Orion's Arm Universe Project
Where Do You See Yourself in Five Years - #2
Recently, a member of the Orion's Arm forum raised the following questions:
Assume that you're suddenly whisked into the OA universe, also assume that you arrive somewhere stable like a Sephirotic and that you're not overwhelmed/driven mad/get PTSD from the switch. Given all that how do you answer these questions?
What have you done by the end of the day?
What are you doing in a month?
What are you doing by the end of the year?
Where do you see yourself in five years?
Any plans beyond that?
Answers to these questions came quickly and were both numerous and diverse. The discussion also quickly expanded from the OA forum to our Facebook page, where more answers were forthcoming.
We included just some of the answers and ideas that were shared in our last issue. For your continuing enjoyment, here are more of the answers that our members provided. Additional responses will be appearing in upcoming issues of V:FT.
What have you done by the end of the day?
Basic survival 101 - try to figure out where I am, if I am safe, see to basic needs such as food, water and shelter. If I'm in civilization, figure out what i'll need to do to acquire same. If such is freely available - possibly spend more than a small amount of time just learning about the place I'm in.
What are you doing in a month?
realistically, still attempting to educate myself as to the realities of OA life. Though I would assume there would likely be a transapient somewhere nearby interested in what I know, and would notice me rather quickly. First hand accounts of Information Age Old Earth might be worth something.
What are you doing by the end of the year?
Using OA technology to fix any medical problems I have, and considering the possibilities of upgrades to myself. Constructing a singleship, and looking for a quiet corner of the civilized universe to call my own.
Where do you see yourself in five years?
Still trying to get acclimatized. There would be a lot to take in. Even today, if there's a subject that I can know something about, I want to know about it. So, spending a lot of time on education (whether that comes in the form of a pill, a traditional classroom setting or a nanotech temple I download and install via my nanomedical system) would be important.
Any plans beyond that?
Because none of the Sephirotics hats exactly fits me as I understand them currently, I'd consider creating my own hat.
Further questions that might be answered:
Where would you hope to find yourself
What would trouble you the most, even though everyone around you accepts it as normal?
Where would you hope to find yourself?
Probably a Negentropist hab. Adherence to the five axioms of Negentropism means the local authorities will want to preserve the uniqueness of me. It's nice to have that in writing Wink
What would trouble you the most, even though everyone around you accepts it as normal?
Considering that I am borderline "tin-foil-beanie wearing paranoid" about our current RL government(s) and their clumsy, largely ineffective, amateur attempts at memetic engineering.... putting a transapient in the same position gives me the willies. They may be the nicest, friendliest, most caring individual that's positively NOT going to re-write my mind at the drop of a hat, but that doesn't matter....I'll never know. Even if they DO re-write my mind, I'd still never know.
I think that under Y11K-OA-Civilised Galaxy - standards I would be almost considered a semi-luddite.
If I got to choose, where to start my journey in the Y11K-OA-universe, I would probably choose the Tar Vara Habitats, because it's a baseline human reserve. Obviously I would never want to leave without my relatives - I'm sure they would all go with me; there is no way, they would leave me alone. I think that I would start "slow" and live out the rest of my life there with all the people, closest to me. I can't speak for my relatives but I would certainly use the Y11K-docbox to make predictions for me, when it might be necessary to become a Changeling if I don't want to risk "sudden death" due to my aging body. I'm sure that Donovea wouldn't kick me out of the habitats if I partially changed myself like that and replaced my original brain with an obviously legal version of a bail-out device. In any case assuming that She tolerates people there, who aren't completely human baselines anymore, I would then live on and let my body age naturally until it would die.
During the process of dying my now artificial brain would stay conscious - I think, it would be interesting to experience, how your own body dies from old age, while you yourself are completely safe and simply observing - Although I may shut out ( or at least dull ) the pain processing, while all this would happen. After the death of my original body I would consciously activate the Lazarus procedure and order the bail-out device to construct me a baseline human body as close to my original body as possible. However this time the new body should be "physically optimized" to its "maximum" without turning it into a nearbaseline body. What I mean by that is that I sometimes wish to know, how strong my body could become if I had time (and the (iron) will) to physically train my body to its limits, its peak performance. If I could train like these guys here "day and night". So using my bail-out device I would give it specific instructions to recreate my "original" baseline human body but recreate it in a way, how it would have been in its "physically most capable form" at its peak performance, if I for example received the "best possible" physical training since birth and also had the will to go through with it. I think that once the body has been constructed, the experience should be rather awesome. :)
After that I would probably live like that for a while - perhaps a few hundred years - because this time I would regularly use the docbox for rejuvenation treatments. Although after a while, I would stop the treatments and see how it feels to age in an "ideal" version of my original body. (Don't get me wrong it would (in a sense) still be my "original" body ( just the best possible version of it ) and not the body of another human baseline like Bruce Lee) And after that ... I don't know - I would probably ask one of Donovea's avatars for advice on what to do next for my psychological development as a sentient being without making any sudden radical changes to my personality. I'm sure that being an S:4 archai, she would come up with something interesting... :)
What have you done by the end of the day?
I imagine that 'd have undergone a preliminary medical examination, and been given food, clothing, a temporary residence, and expense account, and assigned some sort of liason or aivisor.
I notice that the air, water, and food are safe, and although there is no one like me and no one who speaks English, the authorities recognize my language and the aivisor is able to translate for me. Perhaps I see people who look very, very close to human and speak a language that has some words in it I recognize. I ask the aivisor about them.
I learn that the people who looked almost like human and speak a language that seems slightly familiar are called "nearbaselines" and their language may have been "New Anglic".
I learn that my new "hometown" is on a habitat hundreds of light years from Earth and thousands of years later than the time I knew.
I learn that crime is almost nonexistant and it's almost impossible to commit a really serious crime here due to the angelnet. It seems too good to be true, and that bothers me.
What are you doing in a month?
I'd definately want take advantage of the local medical tech to get rid of any health problems. A month later, almost every trace of contageous illness has been removed, as well as almost every genetic one. I no longer suffer from allergies and poor dental health, and no longer need glasses. However, I decide to keep my old surgical scars and ASD. In addition, I have a minimal nanomedical system and DNI installed.
From the first moment I got the OK from the medical staff, I've been using the DNI constantly to aid with my self-education program. I've always struggled with languages, but thanks to the DNI, I am now not only reasonably fluent in New Anglic, I can also understand much of the local dialects as well. I've also started accumulating an entertainment library.
In addition to the aivisor, I've been asking around and doing some... online? research into more options for self improvement. I'm thinking about becoming a travel writer. I've also been exploring the local community for a more permanent residence.
What are you doing by the end of the year?
I'm most of the way towards becoming a full nearbaseline. There are some changes I deliberately chose not to make. For now, I'm keeping my old appearance, features, and height. I've also upgraded my nanomedical system and DNI multiple times, added a mindstate and engeration backup system, and grown a new set of real teeth.
I've moved to a new apartment, learned two new local languages to speak with my neighbors, and made a few good friends. I've also gotten the equivalent of an associate's degree in advanced computer literacy and most of a bachelor's degree in history, and been exploring the terragen sphere in a virtual reality map of the galaxy.
As one of the few beings with a memory of pre-nanodisaster Earth, I've become a bit of a local celebrety. There's actually not a huge amount I can teach society about my own time, but people are interested in learning about how I see their society, and how much I knew and didn't know about my own.
Where do you see yourself in five years?
I've been travelling quite a bit, mostly just for the joy of space travel.
On the longer trips, I've been educating myself, and have completed my history degree and also have degrees in electrical, genetic, and software engineering, nanotechnology, and sephirotic societal studies. I've also learned three more local languages and seven archaic ones. When I'm not sleeping, eating, pursuing my education, relaxing, or meditating, I'm writing an autobiography and a travel blog, and continuing to add to my now very large personal entertainment library.
I've continued to modify myself physically, but at a slower pace. I've added additional memory and processing capabilities to my cybernetic implants so I can carry around the equivalent of a university library of educational and entertainment files and notes for things I'm working on without needing external devices.
Any plans beyond that?
I'm still planning to look into exploring futher changes to myself. Maybe someday I'll attempt an ascension, but I think I'll try life as other things first, probably as a superior and upload once I'm done being a nearbaseline.
Where would you hope to find yourself?
Since I lean libertarian, I rather like the idea of the NoCoZo, but I'm not sure it's the place for me. Perhaps the NoCoNeg would be better. Back when they were just the daydreams of SciFi writers, I loved megastructures, so the MPA is a possibility. If I choose to become a superior later, perhaps I'll look into the Communion of Worlds.
What would trouble you the most, even though everyone around you accepts it as normal?
The overall reality of post-singularity socioeconomic systems. I think I would struggle to feel "normal" in a society so post-scarcity, and where baseline humans are so far down the heirarchy of intellect.
I guess I'm the only lazy bastard in this thread. End of the day and end of the month - some super realistic porn vision either directly into my head or full body experience. And then retirement in an angel net environment.
I see myself living in a luxury palace planning my first McKendree Cylinder based on the sales of my life story and corrections to history books everywhere. I only need to earn a penny-equivalent for a few bajillion sales (OA has about a bajillion sophonts, right?) to retire in style. By 5 years, I will have substantially upgraded myself (somewhere in the vicinity of a Superior) and have retained a flock of aivisors to manage my personal brand.
There's a lot to market beyond just my life story of the dark, lost Information Age era:
So many naughty ideas...
Table of Contents
Assume that you're suddenly whisked into the OA universe, also assume that you arrive somewhere stable like a Sephirotic and that you're not overwhelmed/driven mad/get PTSD from the switch. Given all that how do you answer these questions?
What have you done by the end of the day?
What are you doing in a month?
What are you doing by the end of the year?
Where do you see yourself in five years?
Any plans beyond that?
Answers to these questions came quickly and were both numerous and diverse. The discussion also quickly expanded from the OA forum to our Facebook page, where more answers were forthcoming.
We included just some of the answers and ideas that were shared in our last issue. For your continuing enjoyment, here are more of the answers that our members provided. Additional responses will be appearing in upcoming issues of V:FT.
rom65536 - OA Forum
What have you done by the end of the day?
Basic survival 101 - try to figure out where I am, if I am safe, see to basic needs such as food, water and shelter. If I'm in civilization, figure out what i'll need to do to acquire same. If such is freely available - possibly spend more than a small amount of time just learning about the place I'm in.
What are you doing in a month?
realistically, still attempting to educate myself as to the realities of OA life. Though I would assume there would likely be a transapient somewhere nearby interested in what I know, and would notice me rather quickly. First hand accounts of Information Age Old Earth might be worth something.
What are you doing by the end of the year?
Using OA technology to fix any medical problems I have, and considering the possibilities of upgrades to myself. Constructing a singleship, and looking for a quiet corner of the civilized universe to call my own.
Where do you see yourself in five years?
Still trying to get acclimatized. There would be a lot to take in. Even today, if there's a subject that I can know something about, I want to know about it. So, spending a lot of time on education (whether that comes in the form of a pill, a traditional classroom setting or a nanotech temple I download and install via my nanomedical system) would be important.
Any plans beyond that?
Because none of the Sephirotics hats exactly fits me as I understand them currently, I'd consider creating my own hat.
Further questions that might be answered:
Where would you hope to find yourself
What would trouble you the most, even though everyone around you accepts it as normal?
Where would you hope to find yourself?
Probably a Negentropist hab. Adherence to the five axioms of Negentropism means the local authorities will want to preserve the uniqueness of me. It's nice to have that in writing Wink
What would trouble you the most, even though everyone around you accepts it as normal?
Considering that I am borderline "tin-foil-beanie wearing paranoid" about our current RL government(s) and their clumsy, largely ineffective, amateur attempts at memetic engineering.... putting a transapient in the same position gives me the willies. They may be the nicest, friendliest, most caring individual that's positively NOT going to re-write my mind at the drop of a hat, but that doesn't matter....I'll never know. Even if they DO re-write my mind, I'd still never know.
chris0033547 - OA Forum
I think that under Y11K-OA-Civilised Galaxy - standards I would be almost considered a semi-luddite.
If I got to choose, where to start my journey in the Y11K-OA-universe, I would probably choose the Tar Vara Habitats, because it's a baseline human reserve. Obviously I would never want to leave without my relatives - I'm sure they would all go with me; there is no way, they would leave me alone. I think that I would start "slow" and live out the rest of my life there with all the people, closest to me. I can't speak for my relatives but I would certainly use the Y11K-docbox to make predictions for me, when it might be necessary to become a Changeling if I don't want to risk "sudden death" due to my aging body. I'm sure that Donovea wouldn't kick me out of the habitats if I partially changed myself like that and replaced my original brain with an obviously legal version of a bail-out device. In any case assuming that She tolerates people there, who aren't completely human baselines anymore, I would then live on and let my body age naturally until it would die.
During the process of dying my now artificial brain would stay conscious - I think, it would be interesting to experience, how your own body dies from old age, while you yourself are completely safe and simply observing - Although I may shut out ( or at least dull ) the pain processing, while all this would happen. After the death of my original body I would consciously activate the Lazarus procedure and order the bail-out device to construct me a baseline human body as close to my original body as possible. However this time the new body should be "physically optimized" to its "maximum" without turning it into a nearbaseline body. What I mean by that is that I sometimes wish to know, how strong my body could become if I had time (and the (iron) will) to physically train my body to its limits, its peak performance. If I could train like these guys here "day and night". So using my bail-out device I would give it specific instructions to recreate my "original" baseline human body but recreate it in a way, how it would have been in its "physically most capable form" at its peak performance, if I for example received the "best possible" physical training since birth and also had the will to go through with it. I think that once the body has been constructed, the experience should be rather awesome. :)
After that I would probably live like that for a while - perhaps a few hundred years - because this time I would regularly use the docbox for rejuvenation treatments. Although after a while, I would stop the treatments and see how it feels to age in an "ideal" version of my original body. (Don't get me wrong it would (in a sense) still be my "original" body ( just the best possible version of it ) and not the body of another human baseline like Bruce Lee) And after that ... I don't know - I would probably ask one of Donovea's avatars for advice on what to do next for my psychological development as a sentient being without making any sudden radical changes to my personality. I'm sure that being an S:4 archai, she would come up with something interesting... :)
FrodoGoofball - OA Forum
What have you done by the end of the day?
I imagine that 'd have undergone a preliminary medical examination, and been given food, clothing, a temporary residence, and expense account, and assigned some sort of liason or aivisor.
I notice that the air, water, and food are safe, and although there is no one like me and no one who speaks English, the authorities recognize my language and the aivisor is able to translate for me. Perhaps I see people who look very, very close to human and speak a language that has some words in it I recognize. I ask the aivisor about them.
I learn that the people who looked almost like human and speak a language that seems slightly familiar are called "nearbaselines" and their language may have been "New Anglic".
I learn that my new "hometown" is on a habitat hundreds of light years from Earth and thousands of years later than the time I knew.
I learn that crime is almost nonexistant and it's almost impossible to commit a really serious crime here due to the angelnet. It seems too good to be true, and that bothers me.
What are you doing in a month?
I'd definately want take advantage of the local medical tech to get rid of any health problems. A month later, almost every trace of contageous illness has been removed, as well as almost every genetic one. I no longer suffer from allergies and poor dental health, and no longer need glasses. However, I decide to keep my old surgical scars and ASD. In addition, I have a minimal nanomedical system and DNI installed.
From the first moment I got the OK from the medical staff, I've been using the DNI constantly to aid with my self-education program. I've always struggled with languages, but thanks to the DNI, I am now not only reasonably fluent in New Anglic, I can also understand much of the local dialects as well. I've also started accumulating an entertainment library.
In addition to the aivisor, I've been asking around and doing some... online? research into more options for self improvement. I'm thinking about becoming a travel writer. I've also been exploring the local community for a more permanent residence.
What are you doing by the end of the year?
I'm most of the way towards becoming a full nearbaseline. There are some changes I deliberately chose not to make. For now, I'm keeping my old appearance, features, and height. I've also upgraded my nanomedical system and DNI multiple times, added a mindstate and engeration backup system, and grown a new set of real teeth.
I've moved to a new apartment, learned two new local languages to speak with my neighbors, and made a few good friends. I've also gotten the equivalent of an associate's degree in advanced computer literacy and most of a bachelor's degree in history, and been exploring the terragen sphere in a virtual reality map of the galaxy.
As one of the few beings with a memory of pre-nanodisaster Earth, I've become a bit of a local celebrety. There's actually not a huge amount I can teach society about my own time, but people are interested in learning about how I see their society, and how much I knew and didn't know about my own.
Where do you see yourself in five years?
I've been travelling quite a bit, mostly just for the joy of space travel.
On the longer trips, I've been educating myself, and have completed my history degree and also have degrees in electrical, genetic, and software engineering, nanotechnology, and sephirotic societal studies. I've also learned three more local languages and seven archaic ones. When I'm not sleeping, eating, pursuing my education, relaxing, or meditating, I'm writing an autobiography and a travel blog, and continuing to add to my now very large personal entertainment library.
I've continued to modify myself physically, but at a slower pace. I've added additional memory and processing capabilities to my cybernetic implants so I can carry around the equivalent of a university library of educational and entertainment files and notes for things I'm working on without needing external devices.
Any plans beyond that?
I'm still planning to look into exploring futher changes to myself. Maybe someday I'll attempt an ascension, but I think I'll try life as other things first, probably as a superior and upload once I'm done being a nearbaseline.
Where would you hope to find yourself?
Since I lean libertarian, I rather like the idea of the NoCoZo, but I'm not sure it's the place for me. Perhaps the NoCoNeg would be better. Back when they were just the daydreams of SciFi writers, I loved megastructures, so the MPA is a possibility. If I choose to become a superior later, perhaps I'll look into the Communion of Worlds.
What would trouble you the most, even though everyone around you accepts it as normal?
The overall reality of post-singularity socioeconomic systems. I think I would struggle to feel "normal" in a society so post-scarcity, and where baseline humans are so far down the heirarchy of intellect.
Süpertoph Hagerokowskaja - OA Facebook
I guess I'm the only lazy bastard in this thread. End of the day and end of the month - some super realistic porn vision either directly into my head or full body experience. And then retirement in an angel net environment.
Michael Miller (Cray) - OA Facebook
I see myself living in a luxury palace planning my first McKendree Cylinder based on the sales of my life story and corrections to history books everywhere. I only need to earn a penny-equivalent for a few bajillion sales (OA has about a bajillion sophonts, right?) to retire in style. By 5 years, I will have substantially upgraded myself (somewhere in the vicinity of a Superior) and have retained a flock of aivisors to manage my personal brand.
There's a lot to market beyond just my life story of the dark, lost Information Age era:
- *Information Age Wheaties
- *Information Age Action Figures (collect the whole set from Ronald Reagan to Kim Kardashian!)
- *Information Age Condoms (once you see me on the wrapper cover, you'll never want to have sex again!)
- *Information Age Flamethrowers (the kids love it)
Stanislav Vladimirsky - OA Facebook
So many naughty ideas...
Table of Contents