Looking for a technobabble Term

[Michael Hopcroft]

I've posted this question on another game's forum, but I figured I'd ask the Hero guys as well.

 

I'm writing an adventure that involves an expedition to an abandoned outpost of a galactic civilization. Their mission is to find the remnants of that civilization and then reverse-engineer their technology from what they find. What do you call their discipline, and what are its ethical implications?

[Lucius]

Re: Looking for a technobabble Term

 

Xenoarcheology, of course.

 

The ethical implications would be similar to those of any other discipline with the chance of producing technological breakthroughs, except they have an even higher probability of discovering something with powerful and unpredictable effects.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The Palindromedary Institute

[Kristopher]

Re: Looking for a technobabble Term

 

Beaten to my answer.

[Xavier Onassiss]

Re: Looking for a technobabble Term

 

Another ethical consideration: are the activities of these xenoarcheologists approved of by society? How do alien societies view them? If there are aliens (or humans) who consider the remnants of this vanished civilization to be sacred or otherwise off-limits, then those aliens (or humans) would consider the xenoarcheologists to be grave-robbers. That could make things very interesting.

 

 

Don't look at me,

Xavier Onassiss

[Nyrath]

Re: Looking for a technobabble Term

 

Of course, xenoarcheology is a high risk occupation.

http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/rocket3x2.html#alien

[ajackson]

Re: Looking for a technobabble Term

 

I'm writing an adventure that involves an expedition to an abandoned outpost of a galactic civilization. Their mission is to find the remnants of that civilization and then reverse-engineer their technology from what they find. What do you call their discipline' date=' and what are its ethical implications?[/quote']

Given that the intent is profit rather than academic knowledge, we call that discipline 'looting'. Ethical implications depends on whether 'legitimate' owners exist.

[Ian Mackinder]

Re: Looking for a technobabble Term

 

Given that the intent is profit rather than academic knowledge' date=' we call that discipline 'looting'. Ethical implications depends on whether 'legitimate' owners exist.[/quote']

 

In this particular vein, "Salvage" works as a descriptive term, or possibly "recovery". Maybe the latter more than the former, - salvage sort of implies that there is a previous owner who could stand up in court and dispute possession, etc.. Yeah, "recovery" is probably how it would be put in the PR hand-outs for this job, at the very least.

 

As regards the ethical side, I think much depends on who / what is doing the ... whatever, and the manner in which it is done (keep thinking of Indiana Jones and certain of the rivals he's had).

[Lucius]

Re: Looking for a technobabble Term

 

Given that the intent is profit rather than academic knowledge' date=' we call that discipline 'looting'. Ethical implications depends on whether 'legitimate' owners exist.[/quote']

 

Do you know something I don't know about the intentions of the people involved?

 

Lucius Alexander

 

Legitimately owning the palindromedary

[RexMundi]

Re: Looking for a technobabble Term

 

Don't forget, the Xeno Archaeologists, would be having to work with their more esoteric partners the Xeno Anthropologists, since in order to understand an aliens technology it would most likely be helpful to be able to understand the Alien itself and the way it thinks. Then there's all the various Forensic applications as well. A single term I think would be a bit limiting depending on if you are going for more realistic, with small armies of specialists, or more cinematic CSI, with a single person or a small team that can do anything and everything.

 

~Rex

[Xavier Onassiss]

Re: Looking for a technobabble Term

 

Good point. And if you have Psi abilities in your campaign, a Xeno-psychometricist (object reader) would also be an interesting addition to the team. I imagine this would be one of the more hazardous duties.

 

"Sir, Wozniak's burnt out. He took one look at this memory crystal and now he's just sitting there gibbering."

 

"Crap. That's the third one this week! Okay, put him in the freezer. Any replacements left?"

 

"Uh...he's the last one, Sir."

 

"Damn...we can't freeze him, then. Is he still in one piece?"

 

"Well, his head didn't explode like the other two, Sir."

 

"Alright, then. Get him in the scanner, then give his brain a good zap...maybe he just needs a jump-start."

 

"Sir?"

 

 

Don't look at me,

Xavier Onassiss

[Kristopher]

Re: Looking for a technobabble Term

 

When looking at the ruins of an alien civilization, you'd probably need a massive team, even larger than the teams that work on human archaeological sites.

 

You need xenoarchaeologists, xenoanthropologists, xenobiologists, xenobotonists, xeno...

[RexMundi]

Re: Looking for a technobabble Term

 

Still it's a GOOD plot hook. Dedicated Starship (or equivalent) full of specialists. Certainly has campaign potential.

 

~Rex

[ajackson]

Re: Looking for a technobabble Term

 

Do you know something I don't know about the intentions of the people involved?

I have the ability to read. The purpose of the mission is technology acquisition, not knowledge of ancient civilization.

[RexMundi]

Re: Looking for a technobabble Term

 

Still unless you plan on just selling it as Loot, understanding the people, is extremely important, to understanding how, and why their stuff worked. Especially, if you are reverse engineering. As shown in real world history in several examples many to detailed and numerous to really list while one is multi tasking at work. As shown in the initial post though, It is roughly paraphrased: Find the Ultimate *insert whatever here*. Reverse engineer it, so you can replicate it (which requires, people for the most part), THEN, deal with the ramifications and ethical issues, said success, or failure, would mean. That seems to imply more then, Break the glass, rush in, grab the HDTV, and run down the street with it. I can see though, an avenue for Looting in the process as well, especially as an adventure hook.

 

~Rex

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: Looking for a technobabble Term

 

Still unless you plan on just selling it as Loot, understanding the people, is extremely important, to understanding how, and why their stuff worked. Especially, if you are reverse engineering. As shown in real world history in several examples many to detailed and numerous to really list while one is multi tasking at work. As shown in the initial post though, It is roughly paraphrased: Find the Ultimate *insert whatever here*. Reverse engineer it, so you can replicate it (which requires, people for the most part), THEN, deal with the ramifications and ethical issues, said success, or failure, would mean. That seems to imply more then, Break the glass, rush in, grab the HDTV, and run down the street with it. I can see though, an avenue for Looting in the process as well, especially as an adventure hook.

 

~Rex

 

Certainly there will be many people opposed to the practice, who will in fact refer to it as "looting the past". Other engineers or scientists may view it as cheating by getting around the grunt work of actually inventing the things yourselves. (Although he didn't go anywhere off Earth to do it, Doctor Who's Henry van Statten is a good example of a character who built a massive fortune by essentially looting past alien sites on Earth to mine their technological secrets, as well as buying artifacts from gullible collectors who had no idea what they had.)

[wcw43921]

Re: Looking for a technobabble Term

 

Xenoarcheology, of course.

 

The ethical implications would be similar to those of any other discipline with the chance of producing technological breakthroughs, except they have an even higher probability of discovering something with powerful and unpredictable effects.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The Palindromedary Institute

 

 

Got it in one. Unfortunately I must spread the Reputation around.

 

This doesn't have to be a for-profit effort, either. As I recall this was a plot in many Star Trek episodes--the androids from "What Are Little Girls Made Of" and "I, Mudd," the mind-transference device from "Turnabout Intruder," (all TOS) the Dyson sphere from "Relics," and the ultimate weapon from "The Arsenal Of Freedom," (both TNG). Maybe they didn't adapt the technology for their own use, but I'm sure they studied it for whatever knowledge they could gain.

[dmjalund]

Re: Looking for a technobabble Term

 

I am reminded of "Paycheck"

[RexMundi]

Re: Looking for a technobabble Term

 

Indeed. Still. Hmm what's another good example for this kind of set up.....AH.....Crusade (The B5 spin off), with the Character of Max Eilerson. Actually the Moral implications and stuff were brought up often in that show, which, for being pretty much ripped off from Star Blazers, I still found to be a fun thing to watch.

 

~Rex

[Nyrath]

Re: Looking for a technobabble Term

 

Indeed. Still. Hmm what's another good example for this kind of set up.....AH.....Crusade (The B5 spin off)' date=' with the Character of Max Eilerson. Actually the Moral implications and stuff were brought up often in that show, which, for being pretty much ripped off from Star Blazers, I still found to be a fun thing to watch.[/quote']

Max worked for IPX, which was mentioned in the original B5 series. Basically vultures digging up the ruins of extinct civilizations in the hopes of finding paleotechnology that they can rush to the patent office and make big bucks.

As I mentioned before, it is a high risk occupation.

[RexMundi]

Re: Looking for a technobabble Term

 

Yeah he was my 2nd favorite character on that show heh. I Loved the IPX idea though. Makes perfect sense really.

 

~Rex

[Lucius]

Re: Looking for a technobabble Term

 

I have the ability to read. The purpose of the mission is technology acquisition' date=' not knowledge of ancient civilization.[/quote']

 

So do I.

 

In the first place, in this context technology acquisition IS acquisition of knowledge of ancient civilization, and vice versa. Complete understanding of the ancient civilization in question would of necessity include understanding their technology, so you're setting up a false dichotomy here.

 

In the second place, this is what the Original Post said:

 

I've posted this question on another game's forum, but I figured I'd ask the Hero guys as well.

 

I'm writing an adventure that involves an expedition to an abandoned outpost of a galactic civilization. Their mission is to find the remnants of that civilization and then reverse-engineer their technology from what they find. What do you call their discipline, and what are its ethical implications?

 

Nowhere do I see the word "profit" nor "money" nor "loot." For all I know based on this, the xenoarcheologists are working for a non-profit organization or a government. For all I know, once they have any given technology duplicated they may release it into the public domain, either because that's what their organization exists to do or because a law prohibits patenting paleotechnology. Presumably someone is paying them, but I'm sure someone pays most archeologists and other scientists and I don't think that makes them "looters."

 

In the third place, to me "looting" implies something like this - we land on the planet, we ransack the outpost looking for machines that work and/or unusual or irreproducable objects, rip them out, and either use them ourselves or sell them for cash, making no effort to understand or reproduce them.

 

At a very minimum, the original post implies that the expedition intends to carefully study the outpost and attempt to understand the scientific principles utilized by the alien civilization.

 

Granted, that doesn't have to mean any attempt will be made to preserve the outpost, nor to understand the aliens' biology, culture, or history, nor that their artifacts or their remains will be treated with respect - but it doesn't preclude any of those things either. In fact, given that this is a scientific expedition - and it has to be, if they plan to do "reverse engineering" - I think that most of those attitudes and behaviors are more likely than not.

 

Finally, I don't agree that "technology acquisition = looting." If that's the case, every researcher in every laboratory who hopes to discover something with a practical application that improves the lives of people is a "looter."

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary tries to read between the lines, and still can't see any looting going on.

[RexMundi]

Re: Looking for a technobabble Term

 

Yeah but you could have something like Babylon 5's IPX, which was a sort of combination of both Looting and Real science. Or, keep them divided, and toss in some Space Vikings for the Loot end.

 

~Rex

[IndianaJoe3]

Re: Looking for a technobabble Term

 

I'm writing an adventure that involves an expedition to an abandoned outpost of a galactic civilization. Their mission is to find the remnants of that civilization and then reverse-engineer their technology from what they find. What do you call their discipline' date=' and what are its ethical implications?[/quote']

 

"Obtainer of rare antiquities"

[dmjalund]

Re: Looking for a technobabble Term

 

I'm writing an adventure that involves an expedition to an abandoned outpost of a galactic civilization. Their mission is to find the remnants of that civilization and then reverse-engineer their technology from what they find. What do you call their discipline, and what are its ethical implications?

Top men, yes sir, top men

[Lucius]

Re: Looking for a technobabble Term

 

....., and what are its ethical implications?

 

It occurs to me now that this part of the question is what prompted ajackson to make the assumptions he did.

Asking about ethical implications suggests that you think there ARE ethical implications, although I don't personally think it justifies jumping to the conclusion that we're talking about the most ethically questionable case.

But I think we need to know a lot more to be able to talk about the situation meaningfully.

 

For example, ajackson has a very valid point - is there anyone else who might have a claim of some kind on the site, the artifacts, or the technology? If so, who, and what is their claim?

 

Who is sponsoring the expedition, and for what purpose? "Reverse engineering technology" could be a very altruistic or driven purely by profit motive (which I still wouldn't consider unethical, but it's a different case.)

What are the motives of the people on the expedition?

 

Are they looking for something specific? Trying to duplicate the superweapon that rendered the original species extinct is one thing, trying to duplicate the life support and medical technology that allowed them to regenerate a person who had lost 90% of his body is something else.

 

A lot of the ethical questions are really the same if you're "reverse engineering" and if you're "forward engineering" i.e. researching from scratch. Some questions WILL be unique, though, and I need to think about those.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

Reverse engineering a palindromedary