Ok...I've been meaning to reply to this thread for some time, just because of how the Jason views handwavium and magic.
Mind you, he didn't always feel this way. At first, he simply felt it was a case of Clarke's Law. He had no problem when one or two of his biomods exhibited Lamarckian inheritance patterns; after all, if you're going to add a substance that greatly alters a lifeform, it's not unreasonable that it might leave the organism's DNA in a state of flux. And it can be potentially damned useful. The Lego Genetics, on the other hand...while it's a nice image to be able to create a mouse with a trunk by popping the 'trunk' gene out of elephant DNA and putting it into a mouse genome, it simply doesn't work that way. Except...with handwavium, it DOES. This was a lot harder for him to swallow, but since it was definitely happening, he rolled with it. And he could just possible see where a sufficiently advanced tech could extrapolate the development of a trunk from an example of elephant DNA, and then figure out how to fit that into a mouse.
What really got him to sit back and scratch his head was when he first met Wiregeek, though. Wiregeek and his carbon-fiber enhanced Alaskan fireweed. While he had heard of one or two people incorporating non-organics into biomods before, this was the first real example he'd run into. He was used to using various lifeforms/cells for his own biomods - even if the Lego Genetics tended to make his look askance at the stuff, it DID work, and the Jason is pragmatic in that regard. But this...it was basically the straw that broke the camel's back as far as Clarke's Law went. The problem was, the handwavium was incorporating things into a biomod that didn't have _DNA_. As far as the Jason was concerned, this was several orders of magnitude above just Legowork. First, the stuff had to actually analyze the substance and figure out what to do. Then it had to determine how to express those traits in a living organism - not just in the originally-exposed cells, but in future growth as well. This means it had to a) determine exactly what proteins/expression pathways would be needed to give those traits, b) design the genes for those needed systems from the ground up, since the non-organic additions don't have DNA(!), and then c) incorporate it into the new biomodded organism in a fashion that results in a viable outcome.
The problem was - it obviously could do that. He was examining the results, after all. But he felt that something like this was SO complex that handwavium might have gone beyond Clarke's Law, and was actually coming at things from the other side - Niven's reply, concerning sufficiently-advanced magic. At the very least, he felt it was quite possible that handwavium blurred the boundaries between technology and magic. With how well the stuff responded to ritual magic, both early examples he'd tried and more complex technomagic ideas later, this idea has become more and more reinforced for him. At this point, he's quite willing to espouse the belief that the stuff might actually be some sort of technomagical construct itself. The problem is, of course, proving things one way or the other. Still, as enigmatic as handwavium can be, it's certainly as viable a method of viewing/dealing with the stuff as any.
*grin* As for handwavium's awareness/sentience - I have to admit, this got me to thinking odd thoughts. The Temple portion of the Fateful Lightning was always meant to be just color for the ship. But the Goddesses depicted do seem to react, at least to general stimuli. I honestly wonder how they'd react to more direct stimuli now. Between this and the magic portions, I have two images/scenes in my head - one, the Goddesses reacting to something, and two, a limit break ritual for the Lightning. I don't write combat much, at least not space-scenes, so I doubt that I'd ever use them. But would people be interested in seeing them? If so, I'll put them up and if you want to use them in something of yours, you can feel free...
Quote:Yes, it does. And by the time of the SOS-Con, if you asked the Jason about it, he'd tell you that it's possible it works so well because handwavium itself has a magical component. *grin* In fact, if he knew about Paralabs and the fact that they blame the indeterminate mana level of Fenspace on handwavium (from the Infinite Worlds writeup), he'd nod and agree wholeheartedly.
I suppose it depends on what you mean by "magic." We already have two major examples in Fenspace of neopagan ritual workings being used to manipulate handwavium to pretty strong effect - the Jason and Grover's Corners. There, the ritual acts as a focus for delivering a clear mental image to the handwavium, and it works. Really well, in fact.
Mind you, he didn't always feel this way. At first, he simply felt it was a case of Clarke's Law. He had no problem when one or two of his biomods exhibited Lamarckian inheritance patterns; after all, if you're going to add a substance that greatly alters a lifeform, it's not unreasonable that it might leave the organism's DNA in a state of flux. And it can be potentially damned useful. The Lego Genetics, on the other hand...while it's a nice image to be able to create a mouse with a trunk by popping the 'trunk' gene out of elephant DNA and putting it into a mouse genome, it simply doesn't work that way. Except...with handwavium, it DOES. This was a lot harder for him to swallow, but since it was definitely happening, he rolled with it. And he could just possible see where a sufficiently advanced tech could extrapolate the development of a trunk from an example of elephant DNA, and then figure out how to fit that into a mouse.
What really got him to sit back and scratch his head was when he first met Wiregeek, though. Wiregeek and his carbon-fiber enhanced Alaskan fireweed. While he had heard of one or two people incorporating non-organics into biomods before, this was the first real example he'd run into. He was used to using various lifeforms/cells for his own biomods - even if the Lego Genetics tended to make his look askance at the stuff, it DID work, and the Jason is pragmatic in that regard. But this...it was basically the straw that broke the camel's back as far as Clarke's Law went. The problem was, the handwavium was incorporating things into a biomod that didn't have _DNA_. As far as the Jason was concerned, this was several orders of magnitude above just Legowork. First, the stuff had to actually analyze the substance and figure out what to do. Then it had to determine how to express those traits in a living organism - not just in the originally-exposed cells, but in future growth as well. This means it had to a) determine exactly what proteins/expression pathways would be needed to give those traits, b) design the genes for those needed systems from the ground up, since the non-organic additions don't have DNA(!), and then c) incorporate it into the new biomodded organism in a fashion that results in a viable outcome.
The problem was - it obviously could do that. He was examining the results, after all. But he felt that something like this was SO complex that handwavium might have gone beyond Clarke's Law, and was actually coming at things from the other side - Niven's reply, concerning sufficiently-advanced magic. At the very least, he felt it was quite possible that handwavium blurred the boundaries between technology and magic. With how well the stuff responded to ritual magic, both early examples he'd tried and more complex technomagic ideas later, this idea has become more and more reinforced for him. At this point, he's quite willing to espouse the belief that the stuff might actually be some sort of technomagical construct itself. The problem is, of course, proving things one way or the other. Still, as enigmatic as handwavium can be, it's certainly as viable a method of viewing/dealing with the stuff as any.
*grin* As for handwavium's awareness/sentience - I have to admit, this got me to thinking odd thoughts. The Temple portion of the Fateful Lightning was always meant to be just color for the ship. But the Goddesses depicted do seem to react, at least to general stimuli. I honestly wonder how they'd react to more direct stimuli now. Between this and the magic portions, I have two images/scenes in my head - one, the Goddesses reacting to something, and two, a limit break ritual for the Lightning. I don't write combat much, at least not space-scenes, so I doubt that I'd ever use them. But would people be interested in seeing them? If so, I'll put them up and if you want to use them in something of yours, you can feel free...