To boldly alchemize what no one alchemized before
The paperback cover
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To compile all known scholarship on Memory Rub and Drain Knowledge
- Image Credit: Telepathy by The Mystica
- Links:
- Orientation (Wyyrlok-Solusar) (Open)
- Memory Rub on Wookieepedia
- Drain Knowledge on Wookieepedia
- Media Name: Mental Data Transfer: Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Memory Rub and Drain Knowledge
- Format: Book
- Distribution: Scattered
- Length: Long
- Description: The book is available in both paperback and hardcover, and describes not only how to perform Memory Rub and Drain Knowledge, collectively referred to as mental data transfer, but also what affects the effectiveness and pain levels associated with their usage, and also a historical and sociological overview of mental data transfer.
- Author: [member="Janick Beauchamp"]
- Publisher: Self
- Reception: This book has had two big types of detractors: the more sadistic Sith circles, who decry the usage of such a dark-sided power for benevolent ends and giving away the secret to performing painless mental data transfers, and also the more radical light-siders, primarily because it has shown the galaxy that the dark side could, in fact, be used for benevolent purposes. For this reason, reception has been rather mixed, with the more moderate circles on either side of the Force being more receptive, while presenting mental data transfer much as one would slicing in a computing context.
Prologue: Memory Rub vs. Drain Knowledge
This chapter outlines the key similarities and differences between Memory Rub and Drain Knowledge in a nutshell, when to use one over the other, which prerequisites are necessary to perform either power and why, as well as a summary of the past few years' advances in the topic and current prevailing attitudes regarding the matter, and finally, a quick presentation of significant mental data transfer users, both historical and contemporary.
Part 1: Mental Data Transfer How-To
- Chapter 1: Knowledge Upload: This chapter is devoted to the methods in use for infusing knowledge into sentients via Memory Rub, that is, upload memories into them, their applications and the pros and cons of teaching by knowledge upload
- Chapter 2: Knowledge Alteration: This chapter is devoted to the methods in use for altering memories, including but not limited to, modifying or deleting memories, their applications and how they are derived from the infusion methods of the previous chapter
- Chapter 3: Forced copy-paste: This chapter is devoted to the methods in use for forcing the download of memories from a person to another, that is, Drain Knowledge, their applications and the pros and cons of learning by knowledge draining
- Chapter 4: Mental Throughput and Bandwidth: This chapter is devoted to what a person's mental throughput and bandwidth are, what affects a person's mental throughput, how to appraise a person mental throughput, internally and externally, and how the user's mental throughput, as well as the target(s)' affect how effective a user is at using mental data transfer. The key finding was that the mental throughput was a major bottleneck for mental data transfer, and a low mental throughput could hamper one's progress in mental data transfer, while bandwidth refers to the actual data transfer or alteration rate
- Chapter 5: Memory Quality, Part 1: Intentional Data Manipulation: This chapter is devoted to how the target's memory quality would affect how effective mental data transfer is, as well as why, and also how it varied on the purpose of the mental data transfer. The key findings are that knowledge upload/download is more effective when the target has a better memory, but that the reverse holds true of memory alterations, and that the user's memory quality is relevant only when draining (i.e. downloading) knowledge
- Chapter 6: Memory Quality, Part 2: Accidental Forgetting: This chapter is devoted to how the target's memory quality would affect the likelihood that a target would accidentally forget something that was not intended to be forgotten when subjected to a memory alteration or a forced copy-paste. The key findings are that the worse the target's memory, the higher the likelihood of the target accidentally forgetting something, and also that, the worse the user's memory, the higher the likelihood of the user forgetting something when draining knowledge (and also when uploading knowledge into someone else, albeit to a lesser extent)
- Chapter 7: Mental Defenses: This chapter is devoted to how the target's mental defenses can affect the effectiveness of mental data transfer. The key finding is that typically, the stronger the mental defenses of the target, the less likely is mental data transfer to be effective, and whoever can resist a mind trick or other mind-based powers, can also resist an undesired mental data transfer.
- Chapter 8: Pain: This chapter is devoted to what affects the pain inflicted on the user and on the target when performing a mental data transfer. "The level of pain is affected by the user's bandwidth vs. the target's throughput. Also, the pain from bandwidth sources is proportional to the difference between the user's bandwidth and the target's throughput so long as the user's bandwidth is greater than the target's throughput. In addition, it is affected by the pain level of the datapacket's content, as well as accidental forgetting. Finally, the target's mental defenses and accidental forgetting would likely affect the pain inflicted on the user."
- Chapter 9: Famous Historical Users: This chapter is devoted to the significant users of Memory Rub and Drain Knowledge in chronological order, as well as the highest-profile uses of mental data transfer they made. "Although Memory Rub was used as early as 4000 BBY by the Sith Emperor Vitiate, most historically significant Memory Rub users operated in the post-Endor environments, such as Kyp Durron, Darth Caedus and Cade Skywalker. Meanwhile, Drain Knowledge users, while overlapping somewhat with Memory Rub users, didn't completely overlap, with notable practitioners of Drain Knowledge only including Jerec and Darth Talon"
- Chapter 10: Sociology of Mental Data Transfer: This chapter is devoted to the socio-cultural aspects of mental data transfer and the prevailing views on the field, as well as why it seems to operate on the margins of the contemporary Force-using world. "It is well-known that mainstream Force-cults across history, and certainly the dark-sided ones, tended to favor the flashier applications of the Force, or otherwise favor what can be used in a physical confrontation. For this reason, it is not surprising that mental data transfer tended to fall by the wayside, thanks to covert ops being more of a niche operation to them. In addition, Drain Knowledge tended to be used more for interrogation than for learning, and Memory Rub for covert operations."
- Chapter 11: Historical Trends in Mental Data Transfer: This chapter is devoted to how the societal attitudes towards mental data transfer evolved throughout history, and for which purposes it has been used. "When Force-users were abundant on both sides of the Force, mental data transfer practitioners tended to be uncommon. Although mental data transfer seemed to have, at first glance, lived through a relative golden age in the years immediately preceding and following Endor, it is, in fact, deceptive. The relative scarcity of Force-users in that era gave more space under the spotlight to each and every one of them, with mental data transfer being, once again, regarded as obscure in the post-Gulag era"
"For nearly five thousand years have the factors affecting the effectiveness of mental data transfer remained shrouded in mystery, and that mental data transfer is only starting to be better-understood. Better understanding of mental data transfer on a scholarly level could potentially lead to more widespread use of the power or at least more responsible use of the power. And maybe come out of the obscurity it lived through the last five thousand years"
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
As Janick gained galaxy-wide fame for advancing the scholarship on Memory Rub and Drain Knowledge, as well as any information she could lay her hands on regarding the two powers, she feels the need to pass on her findings to the greater galaxy at large, fearing that the knowledge would be lost if she doesn't take action to have the knowledge disseminated. However, given the book's intended audience, it was decided that a limited circulation was acceptable because the content was deemed highly specialized and there just weren't that many Force-users to go around using mental data transfer. Even then, she decided to describe mental data transfer in highly computation-intensive terms because she expected NFUs to read that book at some point, by virtue of some copies also being bought by some major research libraries.
