Following a recent display that was caught by some of you and with the shaping of APEX Creations and Pandora Technologies I am proud to say that SIBS will be, in the coming days heading to the full and official launch of Rhea Initiative. Briefly, Rhea Initiative signals the start of a multi-variable effort from SIBS of addressing the current issues that are met with how New Eden interacts with alien civilizations, understanding them, and to provide a framework of going forward, under the agenda of a unified Human front that goes above divisional politics and behavior. Everything in accordance to the motives of SIBS, which is to support and promote efforts that are looking to positively enhance the life quality of humanity, and uniting those who dare to look of New Eden, not of what it is…but of what it could be.
One thing I can certainly promise is that Rhea Initiative and its followups will have transparency at the utmost level as we are looking of opening the Initiative to anyone who doesn’t wish harm to the residents of New Eden. Partnerships and collaboration are at the center of this effort as we try to set a tone of culture that is to benefit everyone and empower everyone. Most of the things will become clearer in the coming days as some final details are being worked on.
To conclude however, we are extending openly an invitation of individuals who have participated under esteemed scientist Hilen Tukoss and the Arek’Jaalan project, as well as others who may be keeping their research much more confined and not having experienced the spotlights as the grand project aforementioned above. Finally, whoever wishes to be just informed about the planned Initiatives of SIBS in more detail, please sign up by providing your interest in this thread and SIBS will reach out.
Thank you for your attention!
((working on the logos was done by Veskin Sentinel and Maira Blackfire)
Could you be more specific? I’m sure there are many Amarrians who think they qualify under what you just stated, but the Minmatar who see their brothers and sisters in slavery under those same Amarrians would disagree.
Don’t get me wrong, it seems like a good project as far as I understand it. But I think I am not too proud to admit when I think something might be beyond the extent of my abilities and mandate.
That said I maintain concern over the diplomatic approach that will be taken by this Initiative. What parts of New Eden it will represent, as there is no way to represent us all.
Mr. Sepphiros; fascinating venture! Given that ARC’s interests and this initiative’s interests align, we look forward to exploring shared objectives and means for collaboration.
Ms. Polevhia; these are early days yet. Let the man progress past platitudes before worrying at the details, mm?
I would like to offer Ourumur -corporation’s services for collaboration purposes, whatever those may be. Currently I am the only capsuleer member, but Ourumur does employ several hundred baseliner personnel despite the corporations’ small size, mainly research and development personnel.
This is an interesting project, at least the idea of shared workings about civilizations and knowledge, and will follow its progress and will be ready to work with you if the opportunity is there.
This is quite an ambitious undertaking you’re announcing, Mr. Sepphiros, and I hope it goes well. Increased unity and cooperation can only benefit humanity. That said… I do have some questions about just how you see things going forward.
How do you propose to present a ‘united human front’ when dealing with alien civilizations? If one group wants to attempt peaceful relations, and another seeks only to seize technology through warfare, how do you propose reconciling that? Once your group decides on how it’s going to proceed, what happens if some other group (presumably of humans) goes and does something else? What kinds of carrots and sticks do you intend to employ to convince other groups to get on board with your chosen path forward in each case?
One presumes you mean the human residents of New Eden, and not, for example, the Rogue Drones (who may or may not represent an artificial sentience and nascent culture/civilization). What about the residents of Anoikis? That’s not part of New Eden, as near as we can tell, and the sleeprs and Drifters appear to have been residents there a lot longer than we have.
I can only assume he means the citizens of New Eden. That does not include the Rogue Drones, Sleepers OR the Drifters for that matter.
And as for the residents of Anoikis. I cannot say, as I have not been fully informed about his plans, But I personally don’t see any problem with them helping, as they are still off the same people from back in New Eden… A few years or decade in Anoikis doesn’t change that.
There are no ‘citizens of New Eden’. New Eden isn’t a political entity. There are citizens of three high-sec empires, and subjects to a fourth, and there are citizens of null entities, but there are no ‘citizens of New Eden’.
And the question re: Anoikis isn’t ‘can they help?’ but ‘can they expect assistance from this ‘unified Human front’ if they run into problems while invading someone else’s space?’ Moreover, if the Rhea Initiative determines that attempts at peaceful coexistence and diplomacy should be attempted, how does the presence of capsuleer organizations squatting in their homes and actively stealing the resources of Anoikis and Abyssal Deadspace (cuz we will be!) impact that? Will Rhea attempt to get people out of those places where these ‘alien civilizations’ clearly have prior claim?
You all honor us to declare that you are willing to help and participate so early, given how this is just a mere introduction. You and your organisations, for those who represent or have committed on bringing them aboard, are all on the list of willing participants and in the coming days SIBS will come in communication.
With that said the next bit I would like to address is the question, or rather questions from Miss @Arrendis and Miss @Evi_Polevhia whom I first will express gratitude over taking time to find interest and raise questions about Rhea.
To begin with, I ll clarify that we will move slightly from assumptions to somewhat more revealing aspects but I do have to warn you that the purpose of this thread is for introducing Rhea in a very basic construct, while those who are to participate will gain a much closer look and be involved into the process far more than those who will stand and watch, natural as it is. This of course is intentional. Not because as some with arrogance and with ignorance would think we try to deceive but because as SIBS, we control the policy of what each piece of public material is to reveal and how that is connected with safeguarding the projects and efforts of SIBS and those who are to participate with us. Thus having established the above…
I find this a very self explanatory answer deriving from the logic of the question. There is a process upon which we will try and establish cohesion, a cohesion which we are well aware of know it falls under one would call uncharted territory of the technicalities that surround a quite unique endeavor as the ones that surround SIBS’ projects. What I can say is that we don’t use the term carrots and stick that is for certain. I would say that the structure of Rhea is based on open collaboration one that is transparent and clear what the goals will be and that anyone participating will not only have plenty of empowerment to offer their contribution but also will be bound into agreeing beforehand so back and forth is avoided. Thus, there wont be anything other than the occasional debating that surrounds such a project internally and externally. Debating which is expected to lead for some to integrate further or decide to walk away. In either case we are fine with it.
Naturally, Ms Arrendis, as you are an outsider to the project and SIBS itself, and despite how I urge you and everyone else to participate I would never expect you to know exactly what is the vision of SIBS and those who will in fact, participate. But I can assure you that we are very much realized to what and who we are and how much we can accomplish and how hard we must work to achieve what we envision and I can also reveal that this wont be the first Initiative but its just the beginning. A beginning that, knowing what I know, I can safely say it may not be the first to be tried but there is a certain level of uniqueness to it.
And as matters progress, so we will reveal more details to the public that we deem necessary the public should be aware of in the basis of first safeguarding the Initiative and the participants. The only thing that will ever be 100% revealed is the outcomes of the Initiatives as our purpose isn’t to withhold but to share. Transparency wherever will be capable of existing will be a rule instead of a preference that is also another commitment.
And that leads me to a convergence point that both the questions from you Ms Arrendis and Ms Polevhia share; power politics.
You assume that SIBS’ projects and Initiatives are about power and politically advancing a goal that is well within tied to SIBS; they arent.
SIBS is a neutral organisation that in its politics uphold that the only way Humanity can progress is by rising from divisional politics, furthering integration among the nations and have a united front against any who would jeopardize the progress of those who care for the collective of the race. So Miss Polevhia is right when she says that;
But that doesn’t mean necessarily that the politics of SIBS are the politics of its Initiatives 100%. As you saw the scope of SIBS and Rhea are different. In fact for Rhea they are not even political in a sense. And thus, to answer you both; we are aware that SIBS doesn’t represent any of the big four and any of the null arisen territories. We are not elected nor are we part of any of them under any official representation. We are independent throughout driven from our vision.
We are aware that the relationship between the big four isn’t the best in some key areas and there are existing wars but for all the shortcomings of the big four, CONCORD and null risen territories there are some positive contribution to Humanity as well. Positives that we are willing to work towards at, uphold the sacrifices of the past generations and put our work where our mouth is. As for Rhea, I will tell you though whom we are aware of representing and whom we are reaching out to;
We are reaching out to those who, in the case of Rhea, are not satisfied with what is clearly held from us. There has been many incidents in the past that portray that the officials of the said big four, CONCORD and SoE are withholding or are in possession of information on critical matters that every citizen of New Eden we feel should be aware of. Ranging from even pre- Thera all the way to the Triglavian ship and how CONCORD came to seize and control the vessel, there are countless examples of how, not only capsuleers, but citizens of their respective political belongings, are treated to play catch up while clearly there have been multiple unknown variables that clearly will affect us all.
And thus as the motto of SIBS falls along the lines of Dare to see the world of what it could be, not of what it is… Rhea is the first of our public creations where we extend an open invitation to those who share the sentiment and arent afraid to work. The minds which are curious and they require a safe harbor, the inventors, the pioneers, the explorers and the courageous to keep on trying for a better New Eden, and above all, without having loyalist politics be devise to what is clearly above the shortcoming of the political institutions of New Eden. We don’t have to enforce anything…we know that there are minds who think like we do, we already work with them and there has been interest for SIBS since day one. It just falls within my jurisdiction to make sure that the work we will produce as SIBS wont be tainted by loyalist politics and that what we will produce is something that everyone will equally have access. Alien species have played a crucial role to the development of New Eden and Anoikis. And yet everyone seems to be trying to either profit on the expense of the other or advance their own goals. We simply find that to be intolerable and narrow minded to the degree that can hurt us more. How we will achieve something different is something you will simply either have to wait and see or better yet participate and be part of it.
Concluding, I ll also say that to some of your questions specifically Miss Arrendis, there arent yet any answers as this is a work in progress. And even if you dont actively participate into Rhea, I do thank you and anyone else who will take the time and debate and contribute, into making us ponder even more for future reference, despite how I can assure you we already are trying our best on so many levels.
Except, of course, that in order to present a ‘united human front’, you need to enlist the cooperation and participation not only of the Empires, but the Null powers as well. And for that, you need to be able to persuade. There are two ways to persuade people: either you offer something they want, or you offer to refrain from doing things they don’t want you to do.
Carrots and sticks. Positive and negative incentivization.
And just how do you intend to enforce this ‘binding’?
Well, if you’re promising complete transparency, then yes, as an outsider, I should be able to know exactly what the vision of SIBS and those who participate is. That’s what complete transparency means.
So you’re inviting ARC and everyone else to join you in demanding that CONCORD, the Society, the SoE, and all four Empires make classified information public, no matter what kind of gathering practices or assets that might expose, or what kind of public panic that might cause? Because, you know, that’s what making every ‘citizen of New Eden’ aware of this stuff would cause.
You do realize that 99.999% of the ‘citizens of New Eden’ trust their governments and don’t want to know the things you’re demanding they make public, right? Do you think the average baseliner wants to know everything we know about the Drifters? They want to know what CONCORD knows even less. They don’t want to be kept awake at night by nightmares of alien monsters they can’t do anything about, who might just show up and start harvesting their biomass.
Have you even asked them what they want? Or do they not count, because you want to know what CONCORD knows?
You seem like a very idealistic fellow, and I really do believe you mean well. But your statements show some pretty glaring holes in your logic, and an incredibly self-interested disregard for the quite legitimate reasons why governments keep things secret.
Nor have you address the actual questions of ‘how will you handle it if your ‘united human front’ chooses one path and the trillions of humans in the Empires choose another?’ and ‘what will your initiative mean for humans squatting in Anoikis and stealing the property of those cultures with prior claims?’
I would be careful to note the traitor Hilen Tukoss as being anything but esteemed. Not only was he a traitor, but also a thief who made away with Ishukone subsidiary assets and personnel. A shame I was on deployment elsewhere during his attempt to flee State territory, I certainly would have liked to give him a piece of my mind. The blood of people killed by the Drifters is on the hands of those who made the decision to grant him safe passage that day.
But on a less morbid note, the rest of the details regarding the Rhea Initiative (what little details have been released thus far anyway) are nonetheless interesting. I wish SIBS good fortune in achieving their ambitions.
