that these same types of
psionics can defy gravity, reshape their own body, see places many miles
away, and predict, with a certain amount of accuracy, the future.
At least at the beginning, a Psi will need to have a deck to be able to
enter the matrix (or they can run naked if you still allow that). A Psi,
in any case, will have to be hooked up to the matrix. I believe that an
initiate ability to allow one to run naked via telepathy is realistic (ie,
you are locked in your cell by Evil Bad Guy{tm}, and you remotely enter
the matrix and pick the lock :-) Of course, this isn't without proper
penalties.
There is fictional precedence for these kind of abilities.
____ Robert A. Hayden <=> hayden@******.mankato.msus.edu
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