Is Alpha Centauri Intellectually Discriminating?

[Clear Skies]

I agree. Although I've been very lucky - I have fantastic teachers this year. Especially for Politics - I can discuss things like the lack of Socialism in America due to the absence of a feudal system, and actually get an intelligent debate rather than just a weird look.

[Uberslacker]

I think Alpha Centauri is very discriminating, but that has never bothered me. I always thought of it as something akin to Orwell's 1984, or Huxley's Brave New World, or any other SF work that viewed humans as basically bastards. It's not that we can't be any better, it's just that we won't. In many ways AC (pretentious mode activated) makes the opinion that no matter how much we learn about ourselves, this knowledge will always be used by some to exert undue control. Even the Trancendence Victory is really a grab for ultimate power. Just remember that AC is not a generic SF game, it has a strong story and background and (good) stories written by people always have a point to make about people.

[Cybergod]

Originally posted by Kassiopeia
Cyber's been reading 1984, he's bound to be a bit paranoid.

That's it! Go to Room 101 now!



And if you read "Brave New World" and saw the distinctions between the "Alpha Pluses" and "Epsilon Semi-Morons" and then look at the "Drones" and "Talents"...

And there's a fact that the dystopian realities of the two novels ("1984" and "B.N.W.") are now closer than you think (in terms of technology etc.).

DOUBLETHINK

[Kirov]

Originally posted by Cybergod
And if you read "Brave New World" and saw the distinctions between the "Alpha Pluses" and "Epsilon Semi-Morons" and then look at the "Drones" and "Talents"...

And then look at the "Alpha Talents" in the Demo game...

THEY are already among us...

[bondetamp]

Originally posted by Cybergod
And if you read "Brave New World" and saw the distinctions between the "Alpha Pluses" and "Epsilon Semi-Morons" and then look at the "Drones" and "Talents"...

... I have real problems seeing any similarities between Brave New World's class divide and SMAC's Drones and Talents.

Alpha Pluses and Epsilons would both be normal citizens in SMAC, doing exactly what they were meant to do. Brave New World was a world without Drones or Talents. Since everybody did what they wanted, there was no need for rebellion.

And, as far as I can see, the divide between Drones, Citizens and Talents is only "elitist" if you take the divide to be a litteral divide between real people. "Drones" is just a graphical representation of the percentage of the population that's vocally unhappy with the leadership. Note that this is almost everyone unless you have some way to quell the repellion (with police) or wow the masses with massive infrastructure.

When you use nerve stapling, I figure that the actual people being nerve stapled don't come back, but the ranks are refilled by people disliking this form of punishment.

(I'm a bit tired. I hope this was coherent ... )

[Adalbertus]

Brave New World was a world without Drones or Talents.

Punishment Sphere or Nerve Stapling? I haven't read the book but if research continued at a good pace, it is nerve stapling. ATROCITY!!!!

[MrWhereItsAt]

It could be seen as the same as those with higher qualifications vs those that barely finished/dropped out of college.

But I don't think the game is showing this in a bad way. Naturally, those sent to Alpha Centauri would have to be rather proficient in a number of fields - the technological and societal elite, if you like. In a society arising from such a group of people it would naturally be that a technocracy of sorts would arise. After a few generations of harsh colonial life, there would not have been the resources nor time to educate many of the newborns to Talent status - everyone's just trying to stay alive. As infrastructure grows and people adapt, Talents arise.

But none of this in the game need be seen in a bad light. In fact, I like to believe that something that all factions would see is the need to raise all citizens to Talent level - that the urge to improve the lives of their fellows for everyone's good is paramount to concerns of most SE choices. The only differences would be what factions see as a "Talent" - for the University it would be the academics, for the Drones the skilled technicians, for the UN the smoothtalkers

[Urban Ranger]

Don't forget the Punishment Sphere also removes any Talents you might have in the cities with the Spheres, so it's not discriminating.

[MattyBoy]

Not only did you find a girlfriend, CG, but she has turned you to new concerns, it would seem.

I loved Brave New World and interpreted it similarly to the way Uberslacker did. It seems that SMAC has a similar style to BNW, but it cleverly presents alternative futures to battle against one another.

If you don't want elitism, I would be concerned about the current capitalist world, rather than worrying over what SMAC presents. But then, I'd only get really bothered about it if I gave up on establishing a foothold for myself in the elite classes

[Frankychan]

Well, seeing as how I'm always running police state, i'd have to say no. so long as the talents contribute to the welfare of society and the drones keep being productive, my governmental style suits me just fine!

so, no, i don't think that it's intellectually discriminative.

[Cybergod]

Still, more than a third of voters are on my side...

But seriously I just wished to discuss about the realpolitik world today and how it is visualised in this computer game, which is meant to represent the "future of mankind". If this is continued in other computer games, this might set a future trend in educating people to be classist and elitist, and see others as just another subject to be exploited.

But as all the factions seem to take a different view on the issue, I guess the game finds a slight balance.

And sorry if I rant too much - Maria says I should be free to discuss any subject I wish...

[MattyBoy]

Maria's right, of course.

And the game is mostly populated with self-serving bast&rds with pragmatic society models. However there are exceptions (Dierdre, Drones).

In the end, I would be far more concerned about people educated by Carmaggedon, Doom and Mortal Kombat than those spoilt by too much SMAC.

[Mr. President]

I agree. Carmageddon teaches us that running over people in cars is funny. Mortal Kombat suggests that it is possible to rip a man's heart out using only one hand. And Doom . . . well, Doom just scares the heck out of me.

[Sikander]

Originally posted by Mr. President
I agree. Carmageddon teaches us that running over people in cars is funny.

It isn't? Damn, that's a lesson I learned in "Deathrace 2000", back in the 1970s. I'm not sure if I can supress at least a giggle when I come across a scene of fatal road rage. Are you sure it's not funny?

[Mr. President]

Okay, maybe it's a little funny.