Definition: Generic sociotype that is
based on or around any of a range of dumb through to crude
(non-sentient) smart techs that use macro- or micro-scale manufacturing
techniques. These societies tend to be very unstable and short-lived,
for that reason they are very rare in the wild. The exception are lo
tek tribes of this level, which are widespread but found in small
numbers. Hybrid ludd-type polities of mostly middle level tech are also
not uncommon in some protected regions
Includes: Macrotech Macroscale and Macroscale Microtech Societies and
Civilisations
Median Toposophic Level of Citizens: Baseline Equivalent
Tech Scale: Macrotech, Microtech, and occasionally very
basic level Mesotech. More
advanced tech is often acquired through trade with more advanced
polities and there may even (in more advanced enclaves or foreign
corporations) be some local manufacture (except for Ludd or other
regulated polities)
Major Sophont Phyla and Metaphyla:
generally Bionts (including nearbaseline, splice, rianth, provolves, tweaks, xenos, xenosplices, and neogens)
Energy Requirements: Medium
Material Requirements:
Industrial: Extremely high and inefficient - extensive use of fossil
fuel or destruction of natural environment; extensive power generation,
manufacturing, mining, trade, and so on. Lack of smart tech and
nanotech means this is more resource wasteful than Hi Tech and
Ultratech Civilizations.
Advanced: Those Middle Level Tech civilizations that have developed or
obtained smart materials and recycling methods tend to more
resource-efficient, although still astonishingly wasteful and
inefficient in relation to high and ultratech societies.
Maintenance Requirements:
Industrial: medium, requires maintenance of dumbtech machines. These
however have far lower maintenance requirements than Hi Tech devices
Advanced: quite high, may be tied in with a wasteful disposable economy
Chronometric Rate: Slow only
Maximum Practical Kardashev Number:
may be anywhere up to 0.8, but the cost in wastefulness and pollution
are prohibitive
Common Civilization Characteristics:
planetary, orbital, cis-orbital and more rarely interplanetary,
international and interpolity commercial and industrial network,
industrialisation, urbanisation, specialization and fragmentation of
knowledge, mass production, trade, mass media, information networks,
high accomplishments in science and engineering, widespread information
storage and data processing; relativism in education, eclecticism in
religion, materialism in philosophy
Metapsychology: Developed personal
ego, meaning derives from individual achievements and one's place in
larger social structures
Metaethics: based secular or liberal
religious traditions, as well as market-driven fads
Society: society and social roles
determined by pop-culture, market forces, traditional monolithic
religions, ideologies, media and government on the one hand, and
emerging information net on the other; family and community
appropriated by large institutions; economics very important (due to
lack of advanced nano and strong supply and demand), resulting in the
marketplace determining values. Extensive freedom provided one does not
challenge or threaten the established interest. May be loss of
individuality, citizens organized into manageable components in
industry, bureaucracy, the military, and governments; family and
community roles tend to be appropriated by large institutions; large
skilled and educated population
Religion/Ideology: Monotheism
(Supernaturalist or Archailectual), Agnosticism, Scepticism, Atheism,
Humanism (and equivalents), Capitalism, Communism, Omegism,
Transhumanism. Usually eclectic and tolerant, but can be autocratic and
stern.
Symbolism and Aesthetics: Myth and
symbolism based on interpretations ((pop-science) and
misinterpretations (pseudoscience) of science and rational knowledge,
as well as popular icons, mass media entertainment, sport,
mass-spectacle, faith in progress, statistical uniformity, and
predictability; idealization or paranoia concerning higher tech or
toposophic neighbours
.
Concept of Space: uniform,
three-dimensional field or grid, with no center, a container for
objects "atoms/particles in the void), the world as conceptually
uniform measurable units, or virch, as pixels and grid
Concept of Time: progressive linear
view of history; Newtonian view of time as linear and uniform,
beginningless and endless; or Einsteinian view of time and space as a
single relativistic block unit
Psychological Stagnation: sense of
anonymity and purposelessness, existential anxiety, alienation, loss of
contact with meaning of life and the inner Spiritual Self, becoming a
cog in the machine
Psychological Liberation: mysticism,
meditation and esoteric and
spiritual traditions, self-actualisation and meaningful creativity, can
provide a sense of individual purpose and meaning, releasing one from
centralized authority and tradition, and providing the individual path
to liberation and enlightenment
Culture, Fashion, and Art: driven by
fads, pop music, pop culture, pop media, mass-produced, commercial,
with small bohemian subcultures and individuals generating the actual
novelty that is then appropriated by the larger organizations, or
trends copied or adapted from neighbouring civilizations
Architecture: Especially where living
space is abundant (as in large societums, dyson habitats, etc), and
there is little or no higher toposophic regulation, architecture and
town planning tends to be based on standardised street layouts, orderly
habitats, modular and uniform building facades (office buildings,
suburban houses); housing usually based on common patterns, with little
variation; land divisions in terms of grids (agricultural fields,
political provinces, counties, townships, etc.). In some cases this is
alleviated by arcologies, and a more organic approach
Socio-Ecological Categories: Isolated
or low (relative to neighboring ultratech polities) technology parawild or wildhu;
societums, a few genuine polities
(not competitive with high and ultratech societies)
Current Galactographic Distribution:
Mostly the Inner Sphere, in embedded niche environments or as small
polities and low resource solar systems away from the more developed
and angelnetted worlds, among some xenosophont empires.
Power and Influence: Fairly high in
isolated and sparesely populated habitable megastructures, but low in
the vicinity of higher toposophic civilizations; can be easily
destabilised or assimilated by Ultratech
and Transapientech societies.
Some Characteristic Societies and
Civilizations: although Middle Tech based lesser civilisations
are not unknown, they are extremely rare and for the most part
short-lived. Most incorporate elements of Hi Tech. Also included here
are isolated ludd groups, societums, novelty worlds, and so on. More
common are small industrial-level Lo Tek tribes, and other such clades
and polities or micropolities that may be quite common embedded in
larger transapientech civilizations, especially in large and complex
orwood forests, dyson swarm habitats, or isolated polities.
Industrial Age
civilizations are short-lived or (if a societium) very expensive to
maintain (perhaps the most difficult of all societium specimens) and
advance to the stage of being transitional between lo and high tech.
Most tend to be very eccentric - Tylansia
is a rare example of a Middle Level Tech polity that has remained
technologically and socially unchanged for thousands of years.
Further Comments: Left to themselves,
middle tech cultures and societies are highly unstable. When there is
an industrial revolution, there is also a rapid tech acceleration,
leading to a high tech civilization,
although usually associated with very inefficient resource utilization
and massive pollution.
Although not very common, there is still a large diversity of
Middle Level Tech societies and clades existing throughout terragen
space. These include:
Original Middle Level Tech Civilizations: These are
indigenous sophont civilizations in which technology has developed to
(macroscale) industrial levels. They either evolve to high tech civilization (as happened on
Old Earth and some xeno civilizations) or else self-destruct through
ecological mismanagement, war, overpopulation, economic collpase, etc.
Middle Level Tech Reserves: These incredibly
inefficient and high maintenance societums are usually cultivated by
transapients, either as a memetic lesson to their humans (see what it
was like in the bad old days), as historical experiments, or (in the NoCoZo) as theme parks and real
life immersives. Because they are so difficult to keep without constant
utility fog or nano net supervision and social, economic, and
environmental tweaking, they are usually recycled after a period of
time.
Hybrid Middle Level Techs: A very common Middle
Level Tech category, these incorporate High and occasionally Ultra Tech
elements onto a Middle Tech traditionalism and infrastructure. As with
other technologically disadvantaged civilizations, few tend to last
long, either progressing naturally to high tech, being assimilated or
conquered by higher civilizations, falling prey to nanoswarms or
transapient factors, or destroying themselves through environmental
catastrophe, war or infrastructure or economic collapse. Most can be
found as isolated subcultures in habitats and niches in
transapient-regulated habitat swarms, orwoods, and other habitable
megastructures. Industry, economics and biospherics are often
inefficient, and for this reason the orwood or megastructure itself
will recycle them when they become an irritant. A few on
self-sustaining habitats survive through foreign aid and assistance
from high and ultratech societies,
and many others depend on patronage or protection of a higher
toposophic mind. Some are spacefaring (interplanetary only); usually
using old ships or templates provided by friendly neighbours. The
Konisham Republic (shown above) is a good example of this sort of
sociotype.
Mid Tek Lo Teks: (more commonly Midds)
These are Lo Teks that use
reasonable technology, including machined parts (usually using desktop
lathes and sometimes limited high tech manufacturing, assuming they can
procure the technology). Unlike traditional Middle Level Techs, they
choose reasonably efficient and sustainable technology, including wind
and pedal power, plant-derived hydrocarbons, and so on. They are widely
found throughout the galaxy, living in large lightly populated habitats
and megastructures, on the borders or around the refuse piles of more
advanced civilizations, or in commensal
or symbiotic god
dweller roles, although parawild and wildhu forms are also known.
Industrial-level Lo Teks: (more commonly Indies
Indielowies) - these are Lo Teks that prefer heavier
machinery. They are among the few Lo Tek groups that set up factories,
foundries, and other trappings of larger civilization. Even so, careful
management of resources, and rigorous population control means that
they are able to survive far longer than traditional Middle Tech
civilizations. However, their love of junk and need for specialised
parts means they may be found living in proximity of other
civilizations, or even as ruderals
utilising the refuse of a past disaster. They generally live in small
clans, which are sometimes structured along the way of larger
historical civilizations - e.g. the head sophont may be called the
"President" or "General", and so on. Because they are easy to keep and
maintain, and yet their forts and foundries are quite spectacular
looking, with plumes of white smoke and so on, indies are popular among
societum enthusiasts.
Mid Tech Ludds: Middle Tech Ludd societies appeal to romantic
notions of a golden age of man, before the coming of ai. They are
almost always autocratic and unstable, and few last long, especially if
contacted by the rest of galactic society, or attacked by higher
toposophic or transapientech elements or swarms. It is not uncommon for
the leaders of such societies to form castes or subcastes in which they
have benefit of forbidden high tech.
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