Topic Actions

Topic Search

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot] and 41 guests

Uncompromising Honor, Snippet #5

Join us in talking discussing all things Honor, including (but not limited to) tactics, favorite characters, and book discussions.
Re: Uncompromising Honor, Snippet #5
Post by n7axw   » Sat Sep 30, 2017 8:09 am

n7axw
Fleet Admiral

Posts: 5997
Joined: Wed Jan 22, 2014 8:54 pm
Location: Viborg, SD

The Myerdahl mods were designed to help people deal with heavy grav planets which includes, but is not specific to Sphinx. By the time Stephanie Harringtons parents arrived on Sphinx, they already had the mods. Not all residents of Sphinx are genies.

Don

-
When any group seeks political power in God's name, both religion and politics are instantly corrupted.
Top
Re: Uncompromising Honor, Snippet #5
Post by quite possibly a cat   » Sat Sep 30, 2017 8:11 am

quite possibly a cat
Captain (Junior Grade)

Posts: 341
Joined: Tue Sep 19, 2017 7:51 am

ldwechsler wrote:
I find the fact that Honor's mods are not more widespread. It sounds like they were done for people on Sphynx. We've had a lot of those in the book. A lot of them join the navy. Yet Honor seems unique in terms of her ability to eat.

Shouldn't others born on the planet have the same mods and thus the same issues? Why is everyone else so surprised?

I don't recall a lot of people being that surprised. A lot of jealous types, but not large amounts of surprise. Also the modification was done for people on another planet, some immigrants came to the Star Kingdom and then it spread through the population. But only like a fourth of the people have it. It isn't a very visible mod so it could easily take several books for it to come up, even for the main character.

Also note since all children born to parents infected with the mod also have the mod, there may have only been a handful of immigrants who originally brought the gene mod to the Star Kingdom.
Top
Re: Uncompromising Honor, Snippet #5
Post by runsforcelery   » Sat Sep 30, 2017 9:44 am

runsforcelery
First Space Lord

Posts: 2425
Joined: Sun Aug 09, 2009 11:39 am
Location: South Carolina

ldwechsler wrote:
I find the fact that Honor's mods are not more widespread. It sounds like they were done for people on Sphynx. We've had a lot of those in the book. A lot of them join the navy. Yet Honor seems unique in terms of her ability to eat.

Shouldn't others born on the planet have the same mods and thus the same issues? Why is everyone else so surprised?


In a way, it's a running joke in Manticore. If yoou go back and look, I think you'll find most of the Manties who comment on them are making jokes or teasing her about them.

No, the Meyerdahl mods were not designed specifically for Sphinxian colonists. In fact, they way predate the colonization of Sphinx, and not everyone on Sphinx got them, by a long shot! The Harringtons were probably among the first couple of dozen people on the entire planet with them, and while they've become more widely spread through the population since (as have some others, like the Quelhollow mods), since people better adapted to heavy gravity are naturally attracted to heavy-grav planets in greater numbers, they still represent a distinct minority of the population as a whole. Remember that when the original colonists set out, there was no Meyerdahl to have produced the mods in the first place! Honor's genetics happen to be extremely well developed for Sphinx's gravity; the majority of Sphinxian immigrants (by a substantial margin) didn't enjoy that advantage.

Having said that, they have, indeed, penetrated the population since to a much greater degree. Perhaps as much as 30-35% percent of the population has them now, and you are completely correct that quite a few of them have turned up in the Navy. Most of the people you've seen being surprised by them, however, are non-Manticorans. You see Honor being teased about it on her midshipwoman's cruise. You see Mike Henke teasing her about it in SVW. You see Sister Lenka commenting on them in UH. You don't really see anyone from the SKM/SEM being surprised by them . . . if they know she's from Sphinx.


"Oh, bother!" said Pooh, as Piglet came back from the dead.
Top
Re: Uncompromising Honor, Snippet #5
Post by ldwechsler   » Sat Sep 30, 2017 10:42 am

ldwechsler
Rear Admiral

Posts: 1235
Joined: Sun May 28, 2017 12:15 pm

runsforcelery wrote:
ldwechsler wrote:
I find the fact that Honor's mods are not more widespread. It sounds like they were done for people on Sphynx. We've had a lot of those in the book. A lot of them join the navy. Yet Honor seems unique in terms of her ability to eat.

Shouldn't others born on the planet have the same mods and thus the same issues? Why is everyone else so surprised?


In a way, it's a running joke in Manticore. If yoou go back and look, I think you'll find most of the Manties who comment on them are making jokes or teasing her about them.

No, the Meyerdahl mods were not designed specifically for Sphinxian colonists. In fact, they way predate the colonization of Sphinx, and not everyone on Sphinx got them, by a long shot! The Harringtons were probably among the first couple of dozen people on the entire planet with them, and while they've become more widely spread through the population since (as have some others, like the Quelhollow mods), since people better adapted to heavy gravity are naturally attracted to heavy-grav planets in greater numbers, they still represent a distinct minority of the population as a whole. Remember that when the original colonists set out, there was no Meyerdahl to have produced the mods in the first place! Honor's genetics happen to be extremely well developed for Sphinx's gravity; the majority of Sphinxian immigrants (by a substantial margin) didn't enjoy that advantage.

Having said that, they have, indeed, penetrated the population since to a much greater degree. Perhaps as much as 30-35% percent of the population has them now, and you are completely correct that quite a few of them have turned up in the Navy. Most of the people you've seen being surprised by them, however, are non-Manticorans. You see Honor being teased about it on her midshipwoman's cruise. You see Mike Henke teasing her about it in SVW. You see Sister Lenka commenting on them in UH. You don't really see anyone from the SKM/SEM being surprised by them . . . if they know she's from Sphinx.


Oh, great and glorious celery chaser:

Why wouldn't the mods be made for all children born on the planet? It would seem to be a no-brainer. Sphynx has been settled for centuries. Why wouldn't geneticists have simply made the changes for all babies? There doesn't seem to be a major penalty for it.
Top
Re: Uncompromising Honor, Snippet #5
Post by JohnRoth   » Sat Sep 30, 2017 11:13 am

JohnRoth
Admiral

Posts: 2438
Joined: Sat Jun 25, 2011 6:54 am
Location: Centreville, VA, USA

ldwechsler wrote:
I find the fact that Honor's mods are not more widespread. It sounds like they were done for people on Sphynx. We've had a lot of those in the book. A lot of them join the navy. Yet Honor seems unique in terms of her ability to eat.

Shouldn't others born on the planet have the same mods and thus the same issues? Why is everyone else so surprised?


runsforcelery wrote:In a way, it's a running joke in Manticore. If yoou go back and look, I think you'll find most of the Manties who comment on them are making jokes or teasing her about them.

No, the Meyerdahl mods were not designed specifically for Sphinxian colonists. In fact, they way predate the colonization of Sphinx, and not everyone on Sphinx got them, by a long shot! The Harringtons were probably among the first couple of dozen people on the entire planet with them, and while they've become more widely spread through the population since (as have some others, like the Quelhollow mods), since people better adapted to heavy gravity are naturally attracted to heavy-grav planets in greater numbers, they still represent a distinct minority of the population as a whole. Remember that when the original colonists set out, there was no Meyerdahl to have produced the mods in the first place! Honor's genetics happen to be extremely well developed for Sphinx's gravity; the majority of Sphinxian immigrants (by a substantial margin) didn't enjoy that advantage.

Having said that, they have, indeed, penetrated the population since to a much greater degree. Perhaps as much as 30-35% percent of the population has them now, and you are completely correct that quite a few of them have turned up in the Navy. Most of the people you've seen being surprised by them, however, are non-Manticorans. You see Honor being teased about it on her midshipwoman's cruise. You see Mike Henke teasing her about it in SVW. You see Sister Lenka commenting on them in UH. You don't really see anyone from the SKM/SEM being surprised by them . . . if they know she's from Sphinx.


ldwechsler wrote:Oh, great and glorious celery chaser:

Why wouldn't the mods be made for all children born on the planet? It would seem to be a no-brainer. Sphynx has been settled for centuries. Why wouldn't geneticists have simply made the changes for all babies? There doesn't seem to be a major penalty for it.


They came in with colonists that came from another planet that had them already. I have no idea if they're even available for installation, although I wouldn't be surprised if they are. I suspect that, while Sphinxians in general like some of the effects, some of the others, like a bottomless pit appetite, are probably not seen that positively.

The interesting thing to me is the "all or nothing" feature of several different kinds of mod, the Meyerdhal and Winton mods being the most obvious.
Top
Re: Uncompromising Honor, Snippet #5
Post by MaxxQ   » Sat Sep 30, 2017 12:43 pm

MaxxQ
BuNine

Posts: 1553
Joined: Sat Aug 08, 2009 5:08 pm
Location: Greer, South Carolina USA

ldwechsler wrote:Oh, great and glorious celery chaser:

Why wouldn't the mods be made for all children born on the planet? It would seem to be a no-brainer. Sphynx has been settled for centuries. Why wouldn't geneticists have simply made the changes for all babies? There doesn't seem to be a major penalty for it.


Careful, there. You're starting to tread into Detweiler territory. Next, it'll be something to apply to ALL humanity, so why not do it for ALL children?

The mods are available for those who want them, but not everybody wants them, for whatever reason. You're starting to talk like they should be enforced on newborns, or not-born-yets.

I think of it more like elective surgery - it can be done, but it's not something that's absolutely necessary for survival. Forex, I still have my appendix and tonsils after 53 years. Neither are worth much, and to prevent any possible issues later, I could have had them removed at a young age, but there was really no point to it.

OTOH, I had a cavity in a wisdom tooth once. It was in a bad spot, difficult to fill, so I just had it, as well as the OTHER wisdom tooth that had come in (I only ever had two come in, and with no issues other than the cavity), removed at the same time. Not necessary, but I was going under anyway, and it was being paid for by the Air Force, so...
Top
Re: Uncompromising Honor, Snippet #5
Post by runsforcelery   » Sat Sep 30, 2017 12:49 pm

runsforcelery
First Space Lord

Posts: 2425
Joined: Sun Aug 09, 2009 11:39 am
Location: South Carolina

MaxxQ wrote:
ldwechsler wrote:Oh, great and glorious celery chaser:

Why wouldn't the mods be made for all children born on the planet? It would seem to be a no-brainer. Sphynx has been settled for centuries. Why wouldn't geneticists have simply made the changes for all babies? There doesn't seem to be a major penalty for it.


Careful, there. You're starting to tread into Detweiler territory. Next, it'll be something to apply to ALL humanity, so why not do it for ALL children?

The mods are available for those who want them, but not everybody wants them, for whatever reason. You're starting to talk like they should be enforced on newborns, or not-born-yets.

I think of it more like elective surgery - it can be done, but it's not something that's absolutely necessary for survival. Forex, I still have my appendix and tonsils after 53 years. Neither are worth much, and to prevent any possible issues later, I could have had them removed at a young age, but there was really no point to it.

OTOH, I had a cavity in a wisdom tooth once. It was in a bad spot, difficult to fill, so I just had it, as well as the OTHER wisdom tooth that had come in (I only ever had two come in, and with no issues other than the cavity), removed at the same time. Not necessary, but I was going under anyway, and it was being paid for by the Air Force, so...



That's pretty much the thinking on Sphinx, too. There's been a degree of natural selectivity to compensate for the high gravity without artificial modification, and there are also other mods in play. For example, the Quelhollow mods (which I think we've seen specifically mentioned in only one character in FoD) have similar usefulness in heavy-grav situations but come at it in a different way for a lower-grav planet than Meyerdahl (which, BTW, also describes Sphinx) without the metabolic penalties. But the key point in answer to this specific question is that it's an elective decision and not everyone's elected to adopt the Meyerdahl solution.


"Oh, bother!" said Pooh, as Piglet came back from the dead.
Top
Re: Uncompromising Honor, Snippet #5
Post by quite possibly a cat   » Sat Sep 30, 2017 12:58 pm

quite possibly a cat
Captain (Junior Grade)

Posts: 341
Joined: Tue Sep 19, 2017 7:51 am

JohnRoth wrote:The interesting thing to me is the "all or nothing" feature of several different kinds of mod, the Meyerdhal and Winton mods being the most obvious.
That's called Genetic Linkage! Actually depending on the modification it might be a really good idea to make sure the modification sticks together.

But they also seem to have a gene drive for 100% inheritance. At the very least the Winton line seems to.
Top
Re: Uncompromising Honor, Snippet #5
Post by George J. Smith   » Sat Sep 30, 2017 1:01 pm

George J. Smith
Commodore

Posts: 873
Joined: Tue Feb 19, 2013 7:48 am
Location: Ross-on-Wye UK

rfc wrote:
That's pretty much the thinking on Sphinx, too. There's been a degree of natural selectivity to compensate for the high gravity without artificial modification, and there are also other mods in play. For example, the Quelhollow mods (which I think we've seen specifically mentioned in only one character in FoD) have similar usefulness in heavy-grav situations but come at it in a different way for a lower-grav planet than Meyerdahl (which, BTW, also describes Sphinx) without the metabolic penalties. But the key point in answer to this specific question is that it's an elective decision and not everyone's elected to adopt the Meyerdahl solution


It is your universe rfc but IMHO having the mods is not 100% elective, the Meyerdhal mods are dominant so all new babies from Meyerdahl recipients will have the mods whether they were wanted or not.
Last edited by George J. Smith on Sat Sep 30, 2017 2:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.
.
T&R
GJS

A man should live forever, or die in the attempt
Spider Robinson Callahan's Crosstime Saloon (1977) A voice is heard in Ramah
Top
Re: Uncompromising Honor, Snippet #5
Post by quite possibly a cat   » Sat Sep 30, 2017 1:06 pm

quite possibly a cat
Captain (Junior Grade)

Posts: 341
Joined: Tue Sep 19, 2017 7:51 am

George J. Smith wrote:It is your universe rfc but IMOP having the mods is not 100% elective, the Meyerdhal mods are dominant so all new babies from Meyerdahl recipients will have the mods whether they were wanted or not.

This seems really nitpicky. I assume RFC meant that a procedure to ensure the child has or doesn't have a mod is 100% elective. Obviously if you skip medical care you'll get what genetics hands out. :roll:
Top

Return to Honorverse