Posted by Trey Palmer on January 27, 19100 at 23:27:47:
In Reply to: Re: Tamerlane of Pi3 posted by Anders Sandberg on January 25, 19100 at 20:56:13:
: As a first start, Tamerlane would of course need spaceships - hijacking one is a good start. Maybe one could mine Star Trek V
: for ideas (hmm, maybe Tamerlane has some psychodesign or Li to convince people
: to join?).
Nah. Blackmail devices of one stripe or another will do nicely. As will perverting anyone's daemon chips, along with the implantation of the appropriate hardware allowing the daemon to override the person's muscle commands.
What Tamerlane will _really_ need first is a secure planetary base, and that will be Pi3, which is a) what he knows best, b) can potentially out produce industrial greats of BIGV, c) is a source of effective warriors and equipment.
After he pulls that off, interstellar conquest is _possible_, but will he want to do it? Pi3 is potentially hugely rich and if he can unify the tribes beyond his lifetime, it will realize those riches.
Tamerlane may also be the result of the exposure of Pi3 colonists to any version of Li, which deals with their problems of unification quite nicely.
: Bands of tribal Pi3 families with their forest-made devices infiltrating
: the hightech society around them.
This I'd love to see. Technology wouldn't be beyond them, but the social interactions would give them away all the time.
: Maybe even a showdown with the SI - if Tamerlane is of the SI but still independent, he might get his own ideas.
Oh yes, when master and servant part ways, that's when it really gets interesting, especially since I see him as being at the top 99.9%+ of humanity.