not sure which thread to put this in

[robkelk]

Touching on some of the other items in the original post...

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Black Monoliths: Fens who had uploaded themselves into the Black Monoliths of 2001 fame

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I'd see that as a Fenspace Nextgen group - the only known case of human-to-AI conversion so far was a biomod that took place while the person was dying. I can't see people being willing to kill themselves on the off-chance that it would make them functionally immortal.

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Blakes: Anti-Federation terrorists who regularly stage prison escapes (if there are such things in Fenspace) and disrupt trade.

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Ah, lawbreakers - or, as we call them, Boskonians. At least, that's how people would view them...
A line from my story Recollections of an Immortal comes to mind: "He'd spend a fortune on making sure a police force kept going, then take the law into his own hands and kill someone who was threatening one of us." I could easily imagine the person Noah'd killed be a Blake...

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Cold Shatter: Ideological movement or dangerous terrorists, depending on your point of view. Believe that anything larger than an asteroid is just wasted space, with no way to easily access the "precious planetary metals" inside. Want to build and use planet-cracker bombs to get at the resources in all the planets, including Earth. Hated by terraformers and Earthies.

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And most of the rest of Fenspace, too - if they destroy Earth, where are we going to get our PS4s and xBox720s from? More importantly, where would we get our fresh food and advanced medical care from?

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Meat-puppet conversion: Does your AI wish to feel human? Are gynoids and androids just not doing it? Is your AI multiple-cognitive capable and clockspeed variable? Then you and they might want to try Meat-Puppet Conversion! For only a few grams of wavehandium, they can have the sensuous experience of a meat-puppet! Guaranteed made of non-clone genetic material but true, first-gen decanted with customized mitochondria and y-chromosomes!

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Going story-mode for a moment:
"Boss, take a look at this advertisment."
I started reading the webpage that my exec had forwarded to my palmtop. "'Meat-Puppet Conversion'... Is this something you want, Yoriko?"
"Not really, Noah. Well, I want to be able to bear your children, but if the wording says what I think it says, the price is too high."
"Oh?" Then I got to the part she was worried about. "'Guaranteed made of non-clone genetic material'... Oh, by all that's holy..."
"Exactly, boss. If they aren't cloning the bodies, then are they kidnapping and murdering people to make them?"
I put the palmtop down on my desk. "Call the Browncoats; tell them I'll fund an investigation into this."
And so on.
Maybe you'd like to re-phrase that, laddie...?

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Baley Security: Private Security/Detective Agency, serve as police

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Probably lumped in with the Browncoats, in public opinion...

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Does not, repeat NOT, have agents dressed in skimpy bikinis that go around blowing stuff up with a giant antennaed cat.

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Oh, good. I'd hate to find out what would happen if such skimpily-dressed troubleshooters were to team up with Kohran... No, I lie; I'd love to read that story - but I'm not about to write it.

-Rob Kelk
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012