One of my favorite aspects of Eclipse Phase is the Basilisk Hacks. The idea of a literally toxic idea is full of charming plot possibilities.
Two examples from fiction occur to me that aren't usually associated with basilisk hacks:
Best of Monty Python “The Killer Joke” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdWGlJrG6sQ
[i]Tool of the Trade[/i] by Joe Hadleman http://www.amazon.com/Tool-Trade-Joe-Haldeman/dp/0380704382
Both examples show people trying to [i]use[/i] the dangerous technology for their own purposes (even the Python skit played for laughs).
This gets me to asking some questions about basilisk hacks that I would put to you. I don't think there are (yet) any canon answers so I suppose this is really a poll. I welcome your input. :-)
Questions:
1. Is there a minimum requirement in either technology, resolution or fidelity to successfully transmit a basilisk hack? I mean, technically, great oratory or a catchy ad jingle [i]might[/i] be considered a primitive basilisk hack (in that, both behavior is changed and the host then may become vectors of the information themselves). If a hack requires a fairly complex signal, could listeners protect themselves by deliberately degrading their reception (you don't need HD video for simple spoken orders, add some static.)?
2. Could a simple, unintelligent software program detect a hack by previewing for signal anomalies? Or do you think the detection of a hack (and thus the risk of infection) [i]requires[/i] intelligent comprehension.
3. Are the compulsion and the specific commands of a basilisk hack separable? That is, if the hack was spoken commands over the subsonic tone that rewrites the brain, could changing the commands but keeping the tone change the compulsion to what you wish?
These are all the questions I can think of right now. I hope they tickle your brain like they tickle mine (which would make them a minor hack of their own).
[* Zardoz [i]is[/i] a good movie! *]
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Some questions about Basilisk Hacks [* or Send all of your paychecks to me *]
Tue, 2014-12-02 00:56
#1
Blue Screen of Death
Some questions about Basilisk Hacks [* or Send all of your paychecks to me *]
Tue, 2014-12-02 02:36
#2
UnitOmega
As a person who's current
As a person who's current campaign centers of Transhumanity's first baby steps to recreate the Basilisk Hack, I have some thoughts on this subject. The idea of a sound, or an image, or whatever that can break right on through to the deep structures of the human mind and implant an idea or command is pretty interesting, and highly useful for various "gorgon in the box" moments as Firewall agents tasked to investigate such technology.
Personally, I run that a certain level of fidelity is required to properly display the hack (in my case it is a visual image that fractals in on itself if you look closer, a classic call to TITAN designs), because there's a lot of complex information to be dumped. How exactly this process works is a little up in the air, it's one of those "Sufficiently Advanced" subjects, but one we can wrestle with. Also, given how Faraday Suits and Mods are described to work, I'd wager the quality level is canonical. Catchy tunes or good speeches are a memetic "attack". The Basilisk Hack goes above that, this isn't just contaminating you with new information, it's reprogramming your mind at a base level by invoking some deep instinctive responses, like the YGBM Hacks.
For two, I'd go either or. While, obviously, the best way to know if there is a hack is to have someone who can comprehend the concept of a Basilisk Hack look at it, an AI or even a basic software might be able to compare a digital file that is a Basilisk Hack and identify common properties. For Hacks in physical objects (Like the "Buddy Brick" concept) you might be able to do a database comparison, but the AI/Software probably lacks the sophistication to truly observe a hack. They might just see weird squiggly lines a Transhuman sees as some kind of sublime example of archetypal beauty or something.
The last one, I have no idea. Hacks are TITAN or otherwise post-Singularity tech. Transhumans could only hope to accomplish something like them this century by repurposing the ones the TITANs have already built. Depending on how exactly a TITAN has constructed or developed a hack, it may be modular. A specific type of frequency or series of tones which inputs any command "spoken", or it might be a rigid visual construct literally carved into the molecular structure of an object (which would be hard to change without some TITAN nanotech).
—
H-Rep: An EP Homebrew Blog
http://ephrep.blogspot.com/
Tue, 2014-12-02 06:47
#3
ORCACommander
a thing to remember is that
a thing to remember is that there are different type of basi hacks as well. Glory introduced the Apple of Knowledge hack. This one required a player to have a certain degree of knowledge in nanofabrication and programming in order to take root. you lacked these and you were unaffacted
Wed, 2014-12-03 00:41
#4
eaton
Interesting related fiction
Blit, by David Langford, is set in a roughly modern world where visual basilisk hacks are developed and used by terrorist groups. Definitely not TITAN-esque, but if you've got a group that's trying to develop them white room style, it could have some interesting parallels. http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/stories/blit.htm
In a recent game, PCs got smart fast after a couple of incidents and started vigorously filtering all visual input. They set up their muses to scan for signs of the specific basilisk hack that had hit the team, and filter/warn if it was detected. I was a little iffy on that based on muse limitations, but they weren't trying to catch any new hacks, just recognizing specific ones that had previously been used against them.
That seemed like pretty safe ground; it's hard to say how you could detect a previously unobserved transhumant-targeted basilisk hack without running a fully virtualized ego and seeing whether it's effected. Perhaps an AI (or muse?) could be set up to prescreen sensory data and look for any anomalous complexity. It would false positive on steganography, say, but it might give them a fighting chance?
Wed, 2014-12-03 13:29
#5
uwtartarus
That was a cool story, eaton.
That was a cool story, eaton.
—
Exhuman, and Humanitarian.
Thu, 2014-12-04 09:11
#6
ThatWhichNeverWas
Weaponized Rickrolling.
I largely agree with UnitOmega, but for question 3 I'd say that the hack and the content are inseparable. A hack which orders the victim to kill people, for example, doesn't just render the subject suggestible and relay an order - it actually alters the way the brain works so that the urge is an actual component of the mind - no "order" per se are ever given.
I'm also tempted to say that basilisks above the level of incapacitation require tailoring to the subject, so the system running the hack has to be able to perceive the target's reactions.
A recording of such a hack could still affect the subject with reduced effect, but to anyone else it would be at most incapacitating.
For good examples of Basilisk Hacks, see the Mass Effect series, in particular the Prothean Beacon in the first.
—
In the past we've had to compensate for weaknesses, finding quick solutions that only benefit a few.
But what if we never need to feel weak or morally conflicted again?
Wed, 2014-12-10 00:43
#7
Blue Screen of Death
I am infected by the enthusiasm for this thread
[* Extended Warranty! How can you lose?! *]
Thank you all for your replies. :-)
UnitOmega, I see your point on basilisk hacks needing superb fidelity. If hacks could be simple, it would probably be over for Transhumanity by this point. However, there is at least one famous science-fiction novel that posits an ancient language is actually an ancient [i]programming[/i] language which might make an interesting variant (I have some ideas on this below*).
I didn't know that hacks could be in physical objects and my Google-fu fails me on any relevant definition of 'buddy bricks' but I find the idea intriguing.
For my campaign, I think I will make where it is possible to reverse-engineer a basilisk hack but the results have unpredictable side-effects (if it flat-out doesn't work or succeeds every time, it's no fun).
ORCACommander, I love the idea of Apple of Knowledge (AoK) hacks. I will expand them in my campaign to include not just knowledge but any definable mental concept (such as political leanings, personality traits, etc).
Eaton, I agree with uwtartarus, [i]Blit[/i] was a great story. I agree that previously logged hacks should be detectable (it is pretty much how most anti-virus software works today).
That Which Never Was, I can see a hack having to be actually reactive, to have some degree of intelligence (and thus ineffective as a simple recording). Thank you for the info on Prothean Beacons. People keep recommending the [i]Mass Effect[/i] setting to me, one day I will have to check it out.
[* Hello, Ladies, my recent lotto winnings mean I only have to model part-time now. *]
Having hacked me with the sheer brilliance of the replies, I will dare to ask some more questions.
1. As a variant rule, would it be that more intelligent egos are more fragile because beholding a hack requires the ability to process information rapidly. This is similar to the fact that those more susceptible to hypnosis aren't weak-willed, they are simply more able to re-organize their minds.
2. * Here is a scenario idea for an alternate EP campaign:
The ETI doesn't want to end Transhumanity, it wants to [i]harvest[/i] it. It is waiting for the perfect time, after Transhumanity has evolved enough to become 'interesting' but not threatening. The perfect time for harvesting the crop (leaving a few tiny fish to regrow for next season) is right about the time AI is developed, which is exactly how the Fall has played out.
But while the ETI waited for the harvest, It would do some slight tending and pruning to the garden. It did not want Humanity to become aware of Its meddling (which would sour the natural growth) so biological and nanoware hacks were out as too obvious.
This left a basilisk hack that would influence humans slightly in the 'right' technological or cultural directions. The hack could be either a very slight Haunting or Mindstealer virus that would be so subtle it would not be noticed by its victims (or their victims).
So [i]when[/i] could the ETI have mass produced this effect?:
1. Literally within any form of communication at a very subtle level, effectively propaganda. Perhaps subtle hints in the 1612 King James Bible.
2. Possibly in complex music, a Mozart opera (the words of which are used to guide the humans).
3. Or another kind of sound, maybe the 1938 War of the Worlds broadcast [i]was[/i] an alien invasion, with the cover being it was only thought of as a play pretending to be an invasion.
4. Maybe full television is required, any political speech could be 'augmented'.
5. Perhaps an interactive video game, the hack adapts to the victim's progress in the game.
In short, the ETI could have human agents in place since long before the Fall; a treat for the really conspiracy minded. The question is, how [i]soon?[/i]
Let me know what you think....
[* Marmite is delicious *]
Spoiler: Highlight to view
[i]Snow Crash[/i] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_Crash
Wed, 2014-12-10 11:41
#8
uwtartarus
Not sure if it originates
Not sure if it originates with it, but the buddy-brick was humorously featured in RPPR's "Know Evil" Actual Play. It was like ant-poison-bait, an enticing brick covered in hypnotic/basilisk-hacking fractal-whorls and the like, then it compels the beholden to take it to their friends to show it off, infecting them, once surrounded, it could explode or release a danger on the 'nest' of transhumans.
—
Exhuman, and Humanitarian.
Wed, 2014-12-10 14:41
#9
UnitOmega
I believe the Buddy Brick was
I believe the Buddy Brick was popularized on the forums as an idea originally, which Caleb Stokes blatantly stole (by which I mean took with full admission) for Know Evil because he needed weird TITAN debris to use. the YGBM or "You Gotta Believe Me" is I think an actual type of hack from the back of the book, though I'd need to check. But assuming you have enough surface area, if your a TITAN who has complete mastery of femtotech, there's no reason you couldn't put a hack on a physical object. Nothing more HD than life.
—
H-Rep: An EP Homebrew Blog
http://ephrep.blogspot.com/
Thu, 2014-12-11 10:36
#10
eaton
The silence?
Although it's usually too cheesy for the EP universe, Dr. Who's "Silence" arc had something very similar. An alien species had implanted broad hypnotic cues in most of humanity that caused humans to 1) Obey their commands, and 2) forget seeing them. I think anything as sweeping as what you're describing would have to be capable of erasing its own tracks. Indeed, why bother using a basilisk hack for anything other than the initial infection vector if it gives you that much control? Why not just twiddle with neurochemistry and leave a heritable backdoor?
Thu, 2014-12-18 21:41
#11
Blue Screen of Death
more thoughts
UnitOmega, was the 'buddy brick' a completely static object, or was it active/interactive is some way? If it was completely static and fractal, than Pandora Gates themselves might be low-level hacks.
[* Yes, you really [i]did[/i] go somewhere. You weren't plausibly deconstructed and then reconstructed. *]
Eaton,
I did see that episode and it was one of my inspirations. I guess great minds think alike. Or we were both hacked by the same program.
[* Yes, puny humans, keep thinking it was [i]your[/i] idea. *]
I had thought that a [i]truly[/i] effective hack spread in the past would be curtains for Humanity. So I was thinking the most the ETI could send along primitive methods would have been a simple sentence prone to subconscious misunderstanding. Think of how much history has changed by the differing interpretations of a single unclear sentence.
As far as twiddling with neurochemistry, there is some precedent. A fair amount of our DNA is viral sheddings dumped in our DNA. Some genes that affect pregnancy or schizophrenia could have been 'gifts' from half-active viral coding. We are all Brundlefly's, it is just taking millions of years to see the effects.
There is a great pair of novels by Greg Bear, [i]Darwin's Radio[/i] and its sequel, [i]Darwin's Children,[/i] that play with this idea. I will spoiler the following for those who want to read the books themselves. I recommend them.
Spoiler: Highlight to view
The novels have to do with the Punctuated Equilibrium theory of evolution. PE posits that evolution can move very quickly, with species mutating very quickly (relatively speaking) when needed.
The books posit that human 'junk' DNA is effectively a hard drive full of adaptation blueprints to be used as needed. Some viruses are communicators between people and together Humanity can be described as a system of human servers and viral network cables.
And, one day, the human network decides that Man needs to change in response to the unique stresses of modern society. And the network will make that change in a [i]single[/i] generation.
Human 3.0 is pretty neat (Human 2,0 is us, an upgrade to the 1.0 Neanderthals).