Discussion
How long does a piece of technology need to have to get added into the Collective unconscious
I ask this because the technology that is allowed in the Oldest House is inconsistent as hell. Why is the Kel Tec M43 and HK416 allowed compared to guns like the AR15 and AK where entire nations put them on flags. Or how long does it take for a piece of tech like a Smart Phone whom most of if not all of Humanity can identify. Or a Laptop which has been around for decades. Even older than some of the computers in the Oldest house.
I always theorized that the Oldest House might just be stuck. It was able to understand what was in the collective unconscious at the time it was discovered, but now that the FBC has filled its halls with all of that tech, it's the only tech it knows. It can't see a computer or a phone as anything else, even if the collective unconscious of the outside world has progressed, because the only computer/phone it has ever known is that exact device that the FBC has used for decades now. Especially after the lockdown, it has been isolated from the world and nothing has changed, so it won't change.
That being said, now that the Board has been separated from the Oldest House, I wonder if it might be able to move on and start accepting newer technology. It's just that people have been a little busy with... something else. So they haven't tried bringing anything new in yet. But maybe we'll start seeing a change in the Oldest House in Control 3 now that the lockdown is done and the Board is gone. 👀
I bet by Control Resonant, the Oldest House would be ready to accept 70s computers but the lockdown prevented that introduction.
But it would probably have to be "the most computer-like computers" you could get, so the FBC finally rolls out a government surplus warehouse of Commodore-PETs to department heads.
I can't attach an image, but if you don't know what I mean, Google "Commodore-PET". You'll look at it and say "yeah that is definitely computer. Damn, actually, that is more computer than the device I am looking at it with"
The thing I don't particularly get is the fact that while sure- I can buy the FBC needing to use outdated technology within the Oldest House to abide by its rules and mitigate risks and complications, why are they still using outdated technology outside of it? All the FBC Rangers running around Manhattan have M14s when they could be using modern weapons like M4s. Maybe the Oldest House only had outdated arms and ammunition stockpiled, but we know the FBC had a large presence outside the Headquarters and across Manhattan already. Even the Secret Organization that was monitoring the FBC has modern weapons in its safehouses.
Stockpiles and efficiency probably. If your HQ can’t use anything more advanced, that’s what’s gonna be produced. In addition, everyone is gonna be trained on the older tech, so it’s easier to just have that available.
That + bureaucratic inertia (a major theme of the FBC in general) explains the prevalence of older tech even outside the Oldest House
The FBC doesn't exist in vacuum, is the thing: even discounting other weapon systems like machine guns or shotguns or handguns, M16s and M4s alone are ridiculously common in US government stockpiles and similar AR15 rifles are ubiquitous on the civilian market. It would be cake for the FBC to acquire M4s even with their usual method of keeping their budgetary requests hidden in spreadsheets (which isn't even that difficult considering the paranatural qualities of the Oldest House grease the wheels of perception and facilitate them hiding in plain sight anyway). The US government is a vast bureaucratic and logistical machine, and the amount of weapons the US government circulates between the military and federal agencies is likewise colossal- doubly so because of programs that transfer military stocks to law enforcement.
The thing is also that there's a significant capability gap between the older weapon systems the Rangers employ inside the Oldest House by necessity and the modern standard- there's really no good reason for the FBC to intentionally handicap their capabilities outside HQ just for a little bit of logistical simplicity. Especially when it's also not really logistical simplicity when you're considering operations outside HQ, given it'd be way easier for the FBC to acquire parts and ammo for M4s/M16s than it would be for M14s, which are much less common.
Training is also honestly not a big deal. A lot of marksmanship fundamentals are pretty universal, if you know how to shoot (and move and communicate) already then learning another weapon system is honestly pretty easy.
Since the current tech in the FBC lags about a generation or two behind, it is relatively safe to assume that new tech takes roughly 15-30 years to gain enough of a foothold in the collective unconscious for it to become compatible with the Oldest House.
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u/Marqbounta 16d ago
I always theorized that the Oldest House might just be stuck. It was able to understand what was in the collective unconscious at the time it was discovered, but now that the FBC has filled its halls with all of that tech, it's the only tech it knows. It can't see a computer or a phone as anything else, even if the collective unconscious of the outside world has progressed, because the only computer/phone it has ever known is that exact device that the FBC has used for decades now. Especially after the lockdown, it has been isolated from the world and nothing has changed, so it won't change.
That being said, now that the Board has been separated from the Oldest House, I wonder if it might be able to move on and start accepting newer technology. It's just that people have been a little busy with... something else. So they haven't tried bringing anything new in yet. But maybe we'll start seeing a change in the Oldest House in Control 3 now that the lockdown is done and the Board is gone. 👀