yeerks and babies

[morfowt]

ok, so assuming that some yeerk would want a small, defenseless, useless baby for a host, what would it be like for both baby and yeerk? would the baby be able to understand what's happening? would the yeerk get less resistance? what do you think?

[wolfev]

Actually a baby would be able to fight back better. Its a pure raw mind of desire. Babies are more egotistical than the yeerks. It wants things and doesn't like being told no. The baby would crush the yeerk's mind.

[OrcaMorph]

Wow, no.  That sounds good but that's not what would happen.

The baby would provide no resistance, as it isn't even sapient.

Although ACTUALLY a yeerk couldn't get in at all, because the baby's ear is too small; Visser 3 said cats were too small to infest, and a baby's ear would be smaller.

[goom]

i don't think a yeerk would want a baby, but if it did, the baby would grow up thinking that was the way life was.
they'd be totally screwed up once they were freed.

[Chad32]

Wolfev was probably joking there, but it's true that babies are selfcentered. However, it would feel that this was how life was when they got older. They wouldn't remember a time when there wasn't a Yeerk in their head.

I don't know about saying a baby isn't sapient. Maybe you mean sentient. Babies become aware of their surroundings at about 28 weeks in the womb.

It's complicated, and I doubt that Yeerks are interested in hosts that can't do much. They aren't satisfied with Gedds, and that includes the adult ones.

[AcreLorraine]

You've missed a vital detail I believe.  Even after birth, the brain must still develope.  Some might say that a brain is never developed, but on the whole, the baby brain doesn't have enough time to mature into functionality.  The earliest functional brain would be around 1 or 2 years old.  and even then, the yeerks have developed minds, when combined with the babys, it would imprint.  creating a human copy of the yeerk.  But I'm just guessing.

[Chad32]

No, the neocortext, which is required for a baby to be aware of its surroundings, develops at 28 weeks. After that, the child is developed enough to function and react bast basic reflex. Like when my sister had a sonograph, and my niece tried to hide from it and avoid it. This has been discussed in many abortion threads on another board I go to.

You must be thinking about a certain level of functionality, as opposed to just being functional. Both of my nieces were pretty functional before they hit one year.

[Myitt]

I think it mentions in #41, the crazy future vision book, that the Yeerks raise children in those warehouse things until they're old enough to be infested--maybe five or six years old?  Maybe older?  I don't think it'd be possible without hurting or killing the baby and the Yeerk.  But assuming it could be possible, I think a baby would be unresistant just because it probably hasn't become aware of itself as being able to fight against this thing for control.  A baby's still trying to get a sense of what it can do, and now all of a sudden someone else comes along and does everything for it?  Sounds like what babies do, even without an alien involved. 

[Shock]

it would be pointless for a yeerk to infest a baby.

babies (by their nature) are totally helpless when it comes to the outside world and are dependant on a parnet to give them their needs (and thus is the reason why babies scream so loud).

[wolfev]

yea but the yeerks could super steroid jack up their bodies with alien tech

[Chad32]

There's no need to do that.

[wolfev]

That can be said for about half the stuff the yeerks do

[Chad32]

Very very true that, man. Why take involuntaries, when you can engineer nonsentiant brains to be accessable. There's also some obvious brainwashing going on, to ensure Yeerks continue thinking that other lifeforms are beneath them.

[morfowt]

I doubt that Yeerks are interested in hosts that can't do much. They aren't satisfied with Gedds, and that includes the adult ones.

it would be pointless for a yeerk to infest a baby.

babies (by their nature) are totally helpless when it comes to the outside world and are dependant on a parnet to give them their needs (and thus is the reason why babies scream so loud).

ok, so assuming that some yeerk would want a small, defenseless, useless baby for a host, what would it be like for both baby and yeerk? would the baby be able to understand what's happening? would the yeerk get less resistance? what do you think?

[Azguard]

ok ok.

If a Yeerk did infest a baby, and assuming, let's just say, the baby has basic functions, like walking and such. The baby would absorb some of the Yeerk's thoughts as it grew, but would the baby learn faster? I mean, having an intelligent being inside of you?

[Phoenix004]

Wow, no.  That sounds good but that's not what would happen.

The baby would provide no resistance, as it isn't even sapient.

Although ACTUALLY a yeerk couldn't get in at all, because the baby's ear is too small; Visser 3 said cats were too small to infest, and a baby's ear would be smaller.

Very good points. It is possible that a baby's ear would be too small to get inside, but even if a Yeerk could get in then it would not encounter a strong mind. As far as scientists can tell, babies don't become completely self aware until about 2 years of age I believe. A baby's brain is also significantly smaller than that of a fully grown adult.