Topics > Society, Culture, Civilization > Civilization Types > Civilization Tech Scale/Tech Scale > Picoscale Societies and Civilizations

Picoscale Societies and Civilizations

Picoscale Societies and Civilizations - Data Panel

Predominant Tech Level: Transapientech

Based on: Picotech

Median Toposophic Level of Citizens: generally SI:2, sometimes with smaller numbers of SI:3

Major Sophont Phyla and Metaphyla: high level po and ai, including high toposophic (picolect) hyperturing Picolects; often lower toposophics infomorphs as well.

Predominant Subjective Time: Hyperfast (virtuals and infomorphs)

Maximum Kardashev Number: more than II, although often less (due to short lifespan (from slowtime perspective) of these quantum-computronium civilizations

Current Galactographic Distribution: Common in heavily ISO-ed and megastructure based systems in the Inner Sphere; less common the further out one goes

Some Characteristic Societies and Civilizations: High transapient civilizations and metaempires. Away from stabilizing archailectual influence, rogue picoscale clades can be frightening and destabilizing to lower toposophic polities, as the case of the Immanentization Crusaders shows

Further Comments: Even more potent and concentrated than nanoscale-based civilizations, with even higher resource and maintenance requirements, Picoscale civilizations control matter using picotechnology working with subatomic particles and quantum field events. Rather than being embedded in a nanotech support structure, as is more usually the case, picoscale civilizations use direct picotech at the atomic and subatomic level to generate and maintain information-storing structures. This technology is so advanced as to be beyond the ability of sapient beings, and although it is possible for superbrights and superturings to learn some of the general principles, this is not enough to allow them to actually construct and control this technology themselves

The AIs and transapients of this level are often a toposophic level or more above the nanotech AIs. Picoscale clades and polities have a great advantage over nanotech and hybrid micro-nanotech polities and civilizations, but often their subjective time is much faster, meaning they may be short-lived and hypermutational (this is not the case for picotech clades which are grounded in macroscale processes and can adjust their temporal processing accordingly).