Re: Some FT background stuff (guidelines for writers)

On Wed, 11 Feb 1998, Thomas Barclay wrote:

> 
> We know there IS such a thing as kinesthetic memory. We know that 
> this underlies much military training (to reduce actions to the 
> physical/instinctual level). We know that these tasks eventually 
> operate at a level you aren't aware of. (Ever walked away from your 
> house, went back to check if you locked it? It was locked because you 
> had such a habit of this that you do it automatically and you 
> actually have to think to observe it - so sometimes you do it and 
> then go "Did I do it? I don't remember..." Why?  Because it happened 
> at such a low level conscious mind memory wasn't involved.) Now, 
> whether we can use somnabalist teaching to condition muscles faster 
> and more effectively than current 'waking' repetitions, well that is 
> the question of the day....
> 
> Tom. 

Well, if people are willing to accept that insect-like aliens are "born"
to fight and even have the capability to use energy weapons from
hard-wired reflexes there shouldn't be any stretch of the imagination to
apply that to humans.  I would suspect that as systems get more complex,
human pilots would in fact become phyically redundant as a part of the
ship system since there would be some type of "neurosensor" a la Firefox
that would translate the pilot's thought into a maneuver or action and
that in reality the pilot would be encased in some nasty highly
oxygenated
gel with tubes going every which way.  So there would actually be no
need
for the pilot to move or even wiggle an eyeball to control the ship.
Obviously it would be much easier to train just the human brain rather
than having to build up all the required physical reflexes.  In fact a
computer combat simulator would perform all the necessary mental
exercises.  The down side would be that pilots would mentally fatigue
much
quicker since every thought could be interpreted by the computer to be
meaningful and thus produce some odd results and so a pilot would have
to
be at a high level of awareness the whole time he was plugged in.

But while encased in a gel it might be possible to pull dozens of G's (
a
la Forever War) if properly encased.  And I would suspect that the
electronics/neural nets would be heavily shielded/redundant such that
EMP/radiation effects are minimal except for a direct hit.  The only
reason for there to be a pilot within the craft would be the ability of
the enemy to block communications with the craft or a time delay.

--Binhan