[fic] What Measure is a Navi

[kaisuopai]

Hi, all. I'm not quite sure of the protocol for posting fanfics; if they're frowned on here, I apologize in advance.

Even if you don't read the fic, however, this is a question that I'd really like to hear some input and discussion on, if you're up to it.

I've been writing a fanfic that tries to deal with the odd way the Rockman.EXE universe treats

Comments

[krystalphoenix]

LJ is very useful~ I didn't realise that you were going for a really deep theme to your fic until I saw your post here, so I'm really glad I spotted it or I may have totally missed the undercurrent of your fic.

Operators in the anime do tend to view generic navis as disposable. I guess the attitude of viewing a navi as a less-than-human might not be wrong but could be compared to how we treat our own pets, so less-than-human but something with a viable consiousness. Some people do treat their pets as they would a family member - love, affection, conversation - while others see them as tools - guard, sometimes even simply as a weapon. Less than human yes, human beings seem to view immortality as fundamentally wrong and then deny being "human" to such a thing, since navis can't seem to experience a true death - data restoration, back ups etc. - then they can't be classed as human. I guess what I'm saying is that by their very nature a society might not want to classify them as "human" but would/does accept that they are consious beings with thoughts and such.

I've never been sure if the acronym for Personal Terminal "P.E.T" was ever supposed to imply that maybe navis are seen as gloried pets. Or maybe I was reading into that a bit much.

[kaisuopai]

No, it's not your fault - this fic is starting off a little slowly, and I'm not the most...subtle of writers, so I either tend to dump in too many hints or too few. But a lot of things should be clear by ch. 5.

Yeah, there's a question I can't seem to get cleared up in my mind about deletion. If death, or anything, is reversible, does life necessarily become cheap as a result? If you could have a backup of your best friend to go back to whenever he did something you didn't like, is that a true friendship? And does it matter if you choose to never use that backup option?

The pet analogy is...well, a little disturbing to me, since I prefer to think of custom Navis as, if not human, than equally conscious and self-aware as a human. In that view, frivolously modifying, or treating the Navi as a pet, would be wrong in the same way that forcing a human - or even a self-aware alien species! - into the role of a pet is wrong. Consciousness should count for something.

[krystalphoenix]

Don't get me wrong, I like what you've done so far. I just didn't realise how strong a theme it was going to have.

I think that if something as momentous as death becomes reversible then yes, life would be cheapened. More risks would be taken that could essentially be undone. Although in the Rockman universe this doesn't seem to happen - operators who do treat their navi as human don't want to risk them or loose them despite having a back-up (like how when Gutsman got deleted in the manga Dex got upset). And with the restoring a friend to a back up thing that you said, something I've thought about is that in the series a navi appears to be "for life" when it's a custom version. There might be a version 2 somewhere but people seem to stick with the navi they have until it gets deleted. This must show some level of attachment between all operators and their navis - look at how often people change their mobile phone/cell phone in reality.

Honestly I find it disturbing as well, even if it was just a comparison. But consciousness does count for something even in animals that we keep as pets. My dog thinks, plays, sleeps and I swear sometimes has a sense of humour - the idea that there is a living mind tends to constitute a conscience. It depends on the human that is involved with the animal to decide how to treat it.

I prefer to view a navi as something akin to a human being if human beings happened to be binary based rather than carbon based. I've designed navis in the past for role plays and honestly every time I was making one in my head I never really once thought that they were different to the operators/humans I was making. So while I may be spouting all this stuff about pets and what not, in my own mind navis are on the same level of existence as ourselves.

... I keep typing more and more.