08-08-2017, 07:24 PM
Dane stared at the red fruit. It didn't stare back. In his mind, it was a fairly simple thing, compared to other living creatures at least. It has a much smaller array of decision-making abilities, if any at all. Birds, cats, wolves, people, almost every animal and even some machines were more complicated in that regard. That said, the unique arrangement of atoms and molecules for a strawberry was much more complex than that of rocks - excluding the unverified, yet still plausible, myths revolving around some of the rarer composite ores from Dane's homeworld. Yet, from Dane's mental link, the actual complexity of the strawberry matter seemed to have no impact. His connection didn't give him any physical information about the fruit. There was nothing provided to describe the strawberry's height or mass or the molecules it contained. Instead, he received knowledge of its biological urges, and being eaten happened to be the next part of that process - it was a core stage that came prior to the spreading of seeds and thus its reproduction.
Besides that, there was information in the link concerning the general conditions and forces acting upon strawberry. Gravity pulling it downwards, the slight breeze, the reaction force acting upwards on the strawberry from Dane's palm, the warmth of his palm and the comparative coolness of the shady air. So, in general, Dane concluded that he was essentially being given data on the fruit's perspective. If he linked with a person, he'd get similar information - no height or measurements, and likely a much more complex array of thoughts to fit alongside it. Regarding Tearen's statement about there being biological limits due to the size and processing power of someone's brain, Dane debated that the seemingly one-way connection between him and the fruit was in actuality a back and forth exchange - just that the strawberry's mental capabilities were so incredibly small that it had no way to interpret the information given.
Notably, with this method, linking with another human - someone with a mind potentially as complex as Dane's - would require extensive mental capabilities to essentially store and process double the sensory information. And that didn't include thoughts. Thus, while Dane would definitely give linking with someone else a go, he concluded that for this technique to really be viable there had to be a way to limit or compress the flow of information. Although, it was notable that Dane was very much capable of having multiple conversations inside his head. A habit that came in waves. While all voices were imagined, he entertained the thought of how confused a potential invader of his mind would be should they try to interact with them. It was an interesting idea for a mental defence mechanism. Like the equivalent of a swarming mass of phagocytes. He considered that perhaps it could come in useful some time. Sooner or later people would begin to pick up Tearen's powers. Dane almost pitied anyone who might deem him as being a good test subject. Regardless of those musings, he had a date with a strawberry to continue.
There was a clear link somewhere in his mind. Dane knew that much. But, he was still partially considering whether or not it could be magical in nature. He assumed it'd probably be possible to at least replicate these effects with magic. From person to person, he knew of a similar telepathy spell. Here it would have to work by exchanging packages or magical waves. Except the strawberry would need to be capable of submitting its own for that to work - which it wasn't. While magic was everywhere, that didn't mean everywhere could control, direct, or influence it. Specialised machines theoretically could, a few less sapient lifeforms on Dane's world could, and so could all intelligent races if given proper training. He considered the possibility of a highly calculated wave being reflected back, but with changes corresponding to the strawberry, but was still unsure how any information regarding the strawberry's will would be obtained. Unless Tearen simultaneously planted his own self-sustained magical spell inside Dane and the strawberry, Dane couldn't see a way magic could have replicated the effect. Yet that wouldn't explain how Tearen has linked Dane with his entire surroundings. It could work of the natural magic in everything, but the changes in densities would screw everything up. Unless Tearen was insanely smart with highly fast and accurate computational abilities with a precise and accurate sensory system to go with it, Dane was near certain Tearen didn't use magic. Which meant Dane could now begin the fun part of testing for and trying to find exactly what Tearen did use.
Bracing, he squeezed the strawberry slightly. Despite this, he still flinched. It was hard not to, regardless of any mental willpower to prevent it. Especially when he couldn't locate the specific place in his conscience where it came from. He pinched his arm, and unsurprisingly the strawberry didn't react. If he could note when, where, how, or anything about the information transfer he reasoned it could be trackable. This connection was in his mind, after all. His domain. He'd be remiss to simply allow it to stay there. God-mind thing or not, Dane wouldn't lose a mental challenge in his own head. Poking the strawberry again, he still flinched. He gave it a light shake. He could distinguish enough to know it wasn't his own senses, yet it was still hard to track specifically where it came from, even by inducing the information transfer...
...which was exactly where he was going wrong. The link was constant. An endless stream of information. A continuous dump of knowledge and data regarding the strawberry's state. Which was likely why simply prodding it a bit didn't help him find the connection.
Dane closed his eyes, trying to clear his usually cluttered mind. An organised mess, he liked to call it. A visual representation would look something akin to a library after a tornado had drifted through it. In reality, Dane's "clearing" of his mind simply consisted of ignoring the mess, but that still served a useful purpose. With his own thoughts ignored, there was a clear foreign object, concept, the connection. Assuming he was correct in that breaking it would sever the link, there was something else he wanted to try first. Namely, could he filter the link's output? I.e. cut out things he didn't want to know, nor care about. In this case, that would typically mean everything, since he didn't care about the strawberry outside of eating it. But for the sake of argument, he considered only wishing to know the strawberry's "feelings". Nothing about motion, forces acting upon it, or information from its senses.
Now that he'd found the link, it wasn't particularly hard. He knew where it was in his mind, so it was simple enough to put it through irrelevant information through his own mental block. Especially when feelings and thoughts were clearly distinct from physical sensations. He squeezed it again, this time receiving nothing. If he focused, he thought he could tell that the strawberry was being squeezed, assuming he didn't just think that because he expected that to be the case.
Lastly, there was one final thing for Dane to do here. Eat the fruit. It still wanted to be eaten. He felt it. Its urge didn't feel like a "true" thought, more like a sign left up on a door saying "please take the trash out". Regardless, Dane was happy to oblige. He wasn't particularly hungry, but it was a sparsely available food back at his home.
And with that last rambling, Dane tossed the fruit up into the air, catching it in his mouth. As he lightly chewed it into a smooth reddish paste, the link slowly faded away before he chose to cut the remainder completely out of his mind.
Besides that, there was information in the link concerning the general conditions and forces acting upon strawberry. Gravity pulling it downwards, the slight breeze, the reaction force acting upwards on the strawberry from Dane's palm, the warmth of his palm and the comparative coolness of the shady air. So, in general, Dane concluded that he was essentially being given data on the fruit's perspective. If he linked with a person, he'd get similar information - no height or measurements, and likely a much more complex array of thoughts to fit alongside it. Regarding Tearen's statement about there being biological limits due to the size and processing power of someone's brain, Dane debated that the seemingly one-way connection between him and the fruit was in actuality a back and forth exchange - just that the strawberry's mental capabilities were so incredibly small that it had no way to interpret the information given.
Notably, with this method, linking with another human - someone with a mind potentially as complex as Dane's - would require extensive mental capabilities to essentially store and process double the sensory information. And that didn't include thoughts. Thus, while Dane would definitely give linking with someone else a go, he concluded that for this technique to really be viable there had to be a way to limit or compress the flow of information. Although, it was notable that Dane was very much capable of having multiple conversations inside his head. A habit that came in waves. While all voices were imagined, he entertained the thought of how confused a potential invader of his mind would be should they try to interact with them. It was an interesting idea for a mental defence mechanism. Like the equivalent of a swarming mass of phagocytes. He considered that perhaps it could come in useful some time. Sooner or later people would begin to pick up Tearen's powers. Dane almost pitied anyone who might deem him as being a good test subject. Regardless of those musings, he had a date with a strawberry to continue.
There was a clear link somewhere in his mind. Dane knew that much. But, he was still partially considering whether or not it could be magical in nature. He assumed it'd probably be possible to at least replicate these effects with magic. From person to person, he knew of a similar telepathy spell. Here it would have to work by exchanging packages or magical waves. Except the strawberry would need to be capable of submitting its own for that to work - which it wasn't. While magic was everywhere, that didn't mean everywhere could control, direct, or influence it. Specialised machines theoretically could, a few less sapient lifeforms on Dane's world could, and so could all intelligent races if given proper training. He considered the possibility of a highly calculated wave being reflected back, but with changes corresponding to the strawberry, but was still unsure how any information regarding the strawberry's will would be obtained. Unless Tearen simultaneously planted his own self-sustained magical spell inside Dane and the strawberry, Dane couldn't see a way magic could have replicated the effect. Yet that wouldn't explain how Tearen has linked Dane with his entire surroundings. It could work of the natural magic in everything, but the changes in densities would screw everything up. Unless Tearen was insanely smart with highly fast and accurate computational abilities with a precise and accurate sensory system to go with it, Dane was near certain Tearen didn't use magic. Which meant Dane could now begin the fun part of testing for and trying to find exactly what Tearen did use.
Bracing, he squeezed the strawberry slightly. Despite this, he still flinched. It was hard not to, regardless of any mental willpower to prevent it. Especially when he couldn't locate the specific place in his conscience where it came from. He pinched his arm, and unsurprisingly the strawberry didn't react. If he could note when, where, how, or anything about the information transfer he reasoned it could be trackable. This connection was in his mind, after all. His domain. He'd be remiss to simply allow it to stay there. God-mind thing or not, Dane wouldn't lose a mental challenge in his own head. Poking the strawberry again, he still flinched. He gave it a light shake. He could distinguish enough to know it wasn't his own senses, yet it was still hard to track specifically where it came from, even by inducing the information transfer...
...which was exactly where he was going wrong. The link was constant. An endless stream of information. A continuous dump of knowledge and data regarding the strawberry's state. Which was likely why simply prodding it a bit didn't help him find the connection.
Dane closed his eyes, trying to clear his usually cluttered mind. An organised mess, he liked to call it. A visual representation would look something akin to a library after a tornado had drifted through it. In reality, Dane's "clearing" of his mind simply consisted of ignoring the mess, but that still served a useful purpose. With his own thoughts ignored, there was a clear foreign object, concept, the connection. Assuming he was correct in that breaking it would sever the link, there was something else he wanted to try first. Namely, could he filter the link's output? I.e. cut out things he didn't want to know, nor care about. In this case, that would typically mean everything, since he didn't care about the strawberry outside of eating it. But for the sake of argument, he considered only wishing to know the strawberry's "feelings". Nothing about motion, forces acting upon it, or information from its senses.
Now that he'd found the link, it wasn't particularly hard. He knew where it was in his mind, so it was simple enough to put it through irrelevant information through his own mental block. Especially when feelings and thoughts were clearly distinct from physical sensations. He squeezed it again, this time receiving nothing. If he focused, he thought he could tell that the strawberry was being squeezed, assuming he didn't just think that because he expected that to be the case.
Lastly, there was one final thing for Dane to do here. Eat the fruit. It still wanted to be eaten. He felt it. Its urge didn't feel like a "true" thought, more like a sign left up on a door saying "please take the trash out". Regardless, Dane was happy to oblige. He wasn't particularly hungry, but it was a sparsely available food back at his home.
And with that last rambling, Dane tossed the fruit up into the air, catching it in his mouth. As he lightly chewed it into a smooth reddish paste, the link slowly faded away before he chose to cut the remainder completely out of his mind.