What's a Psych Chaplain?

[MysticWind]

I know that it's related to The Jesus Incident by Frank Herbert, but just what is a psych chaplain, anyways? Why "chaplain" in the name?

[Zoetrope]

Why "psych"? Maybe Miriam is a chaplain whose job it is to psych people up to better face the hazards of the journey and the perils of Planet.

Incidentally, my take on Miriam is entirely different from the usual view. We know from history that fundamentalist societies can be very pro-science. I don't recall Oliver Cromwell ever objecting to any kind of research; he certainly wasn't Amish when it came to military advances. Likewise in the 30 years' war between Protestants and Catholics in Europe: a fundamentalist conflict if ever there was one.

So why is Miriam's research slow? And what does it mean when a faction (whether Morgan or Yang) goes "fundamentalist"?

Remember how the other faction leaders complain about Zakharov and about you when you use Knowledge. They talk about Zak and you _lacking ethics_. Zak pursues "unfettered research". What I think all this means is that there are NO ethics committees.

Whereas in Power and Wealth, ethics committees provide some checks against unethical research practices (Dr Mengele, anyone?), in Knowledge there are none.

In Fundamentalist, and with Miriam and Domai, ethics committees oversee every aspect of scientific research, and they're vbery proactive, anticipating most potential abuses, and requiring advance justification for every step taken in a research program.

Moreover, the whole society is very alert and watchful, as they are persistently urged to be. This is also why spies find it very, very hard to infiltrate: any stranger and any strange behavior is immediately the talk of the neighborhood, and people are keen to see that it quickly reaches the ears of the authorities.

Medical patients are very safe under a Fundamentalist Miriam: there's no way an unscrupulous doctor is going to avoid being dobbed in if he even begins to misbehave.

Covering up offences is unthinkable. Every victim knows that society is on his/her side.

But a Fundamentalism of this sort is NOT a Police State: because if the Government steps over the line of acceptable behavior, it's in immediate, sustained and severe trouble, too. There are standards to uphold, and neither fear nor favor will sway people's view(s) of what is ethical or unethical.

However, it's not always easy to tell what an ethical course of action will be in the case of new discoveries. That's why the ethics committees are so deliberate in their proceedings, and seek such a wide range of opinions before approving any new research.

In Miriam's case, ethics are of primary importance in their own right.

In Domai's society, the memory is strong of being cheated and mistreated by the more privileged members of their former societies, so they are very wary of anyone who proposes something they do not understand.

This way of viewing Miriam's and Domai's societies is, I am convinced, much more consonant with the personalities of their leaders as presented by the SMAC/SMAX backstories.

[Darrell01]

Well put, good gentleman.

[MysticWind]

I actually thought that it was more about someone who would monitor morale and the psychological health of the crew, but that's good too.

[Hydro]

I view a psych chaplain as a ship’s councilor. Also consider that in the SMAX universe that the USA had become the Christian States of America (or part of it had) and that the role of chaplain could be a sop to get the CSA to pony up funds to the Godless UN for the Unity mission.

Fundamentalist societies can be pro technology if it furthers their ends (e.g. – sticking a sword into the heaving breast of the infidel). But let science contradict or slightly impugn the Truth and the fundis will then try to subvert, suppress, or eliminate the offending heretic and their godless research. Remember Copernicus or Galileo? These fine gentlemen of science felt the wrath of the church for daring to suggest the Bible and edicts of the Holy Church might be tiny bit wrong. We see this same trend today in the USA with the advent of Intelligent Design (or Creationism in a cheap tuxedo) and the efforts to eliminate evolution in school or give ‘equal time’ to ID to suppress evolution. In the view of the fundamentalists the Truth always trumps reason, and that is perhaps the reason that the Believers have their unpleasant -2 research penalty and the further penalty under fundamentalism.

I also see a fundamentalist society as potentially being just as corrupt as any other. Even those that profess to be religous can have significant lapses. Just look into recent US politics or the sordid litany of supposedly godly men who do unpleasant, dodgy, power hungry, greedy, or unspeakable acts. Is God or religious ethics guiding their actions? I certainly hope not. And keep in mind the religiously dominated societies around the world with roving squads of men that mete out punishment for minor offenses (think Taliban), impose what some consider to be severe restrictions on large segments of their society (Saudi Arabia, Iran), or have embarrassing disparities in societal wealth. Are these societies free? Not in the Western sense, and certainly not for those unfortunately enough to be a religious or ethnic minority. Although Western democracies are hardly perfect they do in general offer better protections, and better oversight and checks and balances.

For Zak I see the opposite extreme where the goal of science overrides ethics (societal taboos). This is more for the Uni itself and not for the knowledge SE, which can be a bit confusing. Wealth is more of an economic imperative – I don’t see it having anything to do with ethics one way or the other, besides the credo Greed Is Good (which FM takes up in spades).

Hydro

[Whoha]

Originally posted by Zoetrope
So why is Miriam's research slow? And what does it mean when a faction (whether Morgan or Yang) goes "fundamentalist"?

game balance

[Darrell01]

From looking at Yang's perspective of fundamentalism, his wonders, quotes, and blurbs all tend to talk about overcoming personal pain for the goals of the group or overcoming ying yang dualism. I'd imagine, for him, he'd have a little blue book everyone would run around with, being as his bases and banner tend to be in a blue color. The will of his people not rioting would be just controlled by his general good leadership and base managing skills. His military would be indocrinated and tend to train on their own, giving them the +1 morale. Because everyone was reading the blue book, they might have code words or something so that spies would be easier to find (+2 probe). And finally, people might be less interested in science as they are about reading and looking into the insights of Yang's Little Blue Book (-2 research). Typically, Yang would just use police force with a Police State and cunning mind to avoid efficiency penalties. With fundamentalism, Yang could avoid the invisible efficiency penalties and go Green and get a +2 efficiency. Anyway, that's what I see when Yang goes fundamentalist.

Morgan Fundamentalism: Morgan Media starts a new marketing campaign. Citizens are encouraged to buy and use surveillance and security equipment for thier network node access terminals. There are reminders to constantly change your password every week or so. There are benefits given out to those that do. This energy comes from research grant energy. Morgan Media also justifies the marketing campaign by showing the grevious conditions of the other faction citizens. This makes the Morgan populous the will to get out of their spacious hab facilities and venture into the rest of Planet in order to bring the luxurious Morgan lifestyle to other citizens on Planet.

Gaian Fundamentalism: Well, it is said Lady Deirdre dances naked through the trees. Perhaps it becomes a Druidic like society. Her once peace loving people are suddenly indifferent to military training, knowing that these soldiers will protect their forests and fungus and perhaps sally forth and ensure other faction's forests and fungus are taken care of by the Gaian leadership.

Peacekeeper Fundamentalism: Human Rights Societies spring up all over the Peacekeeper's territory, indoctrinating the people to join in a crusade of sorts to bring the Planet under U.N. rule to obide by the original mission plans given by the sacred ancestors of Earth.

Spartan Fundamentalism: Already heighted military training is encouraged even more. Instead of attending to internal base growth while sacrificing frontier efforts, Spartans in their spare time devote themselves to military training, tactical training, and strategic training. Research suffers, but there is now an indifference to frontier expansion with military units.

Data Angel Fundamentalism: Information Security is a priority over more research. Current information is stored and locked away in Sinder's networks. Her information flows and is not in one place at all the same time, ensuring greater encryption, however research is slowed because all information has to be put in lockdown. As a side benefit, while the Angels are waiting for thier information to be encrypted/inencrypted, they have time to browse other net-pages and gather information on the enemies, thus preparing themselves for attack and defense because they have excellent recon.

Pirate Fundamentalism: Pirates are pirates. What they do is go and party hard! The already lowered base growth is not encouraged by this as people get hurt in bar brawls and such. Research suffers because scientist's interns are out at the bar. Security is heightened because everyone is out in the streets, so people notice people walking around and either invite them in for some fungus-brew, or pick a fight with them. And because everyone is drunk, they are more then ready to raid some coastal town and attack with ferocity.

Caretaker/Usurper Fundamentalism: Alien devotion to Survival and wiping out the competition for Manifold Sixth. Research is guarded heavily with high security interlocks, however research sufferes from increased security inefficiency.

[Kataphraktoi]

We see this same trend today in the USA with the advent of Intelligent Design (or Creationism in a cheap tuxedo) and the efforts to eliminate evolution in school or give ‘equal time’ to ID to suppress evolution. In the view of the fundamentalists the Truth always trumps reason, and that is perhaps the reason that the Believers have their unpleasant -2 research penalty and the further penalty under fundamentalism.

The effort is to eliminate all ideas contrary to evolution, not creationism, from schools. Schools that are run by evolutionists and a pro or neutral stance on creationism can result in career blocks or loss of your job. Get your facts straight Its just part of the old strategy to cry about how your getting attacked by the scary christians so you can get support. You seem to forget the religious background this country has, giving it its freedoms today. Contrast that to the efforts of liberals in france of the same period and their results. True Freedom when you can be arrested and tortured into confession.

Are you saying giving equal time to talking about creationism would undermine evolution? If evolution is such an obvious truth like many say, you should have no problem talking about a hypothetical god. You also seem concerned that the equal time would not be so equal...but why is there no problem with teaching only evolution today? Is it because evolution is The Truth and the kids dont need to hear anything else (did that last line sound familiar? ) or something else? Fear that the brainwashing christians will get you? Every christian i have talked to is a supporter of democracy and the free market. Whats wrong with that ? Sure there are some nuts that would take away freedoms, but not the majority by a long shot

Im amazed again at your narrowminded view of The Truth And The One Way

[Maniac]

I think equal time should be given to the Norse creation myth. Oh, and the Greek one too of course!

[Hydro]

K – we’ll have to agree to disagree. My stance is that ID or Creationism is an interesting philosophy, but it is not science since you can’t test, prove, or disprove it (you can’t prove/disprove a god – so why bother). Therefore, it does not belong in any science class but could very well be taught in a comparative religion, civics, or a psychology class. Perhaps you weren’t aware of the recent Dover PA court decision where the conservative Republican-appointed judge soundly rejected ID as not being science and, therefore, having no place in a science classroom? Or more, that the vast majority of scientists and the vast preponderance of evidence is for evolution – and not the various creationism or creationism-lite ideas that are floating around? Granted, scientists aren’t always right, but they are certainly more self correcting and evidence based than Biblical literalists and their ilk.

As to teachers losing their jobs or having their careers damaged, imagine if a science teacher insisted on teaching that the Earth was flat and that the sun revolved around the Earth (as it states in the Old Testament, as I recall). Or if those same teachers insisted on ‘teaching the controversy’ by introducing evidence for a flat earth and an earth-centric ‘theory’ from the Old Testament or fringe scientists from the Discovery Institute. Both are not science, just like ID and creationism aren’t science. I’d bet teachers that insisted on teaching any of these would have their careers damaged, too, and I would shed no tears (American science in public schools is bad enough as it is, but that’s another topic).

I will agree with you that most Christians aren’t scary - the few that are for me are the ones that want to ban books like Huck Finn, Harry Potter, or Catcher in the Rye, introduce their particular brand of evangelical theology into the science curriculum, and force good little Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, agnostic (etc) boys and girls to recite the Lord’s Prayer or other religious indoctrination. No thanks.

I see churches on every corner and no shortage of those who want to save my soul. For good or ill, the USA is the only religious First World nation, and I hardly think religion is being oppressed or repressed. I do fear the tyranny of the majority, however – especially by those that claim to be doing it for moral reasons.

Hydro

[Chaos Theory]

Hmm... I wonder where an intelligent designer would come from. Would it have its own creator? Did it design itself?

[Darrell01]

Fundamentalism, along with Police State and Democracy, is a way each faction can run its politics.

Police State - The government is run through a police and military beauracracy. There is a department for everything, and many departments fight over jurisdiction. There is spite and back biting. This causes the -2 efficiency. However, the media is run closely by the government and if a few drones are dealt with in some secret punishment sphere, or there is a threat of violence against them, they will not cause trouble and do their jobs as workers because there is no other authority outside of the government and mob rioting. This is the +2 police rating. In all this hubub, one thing that the faction will gains is the ability to support many military units. The faction job of terraformer, new colonist, or random military unit is sure better than getting thrown in the punishment sphere. Therefore there is a high turnout for drones, workers, and citizens who want to join the military, or pay dues to put the police and military on thier side.

Democracy - The government below the faction leader is run through a straight democracy. 2 heads are better than one, and certainly the entire faction populace is better than just one talent. Much of the workings of government and day to day activities is run through a vote. One citizen, one vote. A person is put into office through a vote of his or her performance in the field, and is a meritocracy of sorts, except it is a viewed meritocracy by the voting public. Information is shared on the network nodes in node-logs, or nlogs as well as any faction media. Many of the "most correct" answers are inmplemented and energy is used in the best way possible. +2 efficiency Since information shared, the police cannot use extraordinary means to quell the populace, but there is always a certain amount of support for the police ability to quell some troublemaker drones. With energy being used efficiently, and the lack of police brutality, the citizens can put their efforts toward increasing their base to ensure greater population growth and expansion. +2 growth However, with all this information being shared and much of the effort going into population growth and base expansion, the base has less excess materials and energy to be able to devote to frontier expansion, terraforming, and any vendetta efforts at that time. -2 support

Fundamentalist - The faction indoctrinates citizens into the faction ideals and encourages pro-factionalistic behavior. Any citizens who are known to devote much of their time to furturing the faction cause are put into higher positions, ensuring the loyalty of the citizen. Those who are not are passed up in promotions, also ensuring the people in charge are loyal to the faction. As the loyalty and probe rating increases, the science rating decreases, because less competent people are put in charge. Also, there might be accusations and such, an people in charge of things might have to defend themselves instead of moving forward. Thus research suffers again. Any research gained is put under tight security. Anyone doing research is not allowed to work on the entire project. If they are working on synthetic fossil fuels, they might be working on how to extract molecules and atoms from the environment. They might be working on how to extract every single element, as opposed to just carbon, hydrogen, sulfur, and nitrogen, thus slowing down research.

Fundamentalism doesn't mean people go and pray to God all day and hate technology. Fundamentalism is getting to the core of the faction beliefs and trying to put every little piece of technology justly into the fabric of the society. Security is valued over risk. In security, people aren't as afraid to venture out if they know things are safe at home. Infortunately, those who value safety do not reap the rewards of managing risk.

You know, I'm reading this and I'm realizing, this isn't about "What is a psych chaplain," its about what Fundamentalism means.

This is how I see Psych Chaplain. It is a combination of a psychologist and a chaplain. On the Unity, the earth may not have had enough time to put on one Psychologist and one Chaplain. Why not combine the two positions into one? I imagine Miriam also has a doctorate or 2 in Psychology as well as doctorates in many philosophy and religeons. After all, we are talking about the best Earth has to offer. They will send the most capable people in their areas, and Miriam was it. She just happens to weigh all the religeons and comes to the conclusion that Planet is the new Eden.

[N35t0r]

Originally posted by Kataphraktoi
Are you saying giving equal time to talking about creationism would undermine evolution? If evolution is such an obvious truth like many say, you should have no problem talking about a hypothetical god. You also seem concerned that the equal time would not be so equal...but why is there no problem with teaching only evolution today? Is it because evolution is The Truth and the kids dont need to hear anything else (did that last line sound familiar? ) or something else? Fear that the brainwashing christians will get you? Every christian i have talked to is a supporter of democracy and the free market. Whats wrong with that ? Sure there are some nuts that would take away freedoms, but not the majority by a long shot

As K clarified, the problem is not in creationism being taught, but in it being taught in science classes. Creationism / ID is an interesting idea in itself, and it's got all it's rights to be in a religious study / theology / whatever class, but it's got no room whatsoever inside a science lesson.

[N35t0r]

Originally posted by MysticWind
I know that it's related to The Jesus Incident by Frank Herbert, but just what is a psych chaplain, anyways? Why "chaplain" in the name?

Seing that religion was an important factor on the ship, it's only natural the name of a religious 'rank' got borrowed for position on the 'rank' aboard the ship, especially seing the religious background of the person that was to occupy that post.

[Mr. President]

Isn't it funny that this thread only took one post or less to go off-topic and become a religious-themed flame war? Your fault, Zoetrope, your fault.

[CEO Aaron]

You can't invoke religion without starting a fight. It's the nature of the beast.

I have a question though. What does the original topic have to do with Alpha Centauri?

[Hydro]

CEO - The Jesus Incident is the book that quite clearly was a large part of the inspiration for SMAC - hence, the question on a psych Chaplin.

Any you are quite right about religion (and politics) being a lightning rod.

Hydro

[Xian]

Or, more directly the fact that the game states that Sister Miriam was the "Psych Chaplain" aboard the UN Ship.

[Rand Al'Tor]

Yep, it'san interesting plotpoint. Also interesting to ponder how other factions,except Miriam, would introduce fundamentalism. (Same for other things)

Hmm... maybe an interesting other thread