Letters to the Editors
Dear Sirs,
As one of the original proponents of the hypothesis that it was Guardian descendants that Halsey encountered, I'm writing to correct a few points that were made in the article in your most recent issue. More specifically I'm going to explain the roots of the hypothesis and why the asserted problems are not actually problems.
Firstly the article asserts that one problem is that the records show that the race is extinct. Two points with regard to this:
- The records do not strictly show what is stated. The records show that a group of Guardians were exiled from their society and there is no record of what happened to them subsequently. From History log 17 "According to this data, the Guardians’ homeworld served as a powerbase for this new religious order, which eventually succeeded in ostracizing or exiling all of its opponents. I can find no other reference to these exiles in the historical record." From History log 21, which describes the end of the second civil war "Eventually, one of the competing forces triumphed, but by that point, all the Guardians other than those who had been exiled a century earlier were dying.". Their fate can only be classed as unknown.
- Exctinct is a term that's open to interpretation. A species can be extinct by virtue of evolution. At the time of the Guardians, Homo Habilis was emerging in Africa and evolving into Homo Erectus. Those species are now extinct yet here we, their descendants, are.
Secondly, the article states that there is a problem due to the term 'caretakers of the galaxy' not being relatable to the Guardians. Contrary to what's implied by the article, this is actually a cause for the hypothesis, not the problem with it. Consider the following:
- "Almost from the dawn of their civilization they possessed a strong spiritual sense – one that reflected their close connection to the natural world. Even when they’d developed industrial-scale machinery, they maintained a balance with the world around them." From Culture log 2.
- "Their attitude towards their varied endeavours sets them apart from humans. Their social obligations were not seen as chores – in fact they enjoyed participating in these roles." From Culture log 19.
- "It appears that the Guardians experimented with biological manipulation extending it to other creatures in their environment. These techniques were used not only to improve life for the other creatures, but also to address ecological issues, although the Guardians took great care to influence things only as much as was needed." From Technology log 3.
- "Although the Guardians clearly had the capacity for sophisticated flight technology, they had not built anything more advanced than dirigibles, no doubt because airships were more in keeping with their ecologically conscientious philosophy. With rocket technology deemed environmentally unfriendly, they developed vast launchers that used electro-magnectic propulsion to catapult ships into space." From History log 12.
The descriptions given amount to an inherent mindset/philosophy/attitude which is very much matched with the term caretaker.
Given that the records indicate that that nature was deeply ingrained into the Guardians, it's reasonable to assert that any descendants would have also had that nature. Given the descriptions of how the Guardian AI had been developed and built into Guardian society, it's also reasonable to asset that any machine descendants of the Guardian civilisation would also have had that same nature.
With regard to the other roots of the hypothesis, this lies originally in consideration of what became of the exiles. To set the context for this, here are some key excerpts:
- "What really sets the Guardians apart from humanity, technologically, was the way they embraced neural implantation and artificial intelligence. Not only did the implants enhance one’s mental capacity, they also provided one with a direct connection to the monolith network and the fledgling AIs. It was this symbiosis that fueled the rapid advancement of technology during this era". From Technology log 18.
- "Having implants that you can direct communications to you directly would revolutionize communications as we know it. I can only speculate what this would have felt like, but it might have even gone as far as a technological telepathy of sorts." From Technology log 8.
- "The first few generations of AI relied heavily on the monolith network, but they soon evolved into a more distributed model by storing their consciousness within the implants." From Technology log 19.
- "It appears the development of AI increased their technology very quickly. This sudden increase in computational ability – a result of the new implants – allowed the AIs to adapt and eventually evolve true sentience. This sparked a technological singularity – a rapid advancement across the whole landscape of science and technology. As the AIs developed further, this effect snowballed. In conjunction, many Guardians received implants so they could keep up with the extraordinary pace." From History log 15.
- "during the first civil war, most implanted Guardians were exiled" From Technology log 20.
So we have a section of Guardian society that have implants and are part of a biological/machine mind singularity along with the AI, and experiencing exponential development but is then exiled and is then unheard of in further Guardian records.
As the AI could store their consciousness in the implants, and as part of the technological revolution would have been considered opponents of the religious order, there is no de facto reason to suppose that it was just the biological guardians who were the subjects of the exile, or if it was that the exiled guardians didn't take any AI with them.
Regardless, it is still the most advanced, technologically capable and equipped, and AI unified group of Guardians who were exiled.
In terms of what became of the exiles, we can only speculate, but one means of doing so is to take the point of development they were at (Biological/Machine interfaced, part of a singularity, equipped with technological telepathy, capable of hosting AIs, etc...) and extrapolating by 2 Million Years.
With regard to the AI which wiped out the main part of Guardian civilisation following the second civil war, there are no indications that their motivations for doing so would have also applied to the exiled Guardians, and there are contra-indicators, such as the contribution the exiled Guardians had made towards the AI's development of sentience, and the potential benefits to the AI of re-establishing contact, and once again becoming part of a singularity and the exponential development that would be entailed.
As it stands, the fate of the exiles is unknown, but the beings encountered by Halsey provides a possible match for their extrapolated development.
Thus, the hypothesis that if Halsey's descriptions of what she encountered are genuine, then it may have been the descendants of the Guardian Exiles that she met.
It is of course, just one of many hypotheses as to what became of the Guardian exiles, and is also just one of many possibilities as to what actually happened to Halsey.
Yours, with best wishes,
T.
o7
