http://www.orionsarm.com/
Time for a bit of socio-economic input perhaps .. haven't looked into it
at any depth tho'. But I'm a longtime SF fan bemoaning the rise of
infantile fantasy which seems to have taken over the genre since the 80s
:-((
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Orion's Arm: CC-licensed, post-Singularity shared world
Orion's Arm is a Creative Commons-licensed hard sf/post-Singularity
shared world where lots of fan writers are collaborating to build a
world and then write stories in it. There also seems to be some RPG
adaptation activity and illustration. The storyline is a pretty
thoroughgoing post-Singularity thinggum with lots of opportunity for fun
noodling.
Our goal is to create a dramatic far-future universe that is
internally consistent and abides as much as possible with the accepted
facts and theories in the physical, biological, and social sciences.
Thus matter cannot travel faster than light, matter and energy are
conserved, no evolved humanoid aliens have been discovered, future
ultratech social issues are likely to be very different to those of
today, and so on. We embrace speculative ideas like drexlerian
assemblers, mind uploads, posthuman intelligences, femtotech, magnetic
monopoles, wormholes, as it is proposed that future sciences,
technologies, and developments will make these possible. And we attempt
a logical explanation for even the most fantastic-seeming elements in
OA. We aim to paint a future that is plausible at every level, from the
scientific to the social to the psychological...
Somewhere between the years 2020 and 2050 researchers would develop
the technology of Direct Neural Interface, allowing human minds to link
with their computers. They would advance genetic engineering to the
point of the first optional improvements or ‘tweaks’ to the human genome
as well as create the first ‘provolved’ animals engineered for human
level intelligence. The dream of nanotechnology would start to be
realized, as nano-scale manufacture became a viable industry. And, using
a combination of nanotech created advanced materials, robotics, and
tele-operated devices, development of a truly viable and self-sustaining
space infrastructure began in earnest. Finally, and perhaps most
importantly, in the year 2040 researchers created the first human
equivalent, or turinggrade, artificial intelligence. The future would
never be the same again.
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