From: Adrian Tymes (wingcat@pacbell.net)
Date: Wed Jun 28 2000 - 20:16:57 MDT
Anders Sandberg wrote:
> Sounds a lot like Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, a game that I love but
> think could be made even greater.
>
> (It is interesting to note that besides his collectivist/fascist
> ideas, Chairman Yang has the best transhumanist quotes in the game -
> Provost Zakharov is fun but far too much research for research's own
> sake in his quotes to be a real transhumanist)
I think the seven default characters were all designed with positive and
negative aspects, to provide something to love or hate depending on
whether you usually played as them or against them. Even more
interesting is that most of the positive aspects lead towards
transhumanism in one form or another - Deidre through merging with the
ecosystem she protects, Yang as you noted, Morgan through engineering
all kinds of new abilities, and Zakharov...well, just listen to the
Voice of the Planet snippet. And then there's the
both-libertarian-and-beauraucratic Peacekeepers...
If I recall correctly, this is not the first time that the nature of a
lot of this game's quotes has been cited on this list. I, myself, have
been able to explain some of my dreams as "what they have in this game,
only make it available to us in reality," to those who might not have
understood any other way. I wonder...what might it take, to encourage
more popular fiction with these themes, so that those who grow up to
emulate the stories they see have choices other than Frankenstein
(movies, not the original book) and "anything you don't understand must
be evil" modes?
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