This universe is se tin the near future where life has to be redefined. Do we grant voting rights to AIs? How about uploaded minds, synthetic organisms or uplifted animals? It takes place in 90 years or so, using extrapolations of technologies that are already emerging, and without breaking the laws of physics as we know them today. Travellers made all sorts of assumptions to avoid getting too weird: as a result, Traveller is really a TL8+2 GURPS world, while Transhuman space aspire much more to be a TL9+1 or even a true TL10. As a result, mundane things in this universe tend to be alien enough that you can't strike the proper tone without thinking about it for a while.
This fiction writing project is about working out how to play transhuman space.
Augmented Reality
Most 5th wave denizen are permanently hooked onto a larger network through a virtual interface implant or wearable. Real location and people can be v-tagged with arbitrary metadata, have nearly edeitic memory, can look up anything that they see, ear and feel. A lot of infrastructure in the 5th wave is spartan and merely a canvas for virtual content.Teleoperation
The gears to interface with augmented reality are also capable to provide remote sensory and motor interface to cybershells. Cybershells are robots, vehicles, devices or synthetic organisms that can assume the physical form of a remote operator. This operator may be a human, a parahuman, a bioroid, an AI, a ghost (digitized mind) or its low-fidelity shadow. Most work in the physical work are now done by cybershells that are teleoperated by sapiens in a more convenient location.
Altogether virtual worlds
With the advent of full sensory up- and downlinks, the web has now evolved into a continuum of virtual place where people meet, work and find entertainment. The laws of physics, or any constraints imposed by reality for that matter are optional. In the 4th and 5th wave environments, it is much cheaper and flexible to do business in virtual space than building physical infrastructure. Real estate in virtual spaces are bought and sold, many folks live parallel lives.
More importantly, there is no clear line between augmented reality and virtuality. In some part of the solar system, the "web" is the ground reality. This changes quickly in remote parts of the human diaspora.
What is life?
Most Homo sapiens are gene-edited, although there are a number of whole genome upgrades. There are active programs to develop parahumans adapted to life in other places in the solar system such as microgravity, Mars, Titans, and the depth of the terran sea. Biomaterial-based droids are called bioroids and uplifted animals also exists. Low and high sapiens AI entertain various level of rights in different cultures. It is possible to digitize your mind into a ghost living in cybershells or terminals, as well as making low fidelity copies of a mind known as shadows. All of these entities are playable.
Memetics
The conceptual framework that has turned psychology, sociology into hard sciences. Memes are replicable and propagating ideas. Memeticists are experts in sensing and manipulating how ideas thrive and vanish from populations. In an information-rich world, meme warfare may be more effective than actual weapons.
Wet Nanotech in medicine
The technology to create self-replicative agents with applications in medicine is mature. Fighting cancer and toxins are now trivial endeavours. Cell biology is such that the main source of meat is now grow in vats.
The solar system is your playground
There are settlements, outpost, stations and colonies from Mercury to the Kuiper belt. Libertarian cultures in the asteroid belt, precarious coexistence of terran superpowers. Travelling is still a big deal since the reactionless drive is still a science fiction concept. However, teleoperations of otherwise autonomous cybershells allows to delegate the physical drudgery of travel to things and jump in for the more interesting parts.
No comments:
Post a Comment