From: Anders Sandberg (asa@nada.kth.se)
Date: Thu Mar 18 1999 - 05:45:09 MST
"Scott Badger" <wbadger@psyberlink.net> writes:
> >Permutation City?
> >The Culture?
> >The High Beyond?
>
> Elizier, could you briefly describe these different environments for the
> benefit of those amongst us who are unfamiliar with the above references?
I'll do it instead:
Permutation City (from Greg Egan's book of the same name): a
self-contained virtual universe completely independent of the physical
universe. It consists of an expanding cube of replicating turing
machines, each with its own expanding cube of memory (it is really a
6+1 dimensional cellular automaton). It is inhabited by uploads living
in their various virtual worlds, as well as another cellular-automaton
universe containing a simulated solar system inhabited by its own
creatures.
The Polises (Greg Egan's _Diaspora_): After the Introdus, most of
humanity lives as information in polises, nanotech supercomputers
hidden here and there. The Earth is inhabited by the remaining
"fleshers", many of which have re-engineered themselves to new forms,
and space by the Gleisner robots, uploads in robot bodies. The polises
tend to have different ideologies and aesthetics, ranging from
introverted art to interests in politics (Carter-Zimmerman for example
tries to make the other polises keep in touch with base
reality). Citizens have access to all the possibilities of an upload
existence, such as backups, copying, mental modification, enhanced
introspection and everything else.
The Culture (from Iain M Bank's books): A big interstellar
civilization of humans and AI. Since all material demands can be
supplied by non-intelligent machines and most intellectual problems
can be solved by the super-AIs (the Minds), people (and machines)
mostly have fun: everything from playing with their drug-glands to
building ringworlds to helping out less fortunate civilizations. It is
a kind of anarchist alliance.
http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_sa/socs/sff-soc/Culture.txt
The High Beyond (from Vernor Vinge's _A Fire Upon the Deep_): the
galaxy is divided into zones where different levels of complexity can
develop. The Earth is in the Slow Zone where AI, FTL and nanotech is
unfortunately impossible (see his latest book about that). Outside the
Slow Zone lies the Beyond, where these things are possible, and
outside that lies the Transcend, where *real* superintelligence is
feasible. The High Beyond lies near the border, and is inhabited by
millions of civilizations trading with each other, the Transcend and
the Low Beyond. Many are more or less augmented, and there is a
gradual drift as they move into the Transcend and new civilizations
bubble up from below.
Other transhuman cultures from sf:
The Logarchy (from Walter John William's _Aristoi_): After the Earth
was destroyed by grey goo, the survivors managed to create a new
civilization based on a kind of meritocracy, which eventually evolved
into the Logarchy. It is run by a few hundred Aristoi, people who are
simply best at everything: they are both geniuses, artists,
administrators and with impeccable morals (everybody can take exams to
become an Aristoi). Each Aristoi is responsible for a domain of
planets (many of which are terraformed new worlds), which he or she
runs with the help of a hierarchy of administrators (also selected by
examinations). The domains tend to become rather individual, and
people can move freely between them. Mental techniques,
AI-subpersonalities, an open interstellar internet (the Hyperlogos)
and very long life extension are widely used, however only the Aristoi
may freely experiment with nanotech due to the risks.
David Zindell describes several cultures in his books (Neverness, The
Broken God, The Wild, War in Heaven). Most of the stories center
around the Civilized Worlds which have decided against radical
transformations of humanity; they are influenced by the Order of
Metaphysical Mathematicians and Other Seekers of the Ineffable Flame,
an academic organization. However, there are some groups who have
developed in other directions: The Agathinians are humans who have
re-designed themselves to live as dolphin- and seal-humans in the warm
oceans of the planet Agathange, designing biological nanotechnology
and working on building a planetary consciousness. The inhabitants of
Alumit Bridge live in huge plastic cities where they try to form
super-enlightened group-minds. There are several people who have
uploaded themselves and become jupiter-brain gods, most notably
Nicolas Daru Ede (worshipped by the Architects of the Cybernetic
Church) and the Silicon Goddess.
The Protektorate (from Charles Platt's _Protektor_): An interstellar
computer-run civilization, where semisentinent computers try to
maximize human happiness according to a well defined code (think
Asimov's laws, but more developed and flexible). Humans are
biologically immortal, have access to over a 100,000 planets, their
needs are supplied by automation and each has a monthly allotment of
resources (you can of course earn more by trade); most humans simply
play around. Unlike in the Culture, where the benevolent AI is
superintelligent, the Protektorate discourages scientific research
(especially computer science) - everybody has their needs fulfilled,
it would only be dangerous to introduce new stuff. Of course, you are
free to leave and set up your own planet somewhere else, but the
temptation of the help from the Protektorate tends to make escape
attempts fail.
-- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Anders Sandberg Towards Ascension! asa@nada.kth.se http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/ GCS/M/S/O d++ -p+ c++++ !l u+ e++ m++ s+/+ n--- h+/* f+ g+ w++ t+ r+ !y
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