The IDisc, the Shock in Alternator

The interface between the frangible identity and the specifics of the particular body.The interface between the frangible identity and the specifics of the particular body.
The interface between the ephemeral identity and the specifics of the particular body. The interface between the frangible identity and the specifics of the particular body.

The IDisc is a prosthetic vertebra that grows along with the body to which it’s attached. While it does that, it intercepts all of the experiences — internal and external — of its host, digitizing the entire experience as memories. Or perhaps as identity. Maybe your soul.

As digital information, it can be copied losslessly, it can be transmitted and received, and it can be overwritten. You can be in a different body. How does that change who you are? What if the body is owned by someone else?

What are the implications of such a technology? You can find out by playing Alternator, currently only available to my $3+ Patreon supporters! (…though dozens of physical copies went out at PAX East!) It’s the first of a monthly series of µshock:s (that’s “microshocks”) that they’ve challenged me to produce! They’re playable sketches that help me work out the ideas that will eventually coalesce, like gasses forming a solar system and planets, into Shock:2.0.

The only Solarpunk RPG I've ever seen.
I wonder what’s happened to the body of neuroscience knowledge in The Fifth World. I bet it’s an arcane art that some still understand enough to use. And if trepanation worked for our ancestors, I bet our post-industrial descendants will be able to put that odd human habit to good use.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *