From:	Luke Kendall <luke@********.CANON.OZ.AU>
Subject:	Re: AIs on the Astral
Date:	Mon, 21 Mar 1994 12:15:03 +1000

>>>>> "N" == Necromancer <shilberg@********.uni.uiuc.edu>
writes:

N> Do artificial intelligences have an astral aura <which would seem to be
N> indicative of all living things> or is it "cold"? Does an AI have a
N> "soul"?

>>>>> "R" == Rat <ratinox@***.neu.edu>:

R> First answer, to toe the party line: AI does not exist in Shadowrun.
R>

R> If they do, it honestly depends on the physical nature of the AI. If its
R> construction is all silicon/gallium/solid state/whatever like normal
R> computer systems then definitely not; no more aura than any other computer.

The real question is, what really does an astral presence or aura indicate?
Elementals are tied to things that have no living tissue (like natural
rock; or fire), so that sounds like too simple an explanation. The shadowrun
magic system has a good, `deep', sort of feeling to me - and it's partly
because it doesn't follow any usual classification scheme. (I still
remember the double-take I did when I learned that the Earth had an aura
in SR.)

It's spirit stuff; Indian world-view stuff (?); remember that spells have
real auras and life on the astral plane. To me, I would guess it depended
_critically_ on the _nature_ of the AI: on its software. If the program
could `care' (or hate) - if it had the ability to deal with human issues
with understanding - then I'd say it _would_ have an aura. And if not, then
it's just this silicon+ device.

luke