tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3889388775673754833.post1679829463428157776..comments2024-02-24T03:34:18.060-05:00Comments on Stealing Commas: Mind Transfer: Ill thought out evil planchris the cynichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06872875475212333027noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3889388775673754833.post-8551380611415527422016-08-15T10:04:45.983-04:002016-08-15T10:04:45.983-04:00I'm not going for Mary's assessment being ...I'm not going for Mary's assessment being perfection. Probably the biggest part of it is simply that Mary was there first. Talbot's mind was integrated into Mary's. The effect would have been quite different if Mary's mind had been integrated into Talbot's.<br /><br />Mary viewed Talbot as evil and cruel* and that provided the lens through which she interpreted and integrated the massive download of new thoughts, memories, ideas, and such.<br /><br />It's also the case that every Talbot thought, motivation, or drive has to contend with how Mary would feel about it.<br /><br />If they'd both been dumped into an empty mind at the same time that might result in a stalemate (though more likely a blend where what's Mary, what's Talbot, and what's some of each is on a case by case basis) but since Talbot was put into Mary's mind Mary has the advantage.<br /><br />The brain is already used to moving along Mary pathways, and the way that the two conflicting sets of memory and personality and such work is that the new stuff is integrated into the framework created by the pre-existing stuff.<br /><br />While there was a lot more data, the download was integrated the way an ordinary experience would be. That can result in completely changing a person, but generally it involves fitting the new stuff into existing mental paradigms.<br /><br />Mary's paradigms have Talbot as an evil person not to be emulated and most of the mind download is able to be plugged into that paradigm just fine. "Of course she'd look at it that way, she's evil."<br /><br />The places most likely to change Mary's worldview are the places where there's the least of Talbot personality. Information rather than motivation, knowledge rather than interpretation, skills rather than the impetus to learn such skills.<br /><br />-<br /><br />* Which made Talbot scary, but also <i>lesser than</i>. Mary thinks that good is better than evil, and since she thinks Talbot is evil everything built on the idea that Talbot was better than lesser beings (several of whom Mary thinks are good) had the foundation yanked out.<br /><br />Sure, Mary remembers thinking those thoughts, feeling those feelings, and having those motivations, but it's remembered in a way similar to remembering things and thinking "Damn was I wrong back then."chris the cynichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06872875475212333027noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3889388775673754833.post-74164459375956990592016-08-12T13:15:50.780-04:002016-08-12T13:15:50.780-04:00Your old font was slightly easier, but I don't...Your old font was slightly easier, but I don't really mind either way.<br /><br />I like the concept but I'm not entirely convinced by the explanation. Evil is a pattern of thought, and it shouldn't be filtered. Perhaps the merging removed the props on which it was resting (the "everyone is stupider than me" pressure is only about half as strong as it was)?Firedrakenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3889388775673754833.post-37270421799160322392016-08-10T12:46:13.017-04:002016-08-10T12:46:13.017-04:00I am enjoying the nice big font.
Also enjoying th...I am enjoying the nice big font.<br /><br />Also enjoying the story.DawnMnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3889388775673754833.post-74332764681125317442016-08-09T10:25:34.221-04:002016-08-09T10:25:34.221-04:00My usual response to body-stealing plans is "...My usual response to body-stealing plans is "Why steal from an unwilling host when you can share with a willing host?"<br /><br />Sometimes the answer is "because they don't have any method of mind-transference that doesn't overwrite the original", which is a Doylistic cop-out, but sometimes *cough*DS9*cough* it <em>doesn't</em> overwrite the original and the body-hopper <em>still</em> insists on being evil about it.<br /><br />(If I were Rao Vantika, I'd have possessed Julian Bashir too, but I'd have explained the situation to him ASAP (via asynchronous communication, since co-fronting seems to be beyond them) and offered to move somewhere more hospitable at the first opportunity if he didn't want me around.)<br /><br />(I'd say "Be a Tok'ra, not a Goa'uld!", but I've only actually seen, like, six episodes of Stargate, so I'd have to trust that my cultural osmosis on Tok'ra vs Goa'uld is accurate.)<br /><br />The text size is on the big side, but not to the point of being unpleasant.Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18034585577015417306noreply@blogger.com