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Post by kanorgreymane on May 4, 2014 11:41:04 GMT
I'm curious as to what the effective lifespans of people would be in Robotech, JN Macross and Macross II as comapred to the ones for the CS, NGR and Republic of Japan in Rifts. Would they be better, same as, or worse than? FYI, RIFTS Lonestar on p.68, under Longevity states that: "The exisitng level of medicine combined with the use of cybernetics (mechanical and bio-systems), nano-technology and medical treatment in the Coaltion States provides the typical human citizen an average life span of 100-130 years (100-140 in Lazlo, 120-150 years in the NGR, and 140-200 years in the Republic of Japan), ...."
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Post by raiden on May 4, 2014 16:17:30 GMT
Pre-crash, 1999, I'd think the normal human life span would have stayed about the same as it is in real life. After the crash, and the flood of new technology and scientific advancements, I think it's safe to say that there was a POTENTIAL to lengthen the human life span by at least 10-20 years. That all changes when the Rain of Death occurs, and then the subsequent Robotech Wars occur. On earth, I'd hazard a guess and say that the average life span of someone would drop considerably due to lack of reliable medical resources, increased violence, food scarcity, etc.
But, that's just my opinion.
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Post by MacrossMike on May 4, 2014 19:06:47 GMT
I'm curious as to what the effective lifespans of people would be in Robotech, JN Macross and Macross II as comapred to the ones for the CS, NGR and Republic of Japan in Rifts. Would they be better, same as, or worse than? FYI, RIFTS Lonestar on p.68, under Longevity states that: "The exisitng level of medicine combined wiht the use of cybernetics (mechanical and bio-systems), nano-technology and medical treatment in the Coaltion States provides the typical human citizen an average life span of 100-130 years (100-140 in Lazlo, 120-150 years in the NGR, and 140-200 years in the Republic of Japan), ...."Well, considering the apparent absence of advances in medical technology in Robotech's Earth Forces circa 2044, I'd guess that the average human life expectancy of a human is no better than today at best. The obvious catch being that virtually all "free" humans are soldiers, and therefore there's a not-insignificant rate of premature death due to combat. The rest of humanity are slave laborers under the Invid or have been living in isolated regions and regressed, societally, to various levels between the late 19th and mid-20th centuries, which means that it would probably entail less sophisticated medicine and worse nutrition, meaning the average human lifespan may be much lower. Macross is another story... both Macross timelines have had humanity's medical technology advance by leaps and bounds, with very readily available cloning technology and genetic engineering, cybernetics, and extremely sophisticated surgical techniques and medicine. You have examples of individuals in their mid-to-late 60s who are every bit as fit and physically able as they were in their 30s. The advent of cloning and cybernetics means that an individual's biological components can be effectively replaced indefinitely provided they have enough money, which leaves the possibility of accidental or violent death and the endurance of the mind as the chief limiting factors in a typical lifespan. With adults shown to be able to remain physically fit enough to remain on active duty as fighter pilots at close to 70 years old, without a significant medical intervention, it's likely that a human in the Macross universe(s) could live to 100 with little difficulty. Individuals with heavily cybernetic bodies could probably live much longer than that... and there are certain rare exceptions like Protodeviln-possessed humans, who may have indefinite lifespans. EDIT: Depending on how you want to qualify "life", there has also been at least one example of a human using his cybernetic implants to evict his mind from his body before death and exist as a data entity, with the possibility of linking up with a new body. Zentradi lifespans aren't clear because they've never been ones to die of natural causes, but they're assumed to have similar longevity to humans. Zolans, we're not sure about because their role in Macross has been very minor, but it's a safe bet that the Zolans are similar to humans in their lifespans. Other bio-constructs, like the Ehvil-series bio-weapons found on Varauta 3198XE's ice planet and the colony world Ouroboros may also have indefinite lifespans... as we've seen some that have existed for almost half a million years and are still "alive", while those living computers aboard Zentradi (or Meltrandi) mobile fortresses have been known to operate continuously for 120,000 years or more... The |
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Post by kanorgreymane on May 4, 2014 22:58:44 GMT
Ok. I can see the reasoning for Robotech and agree that the medical tech for Macross could easily allow the average person to live to 100. You pretty much outlined my thoughts regarding the cloning tech in Macross. And of course those in the military will suffer a higher attrition rate typically dying earlier than the normal citizen would. Let's leave the "unusuals" such as Protodevlin possessed and the living computers out as they are rare and outside the norm and focus on the average joe. (For the record I absolutely agreee that this is where Macross tech is (and RT should be).) However, in Frontier, while we see that everyone is fairly affluent with those relative few who are truly wealthy and that everyone seems fairly healthy, we see some people (Alto's father ) suffering from "unknown illnesses" (as in the series didn't actually identify the condition), possibly heart disease or the like (dramatic license perhaps) and then the extremely rare condition shared by Ranka and Sheryl (also outside the norm). In Macross Plus we see the Edwards base commander has a prosthetic leg, and when Isamu is hospitialized we see him wearing the "traditional" neck brace and arm cast, but floating in some sort of medical fluid and Guld's injuries from the theatre incident are treated with some type of medical foam that (apparently) turns into bandages. I guess my point is there are examples of higher medical tech, yet at the same time there are examples that depict their tech as being barely past the 20th century mark. I would expect that for the military they could see the usefulness of cloning limbs instead of creating prosthetics and that, in the case of Ranka's "onii-sama", they could have healed his injuries much faster given the tech they're supposed to have. One could atribute his (and Isamu's) survival and quick recovery to the more advanced medical tech, but then again those injuries aren't outside of our currrent abilties to treat either (though maybe a longer recovery period). I was hoping for something a little more concrete, but I'll take what I can get.  |
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Post by MacrossMike on May 5, 2014 0:01:46 GMT
However, in Frontier, while we see that everyone is fairly affluent with those relative few who are truly wealthy and that everyone seems fairly healthy, we see some people (Alto's father ) suffering from "unknown illnesses" (as in the series didn't actually identify the condition), possibly heart disease or the like (dramatic license perhaps) and then the extremely rare condition shared by Ranka and Sheryl (also outside the norm). As far as we've been told, Ranzo Saotome's illness was stress-related, and as you say we can't consider Sheryl and Ranka to represent a fair sample because they were both deliberately infected with an exotic alien bacterium by a complete psychopath. However, in Macross the First, it's made clear that you don't actually have to be rich to afford necessary or elective cybernetics. (It's more an issue of where implant technology is legal and some professions, notably soldiers, where performance-enhancing cybernetics are illegal.) In Macross Plus we see the Edwards base commander has a prosthetic leg, and when Isamu is hospitialized we see him wearing the "traditional" neck brace and arm cast, but floating in some sort of medical fluid and Guld's injuries from the theatre incident are treated with some type of medical foam that (apparently) turns into bandages. Colonel Millard was depicted with a prosthetic leg eight years before the in-universe legalization of cybernetics... they were banned until 2048 for various reasons, and the ban was a hotly debated issue. Isamu's injuries... well, those don't appear to be proper braces, given there's all kinds of fluid piping going into them. It's not fully explained, but given the alarming rapidity of his recovery from major injuries, which Myung implies verged on life-threatening, that has to have something to do with speeding up the healing process. After a broken arm, neck injuries, and head trauma, that he was back on the flight line in mere weeks is nothing short of amazing. Basara ends up in a similar healing bath after suffering explosive decompression and being fully encased in an industrial adhesive used in those shock gun pods the Zola Patrol has, and he's on his feet again almost right away. I guess my point is there are examples of higher medical tech, yet at the same time there are examples that depict their tech as being barely past the 20th century mark. I would expect that for the military they could see the usefulness of cloning limbs instead of creating prosthetics and that, in the case of Ranka's "onii-sama", they could have healed his injuries much faster given the tech they're supposed to have. Eh... his injuries healed pretty damn fast, man. Ozma was only in the hospital for about a week after receiving life-threatening injuries that nearly caused him to bleed to death. Then there's the occasional cases of them curing deadly diseases with alarming rapidity. Sheryl gets sick in Macross 30 and Alto and Leon have to go recover medicine for her, but she's back on her feet in a day or two after treatment. Our boy Hikaru was, likewise, back on the flight line after less than two weeks in the hospital after suffering life-threatening head trauma during bail-out. They do a damn good job of patching people up ASAP. |
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Post by kanorgreymane on May 5, 2014 1:55:19 GMT
They sure do seem good at getting their people up and running again, don't they? Yeah, it was the dichotomy of the treatment that Isamu and Nekki recieved vs that of Ozma that threw me. I expected the treatment Ismau and Nekki received to be 'common', yet we see no use nor mention of it in Frontier (of course the story focus was different, so that most likely explains it). Alright thanks for the answers, they helped quite a bit.  |
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Post by MacrossMike on May 5, 2014 2:18:00 GMT
They sure do seem good at getting their people up and running again, don't they? Yeah, it was the dichotomy of the treatment that Isamu and Nekki recieved vs that of Ozma that threw me. I expected the treatment Ismau and Nekki received to be 'common', yet we see no use nor mention of it in Frontier [...] Well... I think part of it is the type and severity of the injuries involved. The only person in the series who really gets badly hurt while there are hospital facilities available is Ozma, and his injuries tend to be more "massive internal bleeding" than the "broken everything" which Isamu suffered or Basara's "explosive decompression followed by full-body encasement in quick-setting cement". Macross Frontier doesn't usually show injuries more severe than that that don't end in a bad case of dead... like Gilliam ending up as a flight suit full of gazpacho or the way Michel died by impalement and being tossed into space, or Maruyama getting blasted to bits along with his Nightmare at point-blank range by one of the AIF-9V Ghosts. |
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