Talk:HorizonVirtual:Wakers

Language and Labelling

As mentioned on the Places discussion page, the text makes clear in several places that, barring programmers, wakers have no grasp of a written language and cannot read. However, it then goes on to mention how data access poarts in major systems are "clearly marked" with destination information, and that maps exist. The question is, if DAPs are labelled and wakers have no understanding of (presumably) symbolic langauge, how are they even capable of understanding what said labels mean?

My personal theory is that, while DAPs are not labelled with actual names or descriptions, they are labelled with the IP address of their destination. I think that, while wakers may not be able to read a written language, they have no problem with numbers, and would be able to read an IP address and think, "Ah; that's the IP address for New York Hub!"

--IMAGinES 08:45, 17 Jun 2005 (PDT)

Waker Lifespans

No real upper limit on a program’s lifespan; a mobile waker could live for centuries of Program Time.

No time passes for programs on a shut down computer. Not dead; effectively deep hibernation.

--IMAGinES 01:03, 21 Jun 2005 (PDT)

I'd imagine there is a limit of sorts, though. After all, I doubt Programs could be "Upgraded" after becoming sentient, and eventually, they might grow...so to say...too old for the systems. For instance, hypothetically, using our timeline, let's say Sentient Programs have been around since...Windows 98. We'll use 1998 as a base point, since it's when a lot of the base technologies got "established"(The Internet as we know it, Operating Systems, GUIs, etc). If we use the begining of 1998 to the begining of 2005, that's 3,679,200 Program Days, or just over 10,000 Years. And we've had huge leaps in technology in only 7 years(Processors going from being measured in Megahertz to Gigahertz, RAM going from 16 and 32 meg sticks to being able to find it in entire Gigabyte sticks, Video Cards now needing RAM of their own, and often times as much or more then the system itself, etc), imagine what Wakers, that survive, must think. Even being as gradual as it's been, you can't tell me it hasn't been culture shock of sorts. Having the newer Desktop Machines now as large as the old New York Hub used to be.

Of course, there's another idea I had, which while unsupported, I think is just plausible enough to possibly work.

Note: This is just my rambling, feel free to ignore.

Wakers are the second generation of Progenitor Viruses. When the Viruses Spread, they don't leave intelligence in their wake as much as "bud off". Thus, Wakers are litterally the children of the Progenitors, even if they had to do it by melding with a normal program. Except for a few. Since they were first made, a few, and with increasing frequency, have been becoming Progenitors of sorts, not quite as destructive, but nowhere near benign. They destroy a System...and vanish. Leaving behind a Waker which is similar to the one that "evolved" into the Semi-Progenitor, but starting with a clean slate. Meaning that it's fully possible that a single Waker is a third or fourth generation Waker who's gone through it multiple times, growing and then diminishing back into a Waker.

--Igtenio