[RHat]

Those statements have, in some cases, had an implicit or explicit "yet" attached to them, Wyrm.

[The Wyrm Ouroboros]

I guess, RHat.

SlowDeck, that's again possible, but going by what's been stated (not implied), it would still be magic on the biological portion - to make it act in a certain way, more efficiently, or whatever.  It's a great idea, of course.

[martinchaen]

Considering it is entirely possible to cultivate a mana environment in fraggin space using life forms, I think it's a perfectly plausible theory that one could use organic matter as a form of "storage" for a simrig with a biological interface.

And RHat, great point, that was part of my argument from the getco; this is not something I see being commercially available, rather, it is something I would expect to be highly experimental, vastly cost ineffective, and potentially unstable (ref the "burning through test subjects" comment that was made earlier).

[RHat]

Considering it is entirely possible to cultivate a mana environment in fraggin space using life forms, I think it's a perfectly plausible theory that one could use organic matter as a form of "storage" for a simrig with a biological interface.

And RHat, great point, that was part of my argument from the getco; this is not something I see being commercially available, rather, it is something I would expect to be highly experimental, vastly cost ineffective, and potentially unstable (ref the "burning through test subjects" comment that was made earlier).

Let's be honest here, though - if they could achieve some kind of magic/tech interface, this is most assuredly not the goal they'd have in mind.  That said, the problem seems much more complex than simply using biological storage could solve - you'd need, effectively, an Awakened biological computer, because it would need to be astrally sensitive itself.

[martinchaen]

I tend to agree that this might not be the goal everyone has in mind, it might be the first step as recording data is much easier than manipulating data. There's also no reason something like this couldn't have been the side effects of another research project entirely, an accidental discovery as much as penicillin, teflon, and radioactivity (took quite a few years from Becquerel and the Curie's discoveries before we had nuclear weapons, after all).

That being said, I wouldn't discount the usefulness of a device capable of recording a magician's astral perception for organizations like military and security forces; imagine having the ability to "share" information about what a team's combat magician senses in real-time, the response time alone would change the name of the game in terms of combat effectiveness if the entire team can focus on the enemy magicians before they even cast a single spell.

In-game, rumours abound that Ares' failed Excalibur project began as some sort of arcanotech weapon to help combat bug spirits; imagine what something like this could do for Firewatch teams patrolling the Containment Zone. And if there's on thing history has shown us it's that the military can be rather single-mindedly focused on research they think can benefit them in some way or another.

[CanRay]

I can officially state at this time that I like cookies. 

Bwahahahahahaha!

Can you at least confirm that if you had to capacity to confirm or deny you would state the capacity to confirm or deny if asked about if you can confirm or deny it?

No comment, I can neither confirm nor deny the existence of awakened Maple Syrup.

Fine... How about UN-officially, CanRay. What are your thoughts on the subject of this thread?

I would have to investigate this discussion in far more detail than I have to properly do that.  And I'm a bit busy.   

[Parker]

 ::)Oy.....  I'm just waiting for Catalyst to take the Lucas route and declare magic ability and use as the application of the mitochondrions within the 'Awakened'.

[SlowDeck]

I don't think Catalyst would do that. If anything, the Aztlan-Amazonia War seems to hint that mixing technology and magic is a really bad idea even when it does work.

[RulezLawyerZ]

::)Oy.....  I'm just waiting for Catalyst to take the Lucas route and declare magic ability and use as the application of the mitochondrions within the 'Awakened'.

Heh. Actually, that's sort of been part of the canon since day 1, what with the whole "Awakened gene" thing. It's pretty well established that one's potential to Awaken can be determined by genetic tests.

[Mirikon]

Actually, that's not quite true. They still haven't locked down where in the genome the 'magus factor' is, and even clones of mages raised the long way don't reliably awaken. Hell, they haven't reliably found the metagenes that determine whether you'll be an orc, a human, an elf, or so on. They know it is genetic because of old-school heredity tests (elf+elf=elf or human, etc.), but they haven't been able to find where in the genome it is. For the magic gene, they believe it is genetic in nature due to a high tendency towards magic running in certain families, but as for a test to see if you will awaken? Not so much. Given how the emerged and the awakened are mutually exclusive things, they also believe that they are likely two different expressions of the same gene.

But yes, currently magic and technology don't get along too well. But that primarily has to do with the fact that we don't understand even a fraction of what there is to know about magic.

[SlowDeck]

The other way they know it's genetic is that children of Awakened tend to also be Awakened; that was observed even without the breeding experiments.

Though, it is interesting that, given the way the fluff words things, it seems technomancy is carried on the same set of genes as magic (there's a number of pieces of fluff featuring siblings working together, with one a mage and the other a technomancer).

[Mirikon]

Actually, it makes a lot of sense, if you think about it. The rise of Technomancers (and, to some extent, the otaku before them) could be related to the rise in wireless networks and EM fields in general. We already know that the environment can affect (and be affected by) mana levels. EM fields are part of the environment. If a mutation or alternate expression of the 'magus factor' gene reacts with EM fields, then it would explain the sudden emergence of technomancers and emereged critters, with the wireless matrix coming online at the same time. While Jormungand may be a catalyst, it is not the cause, since there are technomancers who were offline when the Crash hit (one reported in Unwired that they were hiking in the mountains, and didn't even know the Crash had happened until days later). This would be similar to how a mana spike could be a catalyst for changes in Awakened creatures or those with dormant metagenes (goblinization, SURGE, drakes, latent awakened).

[Sichr]

I thought the Astral was just a bunch of bright colours and weird things like seeing a dragon in place of a man or a plane sized bird flapping lazily over the park so it would record all that fine? It wouldn't give you the knowledge that coloured aura X = Toxic shaman bwaap bwaapp  bwaap but you would see a weird muddy, black aura and feel the fear of the mage.

Hells no.  Astral Perception is a completely seperate and distinct form of perception.  It doesn't actually relate to visual perception at all, that's just part of how the user's brain typically interprets it (notably, the interpretation varies from person to person and based on their own sensory capacity - blind people interpret it in very different ways, for example).

This. While simsense may be attached to your sensoric centers in the brain, and possibly to some other like hypothalamus, amygdala and hippocampus, to be able to record emotions and some other feelings, I dont believe that, even with extensive EEG research etc, they found the center for astral perception, as it simply doesn`t exist in mundane brain...hell I am not sure if you can consider it  even being part of the brain...opening the "third eye" is an act of Magic, not physical body.

[RulezLawyerZ]

Actually, that's not quite true. They still haven't locked down where in the genome the 'magus factor' is, and even clones of mages raised the long way don't reliably awaken. Hell, they haven't reliably found the metagenes that determine whether you'll be an orc, a human, an elf, or so on. They know it is genetic because of old-school heredity tests (elf+elf=elf or human, etc.), but they haven't been able to find where in the genome it is. For the magic gene, they believe it is genetic in nature due to a high tendency towards magic running in certain families, but as for a test to see if you will awaken? Not so much. Given how the emerged and the awakened are mutually exclusive things, they also believe that they are likely two different expressions of the same gene.

Point. I based my previous post on what amounts to in-universe anecdotal evidence, rather than specific canon statements.