Cylon "Animals"

[WGAnubis]

Im considering writing a small piece of fiction for my writing class that involves BSG but I would like a bit of help with a certain problem I have. Would it be concevable that the cylons could create "cylon animals"? For example, a cat or dog thats made the same way that the human form cylons are. As I recall, Boomer once commented about the captured raider that the raiders were like animals, beasts of burden, and so forth however I dont know if she meant that in a litteral sence or just making a metaphor.

Anyway, any help would be great.

[youngtusk87]

The most profound part of the re-imagined BSG in my opinion is the Human Cylon models. Why did the Cylons create human models? To experience life? To mimic free will? Who knows, but hopefully we'll find out. The important thing to remember is biologically speaking there is no difference between a human and a human cylon.

Consider the strange phenomenom proposed in BSG; Humans create Cylons, Cylons rebel, Cylons create humans, and then the humans rebel(D'Anna, Athena, and Six). So whats the difference between a Cylon and a human?

I don't think you get the same effect with animals. It certainly is conveivablee(you thought of it, and therefore it is conceived of ). But I personally cannot find any real philosophical value in it.

[Deckard07]

The important thing to remember is biologically speaking there is no difference between a human and a human cylon

I would respectfully disagree…there may be no physical differences in human appearance but there are definitely biological differences. Think Flight of the Phoenix, Boomer tapped into the Galactica mainframe by connecting a cable into her arm enabling her to take control of it. This alone supports that human-model cylons are not 100 percent biological-they are comprised of cybernetic and computer technology. Let’s not forget the glowing spin Six had in the mini-series either…

[youngtusk87]

Very true, good call. For some reason I forgot about the optic-cable plug in even though I saw that episode only a few days ago. School is taking up too much of my memory >.<

Ultimatly WGAnubis, if you write a story about BSG, it is fan fiction, and you can do whatever you want. Since it wont be labeled BSG canon, it isn't restricted by anything except your imagination.

[SoulReaver]

I would respectfully disagree…there may be no physical differences in human appearance but there are definitely biological differences [...]

ah but he said biologically speaking

for example there's no biological difference between a human and a human borg drone (the former is "free" & the latter has been assimilated into the borg collective) - technologically of course they're completely different, the former having a priori no tech within whereas the latter (being a cybernetic organism) having loads of circuitry even nanites crawling in his bloodstream

likewise Pamela Anderson may be 80% human & 20% silicon but that doesn't make her any less human :|

[lunarleviathan]

Hard question to answer. Either answer could be correct.

Cylon skin-jobs immitate humans, so they might also want pets.
However, there would be no need for them to create these pets, there's no advantage to it, and humans don't (as far as we've seen in the new BSG) create pets.
On the other hand, who's to say humans don't have artificial pets? Just because they're not seen, doesn't mea they don't exisit. The humans were able to create the Cylons, so they have the capability to create believable low intellegence animals (although they'd probably look like the toaster cylons as oppose to the skin-jobs.) In real life, we create toy robots that attempt to simulate pets - this will only continue. The same could easily be true for BSG Humans. It's also worth note than in the original BSG there was a robot dog called Muffit (Muffet?), he wasn't anything to do with the Cylons, he (or she? hmm) was human made, and the pet of a kid called Boxey.
Anyway, robotic pets make sense in the setting. Cylons having pets make sense in the setting. The real question is, do BSG humans as portrayed in the new BSG series have robot pets or not? Either way I would expect skin-job Cylons to mimic the human approach to pets.

[Quinn Mallory]

The cylon animal thing right away reminded me "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" (the Philip K Dick novel that inspired Blade Runner). In that book, humans have robotic animals because all the actual animals are close to being extinct (I could be wrong about this to an extend). The distinction between humans and robots that look like human in that book are whether they would kill animals or not.

Back to the topic, I don't think the Cylons need cylon animals that look like actual animal for the simple reason that there is no need. If the human cylons wants pet, one can assume that they can acquire an actual pet. Having cylon pets will not help the human cylons to be any more closer to being human.

[WGAnubis]

The idea of my story is that, sence we humans attach so much to our pets to the point that we actually mourn when they die, that would, if say a Cylon human model, in a desire, for whatever reason create say a cylon like cat but whenever it died it would undergo the same tranfer process as the human form cylons do and in short the human cylon doesnt have to go threw the same unpleasant feelings that humans have to when their normal pet dies.

In short, if for whatever reason a cylon would want a pet, would they go about it so that the pet could effectively be downloaded?

And to further this, what sort of moral and ethical applications would be a result of such a situation. We have all seen how Cylons treat the "death" of their own and infact if their bodies are just a bit battered they perfer to kill the current body and download into a new one. Now would say, in a fit of rage would a model 6 kill her pet cylon cat knowing that "fluffy" was going to download?

[youngtusk87]

Again, it's your story, it's your call. It is certainly obvious that the Cylons and tryign to imitate humans. They were created by a bunch of apes! They have no purpose, and they know that. Now they're making their own purpose by destroyign theior creators and trying to find earth, to make it their new home.

The Cylons don't have any idea what the ***** is going on, they're just trying to figure everything out like we are. It isn't impossible to imagine a Cylon having a pet in order to mimic human behavoir.

They say dogs are man's best friend--not Cylon's best friend! I'd play on that theme if you incorporated pet companionship to cylons.

[deathskull]

well if they did i would have thought they create some kind of robotic hunting
hunting dog to track down humans !!!!!!

[jmw326]

well if they did i would have thought they create some kind of robotic hunting
hunting dog to track down humans !!!!!!

That is what the centurions are for.

I don't think they would create animals unless it served a purpose. As for refferring to the raiders as beasts of burden it was just a comparision.

[maneth]

Yeah, the raiders aren't pets, but they are a very specialized kind of cylon: limited intelligence, but awareness, keen senses and the ability to learn and download multiple times, as long as there are raider bodies/ships available.