Central Gulf Part One

The new amendments probably have something to do with rights concerning euthanasia, Artificial Intelligence and other non-human entities rights, the rights of those off planet (ie Mars colony), new electoral policy, and regulating the treatment of the non-technological underclass.

I'm still thinking of ways to express the technological singularity that supposedly arrives just before the invasion. But in essence, at that point, we probably have enough understanding of the pain to create rudimentary hive mind communication with brain implants. Machine sentience is a possibility.

Unimaginably quick transfiguration. Even to the constitution.

The 48th is probably something to the affect of possessions come and go, but one's body will always be theirs, so they may control what goes on within to their satisfaction.

Implants are should not added to children until during or after puberty, so everyone has a basis of normal education and "solitary" life. After that point, a lack of integration becomes a disability.

There are aftershocks to this even I haven't even begun to contemplate.

There is a fine line between hobby and obsession. I seem to have lost sight of it some time ago.

Essentially, the singularity is supposed to be the point at which all knowledge becomes integrated and can be accessed. However, this doesn't sound like the kind of singularity that should exist in this setting. Given that you are talking about the possibility of brain implants and AIs, it seems that the singularity here might be the possible detachment of the personality from the physical - if such a thing is possible.

I believe Daniel Dennett wrote a couple of books on this subject. The easiest one to read I think is "The Mind's I", where he makes his point by means of some very cleverly written fiction.

I'll have to see if I can dig out my copy of Underground just for the updated Constitution that is printed in it. Might have some ideas, considering it looks like there are are similarities between your game and it. I'm not sure that they got up 48 amendments, though.

Quite right. Your Logovores are probably a better example of a post singularity society all points considered. Mine is just more of what futurists are predicting down the line.

More to the point of my setting is that connection was on another level, as was automation. In south America there was the so called "Oversight War". This conflict plays off my feelings about armed predator drones - when you don't have reporters or soldiers free to say what is going on, the war becomes a lot less humane.

In the domestic arena, most people have an "overlay". Think a heads up display from an aircraft superimposed on one's vision at all times. Everything is coated with a wire frame to which you can attach notes to at any time. Aphasia is a thing of the past, since one can have volumes of reference floating before you.

The tech level is high enough to allow for cybernetics, and nano-bots. Global warming has altered the landscape as well.

Part of this is all a good reason for leaving the safe zones - there is wondrous stuff out there. With a good computer, a micro-factory, and the required reaction mass, one would be well off. On the other hand, the cities have the technology to be pretty oppressive and scary with total oversight.

Some thing very notable has been lost from this society. Yet some people chose to enter the Anarchy zones. While the tone is all a part of how one plays it, this is almost "Mad Max" or Twilight-2000 with zombies, rather than a Romero film.

There is a fine line between hobby and obsession. I seem to have lost sight of it some time ago.

John's Logovores? I thought you made up the name Logovore.

I've been toying with the idea of playtesting Joy Division, by Mark Vallianatos as a way to sort out the Emergence with some friends, in essence, just play until they lose a couple of times in a big way.

Then I'll at least know for myself.

You might be able to use some similar system to devise what the other amendments are.

Singularity pretty much means what you need it to mean. When I use the word singularity, it means the point in time at which human awareness is too slow to keep track of accelerating technology and a totally new type of consciousness and technological ingenuity is needed for further development. The setting of Emergence assumes that that never happened. Transhumanist mental processes were developed before human ingenuity was exhausted, so even though much of their meaningful progress comes from beings with very different minds from people, they never pushed human problem solving to its limit, so logovores with human-like minds can still contribute meaningfully to their society.

I really love this letter. It made me want to reread Dracula or at least the fiction piece that came with Universal Brotherhood (for Shadowrun).

I did mean the Eemergence Logovores of SJB, I was just tired and credited the wrong person. (Though yes, their name was my idea.) Similarly, I probably only meant 38 amendments, though I'm still not sure what all 11 new ones would be.

Currently I'm Reading William Gibson's "Count Zero" I still like the "cyberpunk genre" even if real technical developments have passed it on to some extent. Pre-Invasion America is a little closer to that ideal than Venor Vinge and post human entities. Possibly the "Post-cyberpunk" movement where it isn't quite so bad, but still a society that can be seen as addicted to technology, and this invasion has left them craving their fix in a bad way.

Thank you for your commendation. There is actually a second CG piece in the works, though from a radically different perspective. Though, I need to finish the type-II encounter first.

There is a fine line between hobby and obsession. I seem to have lost sight of it some time ago.