On Aug 8, 2014, at 7:05 AM, Freelance Traveller <xxxxxx@freelancetraveller.com> wrote:

>
> (Incidentally, while the universe of Sector General isn't really
> Traveller-compatible, the stories are still good reads, and
> recommended.)
>
> Having explained the basics, I now pose some questions:
>
> 1. What Traveller (Classic/Mega/Mongoose) Tech Level would be
>   represented by such recordings?
>

This is essentially personality recording and implanting.

I would put it at ‘Not Available Here’ TL, because the canowyrms it represents. (if you can implant the personality and skills of an alien Doctor into your head, there is much much mischief that can be done doing it between members of the same species. See, for example, the Joss Whedon series ‘Dollhouse’ <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1135300/>, which is essentially the same concept.)

It is much more likely that expert systems + robotic surgery bots (which we have now) would be utilized.

> 2. Assuming that the TL is low enough, would this be in use in the
>   Imperium on any sort of widespread basis? Or would it smack too much
>   of "evil Zho mind-raping psionics" and thus be shunned?
>

I really expect that such technology would be repressed both because of the ‘evil Zho mind raping’ aspects as well as the ‘Dollhouse’-esque mischief that could be done with the tech. TPTB would have great incentive to keep this to themselves.

This would provide a great basis for a Trav adventure. A patron stumbles up to the PC's, asking for their help and offering a large reward for their help.

She’s missing several months of her memories, save for some very odd ‘dreams’ and waking daydreams? hallucinations? false memories? of being a different person, an assassin for a shadowy cabal of (for lack of a better term) 0.01%’ers…very wealthy and influential people who may or may not be acting in the interests of the Imperium.

She turns out to be a very wealthy woman from a world two subsectors away, who is wanted in connection with the murder of a high government official…her wealth and station in life gave her easy access to the victim.

As the PC’s are pulled in, the cabal catches wind and starts hunting them…meanwhile more of her memories start coming back…and the assassin whose memories and skills she was implanted with is set on their trail…or is he?

Is he just another innocent with implanted memories and skills?

Make a hella Joss Whedon series too :-)

> 3. Given the generally lower TL of the Zhodani vs. the Imperium, would
>   it be within the realm of possibility for the Zhodani, with their
>   stronger emphasis on mind- and psionics-related sciences and
>   technology, to have developed and deployed this?

I expect they they would have indeed found ways to implant skills and memories; whether they’d do it to the extent of ‘normal food repulses you’, I don’t know. It would force doctors to (literally) have a strong stomach :-)

I’d be more inclined that they would use a telepathic interface between the ‘expert system’ and the doctor, so that the doctor becomes the ’surgery bot’.

--
Bruce Johnson
University of Arizona
College of Pharmacy
Information Technology Group

Institutions do not have opinions, merely customs