(urth) Birds, bees, mind-wipes

[James Wynn]

> *From:* James Wynn <mailto:crushtv at gmail.com>
>
> > Since I believe that chem personalities are made from mindwiped 
> scans of
> > actual people
> Gerry Quinn wrote:
> Why do you believe that?

Because Marble's hands passively absorb Rose's personality.
Because the Ayuntamiento's chems aborb their personalities to the extent 
that they continue to live after the bios have died.
Because although the method for constructing chems is not available a 
method for connecting human minds to chems is apparently easily done.

> There's some evidence against it, I think.  Hammerstone's disquisition 
> on officers and men.

We'd have to review that those statements in context.

> And the soldiers don't sleep as people do,

That's irrelevant. Sleep is a biological requirement. The Mainframe gods 
don't sleep either AFAIK.

> and they don't *remember* sleeping as people do, or think it's odd.

I would presume that the mindwipes and tweakings are far more extensive 
chems than for humans. Chems are specifically programmed for some useful 
activity. Marble is going to be fulfilled in cleaning and service. At 
the same time, Hammerstone notes that chems enjoy the smells of good 
food but can't eat it. Female chems wear perfume. They practice their 
handwriting. What value would there be in programming such character 
traits into a robot?

> Who was scanned to make Olivine, and how was the scan arranged?  Chems 
> talk to Silk about reproduction once or twice, and nobody mentions 
> this part.

That's a very good question. Equally puzzling is that chems can't create 
replacement parts but two of them can build a whole chem from scratch. I 
presume a new chem's personality is some kind of merging from its parents.

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