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Heinlein's Starship Troopers novel touched on this. Neo Dogs are a novelty in society, a sideshow to the general public, but they have the Intelligence similar
by downrightmike 6y ago
Heinlein's Starship Troopers novel touched on this. Neo Dogs are a novelty in society, a sideshow to the general public, but they have the Intelligence similar to a human moron, but is a Mozart for their species. And they use them in war, which is their main use. The recruiter that works with the protagonist, was a bonded partner. They bond deeply to their Neo Dog and if the Neo Dog dies, it is more humane to kill the handler immediately, or put them in a drug induced coma for a couple months and then rehabbing them. The recruiter was put into a coma, but is still dealing with the loss of his Neo Dog, and agrees that killing the handler asap is kinder than having to go through the rehab.
- PeterisP 6y agoIt's interesting that the novel assumes that the bonding is likely to be stronger than almost all other bonds humans form - for example, we grieve when our spouse, best friend or child dies, but we don't usually presume that euthanizing the grievers asap would be kinder than having them to go through grief and rehab. It would seem plausible for some of the individual bonds to be like that, but notas a general rule.
- downrightmike 6y agoYeah, the bonding process seems like immersion when learning a language, I figure that the handler's lost all connection to that unique world they were immersed in and couldn't cope. Kind of like losing your self identification when people rely on their jobs to give them an identity. Who are the handlers without the Neo Dogs?