From:	"Paul J. Adam" <Paul@********.DEMON.CO.UK>
Subject:	Re: Cyberpsychosis (was Re: Enemy Feedback)
Date:	Fri, 28 Apr 1995 19:26:02 GMT

> >Untrue chummer, look right at the start of the book where they exaplain
> >the game for newbie's to Role-playing in general; people with under one
> >essence are described as walking the edge of sanity,
>
> "Edge of sanity" does not mean "insane."
>
> now everybody and their duck seems to think
> that cyberpsychosis is a staple of cyberpunk.
>
> Sorry, it's not. There's no evidence of cyberwear causing psychoses of
> any sort in any of the source material. In every case where the cybered
> are nutso it can be shown that these people were unstable *before* they
> had the metal grafted to their bodies.

I had an Elven street samurai (now retired) who was completely psychotic.
That was before her wires: adding the cyber made no difference at all. In
fact it maybe helped her, because she felt safer and fewer people presented
themselves as threats.

> And, contrary to that belief that cyber causes insanity, there are plenty
> of examples of cybered who are quite sane and reasonably balanced
> (inasmuch as anyone surviving in that kind of environment can be
> considered sane).

Lynch considers himself sane, and most people who know him agree...his
essence is 0.55, definitely low. But he's been a soldier of some sort for
well over half his life (since 14, and he's 32 now) so he should be used to
it. The only reason you could call him crazy is that he has no need to run:
he just enjoys it, and feels it's necessary.

--
When you have shot and killed a man, you have defined your attitude towards
him. You have offered a definite answer to a definite problem. For better
or for worse, you have acted decisively.
In fact, the next move is up to him.

Paul J. Adam paul@********.demon.co.uk