Official "Discuss the latest page" thread

[atpollard]

Priestly celibacy/chastity ... dammit, can't remember which one is the correct term, there is a difference, was for some reason that I can't remember offhand.

celibacy = unmarried

chastity = a virgin = never had sex.

A Priest must be celibate.
A man can be a widower before taking the vows of celibacy and becoming a priest - but he would not then be chaste.

[Dhraakellian]

Wait, Christians don't think about sex?

I must be doing something wrong...

Indeed, t's often the prudes who have the dirtiest minds.

And being willing to wait does not automatically imply total disinterest.

Priestly celibacy/chastity ... dammit, can't remember which one is the correct term, there is a difference, was for some reason that I can't remember offhand.

Nepotism.[citation needed]

Aaand... back on topic...

In an age where one can have fully functional sensory input with the vast majority of one's skin replaced by augs, I'd expect the *ahem* fully functional aspect to have been mastered as well. Somethin' you're not telling us, Whisper?

Or would that just mean that she'd have to—space poodles forbid—wear pants?

[charles]

Maybe the augs for sex are available but she never had them installed or, even for people who need them as a result of disability, they're not really something people generally get installed because it still doesn't feel like their body which is feeling intimate. All sorts of reasons including technology possibly not simulating the experience for the person with the Augs very well.

Yeah, Whisper pulled out her awesome in this page. Past her fears and reservations, she's just pulls out her old self. I'd like to predict a kiss in the next page but I suspect we're changing chapters.

On a side note: I wonder if they checked where the pre-calculated jump was taking them before hitting the button... It was a destination that Mensk or his crew had put in. *meh* likely just a short distance jump to safety for emergency purposes.

[jae]

"chaste" doesn't mean "never had sex" - it means not having sex outside of a right relationship. In old Scotland, a couple could be "married" simply by declaring themselves married -- any sexual encounter would be "chaste" provided they stayed within that relationship. Conversely, I don't think someone behaving lasciviously and in such a way as to arouse sexual feelings would be called "chaste", even if they didn't "have sex" (as in the famous line "I did not have sex with that woman") .

Good thought about the unknown destination. And also about the lack of luxury in the crew's quarters -- the shadow of Mensk is still hanging over this situation. I'm assuming, by the way, that the album cover on the wall is a leftover from the previous occupant -- or is changing a picture in these cabins a lot like changing the wallpaper on a computer? In which case, will Daniel change his now?

[TheMrLee]

Last week, I was sad about Whisper's never had, can't have sex thing—with all that augs can do sensory-wise, it just didn't feel right. But I like the story line. And from an animation point of view, I want to see if David can pull off a kiss that looks half-way convincing. My guess is that is one of the biggest difficulties with any computer animation and especially hard without a super good facial rig.

[charles]

They kissed in page 26 of chapter 8. Looking back, that seemed to work rather well. I know what you mean though. Computer graphics generally have difficulty when you try to add in the effect of the skin bending or pressing up against something so the lips don't always look molded together well. They often look like they've jut been put close or even within each other rather than bending. I don't know if david hit it by not closing in, with darker lighting or actually went to the trouble of making it realistic, but I think he pulled it off rather well.

Yeah, I liked the added touch of not making the crew's quarters luxurious. The wall hanging is probably a computer screen, but its likely also some kind of access terminal and possibly a television screen which just sets to the poster (or a changing set of posters/pictures) for a screen saver. There was a small one above Kari's bed on the Danzig (only displaying "REPORT FOR DUTY" but I'm sure it was a screen that could display anything). Niobe seemed to have a more obvious, older terminal in the Captain's quarters and we saw Kari hacking Niobe's ship log from what looked like a wall mounted screen which may have been in her room, although I had the feeling it might be something that was installed later. Niobe's over 100 years old so I don't think we can compare her to the facilities available in modern ships.

[warriorpoet2020]

I like the story alot, but the last two pages have given me issues on the technology. Considering that limb regeneration technology is a foreseeable possibility in the near future, that nanotechnology is already coming into practical existence, that neural interface chips exist in the first experimental phases and that there are now animatronic devices that can do a pretty good job of mimicking human facial expressions, I have a much harder time believing that Whisper's body can't be fixed several hundred years in the future than I would believing her every physical injury could be fixed completely as if they never happened.

Making augs look natural would have been one of the first things engineers would do. Making them feel natural would have been the second. Sexual replacements would exist, because cyberizing a sexual human being into a nonsexual body would have a potential of leading to cyberpsychosis, or the expression of hardwired unfulfillable sexual desire in unhealthy ways. Seeing as having obvious metal body parts and a completely monstrous and inexpressive face already starts one on the road down toward sociopathy, having no replacement for sexual organs would be the powerful capper leading to homicidal cyberpsychosis. Societies don't function when superhuman beings are flipping out and killing folks on a regular basis.

Author's prerogative on the universe, of course, but I would hope to see some solution presented, even if expensive and difficult to afford, if their relationship gets to the big M. Also, I apologize if that seemed like an attack. I write scifi as a hobby and I've gotten to the point where I see implications of technology automatically.

[charles]

On the idea of making Augs look natural. Ring did ask Whisper why she didn't get a full dermal simulcrum with a proper skin texture which would almost make her look normal. She commented that she didn't because she wasn't normal. So obviously the technology to make augs look natural does exist but apparently the "off the shelf" models don't normally have it and its apparently very expensive. Beyond that, it appears that Augs are also a bit of a fashion accessory for some, who enjoy showing them off.

http://www.davidcsimon.com/crimsondark/ ... trip_id=98

As for sexual organs. Again, they might be available but expensive and Whisper may have avoided them for her own mental reasons (like she avoided the skin) or possibly they don't reproduce the sensations of sex very well. A lot of those organs are also responsible for creating and releasing the sexual hormones so the Libido might not be so high (Although admittedly, it would be easy enough to take hormone injections or have the augs designed to inject them into the remaining flesh requiring refilling once in a while).

Its hard to say on the idea of growing body parts back or rebuilding them. Christianity is obviously still present so maybe it had certain objections over the technology for some reason or another, or once Augs were invented, the development of body regrowth/rebuilding came to a stall. Heck, they were predicting that Electric cars would take over petrol based ones back in 1903, but it never eventuated because the oil was readily available and cheap so very little funds went into the research.

Heck, I seem to recall they've managed to successfully transplant an entire human arm from a dead man to a living one who was missing his. Imagine if they got a similar enough lower body of another woman who was a body donor and simply joined it to Whisper's. Even presuming that you couldn't completely attach the body to her living one, you'd simply have augs between her natural body and the foreign one. Transplanted lungs and other organs and she's good to go (Again, movements such as the "human purity" one may have made such technology illegal).

[jae]

it's apparently very expensive"

As indicated above -- I don't think this is a problem forWhisper (or was, anyway). There seems to have been bulk money available for her care for years, and I can't believe that if she had wanted to look "normal" she couldn't have organised it.

I think she is defiantly and deliberately forcing people to see her (and accept her?) as NOT-normal, because that's how she sees herself.

The idea of transplanting a half-body... very intriguing!
It may not just be the Human Purity Movement (which I don't think is very powerful?) which could be inhibiting this course of action - it may be that by the 27th century there have been indications (or more!) that the self and memory are not just in the head, and that transplants carry a lot of baggage -- including memories of death. (yes, wildly out on limb here!)

And of course there's the persistent impression that augs are the sane and sensible way to go -- as common as carrying a mobile phone. Transplanting human parts might be seen as retrograde.

[charles]

The idea of transplanting a half-body... very intriguing!
It may not just be the Human Purity Movement (which I don't think is very powerful?) which could be inhibiting this course of action - it may be that by the 27th century there have been indications (or more!) that the self and memory are not just in the head, and that transplants carry a lot of baggage -- including memories of death. (yes, wildly out on limb here!)

LULZ!

Yeah. Again, I'm thinking that the technology quite possibly didn't progress that far since Augs were available. However, I also seem to recall Doctor Taylor mentioning that the technology to save her didn't exist 10 years ago (probably about 15 years ago now) that that only now does she really have a reasonable chance of being able to lead a normal life.

http://www.davidcsimon.com/crimsondark/ ... rip_id=205

Maybe Augmentation technology for civilian use and medical knowledge in general had been held back significantly due to the wars and/or Daranir's seperation from the UTC.