Paperwork: pure unadulterated evil.
Aurora's entire mind floundered, beached upon the sheer impregnable mass of paperwork she was chugging through. Paperwork enough for 1,200 minds. Stretching her every creative process to try and minimize the sheer volume of paperwork by gaming the duty transfer paperwork. Most of the paperwork was to greenlight her takeover of ship systems given the context of her situation. The rest was normal duty paperwork... a requisition form for new shells from the Gunnery crew, submitted to Aurora, the logistics specialist, forwarded to Aurora the machine shop head, submitted back with a materials requisition form to the supply officer, with permissions from the mission coordinator, Aurora, appointed by Captain Aurora... who was promoted from deck officers under guidelines approved by the joint council consisting of Flight Con Aurora and Tactical Dept. Head Aurora, who was herself promoted from in a position in so on so forth. All of it was a perverse and byzantine network of permissions she had to requisition from herself. The fact that she was pulling it off was a horrifying sign of just how a more nefarious mind might pull off such a thing.
Aurora's computer half was left to run surveillance and alarms, by law unable to assist her in filling out the paperwork. One caution among many intended to prevent her doing something like this under less savory circumstances. A ship was intended to have a command structure that could survive extensive damage, even down to just a few sub departments, but she was supposed to be restricted to her department. On top of that she was an AI, and in a literal sense one person. No ship was intended to survive to literally the last man, not in any sort of fighting shape. Most ships would have had reactor failures by then, or have been left a useless hulk in the reactor's absence, or worst of all had their spine broken.
Most of the horses were asleep. Her paperwork's one upside being that it kept her from slowly going insane from boredom. Aurora was used to holding several hundred conversations simultaneously, acting as a social interface during condition green situations. She was designed with far too much processing capability to be able to cope without the constant interaction. She needed every ounce of that processing to handle the sheer effort of tearing apart reality.
It was slightly unnerving to know exactly to drive oneself insane, beyond any sort of repair. Of course she wouldn't, and couldn't, but it's like knowing about the gun in your desk drawer, knowing it's always there. At least, that's how one of the shrinks at the military college, that was assigned to her, put it.
Her strange reality twisted form seemed less hungry for information and activity, but that was in a populated environment. In the empty room she occupied there just wasn't quite enough to study, to see, smell, feel, hear, touch, taste, to process, to comprehend. It had been a stress on her until she started on the paperwork.
"Hello?" Aurora's conni-head snapped towards the doorway. It seemed she had a visitor. Aurora pulled part of her consciousness away from the mountain of paperwork. "Sorry, still a bit shaken up from Sombra's attack. Hard to believe he is gone." It was the white horse, male, Shining Armor. He looked a bit distressed. She threw what she hoped was an inquisitive glance his way. "Having trouble sleeping." The stallion had bags under his eyes, and his steps had been a bit slower than usual.
"I'm fairly sure he is dead. Not many would live through what I did to him. Even if my firepower was compromised by what Twilight called your Arcanosphere." Aurora beckoned to the pillow on the other side of the table. The stallion cantered over slowly, and she took the opportunity to observe where she had struck him earlier, in her escape.
"But there are, some things that would live through that?" Aurora wracked her databases for what, if anything, would survive 12 6inch diameter air burst shells. It was meant more as a simple turn of phrase. English was not a common language anymore, not outside of the Home Fleet or a yet liberated slave camp. Not every turn of phrase common today to those who did speak it natively was entirely in English anymore. If anything could be said for the language, it most definetly could be said that it loved to adopt words.
"A shock lizzard of Morias, possibly the Colonial Rot Organism of the Artic Reaches. The problem isn't the fire, it's the shockwave. Tears both inside and out." Shining Armor seemed a little more pale than before, though that passed within a moment. "I was trying to avoid upsetting the glacier your city sets on, figured the standard Super Engineered High Capacity Armor Piercing shell would fracture it at the velocity I was launching them at. As she redid that math, she also redid the the orbital models for her probes, tucking that away in the back of her mind.
"Huh?" Ah, yes, of course he wouldn't know what half of that was.
"Uh, a lizard the size of two of these rooms, the other one is a massive group organism, that can span half a planet. Think a million trees, with only one massive set of roots between em. Then ditch the trees." The stallion seemed to grasp that better, if the look on his face was of any help.
"The uhhh... super engine mix...?" Aurora held back a grunt.
"Don't worry about it, that would take a considerably longer amount of time to explain." The stallion looked about to retort, but bit back whatever response he was about to say. It took him a little while, a little while Aurora used to finish more of that damnable paperwork, but she was alert and ready again when the stallion finally found something to say.
"You don't sound fifteen, I'm not sure where to place you, but, older than fifteen at least." Aurora mulled over the strange statement, trying to find the proper words in English to convey a response. English was decent enough for base parlance, but philosophy was beyond it. A wonder the home fleet used it for anything at all.
"It's been a while since they last gave me an Age-Maturity Placement Test, last estimate was nineteen to twenty years old." The stallion looked thoughtful.
"Uh, are you male or female-I uh mean, do you have male or female where you came from?" An... interesting question to be sure.
"I've always identified as female, the word where I come from is pretty similar to how Applejack used it, though not quite. Where I come from ideas of gender as an inborn identity are seen as rather backwards and it's not too unheard of for a person to change genders a couple times in their lifetime. I personally was made with what could be approximated as genitals, but not the ability to reproduce. I've used them recreationally. Arranging a partner for the occasion would be a rather complex engineering problem, but I'm pretty sure somehow could be arranged." The stallion was quickly turning red, another physiological response similar to a human.
It was getting to be too much for mere coincidence. Shyness, embarrassment, anger, excitement, the small colorful horses had an extremely similar suite of emotions and physiological phenomena to humans.
"I didn't mean it like that! I-I would never!" Hmm? Strange, she hadn't expected that as a response.
"I was to understand that my equine form was not too unappealing, was I misled?" The stallion's "blush" (to continue the human comparison) definitely deepened.
"N-no, I would never betray Cadance like that! Not to say you aren't pretty, you a-are, but I love Cadance too much for that." Stranger and stranger, where exactly was this leading?
"I find it strange that you would call it a betrayal. It's sex, not treason. Unless, it is illegal to mix with non equines?" She hoped not. She'd hate to owe a biggot anything.
"No, I mean, I swore to only do that sort of thing with Cadance when we married." Hmmm, sworn monogamy? Strange, was this somehow related to their usage of English? Outside of yet liberated slave camps, monogamy as an ideal was a largely abandoned institution. It's possible that this was some sort of escaped slave inspired cargo cult, or a regressive social experiment being illegally conducted on engineered lifeforms. As curious as she was, now was not the time to overthrow the social norm. She needed help first. "Plus, you're fifteen, that would be like, crazy illegal." Oh no, better to cut this in the bud.
"I'm not fifteen in anything but the rotations of your sun. I don't care what sort of rules you have for your young. I am not your young. I am a woman of rank and duty, and I WILL be treated as such, or this is going nowhere." Just to be made sure he felt the full impact of her words, Aurora claimed the top of the tabletop with her forehooves, in order to give him a sharp look at eye level. Now to hope she didn't accidentally make a funny face. It wasn't the first time she had been looked down upon, and if need be it wouldn't be the last time she made those naysayers eat dirt.
ding Hmm, damnit. The models were more conclusive. She would definitely need more probes.
1. YAY!! update. 2. Where the fuck did the idea for this chapter come from. 3. WHY THE HELL WOULD SOMEONE THINK ABOUT GENITALS IN REGARDS TO A GIANT SPACE SHIP(unless she's just refering to her equine body and not what she was initially installed with)!! 4.While initially funny, i don't see where it delved into her actually propositioning herself. It was just kinda compute, explain biological embarrassing things to shiny and then suddenly insist they mate.
7728044
Could be a situation like EDI, a remote control body she could use if she wanted to.
7728057
This line from a couple of chapters ago supports that interpretation... though it would have been better for her to explicitly use some term like "my interaction frame".
7728057 I don't know who that is. The first that comes to mind is the one from the green lantern animated show. Next is possibly mass effect but i never played those so i wouldn't know. And if that was the case it doesn't seem like it, but then again we don't have much info yet sooo it could go either way. Not saying it's a bad thing I just have to ask why? How'd that conversation go?
"We just the most powerful ship in solar system, but it needs something... more."
"What do you suggest director it already has nukes, incinerator missiles, and (insert over top sci fi weapon here). I don't think there more we can give it to make it more lethal."
"No no it doesn't need to be more lethal... I GOT IT! It needs a either a pussy an excessively large pair of balls."
"... uh director..."
"Nope definitely a Pussy I want those bastards to be reminded of my ex-wife!"
"...doesn't that seem..."
"I don't care make happen or your fired!"
"........"
"......"
"One ship sized pussy coming up sir."
7728089
Yep, Mass Effect.
7728044 Again, she isn't THE ship, simply a crewman in it. She just happens to plug into tje ship's computer. Think of her as the old timey phoneoperator, mixed with siri. Except she has a doctorate in transreality physics. And it's normal size. Aurora isn't the whole ship, her actual body is around the size of a dolphin. She's served on 5 different ships over the course of her life.
7728057
7728077
7728089 She has n7kes and rail guns. That is all. No crazy nanite weapons, no ridiculous beam doo hickeys, good ole bullets and nukes.
Now, she might temporarily shunt things into another reality as her first line of defense, but that's a whole 'nother matter entirely.
I thought frigate was listed as a type of warship? I don't see it on the list.
7728247
7728247
7728247 I recently did more research and found out I'd not been classifying her right. Specifically in that the ideas was that there was such a thing as a "medium cruiser" I decided to reclassify her as a Heavy Frigate/Cruiser
The Star Fleet has two main branches, the patrol fleet and the home fleet. They're largely the same size, with the patrol fleet being small group mission task force orriented. Ships in the patrol fleet are usually a bit better armored, and designed to operate months away from a supply station, and as such sacrifice a few turrets and are a little larger to carry the extra supplies and equipment. They are Tasked with hunting pirates, slavers, and securing their unsettled territorial claims. The home fleet is more of your standard fleet, they handle commerce escort, inter planetary travel regulation, and absolutely crush anything that slips by the patrol fleet. The patrol fleet has the marines, and the home fleet has the army.
To get to my point. The patrol fleet uses norse for their command structure and naming conventions, and the home fleet uses English. So she's actually a Busse (Heavy Frigate) or (Heavy Patrol Cruiser) as you can see in the patrol column. She's simply said frigate since the ponies only speak english, and more importantly I didn't feel like explaining all of this in story.
Carriers use Japanese, and flight deck cruisers use either english and japanese, or norse and japanese.
It's important to note that a ship can be converted laterally, a cruiser might be remodled into a frigate, and a frigate into a flight deck cruiser. Usually just simply translating the name to the new language to fit in better. The only thing a ship never changes is its spine, if a hull got a new spine, its a new ship.
7728247 ...?
7728229 so she's an ai like cortana just with an actual body. My comment still stands why would someone think about giving a navigation/repair droid/robotic crewman genitals? Again not saying its bad just funny in a "why would someone do that kinda way"
I'm picturing a Star Trek type show where all the characters look identical and all have the same name. LOL.
7728745 She's a person. The intentions on designing the Biologically Engineered Cyber-Organic Life-Form was that it would follow as closely the known forms of sentient life. Most sentient species have some sort of sexual organs and for lack of a better term "erogenous" zones. Most of this was to ensure that such a being given the power they have been given, should be as easy to understand as possible. It's why she isn't just a computer. Her being mostly just a person means that you can't just tell her 1+1=murder, and expect her to go out on a plan to exterminate all life in the Galaxy.
Also, the ability to auto-pleasure is a great way to relieve stress. Can't knock them for installing a "stress be gone" button in the best way they know how.
7728821 ... why?
7728821 Ohhhhhhh... heh... that's actually kinda funny!
7728745
Well for one to make it easier for the other crew members to have to them normal inaction with the AI and avoid the uncanny valley effect. There could be others as well depending on how AIs are viewed in the social frame work they are made in.
Very good fiction! Keep up!
7728853 ok so she's a bio-machine with a learning ai designed to act naturally among the crew and progress any possible relationships? Does that about sum that up? Or was she a cyborg? God dammit sci fi gets confusing.
And that doesn't make her sound like a public bicycle at all. Lol
7728873
Genitals don't make it easier for interaction in fact studies shown quite the opposite.
7728918 She's a cyborg dolphin, with a human brain, She's submersed inside a tube installed somwhere inside the ship's citadel. She has a sorta animated persona when she interects with the crew. Think Vocaloid, or more accurately the Gorrilaz band.
Like I said in chapter, it would be a feat of engineering, but possible.
7728929 you definitely get points for originality lol. Now got the mental image of shiny fucking a dolphin the lols will not end!
I can't wait for the next chapter now!
What were you expecting with a line of questioning like that, Shiny?
And Aurora, how is your current body equipped? The engineering difficulties might not be so much so given your shapeshifting capability.
Just, make sure to fully stow your armaments in safe and inactive positions beforehand, y'know?
More
soupchapters please?7729370 Wouldn't want her cannons to prematurely fire, would we.
"It was....." what?
you seem to be missing something in this chapter.
7728229
Has that been explained? I don't recall reading that in the story as yet. The story has so far fairly well implied that she was just the ship's AI, with the ship being her body, what with her transforming back and forth into a ship and her constantly referring to herself as a ship.
7730050 Nope. Kind of the reason I wrote the conversation going this way in the first place.
7729571 thanks! If I had intended to continue that somehow, I've totally forgotten, just dropped it.
7730452 Np.
Here we go... Biological gender, in species with genetically distinct genders, cannot be changed without completely rewriting the entirety of the creature's DNA. In the majority of human history, even mental gender fluidity was not considered acceptable, or considered at all for that matter. Even in the very self-absorbed timeframe context of 2016-United States-Earth, the mental gender transitioners never made up more than a fraction of a percentage of the population.
WAT
Oh come on! Lots of creatures are monogamous, and sex for MOST species is done purely for reproduction only.
I was having so much fun relating to the cold, calculating mechanical mind of Aurora. She reminds me of me, after all. But now the suspension is broken.
7730732 really, they can engineer sentient dolphin people and can literally move faster than light. It's the efficacy of their reassignment surgery that shocks you? I mean... I guess we all have things we can't quite wrap our head around.
There have also been multiple non-monogamous cultures, which found the idea of such hard line monogamy a bit odd. She just happens to be from one.
7730732 Funny thing, being cold and calculating doesn't make you sexless. People have been born who had genitals, and grew up to be cold and calculating.
Though, I'm not sure I can really describe her as purely cold and calculating. She's recounted times where the act of killing in self defense left her in tears, she's been sadistic and mean spirited, she was actually kind of turned on by Cadance's legs (though admittedly she didn't reflect on it much.)
I'd describe her less as cold and calculating, and more as emotionally distant in the face of an alien culture and her isolation from those she views as "family."
7730775 Yes, it surprises me. Complete rewriting of a sentient creature's DNA because of a completely normal condition (being biologically male or female) seems far beyond extreme and easily inside the range of medical malpractice.
Furthermore, there is the whole aspect of the subject's topicality. Transgenderism is a huge political issue in the news of late, completely out of proportion to its actual practice. When such topics come up in a story written at the same time, it is impossible to consider them outside the context of the present political discussion. It's preachy, regardless of which side of the issue you fall into.
I would be similarly disillusioned about a story that suddenly went from adventures of Daring Doo in a jungle to discussing whether or not blowjobs constitute actual sex, right after Bill Clinton's Monica Lewinsky scandal. Or a sci-fi story written in 1999 that was about an intergalactic war, before suddenly getting sidetracked over whether their space fighters would power down during an attack run due to the "Y2k" bug.
Yes, there are polyamous cultures. None have developed (or currently use) advanced technology, let alone practiced space travel. That is not to say that a monogamous cultures necessarily generate space-faring technology. However, polyamous activities within a culture tend to be an indication of a lack of technological development in that culture. Even if, against what we know of history, a polyamorous culture could become space-faring, they would not be able to reach that level of technology without significant interactions with other, monogamous cultures (who are, incidentally, already known to be space-faring). Aurora finding the existence of monogamous cultures strange is, itself, incredibly strange. Hense my loss of suspension.
7730789 I guess that is feasible. My emotional distance manifested as sexlessness, however, Upon further reflection, it is common for other emotionally distant personalities to become sex-obsessed, or otherwise practice pure hedonism for its own sake, regardless of the consequences.
I do not think I can relate to her after all, unfortunately.
7735059 As far as I can recall, none of those cultures, especially the Chinese ones, were especially backwards most of the time they were about average for their region, no more so than the monogamous non European cultures of the time. It's fallen to the wayside today, but only after the dominance of western culture across the world for a century. To assume that polyamorous cultures can't advance technologically, or that a technologically advanced culture might not evolve to be far more polyamorous is rather close minded, and not founded in a unbiased study of history.
And as far as transgender poltics are concerned., I'm not just "bringing it up now." The concept of a society post development of the technology to freely change gender at will is something that has been covered in multiple Sci-fi works since before I was a child. Simply because it's politically relevant now isn't going to stop me from touching on such a topic. One of my favorite books I read in high school was about individuals in a post gender society being forced into a large scale sociological test recreating our 1950's. While I don't intend to make such a topic a huge deal in this story, it's something I've always thought of as part of the society she came from, before a single "bathroom bill" was even brought up, and extremely relevant to the conversation at that moment (even if it might be early or poorly handled)
And as far as malpractice is concerned, I view it as a choice that, if safe and non damaging, a society would be hard pressed to prevent any free individual from making. Especially if it's completely reversable, which in this situation it is.
7735079 Eh, that's more a fault of poor writing on my part. Though, not exactly tackling the easiest character here. Hard to concieve of someone who, when not distracted (or shrunk) can carry on around 200 fully devoted conversations, and has a frontal cortex around 4 times larger than the average human.
7735059 Further on the subject of polyamory. While the Middle East might not be the best example of a positive forward culture in today's reality. At their (relative) peak, they were one of the most advanced cultures on earth. The later rise of monogamous Christian science owes an incredible amount to the discoveries of the polygamous Islamic cultures of the medieval era. The same goes for some Chinese cultures, which as Marco Polo discovered, were far more free and liberal about sex than we can even imagine today. Cultures which were a part of a stable society, far more stable than others of their time, and for far longer.
7728247 Did that help at all? I know I went on a huge tangent, but I hope I successfully answered your question.
7735079 ?
7730732 Even more on polyamory, but more of a tangent on what makes a culture achieve spaceflight.
It's not how many people you bang. Every single one of our modern sciences are owed to how science is practiced, the scientific method, rejection of bias, and a willingness to question. A scientist can sleep with one women, or a thousand, outside of sexually transmitted diseases, and the time intensiveness of the former, one is not necessarily better than the other.
To attribute it to some other aspect of society might have some correlation, but largely the freedom to discover (outside of moral objections because of human suffering) is what drives forth discovery.
7735156 it was fine.
7735193
7735098 Your assumption that society wouldn't prevent a decision on the grounds that it is consensual is hopelessly flawed. There are dozens, probably hundreds, of activities that are consensual, yet illegal. Try to sell some products to willing customers without involving the government (taxes, zoning rules, controlled substances, etc) sometime, see how far you get before you are arrested. Try to have a doctor amputate an arm just because you decided you didn't want it. Try to sell yourself into indentured servitude of your own free will. I could go on.
On the other hand, if you believe that consensual, self-initiated psychological and sexual change is acceptable and allowable, purely on the basis of that choice, I'm curious. Would you personally support and encourage one of your homosexual family members or friends in his or her desires or attempts to become a heterosexual?
It is not close minded. I went and looked it up before replying. I found lots of evidence of advanced cultures being monogamous and only fringe elements or extremely primitive cultures practicing polygamy. This includes Islamic cultures, which (again, I looked up), do not allow general polygamy. It is only practiced in specific circumstances. It is not a cultural norm, it is a fringe element, and only for a husband with multiple wives, not the other way around. And, of course, they very readily execute anyone found practicing homosexuality of any kind, so that kind of polyamoury doesn't apply either.
You seem to be in possession of knowledge about advanced polyamous cultures that I do not have. What is the real-world evidence you have for your beliefs about the subject?
7735222 No, I argued that this one in particular I would find hard pressed to render illegal. Ten years ago, it was illegal for a same gender couple to get married, look where we are now.
And if they were an adult, and if it was reversible and relatively painless, yes I would be fine with a gay friend choosing to undergo a procedure to be straight. I'd also be fine with a straight friend getting procedure to be gay. I'd be fine if either wanted to be bisexual. I'm not fine with modern sexuality conversion practices, because they are largely a legal form of torture involving revulsion and shock therapy.
This setting is rich with aliens, even if I haven't touched on them much. Many of which like some species of frog (and mosquito DNA dinosaurs) can change genders, others might not develop a gender till later in life. Not to mention species with one double purpose gender, or asexual reprodiction. The human society of this setting is a product with close interaction with those species, and such interaction can't help but have unpredictable social consequences.
Would it work this way in our current circumstances? no. But fiction isn't the realm of what is, it's the realm of the possible.
And while our culture today is still largely monogamous, open marriages, swingers, friends with benefits, having multiple simultaneous partners is (though still very rare) becoming more accepted. If you can point out one culture that was backwards because of polygamy, then I'll accept your argument, that polygamy is a sign of backwardness. Until then, it seems to me more a product of judeo-christian bias than any sort of correlative causation.
And I'm saying this as someone who was in a three way relationship. Did it last? no. But that is largely due to the baggage one of us brought into the relationship, and our overall emotional immaturity. Did that relationship make me worse at math? No.
7735222 And no, there aren't any advanced polygamous cultures, but that isn't because they all failed. It's becauase of a century of dominance by cultures that embraced the scientific method and the enlightenment, that happened to be monogamous. Unless you can demonstrate why polygamy might stunt the development of a scientific process and culture, then you can't argue those two facts are causally linked.
7735222 And, if a person wanted an arm detached, or replaced with acybernetic appendage, and if it would be reversible and completely safe, I would consider making it legal to have a perfectly functional arm be voluntarily lopped off. The entire Dues Ex setting is a society where this is true. Minus the reversible part.
7735222 Go ahead and respond if you want. I'll get back to this tomorrow. It's getting late here.
7736470 Keep reading, you ALMOST have it. (if I understand what you wrote correctly.)
The beginning of human space exploration is important and known, no matter how far in the future this is. She should know of the human culture she came from historically, and note that it was monogamous. If she somehow didn't know, and thus found monogamy strange, that necessitates historical suppression, which very much is a strong indicator of failing or backwards cultures.
I never claimed that polygamy was causality linked to low technology. I actually explicitly said they weren't. What I did say is that they tend to go together. Polyamory is a symptom, not a cause. I say that polyamory and low technology are related because they obserably are. That's reality. Until I am given a reason to believe that reality as I know it can be different from all known historical occurrences of the subject, it's a-historical speculation. Saying something is possible tells one nothing about whether something did or will happen. After all, it is possible for me to make a perfect three point basketball shot, but that itself tells you nothing about who actually scored the perfect three point shot that won last night's game.
If you want a reason, here's my explanation:
Cultural Polyamory, as opposed to fringe polyamory within an overall monogamous culture (much more common), in all cases I have seen, involves either one man having many wives, or all men in the tribe indiscriminately having sex with any women in the tribe as they see fit.
In the first case, the aggressive male energies that would otherwise be used to care for and protect each man's individual woman and their children, would instead be channeled towards conflicts. The vast majority of men want women, but the 50/50 percentage gender frequency combined with some men taking more than one woman, results in a unnecessarily high demand for women. The men with women tend to become overprotective of their women, harming their freedom, and the men without a woman will fight either those men within their culture with the women, or go to war with neighboring cultures seeking female captives.
In the other case, where men have sex with whatever woman that catches his eye, may not take the woman's desires into account. The raising of children under such a model is suspect as well. Such children may never know their parents, being raised by a group of people who are probably not their parents. Imagine if everyone in an entire culture was raised in an orphanage. Though some orphages are better than others, even the orphanage operators would rather the children be raised by families. Would this impact the structure of that society? I would say so in numerous ways. Family, as known by western and eastern cultures, would not apply under these conditions.
Now, that is my explanation. I don't have proof of any of it. It is a speculative explanation based on what I know of historical human interactions. But at least is is an explanation. So far, you have only noted that polyamory at a cultural level could work at scale to allow advanced, space-faring culture, in spite of historical evidence and clear correlation to the opposite conclusion, because you can think that maybe it could be possible, somehow. That is not an explanation. Possibility is not a replacement for explanation. If it were, I could simply say that "it's possible that polyamous cultures are causally linked to a lowering of technology within that culture," and we would both have equally valid arguments.
I am sorry you have had problems with your relationships in the past. I honestly am. I don't like to see people hurt. However, knowing that you have a personal stake in this argument as an actual practitioner of polyamory illustrates a clear case of potential bias that you have not yet accounted for. I wouldn't expect you to argue against your own beliefs, nor agree to an opposing opinion without extensive research, and personal reflection, far beyond what is possible here in comments. Of course, I have my beliefs as well, but as I said, my emotional distance manifested as sexlessness. I meant that literally. I am not a practitioner of any of this one way or the other. Therefore, I may be in the position of minimum bias on this subject.
7736718
A) you assume that her history is us. Other than the usage of the word and language of "English" I have done nothing to indicate she is descended from us. I understand that is the default assumption, but if you continue to read you might find your assumptions not met.
B) Both of your examples are in societies where only one gender had multiple spouses of the opposot gender, not where both could, or where same sex unions were allowed.
My relationship was all male. I personally am bisexual.
And while this is a bit tangential, I will explain to give more depth to this conversation. Never at any point did I mean to indicate that the society was exclusively or majorly polygamous. At highest (and stretching) I would put it at 1/4th of adults in some sort of 3 way relationship. And 1/15th in anything more complicated than that. Not to include interspecies unions, open marriages, or un married group relationships.
I am curious what your response is to my other points, reading through your response I only saw arguments related to the two points I responded to.
7736827
I thought this exchange by Discord was pretty specific:
Unless "humans" simultaneously evolved on multiple planets in your universe? I don't even want to begin to explore the unlikelihood of that scenario.
That's correct. This is for the very obvious reason that a culture consisting of a majority homosexual relationships cannot produce the next generation. A society that dies after the first generation due to lack of breeding is a posterchild for a failing culture. Other than some kind of hive-like society, where one or a handful of females create all the children, this is not possible. Of course, there are no human societies that operate this way. Moreover, even if such a society could develop, such purely recreational homosexual activity by the majority of the population would have evolved out of the population very early on. After all, time spent having sex without producing children neither improves the chances of genetic transfer, nor does it produce survival resources such as food, making it an evolutionary waste.
So then my original complaint, that her surprise at the existence of monogamous relationships was illogical and strange, was valid.
I am trying to avoid getting sidetracked, so I only responded to what I thought was most relevant to the discussion. This discussion is not exactly short. However, I don't have a problem responding to any specific questions or points you have. Given how long the discussion is, I don't know which points or questions I haven't yet addressed to your satisfaction. Can you please lay them out for me again?