Social Implications of Being a Technomancer, Like being black in the 40's? Options

[Socinus]

When people complain that Technomncers are overpowered, I bring up the social aspect.

Technomancers are hated and feared, Matrix boogeymen, to most people. There is a very real possibility that, if a bunch of people find out that a neighbor is a Technomancer, that neighbor would find himself dangling from a light post.

In talking with other people, we've been having discussions about how extensive this sort of prejudice and fear goes. It's been brought up that it's hard to pick out Technomancers, but with the activity of anti-Technomancer groups and Technomancer-sniffing dogs (Running Wild), it seems like it would be much easier to find them.

What do you think? How much risk do you think the average Technomancer faces?

[Yerameyahu]

Straight off, it's a major mistake to compare a hidden, new, and special power to an obvious physical racial feature that had already garnered discrimination for centuries.

The actual question is, of course, a good one. I think it depends on the microculture, for one. In a corp arcology, I gather there's plenty of propaganda. In the shadows, you get a funky mix of blanket paranoia, various bigotry, and a certain measure of only caring about the job. I think being a technomancer is more like the threat of communist spies, or, more poignantly, witches. I bet people have a certain 'urban legendry' about how to tell a Technomancer (they weigh the same as a duck, for one). They tend to be young (or at least, they used to?), so it's a convenient excuse to attack those damn kids and their make-out parties.

Xahn's right, all the standard Humanis tricks can also get involved: protect yourself/your community/your country/humanity, they're unnatural/wrong/impure, they're dangerous, etc.

[Xahn Borealis]

Depends on the environment. Seattle tends to be ahead of the times, I think, so you wouldn't encounter lynch mobs every other day. Those that go after the Awakened and metahumans don't tend fall under this category though. Humanis would probably have a massive hate-on for virtuakinetics.

[Summerstorm]

Nearly nothing at all, i guess...

They can't be identified, except if they have the bionode "on" (most of the time) and some hacker of other technomancer feels them. And the people who do know are pretty much a bunch of social outcasts, freaks and horrible monsters themselves.

If people witness you having control over machines and knowing stuff you aren't supposed to know... you can alsways say: "Eh, i just logged into the WWW from my internal comlink"

In my old SR3 group we had an Otaku who very successfully used his "Cyberdeck" - effectively just a dummy filled with memory banks and a router for him to go online. Only one of his crew knew and didn't care.


While a few people might have trust-issues with a technomancer in his team i guess it would hit mages harder (they CAN and will control you - or read your mind... and can find you wherever if you have a conflict)

[BishopMcQ]

Instead of using the Black in the 40's which is immediately identifiable, I'd go with the HIV in the 80's line. No one could tell at first glance if a person had it, but once identified it could ruin a person's life. The problem is hysteria, lack of information, and a large amount of disinformation. There are havens for Technomancers, especially in the shadows, but they are few and far between.

By the end of the Emergence plotline though, many of the active and visible hunts have stopped. Now, there are laws requiring mandatory registration in some jurisdictions. Just like Awakened people, the registered technomancers will be monitored and if they put a toe out of line with their abilities, they can expect law enforcement at their doorstep waiting.

The average technomancer probably picks and chooses who she tells about her true nature, because that information can be used against her later if she isn't careful. Beyond that, the TM-sniffing dogs aren't going to be out in the street, they will guard high security areas. A technomancer could live a 9-5 life in a lower lifestyle without ever being tested for ability.

[Xahn Borealis]

Remember that mis- and disinformation will be common. "A technomancer? Don't hack my brain, man!" There could be all sorts of unjustifiable prejudice around.

[Yerameyahu]

That's a good point: all the Awakened have basically paved the way for rare people among you with secret powers. And they might also face the same lingering prejudice of the Awakened; what's a mundane care if your 'screw with reality' stat is Magic or Resonance?

[Xahn Borealis]

And there'll also be the ones who think you can be 'taught' how to do it. For Awakened and Emerged.

[Socinus]

Straight off, it's a major mistake to compare a hidden, new, and special power to an obvious physical racial feature that had already garnered discrimination for centuries

I wasnt strictly doing so, just comparing the dangers.

Blacks were the boogeymen of that era, blamed for everything that went wrong when people were too shortsighted to look for a genuine cause. Marijuana was made illegal because people thought it made blacks more restless and more prone to violence.

[Yerameyahu]

Sure. But I think it's best to avoid the comparison altogether, both because it's so fraught, and for the many key differences. We've offered some others that seem more apt. The aspect of 'secretly living among us' is vital, I think.

[CanRay]

It's the 2070s, and people are still scared of magicians stealing their soul and quoting that mistranslation about "Thou Shalt Not Suffer A Witch To Live" and all that...

Technomancers are just the new nig... Huh? Oh, I've been informed I can't use the "N" word as I'm a white guy from Northern Ontario. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif) Even if “The Irish are the niggers of Europe”, and I'm Half-Irish.

[Xahn Borealis]

What do you call racial discrimination against idiots?

[Yerameyahu]

Wow.

I still really want to reiterate that this comparison doesn't make sense. Technomancers are not a long-and-historically downtrodden ethnic group. They're a new, covert, and non-cultural phenomenon within all existing populations, classes, and groups. (Although, they can certainly join together and express a subculture.) They are witches… except unlike the Awakened, their powers are 'don't need a cell phone'. Pretty lame and nonthreatening, really, but that's what corp propaganda is for. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[CanRay]

What do you call racial discrimination against idiots?

"A valid reason for a beatdown."?

I still really want to reiterate that this comparison doesn't make sense. Technomancers are not a long-and-historically downtrodden ethnic group. They're a new, covert, and non-cultural phenomenon within all existing populations, classes, and groups. (Although, they can certainly join together and express a subculture.) They are witches… except unlike the Awakened, their powers are 'don't need a cell phone'. Pretty lame and nonthreatening, really, but that's what corp propaganda is for. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

My name is Karl Brackhaven, and I approve this burning Technomancer. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

[longbowrocks]

but with the activity of anti-Technomancer groups and Technomancer-sniffing dogs (Running Wild)

Even the dogs can't detect a technomancer unless he is using resonance at the time.

As for the anti-technomancer groups, you can have all the seismographs in the world set to searching for rainstorms, but they'll never return results unless a raindrop falls on one. That is to say, with no way to tell a technomancer from anyone else, these groups are just throwing accusation around aimlessly, and most likely falsely.

[Xahn Borealis]

Doesn't mean nothing will happen to those they accuse. Just look at JoeyD. Even if she wasn't a technomancer, the simple existence of the evidence was enough to get her to drop out of the Seattle governer race in 2070.

[Yerameyahu]

That only makes them more dangerous.

… And why are you 'searching for rainstorms', and why with *seismographs*? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[longbowrocks]

Apparently you can assense whether someone is a technomancer with 5+ hits.

[longbowrocks]

… And why are you 'searching for rainstorms', and why with *seismographs*? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Because seismographs have no way to detect rainstorms. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)
I like analogies.

[Yerameyahu]

Oh, that makes (slightly) more sense. That analogy is horrible. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) If you like them, why do you mistreat them so?

[KarmaInferno]

Reminds me of the "red scare" Communist witchhunts in the 50s and 60s.

The no-good, lying, pinko commies could be anyone and anywhere! Your neighbor! Your schoolmates! Your colleagues! Your family! Even YOU!

ARE YOU A STINKING COMMUNIST? ARE YOU? HUH?




-k

[Megu]

That's a good point: all the Awakened have basically paved the way for rare people among you with secret powers. And they might also face the same lingering prejudice of the Awakened; what's a mundane care if your 'screw with reality' stat is Magic or Resonance?

That presumes the acceptance of the Awakened, though. I don't think the Caliphate is likely to be any more thrilled about technomancers than they are about the practice of magic. On a similar note, in a homebrew Minneapolis game, partly due to PC actions, it was Minneapolis' Islamic community in Cedar-Riverside that was at the forefront of the anti-techno movement (had an NIJ-aligned gunslinger who had strong opinions on the matter and got her community and Renraku talking to each other...)

[Socinus]

Wow.

I still really want to reiterate that this comparison doesn't make sense. Technomancers are not a long-and-historically downtrodden ethnic group. They're a new, covert, and non-cultural phenomenon within all existing populations, classes, and groups. (Although, they can certainly join together and express a subculture.) They are witches… except unlike the Awakened, their powers are 'don't need a cell phone'. Pretty lame and nonthreatening, really, but that's what corp propaganda is for. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

The idea that the guy standing next to you could, without any equipment, hack into your commlink, wreck your digital life and you'd have (basically) no way to counter him seems pretty scary to me.

From a metagaming aspect, once you've sunk some Karma into a Technomancer, they can bootstrap a gear hacker quite handily. Putting that into game world terms, your average person would be basically powerless to stop a Technomancer, not least of the reasons being that 99.98% of the population cant tell who Technomancers are.

Vague threats that you cant see or detect are MUCH scarier to people than definable and obvious threats.

[Irion]

There is a major differance between awakened and Technomancer.
Mages do have helpfull skills for Joe avarage.
They make your wounds heal faster, they help you fight off this sickness etc. etc.
(Since the Shadowrun rules are very vage on how stuff works, it is hard to tell how big the benefits in the medical sector are)

But not only there. Every rescue Operation benefits extremly from the use of Elementals. Etc. etc.

Technomancers have manly the ability to manipulate data. AKA steal from other persons.
For shadowrunner thats no big deal. But for joe avarage...
Yeah, mages should face severe restriction like people who carry guns and explosives. But still theire skill can be benefitial in reality.

How pro awakend groups stand to technomancers would strongly depend on the group. The more mystical they are I guess the more they would dislike technomancers.
(They are after all a thread to their representation in public two, because people would maybe not distinguish between mage and mancer.)

[Yerameyahu]

Megu, I actually specifically addressed the non-acceptance of Awakened. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Socinus, I know, but it's still *lame*, in a world that already has super hackers. They're just a slightly different version of those.