Envirotech
Lutricia Ecodesign
Image from Anders Sandberg

Envirotech refers to the creation and maintenance of home, hab, or planetary environments that support life. Early in Terragen history these technologies referred primarily to biont life, but the field soon grew to encompass m-life or or a-life environments, and now refers equally to the interactions of mechosystems, biosystems, or similarly complex virtual ecologies.


 
Articles
  • Aeroponics  - Text by AI Vin
    A soil-less method of plant cultivation using mist.
  • Airlock - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
    An enclosed chamber with a heavy airtight door on either side. One door leads to space or some other environment (poisonous or dense atmosphere, underwater, etc.), the other to the inside of a ship, vehicle, or habitat. An airlock allows people or objects to leave or enter the vessel without decompressing or flooding it. Airlocks have safety features that prevent both doors being opened at once. In some instances airlocks are replaced by airwalls.
  • Airwall  - Text by Todd Drashner, extra note by Anders Sandberg
    Mesotech application allowing a hangar bay to be open to space without loss of air-pressure.
  • Angelnet  - Text by M. Alan Kazlev, with additions by John B and Stephen Inniss
    Any dense network of technology and artificial intelligences that establishes a very high degree of control over a region, generally with beneficial intent towards the inhabitants. The archetypical angelnet is under transapient control and makes heavy use of utility fog, and may cover an entire large hap or a planetary surface, atmosphere, and orbital space environment. Less pervasive or less sophisticated angelnets are also widely used.
  • Antisound  - Text by John Edds
    Technology with the ability to nullify sound
  • Astragen(s)  - Text by John B
    Nonsentient lifeforms, plant- or fungal-based, neogen, or xenobiont organisms which have evolved or been designed to survive in space at a given orbital zone and radiation level.
  • Atmospheric Thermal Energy Conversion Towers  - Text by AI Vin
    These towers come in two basic types; updraft and downdraft. The first type, the downdraft tower, makes use of the thermal energy inherent in Hadley Cell Circulation Zones. The second simply makes use of the thermal siphon/chimney effect. They first became common in the Information Age on Old Earth and are still used on a variety of natural and artificial worlds for power generation, environmental control and terraforming, or both.
  • Biome  - Text by Stephen Inniss and M. Alan Kazlev
    A major ecosystem that extends over a broad region, has a characteristic climate, and presents a typical common appearance due to the suite of organisms that are adapted to it. In the context of a garden world or a large megahab it is a subset of the overall ecosphere. The classical biomes known to the humans of Old Earth have been widely replicated through the Terragen Sphere, but many more exotic biomes have also been discovered or resurrected or invented.
  • Birnam Ecotech - Text by Anders Sandberg
    One of the major environment design and terraforming consultancy firms of the First Federation. It eventually merged with the Conver Ambi, adding its expertise to the ruthless ambition and economic power of the corporation/religion/empire.
  • Blue Goo Ecologies  - Text by John B
    Blue Goo is a commonly accepted name for defensive nanotechnological systems. It is effectively an artificial immune system sensitized to nanotechnological aggressors.
  • Buildbug  - Text by Todd Drashner
    An arthropod-like biobot used in construction.
  • CELSS Closed Ecological Life Support System  - Text by Steve Bowers

  • Dome Habitat  - Text by Steve Bowers
    An enclosed, pressurised habitat located on the surface of a planet, moon or asteroid.
  • Emulation Suits  - Text by Tony Jones
    Software that interfaces, translates and/or emulates between virchworlds and so allow virtuals from one world to exist and communicate meaningfully with those from another.
  • Environment  - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
    [1] The physical or virtual surroundings in which sentient beings live; The air, water, organisms, minerals, and other external objects that surround and affect an organism.
    [2] From the perspective of any system, rest of the world or universe.
    [3] Any precious biosphere, especially a garden world.
  • Environmental Optimization Protocols   - Text by Todd Drashner
    Specialized software coding designed to modify a sophont's local environment for maximum comfort and enjoyment.Modosophonts
  • Envirosuit  - Text by Stephen Inniss
    Advanced 'living', form-fitting synanotech suits that allow the wearer to move freely and interact as if in er home environment in surroundings that might otherwise be uncomfortable or even fatal.
  • Flo-stone  - Text by Todd Drashner
    Nanotech based material used for flooring and originally designed to simulate the look and feel of marble or ceramic.
  • Fog Swarm Projection - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
    A rl projection of physical objects and entities through the behavior of trillions of foglets. Fog swarms can be seamlessly merged with virch environments to create a continuum from totally virtual to totally rl.
  • Forestry  - Text by M. Alan Kazlev from the original by Robert J. Hall
    Sustainable management of forests, specially on terraformed worlds, large orbitals and biohabitats
  • Glow-Orb Cactus  - Text by David Hallberg
    A relative to the Lantern plant.
  • Goo, Blue  - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
    Nanites used as protection against grey goo and other destructive nanomachines, possibly even used for law-enforcement (nanarchy). It is sometimes used to denote any form of benign nanotechnology in the environment.
  • Gourd Houses  - Text by AI Vin
    A biotech house grown from a vine-like plant.
  • Hydroponics  - Text by AI Vin
    A soil-less method of plant cultivation using water.
  • Hyperfog  - Text by Steve Bowers
    Transapientech utility fog.
  • Industrial Ecology  - Text by Chris Shaeffer
    The study and implementation of efficient industrial systems coexisting with the natural environments within which they operate.
  • Mechmoss and Nanoalgae  - Text by Stephen Inniss
    Simple sessile photosynthetic nanotech or synano neumann-capable devices/organisms.
  • Nanoferon: Nanotech Inhibitors  - Text by Michael Boncher
    A subset of <{A4.86453E+12, blue goo}> nano-defenses, made up of extremely complex large molecules of very specific shape, bonding and size. They act in a fashion similar to antibodies in a biological system.
  • Nanorot  - Text by Stephen Inniss
    Synano disassembly swarm, often feral with high nuisance value.
  • Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion  - Text by AI Vin
    Extraction of energy from the oceans of planets with oceans of any kind, such as Gaian or Panthalassic worlds.
  • Paraterraforming  - Text by M. Alan Kazlev and Steve Bowers
    Roofing over a small world or moon by means of domes or a worldhouse roof to make it habitable to terragen bionts.
  • Patternism, Clade Patternism  - Text by Stephen Inniss
    The study of the deep seated cultural and aesthetic biases and resulting societal patterns specific to certain clades, and the way these produce and are produced by the physical environment and how they can be manipulated by memetic influence.
  • Plantbots  - Text by Stephen Inniss and Steve Bowers
    Dry nano or synano robots powered by light and capable of autonomous growth and reproduction; generally sessile or with limited movement. So named because they are equivalent in role to biological plants.
  • Plasm  - Text by Todd Drashner
    Multipurpose biological material, sometimes described as biotech utility fog.
  • Polymorphic Architecture  - Text by Ryan B
    Shape-changing archictecture.
  • Potted Planet - Text by Todd Drashner
    Slang term for a world, terrestrial or otherwise that has been modified by a Power or Archailect to support life, apparently for no other reason than the creator's continued aesthetic satisfaction. Occasionally found in systems that host mainbrain primary computing nodes and tools. Apparently, created for reasons similar to why some ordinary sapient Terragens create and maintain gardens.
  • Respirocyte  - Text by Steve Bowers and Todd Drashner
    Bloodborne, approximately 1-micron-diameter spherical nanomedical device that acts as an artificial mechanical red blood cell.
  • Starbooster - Text by Todd Drashner
    A solar output enhancement array. It consists of solar sails placed in balanced positions above the northern and southern hemispheres of a star. The array reflects the output of the star back onto its surface, thereby heating the outer layers and causing the star's spectrum to shift upward. The result for planets and habitats orbiting in the plane of the ecliptic is that the star appears to change from its original classification (typically M or K) to a more Sol-like spectrum (G-class).
  • Sunclouds  - Text by AI Vin
    Diffuse lighting systems for rotating habitats.
  • Sunline  - Text by Todd Drashner and Steve Bowers
    A ring of fusion-powered illuminators inside a jovian world or orbiting a brown dwarf or dim red star, designed to focus light on various nearby planets, moons, asteroids or orbiting habitats.
  • Terraformer swarms  - Text by Somes Jung Hallinan

  • Terraforming  - Text by Anders Sandberg
    Altering a planet's environment to resemble that on Old Earth
  • Terraforming Remnants - Text by Anders Sandberg
    Natural and artificial ecospheres left by any of several long-vanished terraformer species known only for the biospheres they left behind long ago. Currently terragenkind is busy terraforming suitable planets in the galaxy, and even if they disappear there are going to be lots of human- and ai- derived biospheres left behind. In a few hundreds of millions of years intelligent life might evolve independently there. This life would find a few other habitable worlds with suspiciously similar biochemistries.
  • Thicksuit  - Text by Todd Drashner
    Nanotech/bionanotech vacuum survival suit.
  • Universal Design  - Text by Stephen Inniss
    In architecture, or in hab, ecological, or information system design, the attempt to accommodate as many different sorts of sophonts within the same structure.
  • Utility Fog  - Text by M. Alan Kazlev, after the concept by J. Storrs Hall, in Anders Sandberg's Transhuman Terminology
    A collective of mesobots or nanobots ("foglets") that link together into a complex network in the air, able to work together to exert force in any direction or transmit information between each other. Utility fog can be used to simulate any environment, essentially providing rl with the environment-transforming capabilities of virtual reality.
  • Utility Sand  - Text by AI Vin
    A dense, load bearing form of utility fog.
  • Vacuum Equipment  - Text by Todd Drashner
    Thinsuits, airdust, nanolungs; the basic requirements for vacuum survival.
  • Virchbuilder  - Text by Tony Jones
    Types of software used to create virtual worlds.
  • Virchology   - Text by Thorbjørn Steen
    A digital artificial ecosystem residing in a virch.
  • Virtual Reality  - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
    Any simulated immersive environment; Information Age to present. See also VR.
  • Wallflowers  - Text by Thorbjørn Steen
    Genetically modified flowering plants.for architectural display.
  • Weather Machines  - Text by Steve Bowers and Todd Drashner, with additional material by J. Storrs Hall
    Atmospheric devices designed to affect the energy flow of the atmosphere
  • Worldrings  - Text by AI Vin
    Ring-type orbitals which duplicate (as much as possible) all the conditions found on a Gaian type world - including total surface area under full centrifugal gravity. As such, World Rings occupy the middle ground between Bishop Rings and Banks Orbitals, and typically use technology from both.
  • Yasamura Artificial Environments Corporation  - Text by Aaron Hamilton
    The most successful of the Sakawa hyperturing subsidiaries of the Federation period, Yasamura Artificial Environments Corporation was one of the first corporations that developed standard terraforming equipment and procedures; including nanites and large bioreactors.
 
Development Notes
Text by Stephen Inniss
Image by Anders Sandberg
Initially published on 24 June 2009.