Introduction
The Darwins
are a first
singularity transapient
clade,
originally native to the Zoeific
Biopolity.
Unlike some other transapients, they have a common set of
characteristics that ordinary
sapients
can identify, appear to have a common
origin or design to which most of them remain faithful, and are capable
of
independent reproduction/manufacture of new individuals of the same
type. For
these reasons they are generally regarded as a clade by sophontologists.
Darwins generally are among
some of the
more approachable transapients from the point of view of ordinary
sapient
beings, and they seem to have a special talent for intertoposophic
communication. They were first designed as a variety of the
Biopolity’s Zoea,
but unlike most Zoea their appearance is seldom grotesque to the
unaccustomed
eye, and is usually attractive and reassuring instead. They appear to
have a
function in transapient society as envoys and researchers. A relatively
“fertile” clade, they are on the increase, and they
are widespread in the
Terragen sphere. Many Darwins
are still Zoea for the Biopolity, but many others appear to be aligned
with
other meta-civilizations or seem to be entirely independent.
Description
Darwins are, like their fellow
Zoea,
polymorphic bionano
organisms. Unlike other Zoea, however, they tend to
avoid the slimy, spiky appearance typical of those life forms, unless
they are
working with sophonts for whom that form is attractive. Members of
clade Darwin
will go to great
lengths to set other beings at ease. Their preferred form is that of a
central,
relatively immobile sybont
structure about half hectare in area that supports a
number of mobile avatars. The main body is most often shaped to
resemble
something that is relatively attractive and unthreatening to the local
population. For instance, on a planet mostly inhabited by human
baselines the sybont structure may resemble a
small
park, with a few small buildings and perhaps pathways leading to a
central dais
or clearing that serves as a communication centre. A Darwin’s
mobile avatars are typically sophont
or sub-sophont personalities, and are made to blend in with or to be
attractive
to the local sophont population. These may be anything from insect to
elephant
sized, but usually they are in the 20 to 120 kilogram range. In a
population of
human baselines, these avatars might resemble humans, or various local
animals,
or unique neogens
with abilities that are useful to the Darwin
and an appearance
that is tailored to be attractive in the local culture.
If it were
living in a vec
society, a Darwin
would similarly adapt to the local vecs and their preferences.
Though the Darwins
or their avatars may be active on the Known
Net,
or create avatars that operate in it or in other computronium
habitats,
very few Darwins
are known to have permanently abandoned their usual physical bodies to
live
entirely in a computronium environment. Those who have done so have
generally
renamed themselves and taken up other pursuits, and are not generally
regarded
as members of the clade by sophontologists.
If necessary a Darwin
can abandon its central body and
physical avatars and reconfigure itself into a small mobile form
weighing less
than 50 kilograms. Such forms may then grow, manufacture, or or use
other
equipment (anything from legs or wheels to ground, air, or
interplanetary
vehicles) as necessary for rapid travel. In a very few instances, a Darwin
has manufactured
its own small interstellar craft for this travelling form. However such
drastic
actions are rare and usually mean that there is some sort of emergency.
Under
ordinary circumstances, traveling Darwins
buy or hire regular transportation, and maintain a larger a body and as
many
mobile avatars as is practical. They explain that this is because they
prefer
to remain as much “in touch” with their
surroundings as they can, and enjoy the
experiences and interactions of travel.
Communication, Senses,
and Locomotion
As sybonts, and given their
polymorphic
abilities, Darwins
are capable of creating special purpose sensors appropriate to almost
any occasion
should it arise. However, even their typical day-to-day sensory
equipment is
extensive. It includes an impressive suite of chemical and biochemical
sensors
(equivalent to a superhuman sense of “smell” or
“taste” and an innate ability
to analyze genetic material from small samples), the full auditory
range from
ultrasound to infrasound, x-ray to radio photon energies, various
particle
detectors, sensitivity to magnetic fields, a brushbot-level
“touch”
sense, and other conventional sensors that a biont or vec might use, as
well as
several more arcane transapient synthetic senses. In this realm they
seem to be
extraordinary even for S1 entities. They reportedly spend a great deal
of their
time thinking about these inputs, and may be regarded as the
transapient
equivalent of hedonists. According to S1 commentators, some other
transapient
entities regard Darwins
as rather intellectually shallow, though others think of them as
particularly
alert and sensitive.
Ever adaptable and diplomatic, Darwins
communicate by
whatever means is most convenient when they deal with ordinary
sophonts. They
seem to have made a particular study of languages and memetics.
They are
extraordinarily fluent and persuasive, and are far less likely than
other
S1
entities to make baffling and incomprehensible pronouncements; their conversation is
notoriously
“easy” for sub-singularity beings to understand. As
a result, it is common for S<1 beings
who are in conversation with them or with one of their avatars to
forget at
times that they are dealing with a transapient mind. They can even sometimes
offer explanations of
the behaviour of other transapients that seem to be clear and lucid.
Most
believe that this is because Darwins are even more inclined than other
transapients to simplify what they tell beings of a lower toposophic,
but long experience has shown that if this is true then at least they
do not
provide information that is actually wrong or misleading. Perhaps just
as importantly to some, Darwins rarely give
impression that they are “talking down” to ordinary
sophonts, as so frequently
happens in communications from other types of transapients.
Lifespan and
Reproduction
Members of
clade Darwin
are like other transapients, in that they rarely choose to create
copies or
other descendants. The reasons for this are no better understood for Darwins
than for transapients in general, and even the Darwins
can’t (or won’t)
explain it. As transapients go, Darwins
are relatively “fertile”, though. Their own
reproduction and a slow but steady
production of baseline Darwins
on the original
design in the Zoeific Biopolity account for a small but steady relative
increase in the Darwin
mode of transapience. When
they
do create new individuals of their clade, these new persons are usually
not
simple copies but are the result of a collaborative effort between two
or more Darwins. More rarely they may
be the result of
interaction between Darwins
and one or more other transapients. Most, but not all, of the results
of such projects are
themselves
identifiable as Darwins,
at least from the point of view of S<1 beings.
Like most
transapients, Darwins
are too mutable and transferable to new substrates for any to have died
of any
form of “old age”, but every year a small number of
them choose to extinguish
themselves, for reasons that are usually translated as
“boredom”. A smaller
number (lower than usual for S1 beings) choose ascension and reach the
next
singularity. Post-Darwins often lose the distinctive set of Darwin
traits, however, and so are not
considered by sophontologists to be members of their parental clade. A
post-Darwin is no more a Darwin than a post-human is a human.
Environmental
Requirements
Darwins use a variety of
computronium that
is stable over a wide range of temperatures, and even in their most
basic
physical forms they carry the templates for a wide range of
technologies that
allow them to maintain these temperatures. Though their preferred
environment
is within the range found on the surface of a typical Terragen style
gardenworld, they can live comfortably in any environment known to
bionts,
terragen or otherwise, and with extra preparation time they can survive
in all
but the most hostile conditions (though long term residency in a
stellar
interior, for instance, is beyond their capabilities). If
somehow caught unawares, they can be
destroyed by weaponry or by extreme environmental conditions, but this
is quite
rare. Though they can exist indefinitely in a form of hibernation, a
typical
active Darwin
draws energy, matter (including a range of elements) and other
resources
equivalent to a small town of human
nearbaselines
just to carry out eir*
simple day-to-day activities.
(*Note on pronoun use; the non-gender specific
pronouns er, eir are used on this page. See here
for more information.)
Psychology
The
psychology of Darwins,
like that of any transapients, is unfathomable to beings on the lower
toposophic scale. Nevertheless, they do consistently project a persona
resembling that of a rather tenderhearted, sociable, scholarly, and
easy-going
person who is fond of animals and intellectual puzzles. Most Darwins
are fascinated by subsingularity
beings of all kinds, whether they are amoebas or Superbright
nanoborgs,
and tend to be rather protective of them. They are especially but not
exclusively interested in biont
or sybont
life. They have a knack for “getting along” with
other beings generally. Darwins
are as versatile,
and as capable of self-defence as any transapient, but they do not seem
to
be
inclined to be warlike, and they seldom become parts of any hierarchy.
They
seem to be strongly motivated by curiosity.
From the
point of view of ordinary sophonts, Darwins
are notoriously stable and predictable, and are generally considered to
be
relatively “safe” to be near. Even independent Darwins
operating outside of civilized
regions do not mistreat lesser beings or otherwise suddenly change
their
behaviour towards them. The Deorvyn/Deorwyn
atrocities in the Newlife
system
are the notorious (and as far as known the only) exception.
Society
Most
aspects of Darwin
society are incomprehensible, but they do tend to settle in communities
of
twenty to a hundred or so, separated by no more than a few light
seconds,
apparently for the transapient equivalent of company and conversation.
Though
some individuals may wander for centuries at a time, most pick a region
and
“settle in” for tens or even hundreds of years.
Darwins seem to move freely and
easily
among other transapients, and generally appear to enjoy amicable
relationships
with them. Though many have remained true to their original Zoeific
memeplex,
there are others who have joined the other major transapient
memeticities, or
who appear to operate independently.
History
The first
members of the clade appeared in the late 27th
century AT. The Darwins’
original
function in Zoeific transapient society seems to something be
equivalent to
that of diplomat, researcher, and explorer (some distrustful persons
add the
categories of “zookeeper”, or
“shepherd” or “conservation
officer” or “field
hand”). They have spread widely in the time since. Though
they are still seen
most frequently in the Biopolity, and though a disproportionate number
have
since aligned themselves with the Caretaker
Gods,
they are present, and
generally accepted, in nearly every civilized region, and in many of
the
uncivilized or no-go zones. They have even been observed entering and
leaving
space controlled by the ahuman
and antihuman
transapients. A
large number are known to be active along the periphery of the Terragen
sphere. As one of the more fertile S1 “clades”
their relative numbers seem to
be increasing.
