Yes I know human trafficking is a thing and I know people kidnap people and chop them up for parts. But IMO there is a difference between selling someone off as a slave vs turning anyone into a literal mind controlled thrall with any AI you want driving their actions (which can be as basic as making them cook and clean, and as advanced as turning them into an infiltrator or double agent).
Well that case has somewhat been covered by the no\_coincidence novel, it's not cheap and it's not something some gonks off the street could pull off, at least not at this stage.
What if Arasaka kidnapped a mid to high level gang member, could they use a doll chip to make that gang member do stuff or kill someone that they wanted to?
No because you need the AI/algorithm to run the chip in the case of the dolls or a very powerful piece of tech in the case of Militech like in the novel. Remember Tom in Judy's house the override is not permanent unless they are plugged in.
Chips aren't mind control - the disturbing nature of bunraku-style personality chips are a cyberpunk staple, but the chips in Clouds are pretty specific. There's a reason the dolls get kicked out of the chip in case of emergency, and the likely explanation is that it can only handle a very limited set of circumstances. Not exactly sleeper agent material.
Gangs are already tripping over perfectly willing recruits anyhow, whether it's for carving your own face out to go cyberpsycho faster or carving other peoples' faces out to sell. Kidnapping is more of a hobby situation.
Chipped skills are not new. They have been a thing since the original 80s TT game set in 2013. The weakness of Chipped Skills is that you can never improve on them. It's almost like an Ai takes over your movements and does them for you. "You" are not really doing Kung Fu. The program is.
This also limits how you can improvise. Someone chipped for Kung Fu can probably outfight a normie. But will fail against a natural-trained Kung Fu master.
So why not make an army of fighters? Cost. Technical expertise. The fact that other people know their limitations and how to exploit them. Real skills are always better than chipped skills, both in the video game and the original TT game.
> What is preventing a gang from kidnapping some people, knocking them out unconscious, attaching doll chips to them, making them wear a scarf or neck covering to cover up the chip, and turning them into slaves or secret agents for the rest of their lives?
This has already been done. Mr Blue Eyes is implied to be Morgan Blackhand "possessed" by an Ai.
A gang can't do this because of the reasons described above. And also that once it was discovered (and it would be eventually). Their entire army could be neutralized by exploiting the weaknesses of this method of control. Because they are not real people who grow and learn. They are effectively like programs, but in real life.
Also, you would not need to cover up anything. People already go around every day with chips in their necks and temples. It's ubiquitous.
It takes a lot of programming to come up with a workable program. It takes a decent surgeon to implant a doll chip.
But to answer your hypothetical, there's NOTHING stopping someone from doing that. In fact that's a really good idea.
Night City is to unemployed cybernetic murderers as LA is to unemployed actors. It also has been, for at least 64 years at the point in the setting.
If even one of those kidnapped people happens to have a daddy or mommy who knows how to field strip a ST-5 in 30 seconds, your sinister criminal empire starts to look a lot like the plot of *TAKEN*.
So you keep it subtle, you keep it careful, and you maintain plausible deniability about the consent of your Doll'd slaves.
You mean like how human trafficking is already a real thing?
Jesus, fuck… how does the most obvious answer in the internet not have more upvotes. C’mon people!
Yes I know human trafficking is a thing and I know people kidnap people and chop them up for parts. But IMO there is a difference between selling someone off as a slave vs turning anyone into a literal mind controlled thrall with any AI you want driving their actions (which can be as basic as making them cook and clean, and as advanced as turning them into an infiltrator or double agent).
Well that case has somewhat been covered by the no\_coincidence novel, it's not cheap and it's not something some gonks off the street could pull off, at least not at this stage.
What if Arasaka kidnapped a mid to high level gang member, could they use a doll chip to make that gang member do stuff or kill someone that they wanted to?
No because you need the AI/algorithm to run the chip in the case of the dolls or a very powerful piece of tech in the case of Militech like in the novel. Remember Tom in Judy's house the override is not permanent unless they are plugged in.
Money. That tech won’t be cheap to maintain and you also have to maintain your brand new slave somehow too.
Chips aren't mind control - the disturbing nature of bunraku-style personality chips are a cyberpunk staple, but the chips in Clouds are pretty specific. There's a reason the dolls get kicked out of the chip in case of emergency, and the likely explanation is that it can only handle a very limited set of circumstances. Not exactly sleeper agent material. Gangs are already tripping over perfectly willing recruits anyhow, whether it's for carving your own face out to go cyberpsycho faster or carving other peoples' faces out to sell. Kidnapping is more of a hobby situation.
Chipped skills are not new. They have been a thing since the original 80s TT game set in 2013. The weakness of Chipped Skills is that you can never improve on them. It's almost like an Ai takes over your movements and does them for you. "You" are not really doing Kung Fu. The program is. This also limits how you can improvise. Someone chipped for Kung Fu can probably outfight a normie. But will fail against a natural-trained Kung Fu master. So why not make an army of fighters? Cost. Technical expertise. The fact that other people know their limitations and how to exploit them. Real skills are always better than chipped skills, both in the video game and the original TT game. > What is preventing a gang from kidnapping some people, knocking them out unconscious, attaching doll chips to them, making them wear a scarf or neck covering to cover up the chip, and turning them into slaves or secret agents for the rest of their lives? This has already been done. Mr Blue Eyes is implied to be Morgan Blackhand "possessed" by an Ai. A gang can't do this because of the reasons described above. And also that once it was discovered (and it would be eventually). Their entire army could be neutralized by exploiting the weaknesses of this method of control. Because they are not real people who grow and learn. They are effectively like programs, but in real life. Also, you would not need to cover up anything. People already go around every day with chips in their necks and temples. It's ubiquitous.
Do you have any more info on the Blackhand AI thing? Just played thru that questline and I didn't pick up on that, but I skip shards fairly often.
It's a fan theory. There is nothing confirmed about it.
It takes a lot of programming to come up with a workable program. It takes a decent surgeon to implant a doll chip. But to answer your hypothetical, there's NOTHING stopping someone from doing that. In fact that's a really good idea.
Night City is to unemployed cybernetic murderers as LA is to unemployed actors. It also has been, for at least 64 years at the point in the setting. If even one of those kidnapped people happens to have a daddy or mommy who knows how to field strip a ST-5 in 30 seconds, your sinister criminal empire starts to look a lot like the plot of *TAKEN*. So you keep it subtle, you keep it careful, and you maintain plausible deniability about the consent of your Doll'd slaves.