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Apr. 8th, 2005 03:53 pmThird Arrival at Milliways + 2 Days
Milliways
We made it back okay, everything's well, I've been catching up with people I know and meeting people I don't, and last night I met Frankenstein's Creature. For real. Actual, serious, one-on-one conversation with a created sentient being! I mean, other than Ryo-oh-ki, but I'm pretty sure she was gengineered from living cells and grown into life the normal way. William Damon von Frankenstein (that's the name he gave- funny, I always thought his name was Adam or something- oh well, that's what I get for accepting secondary sources as equivalent to primary) is the real deal, a patchwork being constructed from human parts and imbued with an actual independent consciousness. Full sentience, full sapience, and as nearly as I could tell without sticking probes up his nose, the full sensory spectrum. None of this 'arrgh arrgh fire bad' stuff either- this is the guy who taught himself language from books, not the Boris Karloff version. My God, what I wouldn't give to find out more about him. . . I mean, come on, I can't even think of a golem that had an individual conscience and sense of self-awareness extending beyond the fate of its chem. This guy is the world's biggest organ recipient and he's an independent entity on top of it…
Well, at least as far as I know he is. I'd have to come up with some way of testing that to verify it. I didn't even think to get out the PKE meter. I have to admit I'd be kind of disappointed if he set it off beyond the background radiation level here at Milliways, because that would imply he's something on the order of a loa with a permanent steed rather than a physical/psychic being in his own right. Maybe if I get to meet him again I'll ask. It would be so cool if he didn't set it off, though- think of the implications! We've already proved that there's life after death- if he's his own being and not a resurrection or a composite of some kind, then either he's a reincarnate placed into an animated body (which is still a hell of a thing) or he's a really massive violation of the spiritual applications of the First Law of Thermodynamics. Okay, maybe not a violation, since you could argue that the lightning involved was just transformed rather than saying his spirit was outright created at the moment of physical animation, but I'd have to see the original doctor's notes to be sure.
I feel pretty sorry for the poor guy, though. The Doctor's experiment was never repeated, so he's kind of a one-off. It's one thing to be the only eleven year old geek in your high school, but he's the only one of his kind anywhere, at all, ever. At least I had Egon to write to. He's got nothing. That's one of the reasons I'd like to thump Doctor Frankenstein if I ever meet him- you can't just go around creating people like that! How are they supposed to live? What are they supposed to do? People who come into the world the natural way don't even know their purpose half the time. Making someone in the lab just because you can is even worse. I bet Dr. F. didn't bother getting his dog neutered, either. Some people.
Anyway. I'm gonna go see about contacting Washuu and sending the switchy device back, and then I'm going to bed. I spent most of today working on the world-line map diagrams, which are a real pain in the neck to try and draw, since rendering a two dimensional depiction of a three dimensional object is hard enough, and I'm working on at least four or five dimensions here. I've had enough for today- time to let the ol' synapses power down for a bit.
But still! Frankenstein's Creature!
[OOC: I've said in the past that in Ray's world, Dracula was not a novel but a case study. I'm inclined to believe that the Frankenstein case has long been the subject of contention among parapsychologists and general scholars of the strange there- did it actually happen, did Frankenstein fake his work, did someone just make it up, who's really got the movie rights, etc. Ray doesn't view the Creature as something out of fiction- he views him as confirmation that the legend of Dr. Frankenstein was fact, rather than wishful thinking on the part of later generations.]
Milliways
We made it back okay, everything's well, I've been catching up with people I know and meeting people I don't, and last night I met Frankenstein's Creature. For real. Actual, serious, one-on-one conversation with a created sentient being! I mean, other than Ryo-oh-ki, but I'm pretty sure she was gengineered from living cells and grown into life the normal way. William Damon von Frankenstein (that's the name he gave- funny, I always thought his name was Adam or something- oh well, that's what I get for accepting secondary sources as equivalent to primary) is the real deal, a patchwork being constructed from human parts and imbued with an actual independent consciousness. Full sentience, full sapience, and as nearly as I could tell without sticking probes up his nose, the full sensory spectrum. None of this 'arrgh arrgh fire bad' stuff either- this is the guy who taught himself language from books, not the Boris Karloff version. My God, what I wouldn't give to find out more about him. . . I mean, come on, I can't even think of a golem that had an individual conscience and sense of self-awareness extending beyond the fate of its chem. This guy is the world's biggest organ recipient and he's an independent entity on top of it…
Well, at least as far as I know he is. I'd have to come up with some way of testing that to verify it. I didn't even think to get out the PKE meter. I have to admit I'd be kind of disappointed if he set it off beyond the background radiation level here at Milliways, because that would imply he's something on the order of a loa with a permanent steed rather than a physical/psychic being in his own right. Maybe if I get to meet him again I'll ask. It would be so cool if he didn't set it off, though- think of the implications! We've already proved that there's life after death- if he's his own being and not a resurrection or a composite of some kind, then either he's a reincarnate placed into an animated body (which is still a hell of a thing) or he's a really massive violation of the spiritual applications of the First Law of Thermodynamics. Okay, maybe not a violation, since you could argue that the lightning involved was just transformed rather than saying his spirit was outright created at the moment of physical animation, but I'd have to see the original doctor's notes to be sure.
I feel pretty sorry for the poor guy, though. The Doctor's experiment was never repeated, so he's kind of a one-off. It's one thing to be the only eleven year old geek in your high school, but he's the only one of his kind anywhere, at all, ever. At least I had Egon to write to. He's got nothing. That's one of the reasons I'd like to thump Doctor Frankenstein if I ever meet him- you can't just go around creating people like that! How are they supposed to live? What are they supposed to do? People who come into the world the natural way don't even know their purpose half the time. Making someone in the lab just because you can is even worse. I bet Dr. F. didn't bother getting his dog neutered, either. Some people.
Anyway. I'm gonna go see about contacting Washuu and sending the switchy device back, and then I'm going to bed. I spent most of today working on the world-line map diagrams, which are a real pain in the neck to try and draw, since rendering a two dimensional depiction of a three dimensional object is hard enough, and I'm working on at least four or five dimensions here. I've had enough for today- time to let the ol' synapses power down for a bit.
But still! Frankenstein's Creature!
[OOC: I've said in the past that in Ray's world, Dracula was not a novel but a case study. I'm inclined to believe that the Frankenstein case has long been the subject of contention among parapsychologists and general scholars of the strange there- did it actually happen, did Frankenstein fake his work, did someone just make it up, who's really got the movie rights, etc. Ray doesn't view the Creature as something out of fiction- he views him as confirmation that the legend of Dr. Frankenstein was fact, rather than wishful thinking on the part of later generations.]
