From: tomault+@cs.cmu.edu (Thomas Galen Ault)
Subject: Re: Vampire/Werewolf... What next?
Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 04:42:06 GMT

In article <BxJE8q.13A@news.cso.uiuc.edu> tgt33358@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Thanatos) writes:
>In article <1992Nov10.220618.9012@news.columbia.edu> jhk6@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (John H Kim) writes:
>>
>>	I'd agree here. The 'Gothic-punk' world is able to accept Mad 
>>Scientists, IMO - after all, what could be more Gothic than 'Frankenstein'? 
>>
>>	What do people think mad scientists should be like? Obviously it 
>>will be hard to maintain many of the 'Gothic' views of this type and still 
>>match with modern scientists. Perhaps they should venture into the realm 
>>of biotechnology? 
>    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ What did you think Victor Frankenstein was doing? 

I'm glad you asked this question.  There are many routes for the enterprising
Mad Scientist to follow, but I'll only present a couple here.

One is, as you mentioned, biotechnology.  However, Frankenstein's creation was
pittiful and clumsy compared with what modern Science can accomplish.  Through
the wonders of genetic engineering, species can be interbred at the embryonic
level, and all sorts of new pets may be created.  And, of course, there's
always viruses. One of my more insidious plots was created by a young scientist
pissed off about the world's racial problems, so she created a set of viruses
that infected the living layers of the skin of the host, causing the cells to
atrophy and decay at an astonishing rate.  The consequence is that those
infected rapidly have their bodily covering disintigrate, and their guts spill
out.  (The dead layers of the epidermis are _not_ sufficient to keep the body's
innards intact, since they will break too easily.)  Now here's the catch --
the virus is activated or inhibited by a certain range of melanin levels in
the skin.  Consequently, she now has a set of highly contageous, lethal viruses
capable of leaving only one racial subset of humanity intact.  First she
releases a "test" version of the virus -- one with a limited lifespan so the
plague will be limited in scope -- in some major city, say Los Angeles.  Then
she sends a videotape informing the world that she's tired of all the racial
strife on the planet and has decided that humanity cannot continue as a
multi-racial entity, so she will destroy all but one race.  Which race depends
on whoever proves themselves the "best" at the end of a seventy-two hour
period.  Chaos ensumes.  

Hormone therapy can be an almost limitless playground for the creative and
seriously disturbed mind.  Hormones are the body's chemical messengers and
control precious bodily functions, especially those related to maturation.
If you really want to mess with somebody's kids, don't mess with their
genetics -- lasting genetic transformations after conception are extremely
difficult to pull off.  Screw up their hormones instead.  Since hormoes can
affect things such as growth rate, sexual differentiation, body structure,
emotion and mental functioning, one can mix-and-match different effects for
that, shall we say, unique young one.

The other major area of Mad Scientist exploitation (and one of Than's
favorites, as I recall) is cybernetics.  Besides the obvious advantanges of
cybernetic body parts, there is also the option of cybernetic enhancements to
one's mind.  Sure, you may have to remove some of your brain to make room
for your improvements, but who needs those moral centers of the brain when
you've got a Fast Floating Point unit?  Sure, you're colleagues may be
concerned with sanity loss, but you can't lose what you never had, right?

Or chuck the whole meat body and go down to the bare metal.  Produce an android
body and transfer your conciousness to it by duplicating your neural patterns
into it's mind.  Of course, certain things might not transfer as expected
(or at all) and you may lose more of your humanity than just your body, but
what is that compared to imortality and the limitless power such an existence
promises you.  Also, be sure to watch those magnetic fields!

The possibilities for the Modern Mad Scientist go far beyond creating
buckets of bolts barely capable of uttering a coherent sentence and afraid
of a little open flame (I'm referring to the popular, rather than the literary,
conception of Frankenstein).  Countless wonders await those who understand
the foundations and ways of the universe and power far beyond that possessed
by any Kindred or Lupine.

[  One important thing to remember about the mad scientist genre is that things
   NEVER work out the way the scientist plans.  Every advance the scientist
   makes has horrific repercussions far beyond the current situation.  After
   all, the scientist is playing with Things Humanity Was Not Meant To
   Understand, and this is supposed to be Gothic Horror, not satisfy-the-
   player's-every-power-fantasy.  (For that, play Champions.)
]


>
>-- 
>I don't mind being the smartest	    / Thanatos, DeathUrge, Master of Unknown
>man in the world...I just wish it   \ Time and Space tgt33358@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu 
>wasn't this one...	       	    / It's a Zen thing... 
>	-Ozymandias 		    \	 you wouldn't understand...  

Tom Ault
Mad Roboticist in Training