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[warning: tech babble ahead, and I explain things really badly, so please poke me if you need clarifications]
Holy. Cow.
So I mean, I've noticed a few posts where people rail at the writing of Dr. Beckett's shady medical ethics, it being bad writing of a doctor. But the more I looked at it, the more I realized that that might've been written deliberately, as part of Beckett's characterization.
I think that's part of why I love Poisoning The Well (s1.ep7) so much, because it's Beckett's version of Trinity, the scientist's sucking slow spiral downwards, and he doesn't even know he's doing it.
And if
vaccine = zero point weapon
then maybe
Hoffans = chaos particles?
Because Beckett doesn't even realize in his delight to create, create, create that he's edging towards the slippery slope from the moment he started on the project; he thinks he can help control it, and he doesn't even *think* of the possibility of the process cascading away from him. Beckett talking to Perna about the "slippery slope" is just as hilariously awful as Rodney talking about the Manhattan Project to John.
AND OH MY GOD. They! ::FLAILS and points:: That would mean that Beckett and Perna working on the WMD is like John and Rodney working on the WMD! ::OTPs gleefully::
Which begs the question: who is John, Beckett or Perna? XD
Or is maybe Perna = John and Zelenka? ::ponders::
Or...huh. Maybe Rodney = Perna? But in Rodney's case, John was able to save him (barely) from his obsessiveness while Beckett wasn't able to save Perna from hers?
In any case, Beckett = shady medical ethics.
And *then* I remember Hide and Seek (ep3). The ATA gene therapy of mad mad shadyness.
There's a small possibility that Beckett isolated the gene in the interm between Rising and Hide And Seek, but I find that hard to believe because everybody would be running around trying to set things up and getting everything all established, and in Beckett's case probably helping to treat whatever wounds occurred in the process.
One of the few ways that he could have developed the gene treatment in such a short amount of time is through Ancient technology. Which, what could the Ancient technology do with gene treatment?? (::COUGH::makeWraith?::COUGH::)
I find it, however, far more likely that Beckett has been working on the gene therapy for awhile, probably for the SGC. That said, why did they wait for everyone to get to Atlantis before attempting the gene therapy? (that is, besides having the narrative ability to highlight how much Atlantis loves John) They *knew* they were going to an Ancient city, and probably a one-way trip...and since it is less probable that Beckett developed the gene therapy completely on Atlantis, that must mean that it was in a state of completion or near completion while they were still on Earth.
And yet they didn't administer it before going to Atlantis? Or was it something that Beckett was hiding from the SGC, sorta like "hoarding my life's work" kinda thing?
'Cause wow, that gene therapy must be *shady* for Beckett to only be able to test in in another galaxy. o.0
Heh, and Beckett's so amiacable too!
Don't trust the quiet ones. =D
Meanwhile, it's got me to wondering what the ATA gene might be. But my memory of both references to it in canon and some of my bio is not perfect.
Thinking out-loud...
What I remember from the show:
1) It needs to be a 'complete' gene to have it affect Ancient technology.
2) Some people who have it active have it more/stronger than others.
3) there is a "mental" component that is prossibly not tied to intelligence
3a) McKay seems to have a less instinctive connection to puddlejumpers
3b) is this just because he's unfamiliar with flight?
4) Sheppard still has the strongest interface with the ATA system (is this fanon?)
4a) is this because of the mental component, or the physical?
(Question: I don't know where I get this from, but I have the vague feeling that the gene therapy might be only temporary? did I get tyhis from fic? ::wrinkles forehead:: does anyone know for sure?) (think it might have just been Beckett doing a fake-out with Weir so that the shield would fall off Rodney)
One of the possibilities is that it's a massively reoccuring gene segment, perhaps part of the 'junk' DNA or perhaps as a sub-component of something else.
The problem with it being in 'junk' DNA is that, it's not like you'd get a cut-and-dry
thus it's more often it's something like
So I'm a bit at a loss mentally going further down the path of the "junk" DNA hypothesis because it offers too many brain-'splody dead-ends, but what if the ATA gene affected the ribosomes? Specifically in reference to the latter, I'm thinking that it might be coded in the part of the DNA that forms ribosomes; the entire nucleolus blob is just DNA with the ribosome-creation sequence repeating over and over and over again, being mass produced at least partially on-site, because there's no other way to supply the huge need for ribosomes. To state in a different way, the section of DNA that creates ribosomes repeats so often and is so active in production and replication that the nucleolus is actually visible as a cellular structure with a microscope.
And if that's not massively reoccuring, I don't know *what* is; being so prevalent, and so so prevalently copied, there's a higher probability of a naturally occuring mutation that'll create an ATA effect. But it gets complicated if you suppose major ribosome mutations because that will affect protein creation, which'll just fuck up entire branches of normal functions. (If the ATA gene was ribosome-mutation based, I wouldn't be surprised if the Ancients had a lot of miscarriages because of the high possibility of a mutation FUBARing many normal cell processes).
However, perhaps the gene just lends a teeny bit of either positive or negative charge to the ribosomes? Provided it's roughly 50-50 positive to negative charge, it could potentially cause no appreciable change in the natural charge of the cell because the charges mostly cancel each other out, plus or minus random movement that'll create more of a slight charge in one part or another of the cell. But knowing the possibility of random dipoles in the cells, it could possibly not even be an active gene in the neural network because the neural network is heavily dependant on maintaining specific charges in specific cells, and thus the ATA gene could be be un-connected to any measure of intelligence.
But here's the interesting part, the charged ribosomes might, in a way, act as a neural network of it's own, like a computer chip, like a group of stationary dipoles, because while a portion of ribosomes are free-floating, others have fixed positions and thus the charges would not be able to be easily moved/equilibrilized. In effect, every cell becomes an electrical circuit, and *that* perhaps allow posessors of the gene to interface with Ancient technology. In essence, the bodies of people with the ATA gene sorta acts like an electrical bridge, connecting the circuitry of Ancient technology directly to the brain (without the messy issue of Matrix-like brain-outlets)...
And Oh My God.
Squibs!
Ancient Squibs...is that Teyla's people? The people the Ancients left behind?
o.0 People for whom the ATA gene fouled up somewhere? Which might also help explain the scattershot appearance of the ATA gene in the Earth human population, yet none so far in the Pegasus galaxy's humans.
Holy. Cow.
So I mean, I've noticed a few posts where people rail at the writing of Dr. Beckett's shady medical ethics, it being bad writing of a doctor. But the more I looked at it, the more I realized that that might've been written deliberately, as part of Beckett's characterization.
I think that's part of why I love Poisoning The Well (s1.ep7) so much, because it's Beckett's version of Trinity, the scientist's sucking slow spiral downwards, and he doesn't even know he's doing it.
And if
vaccine = zero point weapon
then maybe
Hoffans = chaos particles?
Because Beckett doesn't even realize in his delight to create, create, create that he's edging towards the slippery slope from the moment he started on the project; he thinks he can help control it, and he doesn't even *think* of the possibility of the process cascading away from him. Beckett talking to Perna about the "slippery slope" is just as hilariously awful as Rodney talking about the Manhattan Project to John.
AND OH MY GOD. They! ::FLAILS and points:: That would mean that Beckett and Perna working on the WMD is like John and Rodney working on the WMD! ::OTPs gleefully::
Which begs the question: who is John, Beckett or Perna? XD
Or is maybe Perna = John and Zelenka? ::ponders::
Or...huh. Maybe Rodney = Perna? But in Rodney's case, John was able to save him (barely) from his obsessiveness while Beckett wasn't able to save Perna from hers?
In any case, Beckett = shady medical ethics.
And *then* I remember Hide and Seek (ep3). The ATA gene therapy of mad mad shadyness.
There's a small possibility that Beckett isolated the gene in the interm between Rising and Hide And Seek, but I find that hard to believe because everybody would be running around trying to set things up and getting everything all established, and in Beckett's case probably helping to treat whatever wounds occurred in the process.
One of the few ways that he could have developed the gene treatment in such a short amount of time is through Ancient technology. Which, what could the Ancient technology do with gene treatment?? (::COUGH::makeWraith?::COUGH::)
I find it, however, far more likely that Beckett has been working on the gene therapy for awhile, probably for the SGC. That said, why did they wait for everyone to get to Atlantis before attempting the gene therapy? (that is, besides having the narrative ability to highlight how much Atlantis loves John) They *knew* they were going to an Ancient city, and probably a one-way trip...and since it is less probable that Beckett developed the gene therapy completely on Atlantis, that must mean that it was in a state of completion or near completion while they were still on Earth.
And yet they didn't administer it before going to Atlantis? Or was it something that Beckett was hiding from the SGC, sorta like "hoarding my life's work" kinda thing?
'Cause wow, that gene therapy must be *shady* for Beckett to only be able to test in in another galaxy. o.0
Heh, and Beckett's so amiacable too!
Don't trust the quiet ones. =D
Meanwhile, it's got me to wondering what the ATA gene might be. But my memory of both references to it in canon and some of my bio is not perfect.
Thinking out-loud...
What I remember from the show:
1) It needs to be a 'complete' gene to have it affect Ancient technology.
2) Some people who have it active have it more/stronger than others.
3) there is a "mental" component that is prossibly not tied to intelligence
3a) McKay seems to have a less instinctive connection to puddlejumpers
3b) is this just because he's unfamiliar with flight?
4) Sheppard still has the strongest interface with the ATA system (is this fanon?)
4a) is this because of the mental component, or the physical?
One of the possibilities is that it's a massively reoccuring gene segment, perhaps part of the 'junk' DNA or perhaps as a sub-component of something else.
The problem with it being in 'junk' DNA is that, it's not like you'd get a cut-and-dry
DNA sequence -> Protein -> end result (ie. electrical charge or muscle contraction or ATA or whatever)'Cause cellular reactions are not nearly that straightforward...it's more like creating the color brown or the color teal, starting with the primay colors. Under some situations, the balance of the initial colors will produce brown, in others it'll create teal; but it's a balance of multiple reactions rather than a->b
thus it's more often it's something like
gene = DNA sequence 1 & 2 & etc.-> Protein a & b & c & d & etc. -> Protein 1 & 2 & etc. & etc. -> other reactions -> end resultWhich, attempting to figure out ATA gene possibilities from that would make my brain explode. Especially with trying to figure out if the gene creates proteins that would either mess with regular cellular functions or if they would be present enough to be noticible by, say, hospital labwork (and how no previous hospital has noticed disrepancy in O'Neil's results).
So I'm a bit at a loss mentally going further down the path of the "junk" DNA hypothesis because it offers too many brain-'splody dead-ends, but what if the ATA gene affected the ribosomes? Specifically in reference to the latter, I'm thinking that it might be coded in the part of the DNA that forms ribosomes; the entire nucleolus blob is just DNA with the ribosome-creation sequence repeating over and over and over again, being mass produced at least partially on-site, because there's no other way to supply the huge need for ribosomes. To state in a different way, the section of DNA that creates ribosomes repeats so often and is so active in production and replication that the nucleolus is actually visible as a cellular structure with a microscope.
And if that's not massively reoccuring, I don't know *what* is; being so prevalent, and so so prevalently copied, there's a higher probability of a naturally occuring mutation that'll create an ATA effect. But it gets complicated if you suppose major ribosome mutations because that will affect protein creation, which'll just fuck up entire branches of normal functions. (If the ATA gene was ribosome-mutation based, I wouldn't be surprised if the Ancients had a lot of miscarriages because of the high possibility of a mutation FUBARing many normal cell processes).
However, perhaps the gene just lends a teeny bit of either positive or negative charge to the ribosomes? Provided it's roughly 50-50 positive to negative charge, it could potentially cause no appreciable change in the natural charge of the cell because the charges mostly cancel each other out, plus or minus random movement that'll create more of a slight charge in one part or another of the cell. But knowing the possibility of random dipoles in the cells, it could possibly not even be an active gene in the neural network because the neural network is heavily dependant on maintaining specific charges in specific cells, and thus the ATA gene could be be un-connected to any measure of intelligence.
But here's the interesting part, the charged ribosomes might, in a way, act as a neural network of it's own, like a computer chip, like a group of stationary dipoles, because while a portion of ribosomes are free-floating, others have fixed positions and thus the charges would not be able to be easily moved/equilibrilized. In effect, every cell becomes an electrical circuit, and *that* perhaps allow posessors of the gene to interface with Ancient technology. In essence, the bodies of people with the ATA gene sorta acts like an electrical bridge, connecting the circuitry of Ancient technology directly to the brain (without the messy issue of Matrix-like brain-outlets)...
And Oh My God.
Squibs!
Ancient Squibs...is that Teyla's people? The people the Ancients left behind?
o.0 People for whom the ATA gene fouled up somewhere? Which might also help explain the scattershot appearance of the ATA gene in the Earth human population, yet none so far in the Pegasus galaxy's humans.
Tags:
Re: I think everyone overthinks this....
That aside, the idea that you can take a ribosome, mess it up minorly, and still have the segments fit together and manage to actually maniputlate RNA and protein chains sufficiently well that you can manage to still manufacture the entire protein compliment of a cell without screwing up something really crucial is pretty unlikely.
Exactly, that's partially why I think the Ancients are so keen on gaining immortality, 'cause their birth rates are so miniscule.
The thing with SGA is that (imo) I think it's one for being very strong on showing real people, who are sympathetic, sometimes brilliant, and often stupid or otherwise flawed. It may be a crisis situation, but there's always that line about what you're willing to do to win, and sometimes the cost is not worth it. It's about, as much, what happens when they *win* as when they lose; what will the US gov do with the weapon had Rodney succeeded and all the Wraith are dead? What did the Hoffans do with the vaccine, once Beckett produced it?
On what level is it ethically feasible to do harm to an intelligent being, even if it does mean you harm? In some ways I see the Wraith v. humans as also a culture war, someone's going to lose in the end, because in this situation compromise is impossible. What then?
That isn't, IMO, the real issue. The real ethical dilemma in this is whether or not what the hoffans developed will cause widespread destruction of other worlds sooner than they would have been culled.
That's sorta what both storylines (carson's and sheppard's) in that episode added up to, like the way Trinity added up to a betrayal of trust when you compare both plots. On a single character level, Trinity and Poisoning The Well is similar for their character study on McKay and Beckett.
More interesting to me, bioligically is the total improbablity of the existence of the wraith to begin with. Now there is something unexplainable.
mmm, actually there's been several good theories floating around. Several of them have the Wraith as being an experiment-gone-wrong made by the Ancients with the wraith-bug. An interesting theory put forth by
This is intersting considering how...gah, I forgot who, but they made the comparison that the 'look' of the Wraith victims is similar to a disease that weakens the cell membranes. A weakening of the membranes could theoretically allow the Wraith to consume the cellular proteins and DNA of a person, as well as the residual glucose and whatnot. Not only does this help explain the Wraith's regenerative abilities, but it also would mean that the Wraith don't lose any energy digesting and converting food-energy to biologically-useable-energy; the Wraith is getting the energy already converted by human cells.
And being that the Wraith is potentially derived partially from human/Ancient stock, that would be why they can only feed on humans; because animal cell proteins and DNA is enough incompatible that the feeding process can't take place.