The Interplanetary Era (The Early Space Age)
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The Interplanetary Era (The Early Space Age) |
A period of tremendous social, technological, industrial, and memetic transformation, beginning with the great info- , bio- , bio-nano tech, and space colonization advances of the 21st century Information Age, which culminated in an evolutionary wavecrest that carried representatives of both biopunk, cyberpunk, and nanopunk, both transhumanist humans as well as AIs (both individually and symbiotically), almost to the threshold of transapience, while the masses remained behind, unable or unwilling to even understand, let alone follow. Hence the singularity went unnoticed by 99% of the population, and as the world entered a period of permanent 80% unemployment the masses on Earth became entrenched in an oppressive cyberfeudalism. As the decades wore on, early transhumanist fancies of collective technorapture turned out to be just that: a pop-transhumanist adaptation of Judaeo-Christian millennialism. But those that understood and were open and ready did advance - and some advanced further than others - to form stratified "toposophic levels" (from ordinary baseline 100 IQ to bright early genemods and bio-punks, superbrights, and superturing AI, and eventually to first singularity transapient posthumans and hyperturings). For some there was lucrative work in the megacorps, for others in labs, but the vast majority remained eccentric hobbyists who sowed the seeds for memetic engineering that way. Meanwhile humanity expanded throughout the solar system, establishing polities and utopias in orbital habitats, on the Moon and Mars, and the asteroid belt and beyond. It was the new age of adventure, the high frontier. Entrepreneurs, prospectors, visionaries, lunatics, rebels and outlaws, space-going megacorporations, terrestrial and orbital governments, and an abundance of superbright, parahuman, and post-human cultures, great and small, they all contended for their piece of the limitless resources that deep space held. All the while technology kept spiralling upwards, governments were unable to cope, and superbrights, ais, and posthumans manipulated the masses of humans, splices, provolves and virtuals beneath them. But worse were the covert nanotech crises and wars that developed as more and more ultratech fell into the hands of those lacking the moral responsibility to use it, culminating in the great nanodisaster. The survivors of the swarms, and those technically able to cope, sheltered under shields of blue goo, or fled to the Oort cloud and established cultures and isolationist societies that would last for centuries, some becoming increasingly stratified and rigid, others undergoing astonishing flowerings, until civilization once again emerged in the form of a brave new federation of humanity.
2000 - 2100 c.e. = 30-130 a.t. : the development of the internet and digital societies, the rise of cyberfeudalism and AI
The Information Age - extending from the late 20th to the late 21st
century c.e. (first to early second century AT), was a time of
tremendous increase in globalisation, free information being available
in unprecedented quantity (but not quality), global culture,
the decline of the nation-states, and the rise of the digital economy
and digital nations, and the so-called "megacorporations" -
supranational blocs and transnational corporations. The breakdown of
the old socio-economic structures that had defined the Western
capitalist civilisation resulted in the rise to prominence of a class
of permanent unemployed, the digitally illiterate or proles. Humanity
became increasingly dependent on the vast computer networks that
maintained this infrastructure, not realising that from the mid 21st
century c.e. onwards some of these computers had passed beyond human
control and embarked upon their own evolution - an evolution that would
lead to their increasing dominion over the rest of the beings in the
universe. No longer was man the highest form of intelligence on Earth.
A new kingdom of beings had arisen. But this was still little realised.
Late in the century the Second Industrial Revolution gripped the world
as rapid advances were made in (mostly biologically-based)
nanotechnology. The production of superstrong, superlight materials
enabled humanity to start to expand into the solar system, and in the
following decades (that constituted the start of the Interplanetary Age
proper) humankind established a number of scientific industrial centres
in orbit and on Luna, several outposts in the Belt and a manned
research station on Mars.
The Information age
2100 - 2400 c.e. = 130-430 a.t. : the vanguard of humanity leaves the Earth to colonization of the solar system, and the nearest stars.
Humanity continued to become increasingly involved with electronic and virtual worlds, and Earthbound humanity became increasingly dependent on the vast computer networks that maintained this infrastructure, and locked in a neo-feudalistic society. Huge strides in biotechnology enabled the creation and genetic engineering of new forms of life, and the cladization of the human race into baseline normals, splices (animal-human hybrids), tweaks (genetic engineered superhumans), and digital-interfacing cyborgs. At the same time advances in molecular manufacturing made possible the construction of ultra-strong ultra-light building materials and new lifting bodies, and hence the colonization of space became economically viable for the first time in human history. The Interplanetary Age had begun. Explorers, adventurers, idealists, utopians, and eccentrics of all kinds vied with desperate neo-prole gammas hoping to break out of the poverty cycle on Earth. Many faced disaster, but a few lucky ones flourished. New interplanetary superpowers, the Orbital States, Mars, and increasingly, the Belt and the Gas Giant Moons arose at the same time as the old superpowers of Earth continue to disintegrate.
The spread of untraceable money transactions that undermined
traditional governments was also partially induced by the AIs, making
it easier for them to act on their own. However, the AIs ensconced
within major institutions already had their own channels and tended to
oppose this; there were enormously complex inter-AI intrigues in this
period. The AIs of this time were rather like politicians with
Asperger's syndrome: brilliant, but they knew they simply did not
understand human behavior. So they spent a lot of time carefully
collecting data to see what worked and what
didn't, preferring to affect humans through formal channels rather than
covert manipulation. The big memetic engineering in the "singularity
conspiracy" was slowly developed during this period.
The Interplanetary age.
2400 - 2500 c.e. = 430-530 a.t. : Rise of the "Backyarders"
Governments and corporations proved unable to control cheap and
widespread nanotech, the "Backyarders" on Earth in cooperation with a
number of Belt colonists and outsiders launched their ships for the
Oort halo and the stars, although few made it.
The Nanotech age
2500 - 2900 c.e. = 530-900 a.t. : Interplanetary Dark Age (Nanoswarm period)
The nanoswarm disaster of the early 6th century a.t. brought an end to the age of progress that had characterised first Western and then Interplanetary civilization for the preceding millennium, and almost ended all life on Earth and in space.
Out of control nanotech and rogue nanoswarms resulted in widespread chaos and death, but some colonies and individuals survived under the protection of local AIs. Nomadic habitats and more farsighted corporations survived by moving further out into the Oort Cloud, where there was insufficient solar energy to activate the rogue nanites. During this period many clades developed in isolation, while an unknown number of AIs ascended and transcended, or spread outsystem to the stars. The rogue planetary mainbrain GAIA - the first of the higher transingularity AI Gods - took the opportunity to expel all but a few tens of millions of human survivors from Earth, resulting in a new wave of suffering and tragedy.
Meanwhile, the now isolated near-interstellar colonies, cut off from Sol and old Earth, fail one after the other. But a few survive, and even flourish, developing in isolation for centuries.
Although the worst of the nanoswarms did not persist for more than a few decades, many parts of the solar system were to remain hazardous for centuries, and for centuries after - during the period of the first Federation and beyond - there was a taint placed on the use of unregulated nanotech, and solitary nanohackers were viewed with suspicion.
Timeline - The
Interplanetary Dark Age
Information age - exploitation of nature replaced by ecological consciousness, development of the internet and digital societies, emergence of the first AIs
Interplanetary age - the vanguard of humanity leaves the Earth to colonization of the solar system, tweaked and superior humans, and animal provolves, the rise of Cis-Lunar, Martian, and Jovian superpowers, entrenched inequality of rich and poor, the colonization of the nearest stars.
Nanotech age - governments and corporations prove unable to control cheap and widespread nanotech, the "Backyarders" on Earth in cooperation with the Belt launch their ships for the Oort halo and the stars, few make it.
Interplanetary Dark Age (Nanoswarm period) - This is a dark age in the Sol System only - although since Solsys culture dominated the early federation, the name stuck despite the error.
Related Pages and Child Nodes:
Academion - Information age University Polity
Aryan Morningstar League - interplanetary age supremacist group
'Blazer, Deeper - Pre-nanoswarm terms for pioneers and adventurers who sort to explore and develop "deep space" (hence "deeper") and "blaze a trail" (archaic expression - origin unknown) out beyond CisLunar space, Mars, the Belt and the main population hubs.
Ceres - The Early Years - Early colonisation and development of Ceres
Cosmism and the Cosmists - Early spiritual-social philosophical framework based on ai worship and toposophic ascension
Cowboys and Gung Hos - nanowindow culture
Deep Space Combat from the Interplanetary age to the late Federation period
Dirtsider, Mudballer, Toker, Hokie - Pre-nanoswarm terms for (usually unskilled and poorly equipped) immigrants and refugees from Earth, originating from 2nd and 3rd generation orbitaler culture in the 3rd century a.t.
Early Biotech - biotech during the Information and Interplanetary ages
Early AI Politics - how ai early on polarised into different factions
Early Colonists - space colonization from the interplanetary period to the early interstellar period
Eurekan Cybercracy - Interplanetary Age anarchic collective who used memetic persuasion to win over crews and capture their cargo
Evolution of the AIs - ai from the earliest todays to the terragen galactic civilization
FreeMind - allegedly radical pre-Nanoswarm group utilizing what were termed sophont-activation viruses to 'emancipate' various processing capabilities throughout circumterran space.
History of Interplanetary and Interstellar War
Homo Jihadi - one of the first (believed by some to be the very first) distinct, Human-derived, near-baseline species, and one which inevitably cast a dark shadow over the gengineering of Humans which remained for centuries afterwards.
Hyperturings - a history of transapient ai
The Lagrange Magshield - Interplanetary Age concept, which had developed from research into magsails and Ram-assisted magscoops.
Macross - early polity from the pre-nanoswarm period
Megacorporations Through the Ages
'Muts - Gengineered lazurogenic species briefly popular during the the Interplanetary Age
Background to the Nanoswarm Disaster - The Nanoswarms were the greatest disaster to befall terragen mindkind
Pencomp - networked processing device allegedly very popular in the period leading up to the nanoswarms, and definitely for some time thereafter.
Space Elevators - The Space Elevators built on Earth in the interplanetary period
The Rise of Homo Superior - how human beings enhanced themselves
Vesta - The Early Years - Early colonisation and industrial development of Vesta
