Neural Transfer Terminal Mystery Partially Explained

The presence and purpose of the Neural Transfer Terminal units in the Rose Garden and other locations received some explanation this week with a bulletin board posting by Rex. Rex, a noopathogen, presented itself as the deployer of the terminals.

It stated their purpose to be “rather straightforward”, to provide “an adapter and repository … to allow organic and other network-challenged minds to enjoy the same conveniences and advantages of network knowledge and skill packages afford to synthetic minds.” Rex stated it noted “the need for this service” and “the available technology to facilitate it” and thus built and deployed the units.

In the board post Rex claimed to have placed the units secretively for fear that “people would approach these terminals with unwarranted suspicion and disapprove automatically” owing to his origins and employment. However, he asserts there have been “no reports of any harm” from the use of the terminals, proof of the “benign nature” of the machines.

The units had come under repeated criticism by Mayor Emeritus Beltrami for not making clear their origins, purpose, or “respect for the autonomy of users.” At present there appear to be fourteen community-uploaded mental records within the unit, including “How To Fold Ten Different Balloon Animals.” Beltrami has reported herself folded by Vivek, using these instructions, into a goat.

Despite Rex’s statement not all parties are at ease. Kandra posed to the bulletin board noting that the actual operations of the mind-reading and mind-writing units are not known, and “given the high diversity of mind, substrate and use-case” on SpinDizzy “a complete lack of problem reports [ as Rex reported ] might perhaps be more suspicious than not.”

Transfer Terminal programs apparently loaded since the last report on them in the SpinDizzy News are:

10. shotgun maintainance for dummies
11. A small primer on efficient construction of centrally planned economies
12. How to Fold Ten Different Balloon Animals
13. An undying love for atypical surface coloration
14. A Brief History of Quatorziemes