What are "FAQs"?
FAQs simply mean "Frequently Asked Questions". A FAQ page is used to
answer common questions. Of course, if you have a question that is not
answered here, that is different.
OA has become so big that we need a whole lot of FAQ pages to answer
everything (and even then we don't come close!)
Do I
Have to Read all the FAQs?
Of course not! Only those that you feel might be necessary to give
you an insight or background into OA. Also, if you have a gripe about
something in OA, maybe how come we have AI but not FTL, or Wormholes
but not Psionics, you may want to glance through the following list,
because often we have already answered that very question.
You will note here we have quite a lot of FAQ pages, so find one
that grabs your interest.
FAQs page - Introduction to
OA - Explaining the Setting - generic questions and
answers about the Orion's Arm Universe and the OA setting
in general. This is a good place to start if you are new to OA.
Technical
Questions - here we have a few more specific questions,
sometimes in turn with their own faqs pages. However, as one could go
on for pages and pages and pages and still not cover all the questions
about all the things in OA, we ask you to peruse the site yourself, and
use the
search facility for specific
queries,
rather than ask the mail list.
OA and
Transhumanism - about the relation between OA and
transhumanist philosophy. OA is not a transhuman project, but it does
use transhuman concepts. Never heard of transhumanism, the singularity
and the rest? Well, take a peek here then!
Miscellaneous Questions
- Miscellaneous questions about the setting or the project that don't
really fit in any of the other categories, a bit too specific to be
intro, a bit too generic to be specific technical questions!
Why are certain
things excluded? - Ok, chances are that you will notice
that some of your favourite memes and themes are not to be found in OA
(we'll deal with FTL separately!). The reason is that, this being a
hard science setting, certain ideas that are standard in Science
Fiction, even in proper SF literature, have been excluded. In this
section we explain why.
Why is there no FTL in the
OA
Universe? - This question has been asked so often with so
many variations of the theme we had to dedicate a separate FAQs page to
it - The (Why No) FTL FAQs Page. This explains why FTL ships, FTL
communication, FTL teleportation, in fact FTL of any kind are soft
science and conflict with the laws of physics. Note that wormholes
may allow transit over interstellar distances in less than a human
lifetime, but they are are not FTL as such but simply local curvatures
in space time
through which objects still have to move at slower than light speeds.
As we explain in the following FAQ.
Wormhole
FAQs Page - Wormholes are central to the setting, in
that they allow interstellar travel and communication that does not
take years, decades, or centuries. This page explains why wormholes can
be a part of a "hard" science fiction setting such as ours.
Answering
Criticism
FAQs Page - Possibly there is something in OA you find
annoying. Here is where we reply to all the objections to and
criticisms of the OA Universe! This section quickly became so large it
was the first to be moved from the main faqs section to its own page,
with its own subheadings etc. Chances are, someone will have asked the
very same question that you have. The answer will be here. If not, ask
away on the list. But only if your question isn't already here.
The OA Community
- O.K., now we have all that out of the way, here is some
stuff about us.
Participating and
Contributing - Anyone can join and become a part of this
project!
Terms,
Copyright, and Submissions Guide - Particular and details regarding
contributions to the OAUP.
Now, you can either go to one of the above pages, or scroll down for
the
Grand List of FAQs (so far)
Yes, more are being added all the time...
Generic Questions
What are
"FAQs"?
Do I Have
to Read all the FAQs?
Explaining the Setting
Why
call it "Orion's Arm"?
Why the
year 10,000?
What
does OA have in the near future?
What is
meant by "Hard Science Fiction"?
What
is "Worldbuilding"?
What
is a "Shared World"?
How does
Orion's Arm differ from other "Space Opera"?
What
is the OA position on souls, life after death, the existence of God,
etc?
Why
aren't humans in charge in the setting?
There
are some spelling mistakes
What
happens when history overtakes the timeline?
OA
and Transhumanism
What
is the Singularity?
What
is Transhumanism?
What
is meant by Pessimistic Transhumanism?
How does
Orion's Arm differ from Transhumanism?
Technical
Questions
I've
received conflicting views about people living long periods of
time....what's the Orion's Arm take on this?
What
happens to the Soul during Uploading?
If
the attainment of superhuman intelligence and power is open to all, why
don't all sapients automatically ascend?
What
is the difference between 'ascension' and 'transcension'?
Within
the setting anti-biological (ahuman) AI polities are said to exploit
biological sophonts (bionts). What could they possibly gain?Why
are the superhuman AIs so benevolent? If baseline-equivalent sophonts
and other sentient life forms are little more than bacteria to them,
why do they care about them? What do they hope to gain?
Why
are certain things excluded?
Have
any of you thought about other dimensions?
Surely
excluding humanoid aliens makes the galaxy less creative, and put
limits on the range of alien types?
Do
you think adding more alien races to the setting would make it more
interesting?
Why
is there no psionics in this setting?
Why
don't you have artificial gravity?
New
discoveries in science are being made all the time. Surely in the
future there will be many new and to us unknown physical forces that
will be utilised with advanced technology?
Why is
there no Time Travel into the Past in the OA Universe?
Why is there
no FTL in the OA Universe?
Why
do you allow wormholes?
Why do
you allow wormholes, and the exotic materials used to create them, but
do not allow FTL or even “hyperspace”?
Why do you
allow wormholes, but not warp drive? Both are possible with exotic
matter.
With warp
drive you never leave your own light cone, so why do you say that a
warp drive will create a paradox?
Why
can't you use clarketech for FTL?
Why not
use quantum entanglement to create an FTL communication system?
Why not
explain FTL in terms of imaginary mass?
Answering
Criticisms
Space Opera, and the setting in general
What
is the good of describing your setting as a "Space Opera" if you leave
out all the fun space opera elements like FTL and humanoid aliens?
Why
do you arbitrarily accept some ideas without justification, and refuse
others?
Why
do you accept AI as a bygone conclusion, despite the objections of many
philosophers and psychologists?
This
site seems very derivative. You take ideas like singularity, uplift,
copy, splice, and others directly from other much more original
universes created by a variety of authors.
You
seem to believe you are better than other franchises, with an attitude
of elitism.
Science,
Technology, and "Hard Sci Fi"
How
do you know that nanotechnology (apart from biological organisms) is
even possible?
Don’t
you think that nanotechnology is a tired cliché in science
fiction?
What
about articles in Scientific American refuting the possibility of
assembler-type nanotechnology?
A
reactionless drive is silly; it's something for nothing.
How
can you be "hard sci-fi" and yet have speculative science like
wormholes and assembler nanotechnology?
Social
Sciences
Why
does the OAUP objectively claim that we will allow ourselves to be
ruled by machines? Surely society will restrain AIs from rebellion?
Isn't
the emphasis on memetics misplaced, and memetics simply a bad metaphor?
The
societies you present are dictated by human organizational behaviour,
as is evident in the religions and economics of such societies. This
suggests that the very foundation of the concepts of Orion's Arm are
moot, since they are all baseline-human based.
Toposophic
Levels
Why
does it seem you have watered down normal humans to make the advanced
capabilities of the transapients manageable?
It
seems that the OA setting seriously underestimates humans. The analogy
of the relationships between humans and transapients as being like the
relationship between amoebas and humans isn't applicable because humans
are intelligent and capable of technological innovating and adapting,
unlike amoebas.
AIs,
Transapients and Archailects
What
makes you think AI is possible, or if it is, is easily attainable?
Can humans design and build
advanced AIs?
Doesn't
it seem far-fetched to have Computer Intellects (AIs) taking over from
humanity?
Why
would you want to build a sentient evolving AI that would inevitably
supplant you?
How
can you be "hard science" and yet have AI Gods?
If
the AI Gods are so advanced why would they bother taking up the roles
of gods in the first place?
What
difference is there between having Terragen-derived Archailects, and
having god-like alien intelligences or literal supernatural
intelligences doing the same thing?
The
'transapients' don't impress me at all; we constantly hear how very
superior they are in thought, but we are given almost no benchmarks. It
reads like propaganda
The
Civilized Galaxy
If
the AIs and Transapients are in control, why doesn't humanity rebel and
regain its freedom?
Surely
government by a transingularity beings means loss of freedoms for those
sentients under them?
Doesn't
this setting have the ruling powers modifying the human species to stop
striving to better themselves and instead strive to pleasure themselves?
The
Place of Humanity
I
have a problem with Orion’s Arm and transhuman scifi in general - the
fact that human beings are obsolete.
Isn't
the idea of humans worshipping AIs blasphemous?
Isn't
a setting with humankind beneath (and subject to) AIs and other
transapients profoundly anti-humanist?
I
find a setting with humans as at best pampered pets and at worst vermin
grabbing for scraps under their transapient or archailect masters as
something not at all appealing
I
don't want to write about a human leech affixed firmly to the
generosity of some transapient. That's boring to me.
The
biggest weakness of your setting is that there is no compelling need
for any baseline humans.
It
seems to me that all OA is really only about is the archai who were
running the show.
Prophecy
or Fiction?
How
do you know the things you describe will even happen?
How
can you attempt to predict a future governed by intelligence that is
beyond human?
How
can you claim to be scientifically plausible, and then make wild
propositions about god-like archailects and the rest?
Isn't
speculating on a post-singularity future a contradiction in terms?
OA
is based on hard science accumulated by human intelligence alone up to
the present. How do we know that the current known laws of physics (by
baseline humans) will have any merit 10,000 years in the future?
Your
extrapolation of current human knowledge is linear, when in fact it
should be exponential, since the whole concept of a technological
singularity is based on exponential growth - something the human
intellect was never good at predicting.
I
suspect things could change a much as OA depicts in just 1000 years,
not 1000 decades, and maybe even 1000 months if my nano-hopes pan out.
It
seems that many people who have added extensively to this setting don't
see it so much as fiction but as near prophecy.
