Comments: Transmaniacon "Game" by Lamprey Systems

I haven't yet checked out this software, but since we're on the subject of offending Transhumanists, I saw an opportunity to comment upon another game. I've played a cyberpunk in the Star Wars RPG and a creature of the night in live action Vampire: The Masquerade. So naturally, I was intrigued by the Cyberpunk RPG series. But it's a little too much like Vampire in that your transformation is necessarily dehumanizing. As your increasing powers and experience make you harder to kill, your primary challenge is not to totally wig out. Some systems call it a blood rage, berzerker rage, cyberpsychosis, etc. But the main premise is that when you reach your redline state, you lose self-control and put yourself and your teammates gravely into harm's way. That's fine with me if I'm going to play the undead that must drink the blood of the living to survive. Hey, the dark settings of Vampire and Cyberpunk are great places to campaign, but the Transhumanism activist in me disagrees with the a priori loss of humanity due simply to coporal modification. An artificial heart doesn't make a human any less human than a blood transfusion, but both concepts would be pretty fun to explore in a Vampire campaign. I've been concentrating on making wearable technology more realistic in my own life, but if I just want to geek out sci-fi style, in principle, I'd prefer Star Wars gaming over Cyberpunk systems. I concede that Star Wars RPGs do have their own strong mystical premise of life force, and it can become as dark as in Vampire and Cyberpunk, if not more so. And indeed there are many game systems that let you relinquish your humanity altogether, in which case, one might argue that the fear of loss of humanity is already moot. But conceptually, from the standpoint of exploring transhumanist activism, I'd like to work with other iGargoyles on preserving our right to pursuing technical and material augmentation while protecting human, civil, and political rights. Also, I am interested in the concept of Humanistic Intelligence (HI) posited by Dr. Mann. HI focuses on the symbiosis between the brain and the chip. Feedback systems are central to the concept of Cybernetics, and often forgotten as Cyber prefixes are increasingly interpreted as mechanization or automation. Some Science Fiction already posits a future where Artificial Intelligence (AI) is granted rights increasingly similar to humans. Now we must act to extend such protection to HI in meat space.

Posted by Wearaware at July 12, 2006 03:12 PM

Transmaniacon not a game; it's a montage. Cut very quickly and colorless, it features still images from classic and contemporary Sci-Fi movies and their posters, anime, and lots more. The soundtrack is a very basic, repetitious beat that is peppered with samples. Transmaniacon actually serves as a reminder that the concept of transhumanism is nothing new. Real animatronics that "played" chess hundreds of years ago to the artificial life scenarios between Frankenstein and Metropolis are our collective past. We must also remember that society's fascination with science is also our inheritance. From Popular Science covers of the early 20th Century, Verne, Wells, and "Better Living Through Chemistry", Futurism is our ancestor, not our kin.

Posted by Wearaware at July 29, 2006 04:30 PM

Hokay, so next time Futurism hits you with a $700k stick to keep doing what you're doing, she's just the damn producer, not the fruit of your love. Check. Oh, and rent (license for show in Antigua, buy, it's safe for work; whatever) the Chobits boxed set please. ...never got a call from the principal that your lost cellphone touched someone inappropriately, didja...

Posted by TheWorneTautology at March 13, 2008 08:49 PM
Post a comment









Remember personal info?