(SPOILERS) Langhorne's big mistake ;)

It occurred to me that if Langhorne had brought along a PICA on his own side, his 'regime' would truly be unbreakable, or at least as close as anything could ever be.

A PICA version of Langhorne would have obviously 'supernatural' abilities as a proof of his 'divine mission', would be immortal and indestructible by available technology, etc. Such a tyranny could never be overthrown without a Merlin equivalent [and even then it would be unlikely] or a totally outside force e.g. asteroid hitting the PICA or alien invasion.

Given Langhorne's described neo-Luddite attitudes, he would no doubt view leaving a PICA of himself behind as "unnatural" and "against God's plan".

Plus it's been established that the Federation as a whole didn't view PICAs as "real" people (because otherwise the 10 day limit would have been viewed as a legalized automatic death sentence for PICA personalities who have committed no crimes). Langhorne is likely to subscribe to the same attitude even stronger than the average Federation citizen. Certainly PICA personalities were regarded as merely copies and "not really the original", so Langhorne would regard a PICA!Langhorne as a cheap copy and "not really me".

Which is to say OTHERS in his faction might not have left mind copies of themselves behind. But they'd do it in such a way as to not draw Langhorne's attention and ire.

cralkhi wrote:It occurred to me that if Langhorne had brought along a PICA on his own side, his 'regime' would truly be unbreakable, or at least as close as anything could ever be.

A PICA version of Langhorne would have obviously 'supernatural' abilities as a proof of his 'divine mission', would be immortal and indestructible by available technology, etc. Such a tyranny could never be overthrown without a Merlin equivalent [and even then it would be unlikely] or a totally outside force e.g. asteroid hitting the PICA or alien invasion.

It was also established that Merlin's hacked software is both something unique for a PICA and extremely difficult to accomplish. It took none other than one of the best cyberneticists in the Terran Federation to accomplish that and even he wasn't sure he'd succeed (since he left a backup copy of Nimue's neural pattern in OWL's database). What's more, there was a "profile" that needed to be achieved if the society on Safehold were to follow Langhorne and Bedard's plan and I think having a permanent "archangel" or several of them would have screwed up the plan considerably. Certainly that was the idea that the Pei brothers, Shan-Wei, Proctor and the others had and they didn't want to raise it since they knew Langhorne would either veto it outright or else agree initially and then have the offending PICA destroyed (hence the need to "lose" Nimue's cargo allocation). And the plan did eventually veer far off course thank's to Pei Kau-Yung's vest pocket nuke which delivered a serious blow to all of Langhorne's loyalists and left only Chihiro and Scheuller in charge and which forced them to make significant alterations to the plan. MWW has mentioned that they always intended to rule over the Vicarite with a light reign, making only minor adjustments. The massive losses they suffered thanks to Kau-Yung made that impossible. Nor did the surviving command staff have Bedard's knowledge and expertise in psychology to cover all conceivable permutations.

So, to summarize, I don't think it was a mistake at all. It was deliberate and any of the PICAs Merlin suspects are sleeping under the temple were constructed as an expedient and a necessity and not because Chihiro and Scheuller thought it was such a great idea.

evilauthor wrote:Given Langhorne's described neo-Luddite attitudes, he would no doubt view leaving a PICA of himself behind as "unnatural" and "against God's plan".

Plus it's been established that the Federation as a whole didn't view PICAs as "real" people (because otherwise the 10 day limit would have been viewed as a legalized automatic death sentence for PICA personalities who have committed no crimes). Langhorne is likely to subscribe to the same attitude even stronger than the average Federation citizen. Certainly PICA personalities were regarded as merely copies and "not really the original", so Langhorne would regard a PICA!Langhorne as a cheap copy and "not really me".

Which is to say OTHERS in his faction might not have left mind copies of themselves behind. But they'd do it in such a way as to not draw Langhorne's attention and ire.

You are giving Lanhorne and the rest of that gang more credit for principles than I do. If they thought they could perpetuate their control on Safehold through PICAs, they do it in a heartbeat...

Don

cralkhi wrote:It occurred to me that if Langhorne had brought along a PICA on his own side, his 'regime' would truly be unbreakable, or at least as close as anything could ever be.

A PICA version of Langhorne would have obviously 'supernatural' abilities as a proof of his 'divine mission', would be immortal and indestructible by available technology, etc. Such a tyranny could never be overthrown without a Merlin equivalent [and even then it would be unlikely] or a totally outside force e.g. asteroid hitting the PICA or alien invasion.

Langhorne may not have had a complete plan in mind when they left Earth. It took him years aboard the ships to build up his alliances, develop the mental reprogramming, and plan the whole thing out. He may not have thought of the possible use that a PICA would give. And there were not that many of this advanced style of PICA around. He also did not have access to a programmer capable of reprogramming it.

evilauthor wrote:Given Langhorne's described neo-Luddite attitudes, he would no doubt view leaving a PICA of himself behind as "unnatural" and "against God's plan".

I disagree with that description. I've discussed this here on the forums before. I don't think Langhorne wa a neo-Luddite. I think he was brilliant man whose intense fear and paranoia about the Gbaba left him with a neurosis. He wanted to just curl up in a ball and hide from the danger, but he also had a strong sense of duty to serve and protect the race. The combination led him to devise a way for the entire race to curl up in a ball and hide. His neurosis made it seem the only way to save humanity. The thought of humans deliberately seeking out the Gbaba, even after hundreds of years of technological development, seemed to him sheer madness. His fear of the Gbaba was so great that he could not imagine humanity facing them again. So he retreated from the danger, and tried to take the entire race with him.

I both agree and disagree with you. I think you're right in that he, like others, had mental issues due to well, their whole world being destroyed.

However, I do not think that was all of it in Langhorne's case, and likely others like Bedard. They got off on being angels. It became, or was a sign of megalomania as well. All IMO.

In a way, I think you're giving him too much credit.

Icarium wrote:I both agree and disagree with you. I think you're right in that he, like others, had mental issues due to well, their whole world being destroyed.

However, I do not think that was all of it in Langhorne's case, and likely others like Bedard. They got off on being angels. It became, or was a sign of megalomania as well. All IMO.

In a way, I think you're giving him too much credit.

I suspect that at least half of Earth had some kind of mental problems, given the stress the entire population had been under for decades.

I agree that Langhorne may have had some megalomania as well. I don't think that was why he wanted to violate the Federation plan--that I attribute fully to his intense personal phobia of the gbaba. As colony leader he was already in a position to stroke his own ego. But megalomania could certainly have shaped some of his plan, and the way he set up the Archangels as absolute authority figures. I definitely think that some of Langhorne's followers participated specifically for the power and ego-boost.

Langhorne may not have been rich enough to afford a PICA. Remember, Nimue's was a gift from her wealthy daddy.

AClone wrote:Langhorne may not have been rich enough to afford a PICA. Remember, Nimue's was a gift from her wealthy daddy.

As leader of the expedition, he would have been more than capable of requisitioning one. And given a little explanation, like selling it to planners as a long term advisor to the colony to prevent reverting to barbarism, could have gotten one without the software limit fairly easily.