HYPOTHETICAL QUESTIONS: about electromagnetic beings for a c

S

S Claus

Guest
Hi all

I have this project of building a game involving interactions
(conflicts of various nature, etc) between beings from various
"realms".

At this point I wanted to say that I am not looking for a religious
discussion and that I realize that these questions are also outside
our everyday physics and as such may be unanswerable. If that is the
case then so be it.

I admit that the question here are actually probably better suited for
the philosophy department.

Or some might say The Nonsense Department. In that case please just
take this as a thought experiment.

Additionally, anything here that looks like a religious statement is
not such but merely my description of the assumptions upon which
aspects of this game are based. What this means is: the game is a
world, designed in a specific manner, and following programmed rules.
These rules affect what characters can do and what they cannot do.
They also have an effect on what the characters can see, feel, taste,
"sense" (for lack of better word), etc.

In any case, the realm I wanted to incorporate is what is commonly
called the "spirit realm", but with following assumptions:

NOTE: when I write e.g. "spirit being are...", I am referring to the
limitations and assumptions their existence would be based on in the
game universe.


A: a spirit being corresponds roughly to the human mind. I say
"roughly" because the differences are:
1. a human mind cannot exist or survive if the body dies (this is a
difference between the spirit being and a human mind)
2. the spirit being is "compatible" with the human brain in the sense
that it can attempt to overtake (typically called "possess") the human
brain (this is a similarity between the spirit being and a human mind)


B: the "spirit" itself roughly corresponds an electromagnetic waveform
or perhaps "information" in the sense of what is used in physics
nowadays (as a fundamental building block of the universe). I have not
yet decided which one of these I should go with, although perhaps for
my purposes they can be used interchangably. The electromagnetic
version would correspond better with that the human mind (in this
game) is an electromagnetic effect (like that proposed by Johnjoe
McFadden).


C: spirit beings are not immortal but can be killed with some kind of
a device emitting some kind of radiation or emitting the radiation in
a specific manner. I have not decided yet what this would be because
it needs to be at least somewhat believable.


D: spirit realm consists of "items" just like our realm; "items" are
basically unintelligent "objects" that have a "composition" similar to
the spirit beings "body". This is akin to how items in our world have
what we call "solid" composition just as our body has a "solid"
composition.


E: spirit beings are able to move around in the universe because of
"the grid", a sort of underlying mapping into which the universe is
divided (this mapping provides an identification for each point in the
Universe). However they have a maximum speed for their movements (i.e.
any movement always takes at least some amount of time).


F: spirit beings are not omnipotent but have limits on the amount of
power they can use at any given time. They are also limited in the
injury they can cause the humans.


G: spirit beings have some sort of senses that allow them to interact
with items in the spirit realm. They also have, as intelligent
creatures, desires, ambitions, wants, hatred, and other emotions such
as we humans.


H: spirit beings communicate in what we would call "telepathically"
but are not restricted to communicating with one other person (they
are able to "broadcast" their messages). Nevertheless they have limits
also as to the distance they are able to communicate and require
typically that the being they are communicating with is not too far
away.


I: spirit beings are able to affect the electromagnetic fields around
us and thus create e.g. holographic images that look like a person.
They are able to tap into humans minds and thus retrieve memories.


J: spirit beings are not visible to the naked eye but can be seen with
the help of some kind of device.


So the conflicts and other interaction in the storyline is between
humans and these type of creatures.

Some of the game would appear to happening in the "spirit realm".

The reason for this posting is that I wanted to get any feedback on
how a realm built on these assumptions would look like. I do not mean
so much how it appears on a computer screen but what further things
could be derived from these assumptions?

In order to gain an advantage against the spirits, some humans create
a device that allows them to gather information from the spirit realm.
But what form would this be in?

Or what kind of weapon could actually destroy a creature composed of
energy? Something that destroys a wavefunction?

And so as to not have the spirit realm empty I thought that there
would be something else than spirit beings there. But how would a
realm that is mainly electromagnetic look like? Or one where
everything was made of "information"?

Thanks in advance,
 
Too long and rambling.

Bill

--
Private Profit; Public Poop! Avoid collateral windfall!
 
On Sun, 16 Aug 2009 06:09:53 -0700, S Claus wrote:
Thanks in advance,
Since it's all imaginary anyway, you can write your ghosts to behave
any way you want them to.

Have Fun!
Rich
 
On Aug 17, 3:49 pm, Rich Grise <richgr...@example.net> wrote:
On Sun, 16 Aug 2009 06:09:53 -0700, S Claus wrote:

Thanks in advance,

Since it's all imaginary anyway, you can write your ghosts to behave
any way you want them to.
I DO NOT agree with this statement!

While it's true than in science fiction/fantasy the author can create
ANY situation, the work quickly becomes crap when bad science is
employed. By that I mean that if one chooses to violate established
principles of science, then one must take time to EXPLAIN just how
this comes about! Simply making things up is the mark of a hack.

So based upon this writing principle, you see that to violate nature
you must FIRST understand how nature works! So you can create an anti-
gravity drive or replicator but you first have to explain just how
such a violation of physics came about and that explanation must be
plausible as well.

So if one is going to create 'electromagnetic beings" the first order
of business will be to understand the laws of electromagnetics! Get
it? And then having reached that point one can move forward with
careful modifications suiting your story.

In a quick look at your (rambling) ideas I would suggest a couple of
things as hints and research directions: One would be to read the book
Flatland. It's readily available and will give you insight to
understanding an existence where additional dimensions exist beyond
those you live in. This fits very well as an explanation for your
worlds and beings.

Another would be to look into the "Matrix" idea where 'life" is not
actual but all happens as a computer program which thus controls your
sensations so that you believe that the virtual world is the real
world. It is a slight variation of the multidimensional idea with a
different mathematical basis.

Your ideas and "game" plan have lots of potential, but to really make
them "work" without seeming amateur and hokey will take considerable
understanding of the basis of the philosophy you hope to employ.

Good Luck!
 
On Aug 18, 4:22 am, Benj <bjac...@iwaynet.net> wrote:
While it's true than in science fiction/fantasy the author can create
ANY situation, the work quickly becomes crap when bad science is
employed.  By that I mean that if one chooses to violate established
principles of science, then one must take time to EXPLAIN just how
this comes about!  Simply making things up is the mark of a hack.

So based upon this writing principle, you see that to violate nature
you must FIRST understand how nature works!  So you can create an anti-
gravity drive or replicator but you first have to explain just how
such a violation of physics came about and that explanation must be
plausible as well.
What you are saying, benj, is exactly the reason why I posted it in
groups where people would be used to discussing electromagnetism.

In my opinion games (and products requiring creativity) lose a lot of
luster if the science is not explainable when it needs to be
explainable. And introducing spirit creatures into a game will require
some sort of an explanation simply because people are not used to
think of them according to any sort science-related model. People tend
to think of spirit creatures more along some abstract unexplainable
entity of whose 'body structure' we can only vague ideas - completely
unsuitable for a game that is supposed to happen in a world where
people know enough of spirit creatures to be able to wage war against
them.

But I can also see that my first post was too wide and rambling.
Perhaps I have a habit for rambling...aargh. Anyway I should have
focused on mainly a couple of aspects or perhaps just the general
nature of an electromagnetic being.

On another hand what you are saying about looking into this through
the books you mention is a good idea as well.

Thank you for your reply,
 

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