cskendrick
I'm Gnu :)
- Joined
- May 7, 2006
- Messages
- 30
2080s By the backside of the Cyberpunk era (circa 2015-2095), a combination of laws, effective means of enforcement and a change in norms to support Draconian measures to stop personality hackers led to choosing capital punishment for some over the curtailment of cybernetic freedom for all. Long after even first-degree murder no longer warranted the death penalty, mind-hacking did so. It is unclear if the harsh reaction was the conclusive end to the threat, or a change in culture, much as it is unclear why the so-called Wild West faded from life in the American West of the 1800s. What is certain is that further advances, an infrastructure of realtime creditworthiness and validation of trust based on quantum tech, and enforced with nanonic protocols, obviated the Cyberpunk age at many levels. That, and far more elementary problems took precedence,.
Overseas, the Japanese begin a radical retooling of their entire economy -- not the physical basis of it, but how it is conducted. Ever obsessed with efficiency, they converted all estimation of cost into energy saved, and likewise of benefit, and oriented their tax and regulatory code around this principle. When various individuals and corporations lamented that this approach punished persons with diverse income and cost streams, the Ministry of Trade, backed by the Diet, shrugged and refocused the incentive structure on each type of activity. Companies complained further, but the government raised its collective hand: if you want more tax breaks, do efficient things. Things that save energy, or time, or the energy and time of others.
The incentives were percentage inputs, so market mechanisms for allocating scarcity, discounting for risk and premiums for high demand or value were largely in force. The difference was that for the first time in history, acts were being (dis)incentivized, not actors, made possible by the availability of quantum simulation to track all such data in realtime. It followed suit that first taxation would be conducted on a continuous basis, then modification of behavior, then the unit of economic performance.
This was the birth of 'micrommerce', again quietly, for the world was not quite sure of what the Japanese were doing, save for rolling out a rather compelling argument for improving energy efficiency. The New Societies took to the innovation with a flourish; the West dallied with it halfheartedly; the East loved and despised it at once, it depended on where one went. What could not be gainsaid is that the methodology worked; Japanese GDP soared, once the initial jitters were calmed.
Elsewhere, the Canadians became the de facto global policemen of all things mnemonic, as the Mounties and their virtual cohorts, the Avatars, became the mainstay of policing the world's cyber lanes against troublemakers, just as the Europeans retained the nanotech guardianship.
Mexico found a valuable niche by reaching back to its past for inspiration: In all the worlds, there were now no better combat engineers than the Mexicans, and the services of the EUM's so-called 'Constructadors' were highly valued, for this was a universe inhabited by human beings, and as such there was no shortfall of opportunity to build (or rebuild) structures on a tight schedule in conditions of grave peril, places that Norteamericano's androids either could not go, and use of their own lives was too dear. The Americans --- or with increasing frequency the Brazilians --- did not mind paying the premium. And along with that notoriety came the expertise to do other things, so that Mexico by the end of the 21st century was manufacturing fully one-third of the small arms and, far more lucrative, over one-half of the utility kits for all the armed forces of all the worlds of the Solar System. Not a bad gig, all told.
By the 2090s, Antarctica, now sovereign, the first of the New Societies to sit at the big table. Micrommercial philosophy thrived there, as well as off-world, and the Americans have joined the club, as well. Malaysia has become the belated Asian answer to the Anglo-Russian internet cartel, and Australia, now more closely aligned with Asia than America, has become the main source of androids for the Han Federation and its allies.
Elsewhere, Titan is finally explored and settled, and the means to develop safe permanent habitats on Io arrive, which makes the minerological riches of that world readily available; an interplanetary gold rush sets in, such that by 2090 Io had the largest population of any world other than the Earth and Moon...though this is a short-lived moment in Ionian history, as there are real limits to how many people a world with no native sources of water can support. It requires a never-ending chain of well-timed, well-placed ice fragment impacts, harvested from Jupiter's rings at first, then scraped from the surface of the ice moon of Amalthea later. Titan proved to be even more a world of surprises than the now-ancient Cassini/Huygens probe suggested, with a complex, heterodox planetology including oxygen geysers in its more active regions...and steam volcanoes.
On Earth, almost 10 million people live under the sea, and almost 25 million live on the ice in Antarctica.
Overseas, the Japanese begin a radical retooling of their entire economy -- not the physical basis of it, but how it is conducted. Ever obsessed with efficiency, they converted all estimation of cost into energy saved, and likewise of benefit, and oriented their tax and regulatory code around this principle. When various individuals and corporations lamented that this approach punished persons with diverse income and cost streams, the Ministry of Trade, backed by the Diet, shrugged and refocused the incentive structure on each type of activity. Companies complained further, but the government raised its collective hand: if you want more tax breaks, do efficient things. Things that save energy, or time, or the energy and time of others.
The incentives were percentage inputs, so market mechanisms for allocating scarcity, discounting for risk and premiums for high demand or value were largely in force. The difference was that for the first time in history, acts were being (dis)incentivized, not actors, made possible by the availability of quantum simulation to track all such data in realtime. It followed suit that first taxation would be conducted on a continuous basis, then modification of behavior, then the unit of economic performance.
This was the birth of 'micrommerce', again quietly, for the world was not quite sure of what the Japanese were doing, save for rolling out a rather compelling argument for improving energy efficiency. The New Societies took to the innovation with a flourish; the West dallied with it halfheartedly; the East loved and despised it at once, it depended on where one went. What could not be gainsaid is that the methodology worked; Japanese GDP soared, once the initial jitters were calmed.
Elsewhere, the Canadians became the de facto global policemen of all things mnemonic, as the Mounties and their virtual cohorts, the Avatars, became the mainstay of policing the world's cyber lanes against troublemakers, just as the Europeans retained the nanotech guardianship.
Mexico found a valuable niche by reaching back to its past for inspiration: In all the worlds, there were now no better combat engineers than the Mexicans, and the services of the EUM's so-called 'Constructadors' were highly valued, for this was a universe inhabited by human beings, and as such there was no shortfall of opportunity to build (or rebuild) structures on a tight schedule in conditions of grave peril, places that Norteamericano's androids either could not go, and use of their own lives was too dear. The Americans --- or with increasing frequency the Brazilians --- did not mind paying the premium. And along with that notoriety came the expertise to do other things, so that Mexico by the end of the 21st century was manufacturing fully one-third of the small arms and, far more lucrative, over one-half of the utility kits for all the armed forces of all the worlds of the Solar System. Not a bad gig, all told.
By the 2090s, Antarctica, now sovereign, the first of the New Societies to sit at the big table. Micrommercial philosophy thrived there, as well as off-world, and the Americans have joined the club, as well. Malaysia has become the belated Asian answer to the Anglo-Russian internet cartel, and Australia, now more closely aligned with Asia than America, has become the main source of androids for the Han Federation and its allies.
Elsewhere, Titan is finally explored and settled, and the means to develop safe permanent habitats on Io arrive, which makes the minerological riches of that world readily available; an interplanetary gold rush sets in, such that by 2090 Io had the largest population of any world other than the Earth and Moon...though this is a short-lived moment in Ionian history, as there are real limits to how many people a world with no native sources of water can support. It requires a never-ending chain of well-timed, well-placed ice fragment impacts, harvested from Jupiter's rings at first, then scraped from the surface of the ice moon of Amalthea later. Titan proved to be even more a world of surprises than the now-ancient Cassini/Huygens probe suggested, with a complex, heterodox planetology including oxygen geysers in its more active regions...and steam volcanoes.
On Earth, almost 10 million people live under the sea, and almost 25 million live on the ice in Antarctica.
