History Headscratchers / ArmitageIII

>on the issue of genetics, i suspect that they had more than enough genetic diversity available to them to avoid inbreeding, especially since the Thirds probably used blended genetic sequences in their creation. the main bottleneck they were facing was simple one of birth rate. there weren't enough women in the colony able to have kids to sustain enough growth rate to stay independent. presumably part of this was due to the fact that as a colony many of those women would have been working in positions where they can't easily take the reduced schedules or time off needed to have kids and raise them. It is also heavily indicated that the population of the colony skewed more towards the male to begin with. Thirds solve both issues, in that they can be mass produced, they boost the population of women in the colony, and can have kids thus boosting population growth two different ways. the alternative to the thirds, and the one they eventually had to take, was boosted immigration from earth. which required them to give up much of their independence to meet earth's political demands.

*** And the end result is not only a sociopath, but a megalomaniac. I imagine the Martian authorities tried to grow babies in beakers but the only method that worked was plugging them into AIs. The next logical step was, "Hey! We have smart sexbots, just put the plumbing in them!" Thirds are basically reverse-{{Hollywood Cyborg}}s - a synthetic brain with human plumbing instead of a human brain in a synthetic casing. Pluto notes that "That's why the Thirds were made to be so human, not just physically, but emotionally. It takes more than the right plumbing to procreate." They grew the soft parts in a beaker(one of which is seen in the final scenes of the series, in Dr. Asakura's lab on Dunwich Hill), and stuck high-end AIs in their skulls.

** Okay, outside references here: Creator/LarryNiven, Creator/JerryPournelle and Creator/StevenBarnes wrote a book called "Beowulf's Children", and its primary antagonist is a "Bottle Baby" AKA child gestated in PeopleJars. Gonna quote now, WallOfText:

** Okay, outside references here: Creator/LarryNiven, JerryPournelle and StevenBarnes wrote a book called "Beowulf's Children", and its primary antagonist is a "Bottle Baby" AKA child gestated in PeopleJars. Gonna quote now, WallOfText:

*** Most likely, the Thirds are like [[Series/BattlestarGalacticaReimagined the humanoid Cylons]] - constructed with both artificial parts (likely their skeletons and nervous systems are artificial, and possibly augmented with greater physical strength and stamina than the average human) and organic tissues (everything else, especially the "plumbing").

*** Most likely, the Thirds are like [[BattlestarGalacticaReimagined the humanoid Cylons]] - constructed with both artificial parts (likely their skeletons and nervous systems are artificial, and possibly augmented with greater physical strength and stamina than the average human) and organic tissues (everything else, especially the "plumbing").

--->"Some kind of academic dominance game was going on. Those can get nasty. I think some of their theories got sent and some got buried. Numbers, too. One theory had to do with the endocrinal flux in the uterus. The numbers we got suggest that the actual ebb and flow of biochemical products as the mother is awake, asleep, afraid, hungry, tired, sexually stimulated, whatever...is a form of communication between mother and child. It's another nutrient...an emotional nutrient, if you will, as important as blood or oxygen. When you try to create a computer program to simulate the messages that a mother sends to her child, you have to remember that it is a feedback loop between the mother and the fetus. Thousands of fetuses were studied, and the ways that their mothers responded to them were recorded, and a refinement of everything that was learned was created for use in the creches. Except camel is a horse designed by committee. There is a difference between the clumsy elegance of the human body and the sophisticated, intellectual choices made by a committee of experts deciding which endocrinological experiences are good for baby. They tried to round out the experience. This mood swing was inappropriate, that orgasmic response pattern was a biochemical form of child abuse, a mother experiencing anger is damaging her child. The liberals swung the profile one way, the conservatives another. Too many morphemes. Too much adrenaline. Chill those kiddies out."

** Okay, outside references here: LarryNiven, JerryPournelle and StevenBarnes wrote a book called "Beowulf's Children", and its primary antagonist is a "Bottle Baby" AKA child gestated in PeopleJars. Gonna quote now, WallOfText:

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