The Campaign Builder's Guild

Oh hey, look, another project I'm going to start and never finish.  Awesome.  And old stuff of mine.  Let's tear it a new... *cough*  Let's look over this, shall we?

Quote from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megastructuremegastructure[/url], the most popular theory is that it is a Dyson sphere, in the distant future of the Earth.  Humans and transhumans are common, with non-modified humans generally being looked down upon.  In this case, it's coupled with a class-based discrimination; only the upper middle class and upper class can afford to be transhuman, and look down upon the non-modified.  This actually resolves one of my major criticisms of sci-fi literature, as it tends to ignore the economic realities of what may be.  Posthumans also exist, but they are generally under the control of the Safeguard or the Order, both seeking to accelerate the transhuman process, whether people want it or not.  To really simplify it, the Safeguard's methods would be Lawful and the Order's would be Chaotic.  Posthumans are silicon-based life, often possessing limited-shape shifting abilities, and ranging from extremely human-like to completely monstrous.  There are also Artifacts, the only weapons effective against posthumans.  I really don't think I'm doing it justice with just this, but these are really the salient influences I'd pick out of it.

Terminology
And just really quickly, in case people don't know the terminology: a human is a normal, unmodified Homo Sapien.  A cyborg is a modified H. Sapien, but not so modified to the point that it is a transhuman.  An andriod, not to be confused with a cyborg, is an AI made to resemble a H. Sapien.  A transhuman is a heavily modified H. Sapien, approaching the point where it is no longer human.  A posthuman is a H. sapien that has been so modified it can no longer be considered the same species as a human.  However, the lines between all of these, except perhaps unmodified human versus modified human, and more solidly human versus andriod, are very blurry.

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More to come.

I'm not sure if I see the connection between terraforming and AI. Terraforming, if I'm not mistaken, is literal worldbuilding, where you actually construct (or, in the case you gave, radically alter) an entire planet.

Quote from: Halfling FritosI'm not sure if I see the connection between terraforming and AI. Terraforming, if I'm not mistaken, is literal worldbuilding, where you actually construct (or, in the case you gave, radically alter) an entire planet.

The connection was the example I gave; humans were using an AI to assist in terraforming Venus.

Wouldn't a sufficiently advanced AI just take Venus for itself instead of making it suitable for human life?

Quote from: EladrisWouldn't a sufficiently advanced AI just take Venus for itself instead of making it suitable for human life?

Perhaps the AI actually likes humans :p

Another thing that could stop it is something in its programming that prevents it from doing such.

What exactly did you want people to post about limetom?

Quote from: LlumWhat exactly did you want people to post about limetom?

Lol.  I don't know.  I don't really have much up here to post about yet.  I'll try to get some more up during this long weekend.

I find the concepts of transhumanism, genetic manipulation, and viable artificial lifeforms revolting, but I hope you find your groove for your new setting.

M.

Quote from: CheomeshI find the concepts of transhumanism, genetic manipulation, and viable artificial lifeforms revolting, but I hope you find your groove for your new setting.

M.

I'll take that as a vote of confidence. :)

These are really cool concepts you're playing with, and you've got me very interested in BLAME! which I wasn't familiar with.

For the record I find transhumanism/genetic manipulation/artifical lifeforms uber-cool, and I think I generally tend to view them from a more optimistic perspective than most.  My take it that a lot of the technology we use already - cars, eyeglasses, wristwatches, laptops, etc - are really just primitive forms of transhumanism: "detachable" augmentations, if you will.  Transhumanism just goes one step further and sutures that watch to your wrist, or replaces your eyes with new ones... or engineers you from birth with already perfect eyes.  Sure there are opportunities for it to go horribly wrong, but that's true of almost any technology (airplanes can be crashed into buildings, for example).

Perhaps I'm less concerned with notions of stable human identity than the broader populace (it's not just Cheomesh who finds transhumanism/genetic modification offputting) but if I were given the option for genuinely beneficial and economically viable transhuman augmentations I would be the first on the operating table.  Incidentally, if you've never encountered Iain M. Banks Culture it's a good example of a predominantly utopian posthuman society, and also incorporates advanced AIs, who are regarded as equally viable lifeforms in their own right - in fact, although the Culture is essentially anarchistic, the administrative/"governing" bodies are benevolent, superintelligent machines, wise and rational rather than megalomaniacal as powerful machines are usually depicted: enlightened computers totally uninterested in conquest or expansion (though very interested in goofing off and giving themselves ridiculous names).

Looking forward to more.

perhaps neptune can be a colony of highly evolved AIs that are planning to attack the humans

Sounds interesting.

What's the impact of the internet in a society based on integrated electronics? Do cyborgs receive correlative updates to their software every evening? Does this allow a degree of pseudo-telepathy via IMing or similar between two people with brain implants? Can you sell your brain to do cloud computing for large companies on your off hours (or when you're asleep. Dreams of folding proteins ahoy!)?

Is the planet united under a single government, or is it still fractionalized into several hundred nation states?

Starting over.

Jotting down some ideas so I don't forget:

Brain-computer interface is big.  Main idea here is sensory extension, like electromagnetoreception or expanding the sensitivity of the eyes up into the ultraviolet range, or down into the infrared range.  Or perhaps something completely new; control of computers and junk loosely tied to proprioception?

Setting as a city.  Points of interest include a space elevator, the Bay, other stuff.  Saves headaches on world governments or whatever.

Quote from: Rorschach FritosI'm not sure if I see the connection between terraforming and AI. Terraforming, if I'm not mistaken, is literal worldbuilding, where you actually construct (or, in the case you gave, radically alter) an entire planet.

Yes, terraforming is world-building or world-modifying so that the end result is a habitable planet for all intents and purposes. Since this is such a long and incredibly difficult process as is currently theorized, any sort of AI with more resistant bodily structures is incredibly useful in the work. For example with Venus there is the issue of the incredibly slow Venus day, the incredible heat and outrageously thick atmosphere among many other issues that would need to be rectified. There is always the problem of a lack of a magnetosphere such as with Mars, plus any planet or moon is possibly lacking a vital resource of some sort that will need to be imported from elsewhere. If you can construct/create a form of AI that is resistant or immune to many of the issues presented (extreme heat, radiation, lack of organic sustenance, incompatible atmosphere, etc.) then it becomes pretty obvious how vital they are to the processes of planetary engineering.

Although then there is the question of why they haven't just engineered everything on a biochemical/nanotechnical level to make humans highly resistant and/or immune to most effects instead of creating substitutes... but then again that would be tedious.