The "Thing" about Mind Manipulation

[ApiesDeathbyLazors]

So I've been going over this in my head for a while now and was wondering how this kinda thing would be treated on the wiki. The first is the question, "Can you Mind Control a cell?" My immediate response is no, because a cell isn't complex enough to have a mind so to speak (outside of certian animated films). That leads into my second inquiry, how does Mind Manipulation/Control effect The Thing? Now to clairify why I'm pondering this at all, the Thing behaves at times as a complex multi-celled organisim that can range from sentient to base instinctual and at times as a collection of completely autonomus single-celled organisims working off very basic genetic programing.

So, what happens if a Thing is Mind Controled? How much of it is effected if at all. Would parts of the Thing recognize a threat and split off the mind controled whole or would the whole thing just fall apart with no "mind" in control? Are all of these questions baseless with easy and obvious answers?

Find out next time on Dragon Ball Z!

 

[Akreious]

Mind controlling a cell is not possible as it's not sentient. No mind to control.

The Thing should be able to be controlled, as it mimics the person it devours. Since the mimic has the neurons required to be controlled, a mind controller should still at least be able to control them when in normal hiding disguise form.

When in The Thing form, I personally believe that it's still able to be controlled. It'd just take hell of a lot more skill.

Each cell of The Thing is almost sentient, it's at least intelligent enough to preserve itself and learn. So, by this logic, using Mind Controlling on the Entire Thing would allow one to Control it.

 

[ApiesDeathbyLazors]

You seem to have a couple of misconceptions I'd like to clear up.

First, there is no "Thing form". The Thing just refers to the colection of cells that make up the organisim. It has no true form and just freely shapeshifts to suit it's current needs.

Second would be Thing cells being almost sentient. Individual cells can only behave in the manner they are programed too. You also don't need to be anywhere near sentient to have a preservation instinct.

 

[Akreious]

"The Thing just refers to the colection of cells that make up the organisim. It has no true form and just freely shapeshifts to suit it's current needs."

It wasn't a misconception. The "Thing Form" is the various forms that it takes when hunting and ditching it's disguise. Sorry if you misinterpreted.

"Individual cells can only behave in the manner they are programed too. You also don't need to be anywhere near sentient to have a preservation instinct. "

You also have to at least be somewhat sentient to have the capacity to learn. Which The Thing does.

 

[ApiesDeathbyLazors]

>It wasn't a misconception. The "Thing Form" is the various forms that it takes when hunting and ditching it's disguise. Sorry if you misinterpreted.

Right, but there is no difference beyond surface level between when it's disguised and not.

>You also have to at least be somewhat sentient to have the capacity to learn. Which The Thing does.

Right and I agree, but it has to be complex enough to learn. Reduce it's form enough and it losses that ability to learn, as evidenced by the blood test.

 

[Dargoo_Faust]

I wouldn't go as far as to call it a resistence.

Rather, this is a side effect of it not having a complex mind at the smaller scale, and at the cellular level the base assumption is that it acts purely on chemical mechanics/instinct as opposed to anything that would resemble a mind.

So, while you could mindhax it on the larger scale, but at the cellular level it would still act independently.

For example, we wouldn't list "Resistance to Mind/Soul Manipulation" on a weapon page, unless there was reason to assume it had one.

 

[ApiesDeathbyLazors]

Ok, makes sense. So a human sized Thing could be mind haxed, but due to it genetic programing it could, in theroy, maybe break down into smaller parts to escape said mindhax?

 

[Dargoo_Faust]

More like, it being mindhaxed would probably make it lose control of its body, which would split apart until it was immune from said mindhax.

 

[Crimson_Azoth]

^ What Dargoo says makes sense

 

[Mr. Bambu]

C O N T E X T

In fiction, if a cell is deemed able to have a mind, or sentient to some extent, it should still be under the rules of standard mindhax. Osmosis Jones isn't automatically immune to mindhax, for example.

 

[ApiesDeathbyLazors]

And I'd agree with you Bambu, but in the movie the Thing's cells are protrayed much closer to real life cells as opposed to computer animated cartoon cells.

 

[Dargoo_Faust]

In fiction, if a cell is deemed able to have a mind, or sentient to some extent, it should still be under the rules of standard mindhax. Osmosis Jones isn't automatically immune to mindhax, for example.

Simple logic: The Thing's cells are not portrayed to be sentient or intelligent on their own.

Ergo, they are not vulnerable to mindhax, as we can't assume they have a mind if there is no evidence of such, falling back on the precidence set by real life.

 

[Mr. Bambu]

I dunno the exact context, just saying that in certain cases they should be able to be haxed.

I'm unsure of the logic being applied here but eh.

 

[Dargoo_Faust]

They can be haxed, just not mindhax.

The moment you say "logic should not be applied here" is the moment nothing can be debated or discussed at all, as logic needs to be applied in some form in any argument for it to be able to be applied to anything.

 

[Mr. Bambu]

not what i said but alright

And you know what I meant with hax. Mindhax.

 

[Wokistan]

Some fiction makes mindhaxxing mindless dudes easier than people with a mind. That sort of thing would still work, but probably not default.

 

[Dargoo_Faust]

Keywords are "some fiction". In cases where verse equalization would make that possible, and they can actually mindhax on such a small scale, sure.

But a character with standard mindhax isn't having one of the Thing's cells as much as it would any other being's cells.