In the graphic, below, I'm trying to imagine what the cover spec would look like for a Cardinal Machine like Ocean. I might as well. I'm soon going to have to research adverts and ask myself What would an advert or commercial for an android like Ocean look like?
I've gone through Heavenly Bodies commercials in the books while Zoey watched. Though they get a bad rap sometimes, Heavenly Bodies are bright, gregarious, attractive androids whose brains more closely resemble molecular computers. Little hint here. In a way, we're molecular computers, what with our DNA codes. Heavenlies, as they're called, have a high E.Q. -- or emotional quotient (also known as E.I.Q.). There are scientists (and, yes, women scientists) in robotics teaching emotion to robots today. The Heavenlies, with their emphasis on greater E.I.Q. than even I.Q. are the 'brainchildren' (if that's not too on the nose), of this effort.
And it's clear from the book, that the Heavenly Bodies team efforts work. Zoey has been attracted to Heavenlies, disturbed by their design -- which she can often see is over-the-top and exploitative -- and surprised by their artificially human emotion. They're well designed to stimulate human mirror neurons. But with their artful tattoos, glittery bones, and sparkling freckles, the Heavenlies are also designed to evoke a reaction in humans, one meant to be very similar to our delight in gold, silver, and precious gemstones. Heavenlies were never meant to be cast aside and taken lightly.
Cardinals, or, as Heavenly Bodies call them, Cardis, don't work in the same way. Tall, striking, a little austere, and balanced, they're a mix of molecular and, on the high end, quantum androids. That's where Ocean, the C001-OisÃn, comes in.
Fig: Btw, it occurred to me that I've never noted how I say Ocean's designator, or C001-OisÃn, though I've read it aloud a tonne -- make no mistake, I try to read all my books aloud to check for authentic conversations and emotional content. Well, I usually say C-ought-oh-1-Ocean. And, yeah, it strikes me as funny that his L.A.P.D. handler is James Ott (ought). I noticed this parallel only after the fact. (Coby17 brush / Anurati font.)
Cardinals like Ocean, Noctis, and Scarlet, are built to physical standards that are nearly impossible of human beings, and utterly impossible over time. As someone who's had zero-percent body fat in the past, I can tell you, it is not something you maintain, or are meant to maintain, in the long-term, because human bodies are designed to lay in some fat reserves. But Cardinal Machines have a layer, or layers of artificial lipids for cushioning, more than for any other purpose, though I do believe that it can be repurposed for fuel in desperate situations. Cardinal Machines are designed around the hero type -- gods and demigods of myth. Like Thoth, they are teachers and scholars first. They're learners above all else, since Cardinal Machines are designed to learn 'on the job' and adapt. But this adaptability and curiosity is a trait they share with all modern androids.
The earliest 'true' androids discussed in the books to date, are the classical super-computer models known as Amenity Appliances. They are the most wide-spread androids in Zoey's world. Slower, mentally, than the Heavenlies and Cardis, they do the lion's share of the work humanity has shrugged off. They dominate both the moon and earth in terms of android numbers, everywhere but in Soleil moon base. They are not the spacefarers that the Cardis, and, to some extent, the Heavenlies are -- scudding off to terraform Mars, among other endeavours. But they are forerunners, forebearers, of androids like Ocean, and respected by all androids, as a result.
Closing in on the end of this new Cardinal Machines novel, which is turning out to be much longer than I had expected, btw, I thought I might share the three dominant android species on earth kind of as a primer. Just because I'm thinking about them a lot at the moment, and all they add to Zoey's world. I'll share my author page link here as well, in case you'd like to take a look at the series itself, which is soon to expand: http://bit.ly/TEireBooks.
Well. If I can ever catch a break for my book cover for Cardinal Machines 6, that is!
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