Worldbuilding

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What would inorganic species call themselves? (lemmy.world)

submitted 6 months ago by T156@lemmy.world to c/worldbuilding@lemmy.world

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I've been using "mechanoid" as a classification (similar to humanoid, etc), but a friend pointed out that it's both too generic, and that said inorganics might just consider it biology, with organics being the weird outlier.

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[–] Pronell@lemmy.world 8 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (2 children)

I agree with your friend.

Unless they are non-organic because they were deliberately built that way, mechanoid doesn't make much sense. Where would mecha- as a prefix come from to them?

They'd be mystified by 'the flesh' and wonder how it manages to operate. (see the story They're Made of Meat.)

I have no good insight at the moment how they might refer to themselves except maybe by chemical composition.

[–] shnizmuffin@lemmy.inbutts.lol 3 points 6 months ago

"Ugly bags of mostly water."

[–] r3df0x@7.62x54r.ru 2 points 6 months ago

This is what is most likely.