So, Che Guerva... I mean...Tarot's little rant on the evils of being a fucking consumermonkey got me to thinking.

I have got a shitload of stuff. All over the goddam world. I got a house in Colorado, an apartment in New York and a place in London I ain't been to in fuck if I know. And each place is chock full of crap. Well, not the mountain house, that one me and the Dark Princess made livable. But I got electronica out the fucking whazzo in the other two places. I mean media centers, musical instruments, recording shit and furniture my very own designing fairy done set up for me (hey, don't give me shit about calling Tim a fairy. Gay or not, you got fucking butterfly wings and I'm calling you a fucking fairy.)


So, I've got all this fucking STUFF, and I know I'm not alone. Sounds like Sakurako has fucking pack-rack syndrome. Prodigy sounded like a fucking electronic junkie. Lotsa folks chatted about some kind of toy or other. I had drinks with Blakesly, Vile Bill and Tank Choulat once and do you know that each and every single fucking one of them collected something or other? Blakesly collected books, I mean ancient fucking books. Tank had the biggest baseball card collection known (and the dude is from fucking Mongolia!) and Vile Bill collected Harleys, shot glasses and paintings.

So, what the fuck are we doing that we're goddamn NOVAS FOR FUCKS SAKE and we still buy into all that silly shit.


Man, I think it's time to fucking clear house.

I ain't got much but a bedroom/garage, Den out in the black hills, PC and Sakurako special Opdevice (that I swear has started talking to me like it has a crush on me.) and a dodge Hyper Hemmy truck that Grandpa drives (just in my name). I got money but I spend it all on food.

Why don't we just pool our money and buy an Island. Madagascar sounds nice.

Leammy, you act as if they should not buy things that they enjoy?Me, I have the rights to a few IPs, that I use to found many things. Should I stop using money? Maybe. But so far i have seen that my money does things that I tend not to want to do in person.

But back to your point,"useless" junk. Well, can you know what a computer means to Sakurako? Or What a shot glass meant to Bill? What if each item was there because they use it to remember a good thing. Like if they were having a good day, and saw something they liked. They bought it, and from then on when they see, or hold that item they are holding onto a part of their past they enjoy?

Whaddya know? Fruitcake's actually got a point.

People diss me all of the time over my jewellery 'cause most of it's cheap-[censored] stuff I had when I was still a baseline. So what? I like the tribal look, an' some of it's Islander stuff.

Who gives a crap what ya own, so long as it ain't nothin' like a death-ray or a bio-plague or somethin'.

Yeah Leammy!!!

Yes, I do. I keep alot of my failed prototypes so I can learn from my mistakes and reverse engineer untill the error is found. Also, I do like ot keep my successes, and protect certain intellectual properties.

As for the rest... Well... I have no excuse. Although my last yard sale was the one yard sale TO RULE THEM ALL!

Might have another when I make my move.

I don't see anything wrong with indulging in a few passions. Where's the harm? I've never been one for collecting stuff but why hassle people if they do?

As long as you actually bring a little something to the table that makes the world a better place where's the harm?

I think Lemmy's got a point. I think physical possessions are all just transitory things that give one temporary happiness.

My old roommate used to say that if you haven't used it in a year, you won't miss it if you get rid of it.

Seriously, what good is a book collection if you aren't going to read them over and over? You can say you've got a kick-ass library, but so what. It's a library that isn't being used for anything more than decoration. I guess you get some satisfaction out of having it, of knowing you could use it if you needed to. Maybe it's something financial, that maybe Mr. Very Bad looked at his books as assets to be sold later as the value appreciated.

I dunno. It's all just potential fuel, ash, and soot to me. But that's me.

Everything Outside is stuff, is it not so? At what point does the distinction between peripheral and critical objects lie?

Alternatively:
What general aspect of nova-hood calls for transcendence of materialism? Material beings have, so far, tended to enjoy material things to some extent or other. Novas, as a group, may not be divergent in that regard. ... Though some individuals might be. Maybe. Eventually.

When I 'left' Triton, I left behind just about every device or object that I thought was really important to me. All the scientific equipment, lab materials, and experiments that I thought defined me.

When I returned, I couldn't get it back, and I'd forgotten about most of it until now.

Your right, Lemmy. Possessions aren't all that important.

But I sure as hell wish I still had my monomolecular legos.

Hey!

I know who ended up with those. Wow. It really is a small world.

I really don't feel like I am the sum of my belongings. If I had lost everything, I wouldn't be at all affected. I can replace it. I can rebuild it.

Perhaps even better than before.

Monomolecular Legos? Better be careful with something like that. I hear the cuts you get from stuff like that would be FAR more worse than papercuts. >_<

Sorry sweetbritches, I'm just going off of what you been saying here for awhile now. You're always talking about this thing or that thing. Course I thought that was the end all be all for ya.

As an inventor, I tend to create things. Eventually, you run out of room from all the doo-dads and widgets you create. I talk about this thing or that thing not because I'm obsessed by them, but because I... well... like talking about my creations. ^_^

I guess I do have an ego.

Endeavor: When I run out of space for the stuff I make, I give it away to people who need it. What's the use of something if it just sits in a closet somewhere?

Tarot: Really? I figured they got locked up in some super-secret storage facility by now. Glad they're being put to use.

I feel that material possessions tend to fall into three categories.

Useful.
Pretty.
Trivial.

Obviously the exact category that a particular possession might fall into varies from person to person. I used to own houses, companies and all sorts. But I came to the conclusion - why does a warping Nova who doesn't need to eat, breathe and is immune to extremes of temperature need any of that stuff? My current possessions consist of Eufiber (useful & pretty), firey sword (pretty) and an armtop computer with a few peripherals (useful).

You forgot one. "Useless crap kept because getting rid of it would require expenditure of energy" aka "crap".

I'm a big believer in yard sales. No one wants stuff if you're giving it away but attach a price tag for ten dollars and suddenly they can't resist that gizmo that one of your guests left behind after the pre N-Day celebration. Only had one so far but I've been getting mail from all over the planet asking when the next one is going to be and if there will be charged particle fireworks again.

True. Then again, I keep stuff incase I might NEED IT sometime. Although the last time I had a situation like that, well, I discovered a plasma torch definately isn't a good melee weapon against someone who could GRAB the damned "blade".

You know... you do have a good idea though, but who'd ever have the need for a quad-wave virtual sound array with 360 surround capability?

See? You can't stop talking about it.

I think that some Novas have evolved beyond the tool using paradigm. Some of us simply do not need, stuff.

Other Nova's take the whole tool using paradigm and propel it to it's logical conclusion. They turn the idea on it's head, fire a rocket up it's well proportioned arse and make a miricle out of the mundane. They make Baselines look like chimps shoving sticks into insect mounds and licking the ants off.

It's no wonder that Utopia's Science and Technology division have a Technological Regulation department

Semi-burnt wood (aka charcoal) and plant bits soaked in water (aka paper). Simply elegant.

There are moments I wish I could do things like fix computers, usually a couple of seconds after I trash someone else's, but the truth is that its just not that important to me.

Walker one could argue that the main difference between humans and novas is that, humans use tools, and novas are tools.

Walker, your analogy is perfect. And as for S&T... well... we upset the human's applecart with our ferarri, they sure want to level the playing field afterward, no?

Silly Novas, rights are for Monkeys.

Walker: A fine point. Though I think I fall into both categories, so they're certainly not mutually exclusive.

Ms. Hino, rights are for everybody and it helps if we take an active concern that they are enforced universally. It is only a "Silly Novas, rights are for Monkeys"-world if we let it be.
I understand that Utopian S&T could be used as an economic tool, but so far that does not seem to be the case, paranoia aside. I have had to deal with their safety concerns on numerous occasions, and been rather vigorous in enforcing the rights of independent researchers.
That being said, and because news is already working its way across the Opnet;
Researchers at MIT have successfully conducted a point-to-point warp experiment. It lasted only 3.256 seconds and travelled only 18 meters, but they did it. The apple (I still find the humor in using an apple rather odd) crossed from the established warp point to its established receptor point intact.
I do not thing GateKeeper's job security is in danger, at least not for the next decade, but they did take the first step. They mastered the energy equations and created the computer programs necessary to compensate for universal movement to make their own Warp travel. The have been observing us, but they did it on their own.

Thread creepage is always interesting to observe.

From experience I will maintain a attitude of skeptism regarding the experiment until the results have been reproduced and validated. Decades ago when there was a claim of attaining cold fusion the media trumpeted the results of the experiment and the world paused to marvel at the wonder of it all. It was a remarkable moment in human history. It was also premature. There was no cold fusion and the matter has been largely forgotten except in the scientific community where we must remember such things. Usually as a reminder to validate before announcing.

As my father would often say, "measure twice, cut once."

Edit:
I prefer owning to borrowing or renting. Yes if liquidity were an issue I might resort to those other options however I feel that if one does not own something it does not belong to them, which limits their response options should someone choose to demonstrate the lack of ownership and rights thereof.

I have many things, all of which are useful to me. Some of that usefulness is strictly in matters of status.

Psimon, the next test is scheduled for the fall then we will see. They are still years, if not decades away from "Teleporter Booths". There seems to be more promise for mid- and high-orbital use, but even that is still many years away. Still, getting object outside the gravity well would be of great economic promise for further steps to other planets and the asteroid belt.

It is the results of the experiment conducted for independent validation that interests me rather than another effort by the original team and equipment. While I have no doubt that people all over the world are celebrating, the fact remains that nova involvement or absence has not been established conclusively. I cannot begin to count the number of times in the past decade where initial results by 'baseline technology' couldn't be reproduced by other teams using their own equipment. I would not find it surprising if one of the 'baseline' researchers was complaining of a headache even as we speak.

MIT should never have authorized the press release until all doubts were resolved.

I hope every single word they printed is true, that each and and every one of you has one in your backyard and none of them come with an instruction manual.

Then you can all tell me how fucking funny you think it is.

Interesting.

I have to wonder if you've examined all the ramifications. Does the possibility of warp-bombs delivered anywhere on the globe with pinpoint accuracy tickle your fancy? Perhaps you'd be more interested in the possibilities inherent in a portal generating rifle that can fire hypercore bullets? Think of it; you could stand on the beach in Fiji, pull the trigger and a man dies in Addis Abba. No possibility of being prevented, only a slight chance of being traced but given the current laws on meta-sensory evidence the odds are against you ever being convicted even if they could link you to the gun. Project Utopia, and organizations on both sides of the law, closely monitor the appearance and capabilities of novas demonstrating teleportation, apportation or teleportal gifts.

Do you think they expend the resources because they're worried about any contraband no matter how morally reprehensible it might be or that this technology would be used to put a payload into orbit? I have no faith in the report being accurate but a great many reasons to hope it is not.

Good reason for regulation. thing is, I'm not into stuff like that, and it's usually the baselines who would pervert a scientific achievment into a weapon.

It's almost as if I create only to do good, yet through me, great evil is done anyways.

And I don't think I'd have Baselines alone to blame. If Baselines can put thought into creating a weapon out of Novatech, so can a Nova.

The application for warps being used like that are true. But what does it mater if they have a machine doing it or a Nova me or someone else?

Answer your own question Gatekeeper. What is the difference between you and a machine? Therein lies your answer.

Gatekeeper, technology is a double-edged sword. You're both equally blessed and cursed by it's existance. To say that Technology is inherently good or evil ignores it's other half.

Yes, it could be equally abused by either side of the equation.

As for the differences between man and machine, while the question was pointed toward Gatekeeper, I think I'll answer it as well.

We are not machines. Machines are created by Mankind and Novas. Mankind and Novas were created by Nature/God/Evolution/Chance.

Very true although it was my intention to discuss the matter in a slightly less metaphysical and perhaps slightly more practical sense.

Psimon, you see anything technological in me? In you? In the people you run into every day?

Unless it's medical implants or cybernetic, the answer should be no. I find the whole "People are machines" thing annoying. We ARE NOT flesh and blood toasters!

If we were machines, then why hasn't someone created a biological construct yet? Because it can't be done artificailly.

We can make robots, androids, whatever, but we can't create a living being from scratch.

Just because you can't do it right now doesn't mean it cannot be done my little creampie.

I mean seriously, when are we going to stop showing off our ignorance and baseline mentality by throwing around words like can't and impossible?

Just because we don't know the actual parameters of our powers doesn't mean they don't have limits.

Lots of us can fly.
Lots of us can transform or heal or lift heavy things.
Lots of us can throw quantum bolts.

I've yet to see anyone raise the dead, or create world peace.

Imagine a baseline with a car being teleported back in time 100,000 years.
"Oh, a car. You must be omnipotent".