SOMA Short Stories

**stef** · 10-15-2015, 04:59 PM

After reading this I feel like mankind's IQ is lower than amoeba's.

**Dundle** · 10-15-2015, 06:03 PM

I never got the impression that Strasky was dumb enough to fall for the "continuity" idea. It is surprising how large an amount of the Pathos-2 staff just come off as morons.

**GhylTarvoke** · 10-15-2015, 07:05 PM

I don't think the continuity idea is that dumb. If life in PATHOS-II isn't worth living, and a copy of you will live on in the ARK, why not kill yourself?

It's like the transporter thought experiment. Since a copy of you ends up somewhere else, it doesn't matter that the original was destroyed.

**caffeine4671** · 10-15-2015, 08:52 PM

(10-15-2015, 06:03 PM)Dundle Wrote: I never got the impression that Strasky was dumb enough to fall for the "continuity" idea. It is surprising how large an amount of the Pathos-2 staff just come off as morons.

That's why I made the thread entitled 'Is sarang a complete idiot?' and made the cut-n-paste analogy. Sarang literally (and not just him making a flowery analogy)had these idiotic and phantasmagorical ideas about the "reality" of cut-n-pasty that were based on lunacy and wishful fulfillment.

Maybe it's not so surprising that some of the staff would turn to religion, given the peculiar and apocalyptic circumstances. Still, Sarang was an intelligent man who I took to understand how AIs and basic biology worked. That's why it was so unbelievable.

**GhylTarvoke** · 10-15-2015, 09:31 PM

I'll put it another way. One philosophical model of consciousness is that "you" are simply a pattern of information. If so, "you" will only be preserved aboard the ARK if the two patterns of information - namely, the one in your physical body and the one in your digital body - are identical. Allowing your physical body to live on would destroy this identity.

I personally think this is hogwash, but it's a consistent point of view.

**GrAVit** · 10-16-2015, 02:07 AM

That ending was really sad though. Poor people having their hopes crushed and poor Catherine for having to witness that and even receive the blame from some. Sad

**PathOS** · 10-16-2015, 06:47 AM

I'm very torn on this.

I know it is easy to point and laugh at the stupidity of many of the Pathos-II workers for either buying into the ARK so blindly or for believing in Mark Sarang's bull. But one has to step outside themselves and consider the extreme situation these people are living in.

The world has come to an end. Everyone except them are dead. The surface of Earth is uninhabitable and you'll be stuck under the sea for the rest of your life in a dank claustrophobic metal tomb. Not to mention the WAU going crazy and beginning to transform everything with the structure gel.

You can bet that Cabin Fever would set in no matter what. People cooped up together in isolated places for long periods of time will eventually let the stress get to them and go nuts. And it likely happened to Sarang and the rest fell like Dominos.

**Paddy™** · 10-16-2015, 02:45 PM

Good Bye Mr Munshi

http://somagame.com/item-4530.html

**Dundle** · 10-16-2015, 07:19 PM

The latest one about Munshi I felt really expanded upon the depth of his character. I think that's one of the nice things about these short stories.

Shouldn't it be "Doctor" Munshi since he eventually got his doctorate I presume? May be too small a thing to nitpick about.

**Paddy™** · 10-17-2015, 03:04 PM

How to Climb a Mountain

http://somagame.com/item-4540.html