Flockmind Surrogate
The Vbyifabid are an intensely social species, their subconsciousnesses networked together via radio-frequency bioluminescence at short ranges and, in recent millenia, via Vbynet relays across even interplanetary distances. Still, though they are among the most technologically advanced species in known space, the reach of the Family-Flock's salubrious cognitive influence is limited by the unbreakable bonds of physics: the speed of light prevents timely communications between even their homeworlds and their Oort cloud outposts, let alone their numerous colonies across Sealed Kingdoms Region. Long-delayed echoes of the homeworlds' consciousness propagate outward at the speed of light, but also grow fainter as a result of the square-cube law, meking them of limited utility in staving off the maddening loneliness of small colonies. The artificial 'Flockmind surrogate' was developed to help ameliorate these problems.
Utility
A Flockmind surrogate system is built into the substrate of a Vbynet relay station or starship communications system to provide a combination of filterd and amplified real signals from the homeworlds' Flockmind and procedurally generated content designed to emulate the 'voices of home' for an outlying pocket of the Family-Flock. This traffic is injected into that already present on the local network to inflate the 'psychic population' of the network so that the vbyifabid within the network's span can draw comfort from the (albeit artificial) presence of their fellows. To a limited extent, a Flockmind surrogate also massages its messaging to help keep the vbyifabid it serves grounded in their mission and the Family-Flock's culture, though individual vbyifabid are by no means forced to adhere to this unseen propaganda. The influence of the Flockmind surrogate is gradually decreased in proportion to the growth of the group's population to prevent overstimulation and allow organic sentience to come to the fore; once a colony has become a metropolis or larger, the Flockmind surrogate system serves more as a public mental health observatory than a direct intervention in and of itself.
Social Impact
Flockmind surrogacy is one of a constellation of techniques used by the vbyifabid peoples as a means of staving off the dread spector of loneliness-induced psychosis and the formation of corrupted subminds. Individuals or even small groups of vbyifabid that spend a long time away from the reach of the Flockmind - or, at least, the illusion of one - are prone to retreating into cycles of delusion, resentment, and depression. Though normally-adjusted vbyifabid are peaceable, rational, and emotionally secure, those who suffer in isolation can (but won't necessarily) become vicious in their desire to return to 'normalcy'; the prospect of violent raiders empowered with hyper-advanced vbyifabid tech is enough to make even the near-peer chitiquish quail. Psychosocial interventions, including the implementation of a Flockmind surrogate system, serve to protect both outsiders and the Family-Flock itself from the prospect of vbyifabid run wild
Aside from these practical considerations, Flockmind surrogacy is considered a public good and plays an important role in the preservation of the cultural life that falls under its sway. The content of a Flockmind surrogate feed is influenced by message traffic from home, but the influence of its covered society has a much stronger and more proximate influence. The thoughts and deeds of the vbyifabid, both individually and as a whole, echo in the traffic of the Vbynet long after the individual dies. This is a sort of digital immortality that holds great religious significance to Family-Flock society: to live without the collective subconsciousness of the Flockmind may be a burden, but to die without it, and thus be forgotten, is hell. Thus, the Flockmind surrogate provides a degree of spiritual assurance for vbyifabid spacers and colonists that is difficult to quantify in mere material terms.
Parent Technologies
Access & Availability
Flockmind surrogate systems are generally considered no substitute for the 'real deal' of the Flockmind collective consciousness. For this reason, they are almost exclusively located in Vbynet relay stations beyond twenty light hours or so from the homeworlds. More distant surrogates can be heard from beyond this radius via interstellar radio relays, though they are seldom reactive enough to the user to provide much comfort beyond the knowledge that the colonies they serve are still healthy.
Complexity
A Flockmind surrogate involves equal parts signal buffering, noise filtration, predictive signal generation algorithms, and true artificial intelligences. Unlike in the case of the human-like artificial intelligences (HLAI) developed under the auspices of the Cobalt Protectorate, the intelligences inherent to a Flockmind surrogate system are never meant to be entities free-standing from the network. The Family-Flock cares deeply enough about its members to give them ready companions without seeking to replace them outright, but it is also the case that the Family-Flock places little emphasis on the development of artificial consciousness in general.
Related Species
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