Cogs is here, Hi Folks.

[Drashner1]

In terms of the vot vs vec terminology, I believe that the tacklers article would be more concerned with the physical form and tactics of such an immune/law enforcement entity. I have been familiar with the vot concept, however I believe tacklers could either be a vec or a vot depending on the polity. I imagine vots would be more common in the middle regions, and vecs more common on the periphery. I don’t think tacklers would really exist within the core due to being supplanted by angelnets and smart matter more generally. 

I do concede however, I have some prejudice against the concept of vots as they imply a complete understanding of the mind body problem or body qualia problem. In my personal opinion, it is going too far to say that these problems have been solved without a deeper explanation. But without going further, I will not likely comment on this within the tacklers article, I will state that a tackler or tackler body could be inhabited by either(Vot or Vec). I do understand the importance of vots for solving the issue of enslaved or conditioned AI, and that they are established within the setting.

I don't see any reason to think the mind/body or body qualia problems (assuming they exist in the first place) couldn't be totally and completely solved over the course of the OA timeline. But that isn't the point I was actually going for in my earlier post. Let me try this from another direction:

In the OA setting, vecs are people with free will and full civil rights in the vast majority of places and for most of the timeline. Therefore, why are you assuming that this security system would only consist of vecs? Why not have it be run by the local habmind or AI or uploads remote operating or temporarily downloaded into the bodies? Why not have them be remote operated by flesh and blood people who either link to them via DNI or download into them temporarily or something else?

The main point here is that - given the scope of the setting and level of technological capability - I'd suggest that you think more broadly about how this could work. Or else plan to provide a specific reason for why tacklers are always vecs when other options are available.

I understand that in a community driven project people should only lend credence to my ideas; if my arguments are supported, respectful, and hold up to logical scrutiny. I apologize if previous remarks gave the impression that I was going to join the forums with the expectation of “I think X, I have no explanation, you should think X aswell” I understand that that is not acceptable. All that being said, I would perhaps be interested in seeing some of these previous conversations – if they were not deleted – so that I could see where they went awry.[/font]

The conversations were all a very long time ago, possibly as far back as the old Yahoo Groups days. That channel was shut down long ago, but our webmaster was able to archive the posts and has them in storage. Unfortunately, they are not readily accessible, although we hope to figure out a way to do that someday, time and inspiration permitting.

Any conversations on this that took place on the forum should still be available, although buried under everything else that has come since. You are welcome to use the forum search features to try to locate them, if you wish. Also, some other members might have time/inclination to either advise on how to find them or assist by finding them directly. Unfortunately, I am not the best at searching the forums, but others here are very good at it.

I don't understand where you're getting the 'awry' phrasing from.

Todd