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From: matsku84
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  • "Childhood's End" by Arthur C. Clarke. There is no other explanation for this video.

  • "...and our thoughts turn again to the beginning..."

    This game answers the question of life twice--once correctly and once incorrectly. The tech "Intellectual Integrity" claims that the meaning of life is life itself, which displays the ironic fault of Intellectual Integrity. Planet reveals the true purpose of life, which is "celebrating the gift of consciousness."

  • I'm going to build this one in real life.

  • @seahen1337 Not if i do it first.

  • If this secret project makes the people on Alpha Centauri transcend, what about the people on Earth?

  • @PantsuGirl

    Long gone. The epilogue notes that there's been no communication from them since shortly after the launch of the Unity.

  • I wonder...what if Mankind achieved Transcendence in the real world, let alone our lifetime? Would we even deserve it?

  • @Kemonokami

    How do you mean, deserve it? It's a fundamental change in our existence, but not necessarily a rewarding one. All we hope for is that it will let us exist separate from matter, with no fear of death and all that entails.

  • Very influenced by Arthur C. Clarke's "Star Child" idea, no?

  • @MarciCow

    in fact this theme - humans transcending their very nature - is often present in scientific fiction. if you read asimov's "the last question", which I highly recommend, you will have another example of humanity going beyond the human condition and achieving a godlike state

  • Honestly, i find this ending to be....slightly disturbing. Call me shallow-minded or fearful of progress for humanity but i prefer my consciousness to be confined to our present, carbon-based form. Correct me if i'm wrong, but doesn't this means that we would be sharing a centered and single-minded consciousness as a whole? If true, then the notion of 'transcendence' goes against the basic individualistic nature of humanity.

  • @doane1981 But that's the point I guess. We've transcended from our selfish individualistic minds that caused us so much troubles and finally united as one everlasting consciousness. Personally though, I wouldn't like the idea of a few powerful men making this kind of decision with out our consent."Hey, we're doing this to all of humanity whether they want to or not. They'll see in the end."

  • @doane1981 Yeah it does. And if conciousness is more than just a product of our brain, then that's probably why we decided to come about in this earth to experience a single conciousness of our own. If there is concousness beyond the brain, I personally think we came from a mass conciousness. As conciousness itself would not be dealing with our space time. It's just thought. Oh well, deep thoughts and happy farts. LOL!

  • @doane1981

    Not only would we be sharing a centered and single-minded consciousness as a whole, but we'd be sharing it with an angry alien that had spent the past several centuries trying to kill us! :D

  • It is all beautiful: beautiful game, beautiful ending. I still play it quite frequently, and I hope they make Alpha Centauri 2 some day. The only thing I never liked is the voice of the Planet you hear right here in this video. I mean, the voice is disgusting; like the voice actress swallowed a grapefruit, or something. Couldn't they just find a voice actress with soothing, musical voice? It would make this end cutscene epic beyond imagining.

  • @nikolanx51

    It's supposed to be alien...

  • @Alignn Yes. I understand it's supposed to be alien. I'm not an impartial person, and I often think of how it would be if we were to begin having interactions with some extraterrestrial entities. I know that something we humans would consider beautiful might be considered ugly by other standards. That does not mean I must like that alien opinion. Same goes for the Planet Voice. To me, it is disgusting. Plain and simple. But that does NOT mean I do not respect it in it's some other way.

  • @nikolanx51

    Alright.

  • I'd like to know who came up with the ascent to transcendence line. Don't know many things that make my eyes water like this 1 does.

  • Ever notice that nebula at the end is the same one as in the intro movie?

  • @TMorrowAZ

    "... and our thoughts turn again to the beginning."

  • @Jensaw101 Precisely.

  • Best quote in the game. So beautiful. The ultimate goal of understanding.

  • Im not native to english but I dont really understand this... higher existance? like better life? different life? :D

  • @MidasRK some kind of vague sci fi concept of leaving our bodies into a superior noncorpereal form. basically become ghosts

  • @TheKatamariguy haha ok =P

  • @TheKatamariguy ascension?!?

  • how do u transcend into a higher plane of existence to get this

  • It always made me angry that the novelizations didn't use this ending.

  • @KensanOni Yeah, in the novel, Humanity was screwed. I wonder which one is canon, the novel or the game?

  • Like in Neon Genesis Evangelion.

  • @SpookyNooky  i think it's more like in "2001 a space odyssey"

  • @SpookyNooky I think so

  • basically energy beings

    you have transcended the 4 current dimensions and moved in to the higher ones

    am i rite

  • Make a sequel!!!!!

  • and soooo we know: God is a human!

  • @MiamiTouri God WAS human. ;P

  • I wonder...

    If humanity ascends, what happens to the Progenitors? Likewise, what becomes of mankind if the Usurpers ascend? Will the losing species be driven from the planet or become a part of the greater mind?

  • @HatKeinenNamen

    Well I would think that the Caretakers would ultimately declare their mission a failure and catch the 8:15 back to Progenitor land. The Usurpers would either fight to the death trying to destroy the ascension temple or, like the Caretakers, skip planet and try to find another of the Manifold worlds to ascend in. If the Usurpers ascended, HO BOY! Humanity would be in deep shit. They'd either be cleansed by design or in an ensuing conflict, or enslaved by the power hungry Usurpers.

  • How is this a good thing? I thought this was joining Planet...like being assimilated.

  • @admiralzzyx not really, you merely learn how to exist without a 'physical form', your individuality i'd assume is very hard to remove^^

  • a game full of science and philosophy. love it!

  • This one still brings shivers down my spine and a tear in my eye. I can play SMAC ever and ever again like it were the first time. It's not the gameplay, it's the citations and visionary imagination that make the game my favorite. Thank you Sid Meyer and his team for this wonderful creation. Where have these days gone?

  • @npatrcevic

    Same here. every time i play it i'm simply amazed how deep this game is.

  • @npatrcevic

    They've gone casual, I guess. Very sad!

  • @npatrcevic

    they have been replaced with crapy game which have no story :(

    well there is a story but it is basicly like this : heres a gun, kill, kill, kill....You Win!

  • suddenly...MINDWORMS 

  • I remember when I last got this victory, I was playing on Tough difficulty and only me, the spartans (who were alllies) and Yang left (who was being a right utter moron). I built voice of planet, then when that was built we all started building this wonder and while I was building it, Yang launched 3 planet busters on the city I was building it in. I stopped 2 of them using satallites but coundn't stop the 3rd. However I got it built in another base and so i still won.

  • Awsome :o 

  • Im kind of starting to like these wonders, and vids, more and more then the ordinary Civ wonders and movies. The Civ 2 are classics, but then its just becomes same old thing with some minore alterations in Civ 3 and on.

  • I havent read the michael ely novels yet, they're on my list tho. Have you rread A. Ahad's First Ark to Alpha Centauri? I recommend them ver much!!

  • awesome!

  • I like to think that those seven humans around the sphere are the seven faction leaders - The humanity, in order to transcend, would first overcome their differences and utilize the best of each faction's ideologies.

  • Whenever I see this, it always makes me think of the Human Instrumentality Project in Neon Genesis Evangelion. Only not depressing.

  • @jasezer Every time I see this I'm reminded of Eureka 7, except without the whiny kid.

  • so what happens to the colonised planet after that?

  • "The Age of Man is over/ The Darkness comes and all..."

    30 Seconds to Mars, Kings and Queens, This is War (2009)

  • Wanna read the books, or what ever they are, that the qoute from in the secret project movies.

    Planet: A Survivalist's Guide

    Our Secret War

    We Must Dissent

    The Collected Poems

    The Council of War

    Conversations with Planet

  • @PantsuGirl and Sheng-ji Yang's "Essays on Mind and Matter".

  • @rbellev That one to, i mentioned just a few of them.

  • @PantsuGirl Personally, i want to read The Cat in The Vat =p (One of the books your faction leader might have written at the end of the game, depending on how well you do)

  • @DrKhallos I wanna read them all

  • I play precisely 2 games that are more than 10 years old - this one and Imperialism I. A thing of genius, it was.

  • i just started playing Alpha Centauri again (cant find my Alien Crossfire disc though sadly). definitely one of the best games ive ever played. i wish theyd make a new 1. i just won (for the first time since i started playing again) via transcendence with the University Of The Planet. such a fun game

  • My "victory" was to destroy every piece of fungus with singularity hover formers set to automate remove fungus.

  • @Ratama I tried that with no success. Doesn't Planet just create more fungus? (and hoards of worms?)

  • We Must Dissent

  • dont get it,so they leave their bodies and become binary numbers inside a computer?

  • They become energy beings and become one with the planet and spread out to continue on other worlds.

  • No, they are a Energy Life form, Living without a body but with a consciousness. They are immortal.

  • I wanted to go for this victory on my first game. A nice, peaceful, quiet playthrough.

    BUT NO. DIERDRE SUDDENLY DECIDES TO BE A TOTAL BITCH AND THEN *BAM* MINDWORMS UP THE ASS FOR NO REASON.

    WELL TO HELL WITH YOU ALL, PLANETBUSTERS EVERYWHERE.

  • @LandHawkJr

    hehe. Ive just been trying out Morgan for a few days using a builder / economic strategy.

    People declaring war and landing near me was funny, I probed all their units and cities using my exponential wealth.

  • The only factions that Morgan cant outprobe are the Believers and Data angels, but he is the only one that can run fundamentalism and still make discoveries every 5 turns.

  • @LandHawkJr thats y u nvr put a tree huggin hippie in power.

  • this will happen

    VIA SCIENCE!

    and then the other transcended races will be all "who the fuck are these guys" and shove their nonexistient star-energy mathematical incomprehensible boots up our nonexistient star energy mathematical incomprehensible asses.

  • What are all the secret projects after this????? In the game editor I can watch all the projects in the game, but it goes on to list like 40 transcendece projects...maybe its just theoretical like showing that humans still go on after game ends.

  • Ascent to Transcendence is a game-winning Secret Project. Once it has been built, the game ends in the builder's victory.

  • @Elessar267 You can continue playing though. After you complete ATT you are no longer attacked by mindworms and fungus. Good times!

  • Wtf do I see on comments page, Sister Miriam Godwinson trying to probe Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang xD

  • LMAO! you are so right.

  • One of the many possible goals in Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri is to transcend into a higher plane of existence, and once you achieve that goal you see this video.

  • @alex89843

    *headdesk*

  • @alex89843

    You win alex, you win.

  • @Hasek10  lol thanks man :)

  • Comment removed

  • shut up not everyone is religous

  • dont try to spread your religion we dont want it. i am one of the people who dont belive in god or anything so leave us alone.

  • dont try to shove your beliefs down our throats you can speak but dont try to force us to believe that what ever your religion is is the right one or your beliefs

  • sure sounds like you are trying to force it.

  • ok so it sounded to me like you were trying to force it down me so lets just leave it here before we start a war lol

  • it isn't your mind, it is just your belief. I am sure you were born in a christian crowd, if you were born in Iran you would be a Muslim, in Japan you would be Budist. So, this isn't "mind"; mind thinks, you don't think, you just believe in a tale that has been told you since you were a baby

  • Whether it is or isn't is irrelovent, I believe in it and I have a right to believe in it and say that it is real. It is Me thinking and expressing what is on My mind. You cannot stop Me from Speaking My Mind on here and neither can anyone else.

  • Damn skippy! Speak your mind and don't let others suppress you!

  • Thank You and I will.

  • @yedininka japanese aren't buddhists, most of them aren't religious at all, and most japanese people do not identify as exclusively belonging to just one religion, most of them celebrate Christmas, it's called religious syncretism, and Buddhism, especially Zen which is the japanese varition doesn't consider itself a religion, just a philosophy, like being an existentialist or a neoplatonist or even the philosophy behind metal. You can't believe in philosophy, cause it's based on logic.

  • All philosophies are based on internal logic from acceptance of certain truths. Buddhism, for example, requires your belief that desire is the inducer of pain and suffering. Naturally, many disagree, arguing that desires can ultimately end pain and suffering. This is a difference of opinion which can be argued on a logical basis but ultimately comes down to individual beliefs.

  • @Nightshift10000 I agree man

  • perfect ending to a perfect game

  • agreed lol.

  • Amen to that, someday it will be the beautiful ending to our story.

  • i dont get it?wtf happens?

  • people turn into immortal, transcendent beings that are one with the planetmind

  • do they like live in the "matrix"world after that?isnt that called singularity

  • No its not like a technological singularity. When each human soul merges with the planetmind, each individual becomes an indispensable part of the whole, but your faction is the "leader" group of souls. So basically everyone becomes immortal and can fly all over the universe and such.

  • why is one faction trying to prevent it from happening then?

  • Oh, okay, the humans generally want to achieve transcendence because

    not doing so = extinction.

    The aliens are divided in their view of planet, the Usurpers seek to exploit planet and force transcendence, the Caretakers want to prevent transcendence because they are against interfering with all life forms.

  • but humanity will still die out,since theyre just living in a world like matrix,theyre just a binary code ,right

  • No, transcendence isn't like the world of the matrix. It's the same world they started in, it's just the humans have become immortal and pure, one with the planetmind. They left their physical bodies behind.

  • im probably just going to install the game and see for myself

  • yea its easy to understand if you complete a game

  • Singularity is the point where technology accelerates so fast, that AI can improve themselves, as if they were human scientists.

    This is about transcendance, the point where humanity stops being human, into something... different, more suited for immortal life among the stars.

  • but i just dont get it,if the humans are not human,then humanity has failed to preserve itself

  • Indeed, It is not humanity, but consciousness that is preserved (as the voice-over dialogue mentions).

  • no it hasnt cause its still humanity but now its part of the planet mind as well so Humanity still exists within the planet

  • No they basicaly leave their bodies and become immortal beings

  • Actually, transcending can also include the body, since it's an extension of your being.

  • First time I saw this I turned off the computer and went to bed.

  • It's sorta like the Human Instrumentality Project of Evangelion... In a not-so-bad way.

  • I really like how the aesthetics of humanity becomes more religious and reminiscent of the classical era as the technology becomes incomprehensibly complex and advanced. Kinda like going full circle, I guess. :p

  • Reminds me of Clarke's Third Law.

  • @sssssz "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." - Arthur C. Clarke

  • @sssssz And incredibly ironic

  • @sssssz I completely agree!

  • @sssssz yeah, but this time we didn't create the gods; we became them (:

  • Just build lots of those supply rover things throughout the game then when you can build this project use them to rush it.

  • I played and finished the game with all factions and the Gaians are my favourite, I dunno why but they fascinate me somehow :)

    I kept plaing with them over and over again, probably the Voice of Planet was luring me subliminaly xD

  • they're also debatably the more powerful faction since they have no ecological damage problems and in Alien Crossifre, they're extract tons of resources from the red fungus.

  • What kind of cult planet is this?

  • I understand not this project. The planet slowly becomes infested with xenofungus?

  • Well, I've never played this game. But Ascending is a common theme in Sci-fi, it usually involves a civilizations reaching a point where they don't need physical bodies and turn into energy beings. Usually, this means they turn god-like and leave the Universe.

    That's what I am guessing is happening here.

  • the concept is that the fungus on Planet acts as a brain, with the fungus tubules acting as neurons, etc. So this "mind" becomes hostile, humanity uploads all of its knowledge into the 'planetmind' to help it understand humanity, (the voice of planet secret project', and afterwards anyone who wishes can upload their mind into the fungus brain. The Ascent to Transcendence enusres that the leader you play as has the dominant mind.

  • If you watch the "Voice of Planet" video, Zakharov is talking about using the Datalinks as a weapon against the Planetmind. "Voice of Planet" was an attempt to overwhelm and destroy the Planetmind, but after that failed, the Planetmind had merged with the information on the Datalinks, and it was then possible for a leader to commence the Ascent to Transcendence.

  • I think the Voice of Planet was actually meant the persuade the Planetmind not to destroy mankind, as it would be such a loss in knowledge and culture and such...

  • I don't think it was an attempt to destroy the Planetmind. Judging from the storyline interludes, combined with that video, the Voice of Planet project was an attempt to convince the Planetmind that humanity was rich, diverse, and deserved to live. Also, it was to give it the information boost it needed to finally break the growth/collapse cycle it had been in for eons (which threatened humanity on Planet), and achieve true, stable consciousness.

  • But in the ending of another faction getting the Trancendence done sugests that humanity merges with the Planetmind.

  • Basically, the info blast in planetmind was a last ditch effort to ensure survival for humanity. After all, how elso could they contend with an entire sentient ecosystem? They used the info burst to try and at least overload the mind so that it either was destroyed, meaning fungus would be like normal plants from earth, or that the planetmind would become fully sentient, meaning it could be reasoned with.

  • basically the grow cycle cannot be stopped, but by merging humanity with the planetmind they managed to keep some part of humanity alive, according to the GURPS supplement says it best.

    "Humanity still exists but as part of the greater planetmind, extensions of consciousness that can travel far from Planet. Transhumans even went to earth to rebuild civilization there."

  • As for the winning faction becoming the "dominant mind", there's really no proof for that. Transcended humans would all be part of a group consciousness (no competition) and there would also be no physical needs or scarcity of any kind (as far as I can tell) so there would be no dominant mind or dominance of any kind.

    If you want to dominate, just go for the "Supreme Leader" victory ;)

  • during the interludes (storyline) in the game the planet mind and scientists both urge you to complete the ascent where you will be the dominant mind. interludes pop up occasionally during encounters with mind worms, when there's violent fungus growth, and for some specific base facilities and secret projects

  • Ok, thanks for pointing out that evidence.  I've played the game a lot but never read the interludes for Transcendence.

  • where do you guys get this info from. it sounds so damn logical,

  • Comment removed

  • I wish they had made an ending where you kill the "Planet".

  • @Herkkis lol that would've been cool.

  • @Herkkis You can't kill Planet. You can however, lose due to wormrape regardless of your econ score. Want a challange? Throw some busters around, let the water fill the whole world due to global warming. Enjoy no resources, hunger, energy shortages and thousands of wormboils coming from everywhere.

  • Well its technological singularity in some way: the humanity make itself evolve

  • Wasn't this a partial victory for all humans?

  • Everyone would ascend to the new state of being, but only a few would be the ones in control, the moderators of all souls. So you could take any you didn't like, and eliminate them from existence.

  • I personally didn't like this concept of transcendence. To me individuality is the highest goal of any sentient being and it's something to defend to the last, even if the benefits of giving it up are practically god like power.

    I know that an individual could separate them selves from the whole, but even so I'd rather stay with the mundane humans that didn't join.

  • They don't give up individuality, but rather become an undispensible part of the greater group.

  • You didn't consider that maybe we already are a part of the whole, but just don't know it, and the realization of that is transcendency

  • 1999

  • hey my comment wasn't added

  • I have to approve comments first to avoid spam.

  • Can you please post the video for what happens if someone else transcends?