This is one of two thoughts I've had recently (the other is in another thread):
Do the Fen compete in 'Dane international competition? I ask because I was reminded that Montenegro competed in the Miss World competition only 6 months after gaining independance from Serbia. (Note: As my example shows, I'm not just considering sports.)
I mean, sure I can see being Biomoded being classed as a performance enhancing condition (and to say nothing of cyborgs and ultra-tech) depending on how the mod stacks the deck for those circumstances. But surely there's some Fen (modded or not) competing 'Dane style.
Any ideas?
We've certainly got enough sports that can be back-adapted to Earthbound sports to be able to field a decent Olympic team...
Although there is the question of minimum age for some competitions - and for other pursuits. Let's say for example that Gina Langley was approached to pose for the 2015 edition of Playboy's Girls of the Solar System. Setting aside the question of how big a new one she'd tear the person who dared to ask, is she old enough to pose?
She appears to be 14 - if appearance is the criterion, then she's too young.
But she was 14 when she "woke up" in 2007, and that was eight years ago, so psychologically she's 22 - that's old enough.
But she only "woke up" in 2007, so she's only 8 years old - that's far too young for that sort of magazine, and probably too young for the Olympics as well.
So, how old is an AI? How that question is answered 'Daneside will limit any given AI's actions on Earth (or not, depending on the answer).
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
There is also the question of 'Performance Enhancements' to consider. Any biomod can be considered a performance enhancement. For example, a side effect of Ben's biomod is that he's got a reinforced skeleto-muscular system to handle the stresses involved with using his right arm's Shell Bullet attacks.
And bioandroids can be considered to be out right off the bat. Many of them have performance benchmarks that are well above human norms right out of the box (so to speak). And it could be quite possible that any bioandroid that says otherwise is probably faking it. The IOC simply wouldn't stand for it.
I'd say that the odds are good that any regulatory agency on Earth will disallow anyone with a biomod, regardless of whether or not it actually did provide a true performance enhancement or not, just because of the distrust of biomodding on the part of the 'Danes, and that there's insufficient records in most cases to show that you did not get any such enhancement.
And gods forbid someone gets a biomod they never noticed until their test comes back positive after a big competition....
--
"You know how parents tell you everything's going to fine, but you know they're lying to make you feel better? Everything's going to be fine." - The Doctor
In short, I think it's more like, "Do 'Danes participate in Interfactional Competitions?"
Most Fen can't compete in 'Daneside sports because they're either 'Wave-enhanced constructs of one form or another, or they have biomods, and a majority of those that pass that litmus are simply not all that athletic.
We -MAY- be able to field an Olympic Team, but I don't see them bringing home all that many Golds. Worse, each major faction may insist on fielding their own team. I could almost see this as a Warsie-Trekkie proxy war in the making.
I think Interfactional Competitions are likely the way things will go just for political reasons, probably because this exact line of reason developed in the initial discussions about going to Earth to compete in something.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
The official policy of the Banzai Institute is that it is a private, philanthropic organization, existing in those countries that it holds property and paying taxes as a not-for-profit corporation in those countries on those properties. At least, until OBJ. At which point, it becomes a corporation wholly based on Mars, nominally beholden to whatever government controls Deimos. As a result, and because of the "smart mob" format of the Blue Blazers, many of them are citizens of other nations or factions. Officially, the Blazers do not exist as a nation and, therefore, do not compete in international competitions that have national backing, such as the Olympics. However, should any member of the BBI chose to compete under the banner of their home nation, the Institute will not prevent this. As the crew of World Watch One claim to be citizens of the strange semi-independent political entity known as the Conch Republic, which has never fielded a team in any international competition (as far as I know), their appearances at international competitions are generally as spectators.
In the case of private competitions featuring companies and organizations from various countries, the Institute has been included in a variety of contests, ranging from the artistic to the scientific to the physical. They have a tendency to show up in quirky places, including Nezumi's entry into the 2014 IgNobel Prize competition, "A Study on the Social Impact of Broccoli and Other Brassicae in a Closed Atmospheric Craft" (
Ad Astra, September 2013).
Ebony the Black Dragon
http://ebony14.livejournal.com
"Good night, and may the Good Lord take a Viking to you."
Greenwood U does compete in American intercollegiate football and basketball, although not until the late 20teens. And, given American policy on handwavium, athletes are as rigorously tested for possible biomods as they are for steroid use.
Rockhounds and the TSAB both sponsor Quidditch and Gravball teams (as has been mentioned elsewhere).
William Hopper, who had been on hotel security at That Con, began a very profitable career as a 'heel' in American Professional Wrestling propelled mostly by the Hulk-like biomod he ended up with. By the end of OJG, popular attitudes had softened slightly towards the Fen, and he completed a 'heel/face turn' just before being called to testify in the Senate hearings on the war.
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make
anything explode.