In real life, what faction would you be part of? (Includes all 14 factions)

[Barinthus]

Originally posted by Jamski
Oh, this poll returns

Yeah when someone commented on one of other poll (weakest or strongest factions) being better than which faction you'd want to join poll - I knew one was coming up soon.

[Maniac]

Originally posted by SynthetGod8

You would have been a great Cyborg in the AC Democracy Game.

[Lazerus]

Depends on what i would be within that faction ie, drone/worker/talent/authority figure

[Frankychan]

Originally posted by Jac de Molay
A communist dictatorship like a Hive. A harsh environment like Planet is not the place for a democracy.

This has got to be one of the best comments I have seen in regards to faction selection.

And as a no brainer-----I pick the Hive. People think of him as a crackpot dictator, I see him as an enlightened individual.....

[CEO Aaron]

Morganites: I utterly despise the greedy, so I wouldn't enjoy the company of people in this faction. I'd probably end my working life in a boring 9-5 desk job, living in a cubicle not unlike a sardine tin. As if I'm not depressed enough already! Not to mention my disdain for capitalism as it stands (and no, I'm not a commie, I just think people place undue importance on hard currency, and because of that, good, honest people suffer needlessly)

I'd say this is a classic case of familiarity breeding contempt. I'd have to say that I chose Morgan the last time this poll ran, and I'm choosing them again for the same reasons:

Hab limits: Morganites get more spacious and luxurious living quarters. Did everyone forget this? All those Hivers living in an underground hole eating soylent green, and the Gaians surviving off kelp crunchies can go screw, I'm going to make sure I get the good stuff.

Free Market Economy and Wealth values: I'm certainly not going to claim that unchecked materialism is the solution to the world's problems, but of all the factions' belief values and belief systems, Morgan's is the only one that's ever made sense to me. Historically speaking, societies focused on the creation of wealth DO create a better life for the vast majority of their citizens, and ironically, collectivist sociteties focussed on enforcing equality have consistently devolved into poverty-stricken despotisms. The free market may not be perfect, but it's the only way I want to live.

[Dansz]

Probably the Cybernetic Consciousness, unless things were done like the "Borg" on Star Trek. I sometimes wish I didn't have emotions to worry about anyway. Just don't go near any magnets!

[Lefty Scaevola]

I would take the Cult of Isis faction, from

https://www.networknode.org

[Method]

cyborgs. Don't try and tell me it wouldn't totally kick ass.

[CEO Aaron]

It wouldn't totally kick ass.

... oh ... sorry, DON'T tell you. My bad.

[Nubclear]

Re: Re: Re: Angels all the way

Originally posted by Maniac


Did our shining example in the ACDG convince you?

................No

Humanity for all its existence has recognized that humans are unfit to govern themselves. If the irrational part of us was eliminated, wonders beyond our comprehension could be discovered

[Jamski]

Come on, you need to get in shape, kick some butt, get a gun, protect your family... There's other factions out there, and some of them are dirty commies, and some of them are dirty money grubbers, and some of them are tree hugging hippies, or oh-so-nice liberals... well, when the mindworms come knocking, when the planet busters are falling you'll be glad your dad joined the Spartans and learnt to protect you, my son.

/me has a Singularity Laser mounted on his pick-up *

-Jam

[Nubclear]

Jamski is such a hick

The superior technology of the Cybernetic Consciousness shall ensure Cyborg supremacy over both the backwards people and the indigenous lifeforms of Planet.

[GSTEIN]

I have noticed in various threads, including this one, the general acceptance of the pernicious myth that dictatorships are more efficient and can guard their people better than democracies. This has been disproved so many times that it is strange it still survives.

For example, the the huge world wars of the 20th centuries who won, the democracies or the dictatorships? Dictatorships are inherently inefficient and incompetent.

Many people in this thread base their choice on survivability. Yes, we all want to live but that is not THE most important thing. Courage and morality also enter into it. Could those of you whose like the despots like Yang actually torture and murde human beings because they will not believe as you do, act as you do?

I would live in any faction that has a republican form or government because a free people are not only happier than the slaves of dictators that are more competent, productice and better at warfare that the despotic murderers.

[Trithemius]

Orginally post by Jac de Molay
A communist dictatorship like a Hive. A harsh environment like Planet is not the place for a democracy.

Democracies are capable of rapid and direct action - often, paradoxically, through the use of calculated autocracy; namely the elected dictator. I assume that the reason that Lal and other democratic faction leaders are constantly at the heads of their factions is because the are consistently elected to the position of absolute authority.

I also strongly disagree with the idea that the Hive is in any way Communistic. Arguably it is Stalinist, but Marx would be turning in his grave to see his theory associated with a character who is described as "The Despot" (although I think Yang should be described as "The Statist"). I refer you to the information here; I think it is clear that Yang is not a Communist, but a supporter of radical autocracy. The closest thing in AC to a (theoretical coherent) Communist is Foreman Domai of the Free Drones, who effectively overseeing a 'dictatorship of the proletariat' in pursuit of a Marxist Utopia.

Originally posted by Frankychan
And as a no brainer-----I pick the Hive. People think of him as a crackpot dictator, I see him as an enlightened individual.....

Just because he is enlightened and well organised doesn't mean being a drone in his society would be a sack of laughs.

Orginally posted by GSTEIN
For example, the the huge world wars of the 20th centuries who won, the democracies or the dictatorships? Dictatorships are inherently inefficient and incompetent.

I'd say that this is not totally correct. The dictatorships in Italy and Germany were cartelistic abominations whose ideology was desperately cobbled together from wisps of air. This is not to rule out the idea that a centrally planned dictatorship would function better in a society with technologies like Planetary Networks. Centrally planned societies are neccessarily less "efficient" than societies that are 'self-organising'. The problem is the 'effective range' of the administration; with improved networking techs it is theoretically possible to extend the "range" of the central state to the peripheries of the society, something which is impossible currently. Hayek articulates the point you are getting at, but I think that the technology in AC might permit a centrally planned society that did not lapse into dictatorship and/or economic chaos (it should be considered that Hayek was rabidly anti-socialist ).

I would also strongly disagree with the idea that dictatorships are "inherently incompetent".

Finally, I would point out that the Soviet Union was critical in the winning of the Second World War and that Stalin was a stereotypical a dictator as you could ask for.

[Cosmic]

The Gaians

Looking inside the game, I usually start to think that in Alpha Centauri I´m a part of something very different from what we had on earth. Its a new reality, a new planet, a new paradigm. We´re talking about a planet with life pumping on it like we never sttoped to pay attention while in earth. In a new planet, new values must be generated. The Gaians are, at least for me, not a simple crazy-tree faction (the AI is stupid, its the truth as we all know very well at this point).

In my opinion, they just look to the planet as a living being. The preservation of this planet isnt a romantic point of view, its just good-sense. From humans that now seek to understand their own nature, humans that seek transcendence. People in a new world with new ideologies in their heads. I remember that the some political and economic problems of the old world were in big part the creators of the war and destruction. If we bring those values here, we´re fadded to go into the exact same end.

As humans start to know more about their own nature, they star to understand that they have more in common with the the planet as they never dreamt.

And then we learn about resonance. We learn about mental powers, and we understand what is psychic from the fungus. And we learn that we can do exact the same. Are we SO different from they?. We are just different in evolutionary point of view. I´m not saying that I fall in love with fungus, but I do start to think about what Kri´Lan tought to Cha´Daw (when he start, after much training, to see the far flung manifolds. And start to see the planet as a mass of violent energy).

We all are made from energy, the fungus know very well how to use it. Lets just learn with then. Learn with the planet. I prefer to leave those pre conceived ideas of the old world aside and start something new. And when the human race transcends then we perceive that we have MUCH MORE in common with planet. We are a part of it. And at this point, we perceive that we have so much more to learn...


The social values are:

Politics:
Democracy (one of the best ideas of the old world, I´ll take it now. A world free to everybody to think and act freely. We need to think in group to take new decisions in a new environment. Political freedom is the key)

Economics:
Green (using resources to live a decent life, and learning to use what planet has to offer. Remember that with research all the factions start to use more resources from a same fungus square. Terraforming is a alternative in the beginning of the game when we know little what we can do with the natural resources of the planet. But in later game, lets forget this idea of Terraform, or "Formation like Earth", because this planet isnt Earth. And the fungus prove to be a more interesting resource. And I´m not even talking of the Manifold Harmonics yet).

Values:
Knowledge (learn about the planet and learn more about the human being and its own capabilities. A society where everybody are encouraged to study, develop critical sense and see the planet as a big laboratory, using it to create a new future. A better one, indeed).

Future Society:
Eudaimonic (where every individual is free to show everything he/she have of more valuable to the rest of the society. Where people work to produce a better society for everyone to live. Cities that are build in harmony with the planet, where people are truly happy as human beings. Where everyone is free and know that the future lies not in destruction, greedy, lack of ethics, fundamentalism, control of mind and other primitive tools that prevented the humanity for so many time to embrace their transcendence).