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	Re: Pattern Buffers
	Posted By: Steve Levinson	Date: 4/13/04 4:09 a.m.
	In Response To: Pattern Buffers (Wejam The Carter) : Just though I'd stimulate some conversation on a subject that has been : bothering me for a while. Pattern Buffers. Now there has been a recent : discussion on the subject to which I've included a link, but I still feel : that we've only scratched the surface of the true ramifications of such a : thing as a pattern buffer. Hey - one of my favorite subjects, as you can see from the link to the prior discussion! : Now normally I would just right it off as a necesity for the game to have a : save engine which was more or less explained away with the X-factor of : Future technology. But Today I feel a little rambunctious tonight, so I'm : going to throw logic out the window, and take everything at face value. Actually, PB's are truly just a necessity of games, but it's always fun to explore the "alternate realities" that occur with suspending virtually all the physical laws that prevent true time travel or FTL travel. : Ok, so it seems that the general consensus is that the pattern buffer : facilitates some kind of time travel in which the mind survives after : death and travels back to the last time it used a PB. Not the mind, but the memories - there's a big difference. : The question of why don't the Pfhor, or other Humans use PB's was addressed : that they probably do, except they are continueing on in alternate : realities. Not sure if I agree with that. I think that our Jjaro implants may be necessary for PB's to work, and we know from the tales of the S'pht dissections of the Pfhor M2 that the Pfhor have no cybernetic mechanisms whatsoever - unless they started using them in the subsequent 500 years. Now the alternate reality thing - I know that this is a central premise of Infinity, but the Universe would get screwed up very quickly if every satient being could spawn a whole new reality based on the choices they make. Personally, I subscribe to the notion that time is nothing more than the perception of the passage of events. We know from relativity that time is a local phenomenon in any case, but if time doesn't really exist, then there can't be alternate timelines. But I digress . . . : SO drawing from these conclusions, here are a few questions raised by the : existence of Pattern Buffers which you may find intriguing, desturbing, or : just plain silly. : 1. If I use a pattern buffer once at a young age, then live my life and : eventually die of natural causes will I start out again where I first used : it? Remember, only your memories travel back in time, and nothing else. In theory, if you use a PB at a young age and never use one again, you could potentially get a sneak-peak at your entire lifetime - in other words, you could change your life based on what happens in the future - a disturbing thought. I suspect that PB's do have their limits, and storing a person's entire life memories is probably beyond their design capacity. : 2. If the security officer dies on "Waterloo Water Park" (the first : level of M2) before using a PB, why doesn't he start back on "Try : Again" (the last M1 level with PB's)? Perhaps he had just used a PB before beaming down, or perhaps Durandal stored his memories before beaming him down. : 3. If you used a PB right before there was an explosion or some other un : avoidable death, would you have to keep reliving your own horrible eath : over and over again? Been there, done that. Don't you hate it when that happens! Personally, I want a backup copy kept so that I can revert to the previous pattern buffer if something like this happens! : 4. If you use a PB, does that make death impossible? Remember, it's only the memories that survive - you do ultimately die. So what happens if you keep adding memories to your biologically and cybernetically enhanced brain? Eventually you will run out of capacity, at which time you'll probably go senile and the PB's will stop working. : 5. If someone who dies after using a PB can only continue on an alternate : timeline, then how were they able to develope pattern buffing technology : if there's no actual way to prove that it works within this reality? See my original premise. Too many alternate timelines spoils the plot. I vote against the PB starting an alternate timeline thing - they literally allow you to download your future memories so as to avoid your future mistakes. : 6. What could prevent you from saving on a PB, waiting to see the lotery : drawing, killing yourself, then reverting back to play the winning : numbers? Probability theory. Each time you kill yourself and start anew, the random drawing becomes a random drawing with the liklihood of a different outcome. : There are probably a lot more, But I think this should get the ball rolling. You bet there are - I'll give this some thought. : The guy who doesn't need a Pattern Buffer to come back from the dead : Wejam the Carter Do name changes really count? -Forever Steve Levinson

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Replies:

	Pattern Buffers	Wejam The Carter	4/12/04 9:24 p.m.
	Re: Pattern Buffers	ukimalefu	4/12/04 10:20 p.m.
	Re: Pattern Buffers	Vid Boi	4/12/04 10:47 p.m.
	Re: Pattern Buffers	Steve Levinson	4/13/04 4:09 a.m.
	Re: Pattern Buffers - effects on normal people	Ernie	4/13/04 10:33 a.m.
	Re: Groundhogsday	•M	4/15/04 9:52 a.m.
	Re: Pattern Buffers	Wejam The Carter	4/13/04 11:52 a.m.
	Re: Pattern Buffers	Forrest of B.org	4/13/04 11:58 a.m.
	Re: Pattern Buffers	Yossarian	4/13/04 12:56 p.m.
	Re: Pattern Buffers	Irritated	4/13/04 2:07 p.m.
	Re: Pattern Buffers	Forrest of B.org	4/13/04 6:12 p.m.
	Re: Pattern Buffers	ukimalefu	4/13/04 8:57 p.m.
	Re: Pattern Buffers	Steve Levinson	4/14/04 5:38 a.m.

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