Stas Bush wrote:If we make it a
mutual defence pact (since the Central Alliance so far is inactive due to Coyote's IRL), perhaps we could arrange a meeting between Geppetto and the Core as a part of the military cooperation...
I'm sure he'd find it most interesting.
Geppetto isn't involved in the Umerians' military very much; he is first and foremost a psychologist, in the most general sense of the word.
That said, he would find the Core
extremely interesting as a phenomenon. Geppetto would like to talk to the Core (or, for that matter, almost anyone in the universe he doesn't already understand perfectly), though it's worth bearing in mind that the Core represents a path of development that he's most likely already considered and rejected.
Like the Sovvies, Geppetto does not consider random fusions of assorted minds to be in an enviable condition, and the Core's sheer processing power doesn't overawe him because he's already as intelligent as he wants to be. The point at which Geppetto stopped adding processing power was chosen by the fact that his driving interest in life lives at such a comically slow rate: if he were ten times smarter he'd solve all the interesting problems he's aware of long before he'd be in a position to set himself new ones, and
then where would he be?
The Commune is "coming out of isolation" slowly and even I don't know which course of action we will follow - the game depends on what others do. But we're not going to strong-arm people into wars.
You know that and I know that, but the Technocracy of Umeria doesn't. We're a very pragmatist state that prefers to be disarmingly frank about its intentions and decision-making process*. The Commune, on the other hand, is a profoundly ideological state, and one that keeps large chunks of its decision-making process secret.
That leads to a certain amount of distrust: we can't predict what you'll do and we can't be sure you've told us all the relevant facts, at least for the time being. So even though we
like the Commune, it's interesting, the Technarchs feel they have to keep a bit of distance to avoid doing something premature like signing an alliance with someone who's secretly plotting to kill the Pope of Space and replace him with a robot.
*It's a predictable consequence of being ruled by nerds, when you think about it. The typical Technarch looks at international relations and wistfully thinks "wouldn't it be so much better if we just came out and said what we want, without dancing around in circles?" As a general rule, the Technarchs publish regular accountings of their decisions and their reasons for making them, subject only to the limits of keeping sensitive information secret. Sort of a cross between memoirs and the Congressional Record.
Shroom Man 777 wrote:Simon Jester wrote:-During the high days of their conquest, the Chamarran Empire would have qualified as a threat of the third type. It is possible that the Pfhor pose such a threat today, though our impression from the limited information we have on them is that they are not large enough to qualify as a strategic problem for human civilization as a whole.
What about Bragulans?
Ditto. We know enough about Bragule that we don't think they're likely to conquer the galaxy in the foreseeable future. We don't know that about the Pfhor, though we still think there's a chance we're mistaken.
Remember that at their peak the Chamarrans at their peak had at least 40 2500$ supermonitors, along with an unknown number of smaller escort ships, and that their fleet was large and threatening enough to be considered a
threat by the UN at the time. That's the criterion the Umerians are talking about here: an alien empire with powers that could plausibly overrun several known space civilizations in short order, not one that's pretty much confined to its own territory by a combination of shoals and powerful neighbors.
If someone suggested to the Technarchs that it was time for the forces of known space to rally against Bragule they'd think he was joking; they aren't dangerous enough to justify being treated as that kind of threat.
PeZook wrote:The message was "Would you like to talk? We like your Monolith".
Hmm...things are moving! Very well!
I once imagined a scene where, pursuant to his interest in weird things like AI civilizations, Geppetto buys a ship, sticks a modest node with his core consciousness on it, flies to one of the Collector trading posts, and just says something along the lines of "Hello, my name is Geppetto, I am an artificial intelligence specializing in the study of intelligence in all its forms, and I would like to know: who are you, and what do you want?" Or some such.
I sometimes wonder whether people simply
forget to take an approach like that with the Collectors. They clearly have some overriding objective (I would guess it involves collecting something
), and it would probably go a lot faster if more people were willing to negotiate with them... but it doesn't occur to the Collectors to initiate such negotations because they're hardwired to be mysterious.
Hell, I might try that scene anyway.
EDIT: By the way, it looks like a lot of people are gearing up to try and kill Q
I for one am not, but we do recognize the possibility of a hostile entity with that kind of power (think Galactus). The Umerians are actually more worried about "moderately godlike" threats, ones that do not transcend the laws of physics but do concentrate vast civilization-scale power into a single hostile mind. Say, a souped-up version of the Karlacks; the Karlacks themselves are a contained threat.
Confronted with the actual Q, they would much, much,
much rather talk than fight, even assuming they have the wherewithal to fight without being set up for comical failure, which I doubt.
Perhaps the emissaries of XyLyx have a point?
Perhaps, but from the Umerian point of view, this XylyX they keep talking about is essentially harmless, so it's certainly not worth annihilation to go pick a fight with it.