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| Who (or what) is Minerva? https://hylobatidae.org/minerva/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=74 |
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| Author: | Meocene [ Sun Jan 13, 2008 1:50 pm ] |
| Post subject: | fair enough |
we're gonna have to agree to disagree then my friend. only time will tell. |
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| Author: | locworks [ Sun Jan 13, 2008 3:37 pm ] |
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| Author: | Meocene [ Sun Jan 13, 2008 3:45 pm ] |
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| Author: | locworks [ Sun Jan 13, 2008 4:10 pm ] |
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Mrs. M. is essentially a hacker trying to direct by text messages a genocidal half-wit with the attention span of a goldfish. Adam managed to get across brilliantly her frustration at using such a blunt tool to perform a precise and sensitive infiltration and sabotage job. I'm not sure however where her intelligence proves to be beyond that of a very smart human. [edit: misplaced article] |
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| Author: | Terrapin [ Sun Jan 13, 2008 5:26 pm ] |
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While I by no means wish to interrupt this fine line of discussion, locworks did raise an interesting point in that Minerva may well be an "Earth-designed A.I.", rather than actually human. In a way, we could all be right - Mrs. M (Aha! She is female) could have been a human made AI, perhaps within Black Mesa, or perhaps elsewhere. Perhaps a human brain patterned into a computer, or a simulation of a human brain designed to solve problems that would take humans years to discover on their own. Minerva did say that she played a large role in helping humanity discover teleportation, and does seem fairly contemptuous of us, hence her reference to us as mere hairless apes. However, we know some drastic change happened in Minerva's life. Perhaps, she was in Black Mesa on that infamous day. When the resonance cascade occurred, she did the only thing she could to ensure her survival and uploaded herself into an old computer system (perhaps of alien origin - Forefathers, Combine maybe?) in Xen. It could be assumed that she was found, eventually robbed of her implied humanity, and forced back into Xen, and then to Earth. That explains why she considers herself one of us. Her close relation to humans - being designed by them and likely even being based on their comparatively meager and fleshy minds - makes her feel that she was truly human, and now, has lost that humanity. Although, then you have to ignore the comment about her reading data off of screens, which would not be so were she an AI. But still, it's an interesting way of looking at things. As for her intelligence, as locworks said, she seems to have an intellectual capacity somewhere around brilliant-but-still-human levels. Keep in mind that whether she is human, or simply a human-like AI, any sufficiently advanced technology she was coupled with would likely raise her intelligence dramatically. So she could be playing dumb for all we know, such as when she new about the guard post, but simply chose not to tell us to see what we were capable of doing on our own. In the fourth chapter, I also had the feeling more than anywhere else that she new exactly what to do, and only gave us hints to the extent necessary for us to survive; for example, she said "I don't want to 'pressure' you" when we got stuck at the valve puzzle, implying she new precisely what to do with the valves, but wanted to know if we were smart enough to be worth saving. Thus, it's very possible her knowledge is far greater than she likes us to think. |
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| Author: | Meocene [ Sun Jan 13, 2008 6:24 pm ] |
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I think we need to move away from the idea that any aspect of Minerva originated on earth tbh. And I believe her intellect is well beyond the capacity of the human mind, even before it was augmented. I believe the augmentations of the Combine simply increased her comms. interface abilities, and maybe her ability to store data as well, essentially "gifting" her with an eidetic memory. As she states herself: "What lies beyond that portal is beyond the realms of even my reasoning", or something similar. All she really says about it is that she knows of it. Not that she has ever been there, or came from there. |
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| Author: | Terrapin [ Sun Jan 13, 2008 7:45 pm ] |
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| Author: | locworks [ Sun Jan 13, 2008 8:46 pm ] |
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| Author: | Meocene [ Sun Jan 13, 2008 8:57 pm ] |
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My gut instinct and imagination predominately, but also hope. As I've said before if the Minerva story does coalesce back to the OBMI, I will be disappointed in Adam Foster. Valves universe is so rich in potential that you could craft stories from it completely separate from anything Valve has produced so far, yet all related by one thing: The Combine. Thus keeping new stories within the Half Life mythos. Who knows how many species and planets have felt the cold touch of the Combine. Who knows how many powerful entities they've pissed off along the way. Entities just itching for a spot of cold, hard revenge. There is absolutely no need for Adam Foster to relate any of his characters to the characters or events depicted in the Half Life series. The real protagonists in Valves universe is The Combine, not Alyx Vance, or Gordon Freeman, etc. In response to Terrapin: Just because Minerva says it may once have been her home, does not mean it was her place of birth, or the only place she has ever truly considered a home. When you move house do you still consider your old house your real home? To be honest I find my explanation far more plausible than yours. Have you ever considered the fact that the who is unimportant and may never been answered. It is the why and how that holds the explanation. As i said, it's your thoughts, memories and actions that define you as a being, not your species. Species is verging on irrelevant. |
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| Author: | locworks [ Sun Jan 13, 2008 9:10 pm ] |
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| Author: | Terrapin [ Sun Jan 13, 2008 10:11 pm ] |
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| Author: | locworks [ Sun Jan 13, 2008 10:20 pm ] |
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| Author: | vahagn [ Sun Jan 13, 2008 11:14 pm ] |
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| Author: | locworks [ Mon Jan 14, 2008 9:39 am ] |
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| Author: | vahagn [ Mon Jan 14, 2008 1:17 pm ] |
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