From:	mneideng@****.caltech.edu (Mark L. Neidengard)
Subject:	Re: Project Manchu
Date:	Tue, 26 Mar 1996 14:38:03 -0800 (PST)

According to Kevin Prier:
> Excellent plot idea! I don't know that I'd let Project Manchu go as
> far as a practical BTL stage, at least not for the general
> population, but they could possibly develop tailored BTLs to slip to
> specific individuals. The tortureware subplot is great, though.
> Runners could figure out what was going on (eventually), and make a
> raid to ruin the research before it got to the mass production of
> BTLs stage. Not quite sure how my characters could fit in, tho.
> Maybe Basilisk could end up treating a victim of a tortureware chip...
>
> Two thumbs up from me.

I like it. The concept is similar to psychotropic IC, which in and of itself
is a bad thing. The idea is actually somewhat similar to an episode of Max
Headroom in which Edison is slipped a "feel-god" bracelet from a fast food
chain that causes him to go temporarily "insane".

One aspect of BTL that will restrict its usefulness is its illegality.
Sticking the same deep-psych routines into regular simsense would probably be
somewhat tricker to do, and always run the risk of the government noticing
(one presumes they do try to spot-check titles for such measures). This means
that the BTL's hit the folks on the street level, _and_ the higher-ups with
those pesky little "high-class" addictions.

Why not press the plot forward a bit more and we'll see what happens. =) I
do hope for a guarantee that the plot can be stopped short of actually altering
the course of "history", but I'm down for a certain amount of upset in the
meantime. =)
--
/!\/!ark /!\!eidengard, CS Major, VLSI. http://www.cacr.caltech.edu/~mneideng
"Fairy of sleep, controller of illusions" Operator/Jack-of-all-Trades, CACR
"Control the person for my own purpose." "Don't mess with the Dark
Elves!"
-Pirotess, _Record_of_Lodoss_War_ Shadowrunner and Anime Addict