BattleStar Galactica S2/E7 08.26.05

[Mercule]

Heh, plot twist - Roslin is cured and suddenly people think she just made up the whole prophet thing for her own advantage.

Ironic twist: She's cured. People lose faith in her and riot. She's killed in the riot.

No one said that it was the wasting disease that killed her. Only that she had a wasting disease and that she wouldn't make it to Earth.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Ironic twist: She's cured. People lose faith in her and riot. She's killed in the riot.

No one said that it was the wasting disease that killed her. Only that she had a wasting disease and that she wouldn't make it to Earth.

Of course, there's also that off chance that she's a Cylon. As we've seen from Boomer, Cylons can be sick(even if her's was from pregnancy, its still sick). Its unlikely, but what if she's a plant to follow the scriptures?

Just throwing in another wrench.

 

[WizarDru]

We are ALL cylons, man.


Heavy.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

We are ALL cylons, man.


Heavy.

This is EXACTLY why Adama shouldn't have let the public know.

Actually, thinking about it, who can we say is definintely NOT a Cylon? Seems like only a handful, but even then its working on shakey ground.

-Commander Adama: They tried to shoot him and seem to be bent on killing him. He definitely seems like the wrench in the Cylon's plans.

-Lee Adama: Unless Lee is some kind of hybrid(which seems to be possible, considering whatever Boomer's child might be), the Commander would remember him from birth and that would disqualify the young Adama from being a Cylon.

-Starbuck: Not so sure on this one, but from the Cylon's treatment of her on Caprica, she doesn't seem to be one of them.

-Helo: The way the Cylons talked about him on Caprica pretty much confirms he isn't one.

Beyond that, can we really say who is and who isn't a Cylon? We don't really know enough about the President to say one way or another, and Baltar...well...I'm starting to think that he may very well BE a Cylon(explaining how he gets the 'messages' from Six) and how his lucky guesses keep working out just perfectly.

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

The cylons aren't individuals, even the Human models. They are group linked. The Cylon says she isn't linked to the other Cylons when the Pres is talking to her, but then the one from Caprica says she remembers her relationship with the Chief didn't she? So I would guess they are linked.

I venture that it doesn't work exactly like that. Having them constantly networked, like a hive mind, would be really expensive in terms of energy use, especially when they're making an (apparently FTL comm) connection across vast interstellar distances.

My guess is that their super-bionic transmitters operate infrequently, possibly when the model is asleep, and probably in some sort of burst transmission, to get it done as fast as possible. After all, the anthroforms are designed specifically for infiltration missions, often long-term, and any emissions could lead to detection, so it makes sense to minimize those. Also, because these would come from the anthroform's regular energy budget, it'd be best to use it when they weren't doing anything else...like when the body was asleep.

If that's the case, and I kinda think (though, albeit, without much evidence other than Boomer saying "it doesn't work that way" to the President saying they're in constant contact) it is, then Boomer-G unknowingly sent regular updates back to the rest of the network, and would occasionally download instructions. That would explain how Boomer-C knew about the Chief.

And if her saying "You ask why?" did refer to the question in the morgue, that would mean this could operate after the body's death.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

I venture that it doesn't work exactly like that. Having them constantly networked, like a hive mind, would be really expensive in terms of energy use, especially when they're making an (apparently FTL comm) connection across vast interstellar distances.

My guess is that their super-bionic transmitters operate infrequently, possibly when the model is asleep, and probably in some sort of burst transmission, to get it done as fast as possible. After all, the anthroforms are designed specifically for infiltration missions, often long-term, and any emissions could lead to detection, so it makes sense to minimize those. Also, because these would come from the anthroform's regular energy budget, it'd be best to use it when they weren't doing anything else...like when the body was asleep.

If that's the case, and I kinda think (though, albeit, without much evidence other than Boomer saying "it doesn't work that way" to the President saying they're in constant contact) it is, then Boomer-G unknowingly sent regular updates back to the rest of the network, and would occasionally download instructions. That would explain how Boomer-C knew about the Chief.

And if her saying "You ask why?" did refer to the question in the morgue, that would mean this could operate after the body's death.

I'm thinking that different protocols may be in effect depending upon their assignment, but that at the time of death (or perhaps shortly after) a burst transmission completes an upload of information that has not been previously uploaded.

The geek questions are:
Is there is limit to the transmission distance.
Is it a relay from one cylon to another?
Is there cross-model transmission?
If you blow the head off a human anthroform model, can they still upload?

I also really want to know more about the cylon philosophy.
Does each copy believe it has its own soul, or is it shared by each model?
If each copy essentially lives on after death in the other copies, what does their one God offer them? An eternal afterlife? Perhaps an individual soul?

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

Is there is limit to the transmission distance.
Is there cross-model transmission?

I think these two questions have been addressed, though not in a clear-cut absolute sense. The Cylon that the president spaced implied that he couldn't transmit over such a distance, but it was in response to a suggestion made by one of the humans, so it may have been playing a game with them. So that info is highly suspect.

I think the implication on cross-model transmission is "no". At least under normal circumstance. The Boomer and Six models seem to know what other Boomer and Six models know, but not what each other knows. Again, however, we can't be certain. Six certainly talks like she knows a lot about Boomer's qualities and abilities, but that's likely to be just talk - she doesn't appear to like Boomer much.

I wonder if the dislike is because the Boomer model is able to become pregnant, while she is not? Is the Boomer model designed primarily to try and cross-breed with humans?

 

[WizarDru]

I wonder if the dislike is because the Boomer model is able to become pregnant, while she is not? Is the Boomer model designed primarily to try and cross-breed with humans?

I think there is definte jealousy in Six...she clearly is jealous of both Starbuck (a rival for Gaius affections, as far as she can tell) and Boomer. I suspect it's not that Boomer is capable of having kids when Six is not, but rather that Boomer has been selected to have the child and test human love (whereas Six has not been).

Compare: Boomer has two men who are in love with her, who were willing to put their lives and careers at risk to protect her. They love(d) and trust(ed) her. Now look who Six was given: Gaius Baltar...a womanizing coward who lacks commitment, drive or courage. Do you think Baltar would do anything that didn't benefit or bring pleasure to anyone but himself? He claims to love Six...but it's a pretty selfish love.

Moreover, I think Six lacks the CAPACITY for love. Her AI isn't really designed to do it. Remember the conversation on Caprica with the other anthroform (news guy)? She was clearly pained when he speculated: "what does it feel like?" She is aware enough to know that she can't love (or at the very least has never experienced it), not truly, and it drives her crazy. She can inspire fantastic lust, sure...but Baltar's repeated trysts shows how hollow that power actually is.

RDM has claimed that each anthroform represents an aspect of humanity, as seen through the cylon lens. That raises lots of interesting questions about what kind of criteria they used. I think the Boomer-Legion on the Basestar summed it up: they didn't say "Let's kill mankind!"; they told Boomer they loved her.

Which, btw, I think shows that each Boomer is separate yet similar; I think they act like nodes in a peer-to-peer network. Boomer-C is a supernode, sharing important experience which is spread to other Boomers in chunks over time...not the direct stimulus and experience, but the intellectual data. Boomer-C remembers shooting Adama...but it's more of an odd fact to her. I doubt she actually has a strong visual memory, just that she recalls the facts and details of the event, not true experience. This would also make data transfer much easier, as the relevant data would be much smaller.

I could also be smoking the rock.

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

I think the implication on cross-model transmission is "no". At least under normal circumstance.

They probably have access to a central database or network. Otherwise, I don't see how Boomer-C could've known about the Baby Farms.

Hrm...how did she know about that, anyway? One would assume that, *if* she was a rogue unit, she'd've been denied access to the network and resources, yet she was able to pick up that Heavy Raider to use. If you recall, she mentioned in 2.5 that she didn't have access to certain information...which implies that she still has access to other information.

I could speculate that she's getting indirect access through Boomernet, or that she's not entirely as rogue as she would appear to be, but it'd probably require me to join WizarDru's pipe-rock session.

Brad

 

[WizarDru]

I could speculate that she's getting indirect access through Boomernet, or that she's not entirely as rogue as she would appear to be, but it'd probably require me to join WizarDru's pipe-rock session.

I'll pass the pipe.