Metempsychosis

Metempsychosis, or mind transference, is the process by which a mind is transferred from one body, or vessel, to another.

• The most visible use of metempsychosis is the medical procedure Relict Regeneration, a kind of cloning technology.
• The term is usually used in the field of Information Technology and higher Sophontology.

Library Data Referral Trees

Cultural Mores

§ == ( Please refer to the following AAB Library Data for more information: ) == §

• Cultural Mores
  • Aeonic Stability
  • Artificial Intelligence (AI)
  • Big Nine
  • Chimera Species
  • Cloning
  • Computer
  • Cultural Affinity
  • Eugenics
  • First Contact
  • Gentlesophonce
  • Martial Arts
  • Megastructure
  • Metempsychosis
  • Panet Relationship
  • Relict Regeneration
  • Robotics
  • Six Races
  • Slavery
  • Synthetics
  • Traveller Gene
  • Uplift
  • Winkle

Other

Please refer to the following AAB Library Data for more information:

• Cloning
  • Clone
  • Body Regeneration
  • Prosthetic Manufacturing
• Metempsychosis (Mind Transference)
  • Mind Transfer
  • Mind Wipe
  • Personality Overlay Unit
  • Relict Regeneration
  • Skillsets
  • Wafertech

Description (Specifications)

Metempsychosis refers to advanced psychological technology enabling mind transfer. It's not a perfected science within Charted Space.

Term Etymology

Etymology: "Change in Soul" ...via late Latin from Greek [metempsukhōsis, from: meta- (expressing change)] + [en ‘in’] + [psukhē ‘soul’]. Claimed to have been first used in Late 16th century by Terran dating on Terra.

Relict Regeneration & Organic Cloning

Relict Regeneration is the process of transferring a preexisting mind into the body of a newly created clone. It's a cutting edge technology within Charted Space, but some aspects of it has been in use among the ultra-wealthy and Imperial Nobles for generations.

Contemporary Wafertech & Inorganic Memory Transference

The waferjack is essentially a computer data transfer interface wired directly into the cortex. However, after a lazy initial civilian market success, due mostly to social stigmas regarding cybernetic and bionic enhancements in the Solomani Rim, new uses were discovered. Users found that they could save and transfer memories, and experiences in addition to pure data. In addition to the development of skillsofts, this also sparked a new niche in entertainment, the virtual world exploded.

Infomorphs & Inorganic Memory Transference

No information yet available. Virus.

Psionic Memory Transference

No information yet available. Virus.

History & Background (Dossier)

Metempsychosis (Greek: μετεμψύχωσις) is a philosophical term in the Terran Greek language referring to transmigration of the soul, especially its reincarnation after death. The term "transmigration" is also used.

The term was re-appropriated many centuries later to indicate mind transference especially of sophont species like the Denaar.

Denaar & Natural Metempsychosis

The Denaar sophont species is noted for a biological mind-transfer process, whereby Denaar personalities pass into the previously non-sapient bodies of their young. At one time the only means of cultural continuation among the species, this process is now augmented by the raising of new personalities "from scratch". Interestingly, the intellectual exchange is not considered to be a private matter among the Denaar, and they will perform the transfer publicly and without ceremony. Denaar cannot transfer into other species, nor can a given Denaar body accept more than one personality. A Denaar whose body fails and dies before exchange can still be saved many months or even years after the fact -- the higher brain functions retreat into a sort of hibernation. Other Denaar can bring old body to new and make cerebral stem contact, and the transfer process occurs automatically.

Low Autonomous Infomorphs

No information yet available.

Early Wafertech & Skillsets

The Waferjack, or more colloquially, the chipsocket, was developed by the Solomani company UBM, initially as a way to speed up transfer of information. It is an evolution of virtual reality simulations, from observing, to experiencing. The waferjack also allows a user to record their experiences and share them as a virtual reality adventure. In this way, someone can not only see the vacation, they can experience the vacation through all of the recorder's senses. Technologists are working on recording an individual's entire personality profile for the cloning industry, but have so far been unsuccessful.

Use of a Waferjack is not without risks. Anything that wires directly to the brain can be dangerous, and numerous early adopters suffered extreme brain damage from faulty waferjacks. Mandatory failsafes and feedback protocols have subsequently been developed, but there always remains a risk. In addition, extensive use of a waferjack over time can cause personality degradation, and/or other neurological disorders.

References & Contributors (Sources)

This article is missing content for one or more detailed sections. Additional details are required to complete the article. You can help the Traveller Wiki by expanding it.

This list of sources was used by the Traveller Wiki Editorial Team and individual contributors to compose this article. Copyrighted material is used under license from Far Future Enterprises or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.

• Marc Miller. Secret of the Ancients (Game Designers Workshop, 1984), TBD.
• Gregory P. Lee. Cirque (Greylock Publishing, 2014), TBD.
• Citation Missing - Secret of the Ancients
• Gareth Hanrahan. Secret of the Ancients (Mongoose Publishing, 2012), TBD.
• Traveller Wiki Editorial Team
• Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis) and Master of Sophontology Maksim-Smelchak of the Ministry of Science