The Current State of Human Technology

[Karst45]

why not go green and have wooden plated starship?

They would all laugh until we crash land on their capital

[NOMAD]

Question on jumps: In the Outsiderverse, has there ever been a recorded instance of a ship making a jump and then missing its target, and having it eventually found someplace else?

I believe the answer is no, but i might be wrong again

[Paragon]

why not go green and have wooden plated starship?

They would all laugh until we crash land on their capital

A yo ho ho, it's a space pirates life for me!

I'm sorry. I'll stop now.

[Paragon]

Say Arioch, what's the view on transhumanism in the future? Do people try to do crazy shit like make human eyes see more of the EM spectrum, or make ourselves more tolerant of gasses (for example carbon dioxide vis a vis alligator genes like in Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars books)? Or maybe get implants that let us access the internet like in Ghost in the Shell?

As I mentioned in my post of the first page of the thread, the humans in Outsider have a specific role to play in the story as the reader's point of view, so for all practical purposes, they are essentially modern humans transported 150 years into the future. There are a number of ways to explain this, some of which may even make sense, but it's important to keep in mind that this is a story-mandated decision, not a prediction of the future.

As mentioned before, genetic manipulation of humans will still be heavily restricted if not totally banned in most Earth nations, so most genetic experiments will have been exported to the new colonies, where there is less restriction. Anything that you can imagine is probably being experimented with, from super-troopers to exotic "pleasure models"... but this is taking place on the Offworld frontier where it doesn't have that much impact on humanity as a whole. 100-200 years farther in the future, it will become a much bigger issue.

Increased longevity will have significant impact on our social systems, but perhaps not as much direct impact of the individual lives of younger people like Alex and the scout crews. Though it does mean that someone like Hamilton might be a lot older than he actually looks.

As I've mentioned before, I think Ghost in the Shell-type implants and prosthetics are not as near-future as many authors assume, but also for this story we want a human Alex that's easy to relate to, and not a weird cyborg with plugs in his head. So we infer that such things are not yet commonly available.

So it'd be safe to assume, for the purpose of the story, that any technology not related to space flight or space ships in some manner (which have all been covered rather thoroughly in Insider and other threads) that humans don't posses much more technologically than we do now?

[Arioch]

So it'd be safe to assume, for the purpose of the story, that any technology not related to space flight or space ships in some manner (which have all been covered rather thoroughly in Insider and other threads) that humans don't posses much more technologically than we do now?

Not really. I'm just saying that the 2160 humans in general (and Alex specifically) are not substantively different from the people of today, regardless of what technology they might have.

[bunnyboy]

what's the view on transhumanism in the future?

why not go green and have wooden plated starship?

A yo ho ho, it's a space pirates life for me!

Yo ho ho indeed.

[Karst45]

why not go green and have wooden plated starship?

They would all laugh until we crash land on their capital

A yo ho ho, it's a space pirates life for me!

I'm sorry. I'll stop now.

Forest: We receiving a transmistion from a strange ship
ship: Shiver my timber! there be some hearty on yé ship!

[NOMAD]

drink up me heartys yo oh

[Paragon]

oh god what have I done
But serously

So it'd be safe to assume, for the purpose of the story, that any technology not related to space flight or space ships in some manner (which have all been covered rather thoroughly in Insider and other threads) that humans don't posses much more technologically than we do now?

Not really. I'm just saying that the 2160 humans in general (and Alex specifically) are not substantively different from the people of today, regardless of what technology they might have.

Well, that's just kind of really silly too me. I understand why you're going about it that way, most sci-fi does, so I guess what follows are really my problems with the genre in general more than anything you've written).

I'm hard pressed to think of something that changes people and life more than technology.

Agriculture and animal domestication allowed us to have civilization in the first place. Roads and ships allowed those civilizations to connect with each other. The industrial revolution allowed 90% of people to have a career other than "farmer". The internet allows us to have this conversation in the first place (in more ways than one). If I had been born just 30 years ago I probably would have never had a conversation with someone from another country. Hell, fucking Facebook and Twitter helped make the revolutions that have happened or are ongoing in North Africa and the Middle East right now possible. So I guess that's why the idea of humans in 2160 being pretty much identical to us bothers me.

But, eh, I'm still going to read Outsider and enjoy it to death anyway. Just thought I'd share my thoughts on that.

[LegioCI]

There could be factors for why much of Outsider-Humanity hasn't embraced trans-humanism. Perhaps cyborg bodies are expensive to make, buy and upkeep. (Keep in mind that the human body is capable of amazing feats of self-repair. If you break a meet leg, you can slap a cast on it and it'll be fine in a few months; break a cyborg leg and you have to replace expensive components.)

Another problem may be the uncanny valley factor; how realistically can we reproduce the human body? Can we reproduce things like body odor. (Sure, B.O. might seem to be a bad thing to us now, but imagine someone who didn't have any smell at all, or worse yet, smelled like artificial materials; this could be quite off-putting.) Will a cyborg's hair still grow like real hair? Will their flesh be soft and warm like a real person's? There are numerous things we can't predict when it comes to artificially replicating the human body, things that we take for granted that, if forgotten, could make people very uncomfortable with converted people.

Another problem is that while a cyborg or digital existence would get rid of a lot human frailties, it can get rid of a lot of things that are great about being human. A full conversion cyborg can't have children of it's own and may even have trouble with sexual gratification of any kind, doesn't get to eat and, depending on how far technology has progressed on this front, may have deadened "non-critical" senses like smell and taste.

If anything, younger people like Jardin may eschew trans-humanism in their youth, allowing them to experience the world as a human until their bodies start to break down with age.

SpoilerShow

Wouldn't it be one of hell of a plot twist to find out that Hamilton survived the decompression of the bridge and the destruction of the Bell simply because he was a full-conversion cyborg?

[TrashMan]

what's the view on transhumanism in the future?

why not go green and have wooden plated starship?

A yo ho ho, it's a space pirates life for me!

Yo ho ho indeed.

MY EYES! THE GOGGLES DO NOTHING!!!!!

[TrashMan]

Trans-humanism?
*loads gun*
Not in my vicinity.

[bunnyboy]

Trans-humanism?
*loads gun*
Not in my vicinity.

Oh? Be ready then.

[NOMAD]

oh yes be ready

[Trantor]

Pff. They´re not real.

But Gordon is.



Win.

[bunnyboy]

Gordon

And who is that?

edit
I think, I found it...okay...

edit2
Never played Halflive. I'm still playing the Torment and Fallout 2.

[Trantor]

And who is that?

BLASPHEMY!!


(Edit: Please tell me that you´re jokin´!)

Edit2: Ah, ok. Intereting, you´re the first guy i´ve seen who didn´t know mr. Freeman.

[Zakharra]

And who is that?

BLASPHEMY!!


(Edit: Please tell me that you´re jokin´!)

Edit2: Ah, ok. Intereting, you´re the first guy i´ve seen who didn´t know mr. Freeman.

He wouldn't be the first. I have no idea what show that is or who either of those men are.

[bunnyboy]

He wouldn't be the first. I have no idea what show that is or who either of those men are.

It seems, that they aren't from any show or even fans, but actual workers of Cern.

He had given crowbar for gift and he is already using it.

[TrashMan]

Trans-humanism?
*loads gun*
Not in my vicinity.

Oh? Be ready then.