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Proof-reading EG
ESY was the dating system used by Aaron Hamilton in his Hamiltonian Universe, one of the source elements for Orion's Arm (written in or before 1999 c.e.). We can decide on a new date for this event - how about 317 AT? Pluto was colonised in 296, and this will be later than that.

Another problem is that an interplanetary spaceship is unlikely to travel between Earth orbit and Juno in a month, even in 317 AT. We'll amend that to 'just over a year later', I think.
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Changes in bold below.

Change from c.e. to a.t.

The Early Days
The first decades of the 1st century a.t. saw developments in genomics equal to the computer and information revolution of the first decades of the 1st century a.t. The original application, in the 50s c.e. , was in identifying and removing those genes responsible for congenital disease. But beginning in the years 46-51 a.t. developments in genomics and genetic engineering allowed parents to actively select specific genes for their unborn children, in the hope of improving their physical attractiveness, athletic, intellectual, and/or creative abilities, longevity, and resistance to diseases, stirring up a hornet's nest of moral and legal issues. While most genes were considered "public domain", and only a fee for the splicing was charged, already genomic megacorporations like Celeron began selling the rights to specialty genes.

By the 70's a.t. genetic modification of humans were becoming increasingly accepted, although there was a vocal minority opposed to such acts of "playing God". Germline modifications continued, although their legality has been uncertain. A generation of superbabies were growing up into child entrepreneurs, forcing big changes to business and employment law and practices, as well as rules relating to legal maturity and asset ownership.

By the 80's a.t. vast "genomic gap" had developed between the haves and the havenots - greater even than the digital divide of the middle 1st century a.t., and equivalent to the class distinctions of the early Industrial Age. Those fortunate wealthy individuals, or those from wealthy families, had the benefit of germline modification, and tended to be consistently more intelligent, more athletic, more healthy, and more physically attractive. Yet at the same time true genius and creativity remained elusive, being the result of combinations of genetic and environmental factors that were difficult to quantify.
The Biopunks
The development of do-it-yourself genomic engineering in the 90's and 100's a.t . gave rise to the biopunks, a generation of mostly young, white superbaby males under 25, whose dress ranged from baggies and T-shirts through goth black and multiple piercings to conventional suits, and whose lifestyles varied accordingly, but all of whom were distinguished by self-inflicted gene hacks, feathers or scales instead of hair, bands of chromatophores, mobile tattoos, and general somatic enhancement. Abhorring business patenting and secrecy, they were pathological braggarts, with a culture based on open source ("genomes want to be free") and pirate geneprints were placed on servers in datahavens from the North Sea ex oil rig microstates to the pirate havens of states like Azerbaijan and Mogadishu.

The biopunk movement accelerated the cultural acceptance of germline engineering, which was developing in more and other ways than merely cosmetic, athletic, intellectual, or for clone farming. Various groups and states were also modifying newborns for various experimental extremes such as lifespans much longer than was generally attempted in mainstream efforts, weightlessness (for prolonged deep space habitation), and there were even for some years private and military programs to 'hard-wire' versions of certain mind-over-body techniques only accessible through years of discipline and learning in pre-scientific cultures - e.g. Tibetan monks, etc.). Attempts to attain extra-sensory perception failed entirely.

http://www.orionsarm.com/eg-article/47fc2ccba05bf
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Both articles updated - thanks!
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(01-26-2017, 09:33 PM)QwertyYerty Wrote: Changes in bold below.

Change from c.e. to a.t.

[snipped]

http://www.orionsarm.com/eg-article/47fc2ccba05bf

Thanks for pointing this out.

I've been retaining the c.e. dates for articles that reference the next few centuries, but put them in brackets behind the AT dates. Will do that in the re-edit.

By the way, one thing to watch is that the beginnings of the centuries are quite different. Because we have the earliest AT late in the seventh decade of a c.e./AD dating system one has to be careful with the wording. For instance the early decades of a century in the c.e. system is roughly the later middle decades in the AT system. So the revised version won't look exactly as suggested.

More generally, I think this article needs some attention of the same sort that other early timeline articles have received, since Alan wrote it in the very early years of the OA project (more than a decade and a half ago...), so tweaking the date references is likely the beginning of what should be a more thorough rewrite. Some of the near-future predictions are shaping up as Alan wrote them, but some particulars (such as Mogadishu being a centre of genetics sometime in the 21st century c.e., or that the earliest recipients of gengineering for 'improvement' would be exclusively 'white' (and not, say, the children of ambitious wealthy Chinese parents...) are in need of re-examination. As always, looking for someone who might be interested in tackling that...

One bit that should be added in the rewrite is that all or nearly all of those people calling themselves Tweaks and Superiors that early in the timeline would actually be Nearbaselines by the standards of the OA 'present day'.

EDIT: Steve Bowers and I might have tripped over each other in editing this one. Sorry, Steve.
Stephen
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That's fine. As you said, several of the earliest 'superior' tweaks would be counted as 'nearbaseline humans' in later parts of the timeline, which makes editing this piece quite difficult.
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Missed one. Early 21st c.e. = mid 1st a.t.

By the 70's (2040's c.e.) a vast "genomic gap" had developed between the haves and the have-nots — greater even than the digital divide of the middle 1st century a.t. (early 21st century c.e.), and equivalent to the class distinctions of the early Industrial Age. Those fortunate wealthy individuals, or those from wealthy families, had the benefit of germline modification, and tended to be consistently more intelligent, more athletic, more healthy, and more physically attractive. Yet at the same time true genius and creativity remained elusive, being the result of combinations of genetic and environmental factors that were difficult to quantify.

http://www.orionsarm.com/eg-article/47fc2ccba05bf
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I found another I missed.

Even before the spread of the pirate "Gloriously Bright" germline cell patch, GeneTEK had already acquired a favourable reputation among genehacks and neobiopunks for its distribution of open source genomes. By the early 4th century a.t (late 23rd century c.e.) GeneTEK, the Orbital Alliance, the Terran and Lunar States, Mars, the Belt colonies, and the mining megacorporations were competing in the development of the outer solar system. Not only was there a rivalry of interests, but also of clades, as different subspecies competed. While the Terran and Terran-aligned orbitals employed neumanns and microgravity-adapted space people (Homo sapiens cosmoi), and the Orbital League used their own tweaks (Homo sapiens superior) in large SIOS vessels, the Lunarians and Martians used unmodified colonists in Luna-standard and Mars-standard gravity medium-sized vessels, the GeneTEK faction had geneered their own deep-space subspecies, the Homo sapiens geneticus.

http://www.orionsarm.com/eg-article/47fc2ccba05bf
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Broken link in bold. I didn't want to clutter the Website and Content Issues forum with another thread so I posted this here.

160 - Commercially available artificial lifeforms (neogens) by the big biotech megacorporations, human cloning for the wealthy widely in place, bio-chips allow direct (although still primitive) neural interface with the Net (VR w/o a headset and hotsuit).

http://www.orionsarm.com/eg-topic/45b2b10d8b211
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Were Von Neumanns developed in 165 or 215?

The timeline says advanced matter compliers were invented 215 and neumanns were invented 165 while the article about Von Neumanns say thar Von Neumanns were invented in 215 using a matter complier.

Advance should be advanced. See bold in 2nd paragraph.

165 - Macroscale Von Neumann self-replicating robot systems (neumanns) developed. Initially limited, the effect on industry is still immense. Deep sea mining, large-scale construction and biosphere monitoring are the first industries to greatly benefit. Later adapted for use in mining operations and colony construction off the Earth; interplanetary trade begins to be commercially viable.

212-215 - The Nanoscale Collective on Asimov Orbital constructs an advanced multipurpose assembler, the Genii 2 - Matter Compiler, which is followed by even more efficient types. Along with greater levels of automation social tensions are heightened due to mass unemployment. At the same time anxiety is widespread regarding the possibility of a grey goo outbreak. The New Economy Movement makes huge gains in popularity.

http://www.orionsarm.com/eg-topic/45b2b10d8b211

The first true Neumanns were developed in 215 AT using the Genii-2 matter compiler in tandem with a prospector/disassembler system in a joint venture between Neotech Labs in Clarke Orbital, the Xerox Nanoscale Collective in Pasadena, Earth, and the Centre for Self-Replicating Technologies, a Eurasian laboratory on Copernicus Base, Luna. This development created widespread anxiety regarding the possibility of a grey goo outbreak.

http://www.orionsarm.com/eg-article/46d38369e0db3
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I suspect (but would need to dig through the timeline to confirm) that the 215 entry is intended to refer to a nanotechnological replicating assembler (a microscopic neumann, essentially).

However, our current take on this sort of thing is that modos are primarily able to create microscopic replicators in controlled environments. While they can make limited microscopic replicators that can operate 'in the wild' for a relatively short time, these rapidly break down or fail to compete with the environment or otherwise fail. Macroscale Neumanns are essentially mobile controlled environments containing various sorts of nanotech/microtech devices (rather like animals) which allow them to consume local materials and make copies of themselves.

Transapients can create Drexler type replicating nanomachines that can operate 'in the wild' with ease and more or less indefinitely, however.

In other words, the entries (or the EG articles behind them) probably need some more extensive tweaking.

Todd
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