Mercurius on 23/11/2007 at 07:50
Disclaimer: Sorry if this point is a bit disjointed, I've been drinking! :thumb:
R-Grade Neural Implants. What exactly are they?
Why were they banned after the incident at Citadel Station?
From what I've read, general consensus is that The Hacker from SS1 had R-Grade neural implants which would make them synonymous with 'military grade neural implants' and due to the fiasco at Citadel, they were banned. But this doesn't make sense to me. SS1's implants had a distinctly different function from SS2's R-Grades.
Rather than upgrading the strength and skills of the user, they allowed him to access cyberspace, install various cybernetic modules which granted the ability to see behind the user, scoot around on cybernetic rollerblades (lol), monitor station status, and many more functions that don't appear in SS2. All these are powered by a central store of bioelectricity(?) which additionally powers energy weapons. But aside from that, he was just a normal human being with human limits and human weaknesses.
R-Grade implants on the other hand allow use of stat-boosting modular implants with an independent power source as well as semi-permanently upgrading one's own biological systems and skills via nanomachine-loaded modules and an upgradeable OS. While it shares similarities with military grade in features such as compass, automap, MFD player and HUD, the two take significantly different approaches to augment the user. Of course these differences could just be considered to be the results of several decades of refining cyber technology...
Of course I realize the real-life reason for these differences but story-wise the two protagonists Hacker and Goggles have greatly different capabilities granted by their respective implants.
Additionally why would the UNN outlaw an implant that was probably already illegal for a civilian to use (based on RL tendencies for military hardware being restricted) and furthermore enabled one (very skilled and resourceful) person to singlehandedly save the entire human race from extinction?
Also relevant is the proliferance of upgrade stations on the Von Braun. Clearly many humans on the ship were capable of utilizing cyber modules to temporarily enhance their abilities. How does this differ from an R-Grade cyber rig (which they surely wouldn't have due to its illegality)? Yes I know the real reason there was a station on every level but work with me here :)
Maybe R-Grade allows for near unlimited augmentation potential?
My tentative theory is that R-Grade implants weren't what The Hacker used to defeat SHODAN. Perhaps it was R-Grade implants that were being used by SHODAN to create her cyborg monstrosities...we've certainly seen 'goggles' before, being worn by Elite Cyborgs on Citadel Station. Maybe R-Grade implants allow a person to be easily manipulated by AI in addition to being biologically boosted to superhuman capabilities and this is why they were outlawed. And maybe that's why SHODAN II chose R-Grade implants to be installed on her avatar. Goggles is essentially an Elite Cyborg.
Now shoot me down guys :)
P.S. - Was it ever established in SS1 that the cyborgs you fight completely lack free will and are under the absolute control of SHODAN? It would be interesting if they were simply...convinced that it was in their best interests to serve her after the violent process of cyborg conversion and possible brainwashing.
P.S.S. - Do the cyborg midwives utilize R-Grade technology? Or is it simply a different type of illegal cybernetic modification that was likely banned post-Citadel? Maybe that's what an R-Grade rig resembles when you don't patch the patient back together after the surgery.
Trance on 23/11/2007 at 14:57
I've held the opinion that the R-Grade does not denote a specific set of features but rather a sort of danger level. While the Hacker's implants didn't make him stronger or give him psionic abilities, it did allow him to hack with his mind. That's still a significant threat to any military or corporation. So the R-Grade implants might not have been banned before Citadel because there was some amount of naiveté about that area of cybernetics, most likely having no preceding dangerous events as evidence, but the rarity and costliness of such implants would go without saying -- making Diego's offer very appealing to the Hacker.
An R-Grade implant would probably have a more extensive reach into the brain than any other grade -- thus making the vulnerability to insane AIs quite possible.
So the military (whatever it was back then, the UNN I guess?) saw after Citadel that implants like these could get out to people not under their control, and be used to devastating effect. If they kept it legal, it would leave too many cracks in the pavement for this technology to slip out to "the wrong sort".
About the cyborg drones thing, there's a log in SS1 where a cyborg says "We obey SHODAN's triumphant empire". That sounds like absolute control to me, but you never know, what you say could be so.
Kolya on 23/11/2007 at 15:55
No full answers, just some thoughts: The midwifes are designed by Dr. Miller with the specific purpose to tend to the toxic eggs. He may have used some previously known illegal technology, but it's not identical with the R-Grade rig.
Some of the restrictions are still in place on the R-Grade rig and give a hint on what normal rigs would be limited to, eg you can't reduplicate health hypos and you can't recycle corpses and other things.
There's definitely been a great leap of development on the cyber rigs but I don't see the differences to be unbelievable apart from the lack of cyberspace access. You would expect being able to log on to some sort of Wi-Fi onboard the Von Braun. If you are, then it plays a surprisingly small role, considering you're fighting an AI on that very system lateron.
A clue that you are in fact "jacked in" are the mails by SHOlito which have no physical means unlike audiologs.
catbarf on 23/11/2007 at 16:03
The cyborgs in SS1 always interested me. They obey SHODAN completely, almost like a hive mind- yet at the same time, there are transmissions of SHODAN talking to them, warning them of punishment should they fail. My personal theory is that the cyborgs aren't a big hive, but actually the same minds they had before everything went pear-shaped, just with cybernetic implants screwing around with their thought processes.
DaBeast on 23/11/2007 at 17:28
Quote Posted by catbarf
The cyborgs in SS1 always interested me. They obey SHODAN completely, almost like a hive mind- yet at the same time, there are transmissions of SHODAN talking to them, warning them of punishment should they fail. My personal theory is that the cyborgs aren't a big hive, but actually the same minds they had before everything went pear-shaped, just with cybernetic implants screwing around with their thought processes.
Well, we all know that stupid mindless zombies are only good for being shot (and voting republican) so maybe shodan kept some semblance of their original mind. Just enough to allow some level of creativity in performing its roles perhaps. Possibly dropping their IQ a good 90 points or so.
Or maybe not.
Mercurius on 23/11/2007 at 19:12
Lots of a good theories and information here
From what has been quoted, it sounds even more like the cyborgs are more than just puppets. I imagine a bit of cyber-brainwashing plus dopamine rewards for killing humans and constant email threats is enough to motivate a cyborg to do SHODAN's bidding. Perhaps SHODAN also offers promotion incentives as well...like a sexy red enforcer suit or massive elite pectorals for climbing ranks :cool:
Why even a mutant has chance for promotion, SHODAN is truly a non discriminatory employer!
Then again, it's not too far of a stretch to picture SHODAN ranting and raving to a bunch of sock puppets.
Trance on 23/11/2007 at 19:26
SHODAN is smart enough to make sock puppets deadly, so exercise caution in calling her on it.
