SPOILERS- Humans & Ancient tech

[Alpha17X]

The gene was synthesised and injected into ... like everyone. Shepperd has it hardcore, O'Neil seems to only be able to do it when the repository has sex with his brain. and Beckett had it a bit but can't control it worth crap.

[Jafana]

Actually, I'd find that even worse than just a general coincidence of people just happening to have the gene and working at Stargate Command. Coincidences I can learn to live with, but implied arrogance at that level... the sheer audacity of suggesting that Americans are somehow once again slightly "better" than everyone else... no thanks. Now, if there were a concentration of gene-bearers in some random little third world-type country, that might be kinda funny, but I think America is pompous enough without crediting them with a prevalence of Ancient genes.

No offense intended. I'm American, myself. I just hate to see the US being promoted above all other countries (and planets, for that matter). We aren't better or worse than anyone else. But that stuff is probably best left to a political thread.

I'll stick happily with the generic coincidence of gene-bearers in Stargate Command.

I have to agree. I think stargate tends toward the blatantly patriotic a bit too much sometimes (ie. heroes and that flag at the end) and trying to get us to believe that Americans are somehow better because the hold the majority of the ancient gene is a little too hard to swallow.

I'm actually still not convinced that the Ancients are as 'great' as some people seem to think either. Thus going against the idea that some people are better than others because they happen to hold the gene.
(Think Hide and Seek - they were researching ascention. It didn't come naturally to them.)

and didn't they (or at least thats what i thought weir said), after lost city, go out and head hunt all those people with the gene.
I thought she said in Rising that she'd been collecting people with the gene since they found out about it, just on the possibility that they might find the lost city.

[ShadowMaat]

In other words, maybe Americans are more like the Ancients than we think? They seem like a great people, and they certainly seem to have a high opinion of themselves, but the more you learn about them the darker they become.

[rmbeast]

I might be wrong but did they say 20%.

[buckner]

So the odds of having more than one ATA gene carrying person with the Stargate Atlantis crew is slim, but the odds of finding the other 374,998-ish should go up if it follows some genetic laws and you test the relatives. If they find other people who have the ATA gene, seems like they'd try to recruit them if they can be trained to control the use of the gene (unlike Beckett in the chair). Even a human version of JarJarBinks could prove useful even if the person isn't the most graceful...

Also, could the ATA be a "mutation" that shows up randomly, or a recessive gene, where you'll need "RR" to activate it? On second thought, scratch that.

No I think that it would be a recessive gene. So it would take a rr person to have the gene.

[Andy867]

To be as rare as what Beckett plays it out to be, it would have to be recessive instead of dominant. But another thing to consider is why a person like Sheppard has greater control over the gene and manipulation than say that of a person like Beckett. Is it because of Sheppard's military training and the years of having to have a focused mine, or is biology more dominant (no pun intended). In other words, would a person with rr bemore likely to have better control than say a person with Dr //Dominant recessive.? Hopefully the show expands on how a person can have so much control over a gene, whereas others have to work at it.

And going on the whole nationality rationale. I completely disagree with the notion that the producers and writers are trying to convey that Americans are better or greater than the rest of the world, and a good episode that plays off that is The Storm in which McKay (Canadian) and Slovenka (Swedish) are the ones who come up with the idea of using Atlantis as a massive lightning rod to power the shield generator. Sure the show is primarily based out of Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado, but also remember that there were key factors that showed how corrupt citizens of a nation like America could be (aka the Trust/Former NID/The Comittee). I feel the show really represents the world as it is, and doesnt play to one side or another.

[cobraR478]

There are many rare dominant genes. Can you explain why it has to be recessive?

[dd78matt]

Thor did say O'Neil is more advanced then other humans. And i believe it was Daniel who said this, but that we were the 2nd evolution of humans, meaning that eventually we would evolve into the Ancients, not ascended necissarily, which would explain why some human have the gene

[Andy867]

Well, Beckett said in Rising that they were first, we are second in this form of evolution.

[dd78matt]

many dominat genes arent as common as the recessive, because they evolved later in human history; curly hair is a dominant gene. six fingers is also a dominant gene

[alaskannut]

So explain O'Neill.

Sorry. I know he's smarter than he looks but there's no way you'll convince me he's "above average" unless you lower the standard for "above".

ooooooooohhhh...burn

[Andy867]

Actually, according to both Loki and Thor in Fragile Balance, it was determined that O'Neill was in fact more advanced in the evolutionary development than that of the previous generation.

[Simpsons did it!]

I'm a little curious... have they said what percentage of humans possess the gene that allows them to operate Ancient tech? Could someone run the numbers and calculate the odds of multiple Ancient-gene-possessing people working on the Stargate Project? It just feels like an awfully big coincidence. But then, I really suck at math. I'm numerically dyslexic.

Umm, where's the spoiler as your threat title advertised?

[ShadowMaat]

Umm, where's the spoiler as your threat title advertised?

There are general spoilers for Atlantis and for Lost City since it wasn't until then that we knew about the gene and I wanted to make sure that people were free to discuss specific plot points in SGA without causing anyone to get overly upset about "unwarned" spoilers.

And exactly how is it a "threat" to warn of potential spoilers?

Would you care to actually join the conversation and share your thoughts on humans and their connection to Ancient tech?