The Bridge Project

[witchbells]

Type (e.g. Planet, Faction, System):

Organization.

 

Describe this proposal in a single sentence (12 word maximum):

Group that sets out to bridge the gap between organics and synthetics.

 

How will this be reflected on-station?

In concept, I want it to be something that characters can work towards in the background and connect with. We have a number of groups in our universe, but I don't feel like there's anything pertaining to the study of artificial intelligence like this. And, of course, the possibility of affiliated paraphernalia for characters to carry around.

 

Does this faction/etc do anything not achieved by what already exists?

I feel like there are a number of organizations aimed at researchers and science types in the lore, but I feel like this would fill a wonderful scifi niche that we're currently missing.

 

Why should this be given to lore developers rather than remain player created lore?

I want everyone to have access to this idea.

 

Do you understand that if this is submitted, you are signing it away to the lore team, and that it's possible that it will change over time in ways that you may not forsee?

This is something I want to be available to all players to play with, including the lore team. I think the existence of such an organization could offer a lot to the ongoing stories of our universe.

 

Long Description:

"The Bridge Project" is a thinktank that functions loosely as an organization and is open to AI researchers, programmers, and roboticists of all colors who have an interest in bridging the gap between synthetics and organics. There aren't many perks to being part of the project except for the research that contributors share with eachother, but it requires no membership fees and accepts people of any background, making it accessible to everyone from notorious scientists to new students.

Members claim that by sharing research and resources among themselves, their own research projects flourish. However, the nature of the organization makes it so that it can be difficult to claim some aspects of research as wholely your own.

The organization's standing fluctuates between systems - while viewed as outright dangerous by the Jargon Federation, Dominia, and parts of Sol, it enjoys favor in Tau Ceti thanks to how research is shared between members, leading to strides in AI technology. Despite this, openly admitting membership or praising the project can be seen as a dangerous act in some places, and some of its more prolific members can have issues when traveling.

[Chada1]

I love this and it reminds me of what the SSTA (Synthetic Sentient Theory and Application) and the Spark Theorem which used to be really big things in Synth' lore. I think this'd work really well especially if the current 'Synthetic Intelligence front' thingo, the one with the armband, was folded into it.

I think it'd also be really cool if the majority of the members and/or funding was gathered from the Trinary Perfection

Edited July 27, 2020 by Chada1

[Carpe Venenum]

I'm confused. What does bridging the gap mean, in particular? What kind of research do these people do?

[Kintsugi]

I think this proposal is rather vague, and some more detail is needed - because what they actually do seems rather unclear at the moment.

[Zundy]

Yes, give us an example of what they do! We demand it!

[witchbells]

More words because I'm bad at making lots of them. I hope I can clear up some of the ambiguities of my proposal.

 

When I say that the project functions as a thinktank, I mean that it's a collective of people sharing their research for the good of the field itself and for synthetic lifeforms. Some examples of things their members would tackle are things like expanding the senses of synthetic lifeforms, like olfactory receptors, coatings for shells with haptic feedback, porous cooling systems, gustatory receptors, artificial musculature instead of actuators, and various other experiments that today would fall somewhere in line of "theoretical bullshit science." It takes a lot of work on the programming fronts to make all of this work, and even more so to work together, and members of the project have produced multiple variations of a software that acts as a "nervous" system, linking all of these senses together. This is what I mean by "bridging the gap" - all research affiliated with the project can, in some way, benefit the idea of making synthetic lifeforms function more like humans, or unathi, or what have you. Due to the nature of this research, organics have benefited from it, too - developments have been made in treating nervous disorders and prosthetic limbs/organs.

 

I also like to think of the organization having somewhat of an "open source" policy, which is why I briefly talked about how it can be difficult to claim some aspects of research as your own, but members of the project usually know what they're getting into upon entering it - if information is freely available, it comes with the assumption that your research will be freely available, as well, all for the betterment of science. This means that their members might have difficulty in research positions in mega corporations, and may be more secretive about their findings if they haven't given it to the project yet. It's generally frowned upon if members of the project patent their research, and those who do this will lose favor with the project over time.

 

14 hours ago, Chada1 said:

I think it'd also be really cool if the majority of the members and/or funding was gathered from the Trinary Perfection

Yeah, I can see this! An organization like this needs lots of funding, especially since their work isn't being made for the sake of filling already fat pockets.

[niennab]

My fear is that as is, the lore provided is a bit bare bones would require a lot on the part of the lore maintainers involved to fluff the canonization up. Unless, in it's current form, we lumped it in as a branch to an existing organization such as the Trinary Perfection. Would you be able to make a draft that's more wiki suitable as well?

[niennab]

In an effort to clean up the lore canonization section I'll deny this one due to it's inactivity but there's the possibility we might take portions from this in developing a new SIM.

If you'd like to pick it back up, I recommend trying to either expand on it, or append it to an existing piece of lore. Some thoughts I'd have is how the group operates beyond research. Do portions of the group travel across known space? The Frontier? If so, for what purpose? Do they lobby governments? How are their ideals different from the Trinary Perfection? Or, how are they similar? How do the member's developments interact with the mega-corporations? Are the mega corporations constantly vying for their stuff? Are they forced to sell their ideas so the researchers can continue their work unabraded? etc etc.