BY LETTER
Technology Timeline
 Image from Arik |
Note; the early part of this timeline uses the (Gregorian) Christian Era calendar, while the later part uses the (Lunar) Tranquility Calendar
Approx. 120 million years b.c.e. - The "Muuh" develop interstellar spaceflight and start a long slow expansion.
Approx. 28-32 million b.c.e. - The alien cryospecies the "Soft Ones" are provolved by the "Muuh" to sapience.
Approx. 14.8 million years b.c.e. - The slow moving Muuh are attacked by an unknown enemy; they develop the non-conscious AI 'System of Response' to defend themselves from such hyperfast entities.
Approx. 3.6 million years b.c.e. - "Auld Limner" species raised to sophonce by a Soft Ones artisan clade.
Approx. 2.5 million years b.c.e. - First emergence of Oldowan stone tool culture on Earth (various hominid species).
Approx. 1.5 million years b.c.e. - Stone hand axe developed by the Lower Paleolithic culture of the middle Pleistocene Epoch. (Homo erectus/heidelbergensis/ergaster).
Approx. 950000 b.c.e. - To'ul'h civilisation enters the Ceramic/Obsidian Age, roughly equivalent to the Earth's Iron Age; this complex culture remains more or less stable for hundreds of thousands of years. Many empires are built and collapse over this time, but the corrosive environment prevents the development of most metal technology.
Approx. 800000 b.c.e. - (Earth) Fire used for warmth cooking and tool modification.
Approx. 200000 b.c.e. - Emergence of Homo Sapiens.
Approx. 170000 b.c.e. - Homo sapiens developed clothing.
Approx. 70000-32000 b.c.e. - Middle Paleolithic Mousterian stone tool technology (Homo sapiens neanderthalensis).
Approx. 38000 b.c.e. - Upper Palaeolithic Aurignacian stone tool technology develops (Homo sapiens sapiens).
Approx. 25000 b.c.e. - Aggregation centres in Europe allow a wide-ranging culture and rapid transfer of technology.
22000- 18100 b.c.e. - Auld Limner Empire - a short-lived dominion some 2000 light years in diameter.
Approx. 10000-8000 b.c.e. - (Earth) animal husbandry and primitive agriculture develop in many forms.
Approx. 8000 b.c.e. - First permanent towns.
Approx. 6000 b.c.e. - Copper smelting develops; arsenical bronze is also accidentally made in limited quantities around this time; the first application of wheel technology occurs.
Approx. 4500 b.c.e. - Writing developed independently in Egypt and China.
Approx 3800 b.c.e. - Bronze alloy technology developed for use in tools and weapons.
Approx. 1500 b.c.e. - First iron smelting technology.
Approx. 450 b.c.e. - Pythagoras and Euclid develop geometry into a formalised branch of mathematics.
Approx. 400 b.c.e. - Expansion of the Iron Age Ch'in empire is followed by that of the Guptan, Persian, Greek and Roman empires.
25 b.c.e - Vitrivius invents the water wheel.
50 c.e.. - Heron of Alexandria invents the windmill.
100 c.e. - Cai Lun invents paper.
Approx. 400 c.e. - Collapse of the Roman empire is at least partly caused by environmental degradation; much of the world suffers a dark age, a period of technological stagnation.
Approx. 800 c.e. - Algebra developed by Al-Khwarizmi.
1400s c.e. - Cast iron technology developed.
1440 c.e. - Johannes Gutenberg invents the printing press.
late 1400s c.e. - Improved navigation and ship building techniques allow sailors to explore the oceans, and eventually to discover entirely new continents.
1500s c.e. - The theory of complex numbers is developed.
1643 c.e. - Evangelista Torricelli invents the mercury barometer.
1657 c.e. - Christian Huygens invents the pendulum clock.
Approx. 1684 c.e. - Newton and Leibnitz discover calculus almost independently of each other.
Approx. 1700 c.e. - Papin, Savery, Newcomen contribute to the development of the cylinder steam engine.
1700-1800 c.e. - Industrial factory system developed.
1714 c.e. - Daniel Fahrenheit invents the mercury thermometer.
1733 c.e. - Chester Moore Hall creates the achromatic lens, which can be used in microscopes and telescopes.
1798 c.e. - Eli Whitney devises the concept of interchangeable parts
1825 c.e. - First passenger carrying railway.
1831 c.e. - Faraday demonstrates electromagnetism, building on work by Volta, Ørsted, Ohm and Coulomb.
1837 c.e. - First use of electric telegraph.
1856 c.e. - Charles Bessemer invents a process to purify iron into steel.
1885-86 c.e. - Daimler and Benz develop the internal combustion engine and automobile.
1903 c.e. - First manned powered heavier than air flight (Wright Brothers).
1913 c.e. - Henry Ford creates the assembly line (and hence mass production).
1928 c.e. - Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin.
1942 c.e. - Fermi produces first artificial atomic chain reaction.
1943 c.e. - Turing and Flowers build first programmable computer, Colossus.
1945 c.e. - First use of atomic weapons.
1954-1960 c.e. - Invention of birth control pill and other methods allows more effective family planning.
1957 c.e. - First artificial satellite of the Earth is launched (using chemical rocket).
1960 c.e. - Theodore Maiman invents the laser.
1961 c.e. - Gagarin is first man to orbit the Earth.
1969 c.e. - Armstrong and Aldrin land on the Earth's Moon (using multi-stage chemical rocket system); this marks the first day of the commonly-used Tranquility Calendar.
1971 c.e. - Intel produces the 4004, the first microprocessor.
1991 c.e. - Berners-Lee develops World Wide Web.
2003 c.e. - Human genome sequenced.
2003 c.e. - Chinese launch their first manned rocket, the Shenzhou V, and become the third Earth polity to put a man in space.
2007 c.e. - Dawn solar powered ion drive space probe is launched by NASA to study Vesta and Ceres.
2020 c.e. - Satellite internet constellations in low Earth orbit begin to be established by a number of corporations, providing widespread low latency, high reliability and high bandwidth internet services on the surface and in orbital stations. Over the following decades, global internet coverage is achieved and greatly expanded telepresence systems in space are developed.
2028 c.e. - Regenerative medicine products increasingly play a role in healthcare. Routine replacement of some organs possible.
2028 c.e. - Multiple teleoperated robots (telenauts) of various designs deployed on International Space Station and in orbit in several capacities. Use of teleoperation greatly reduces costs and increases the scale and range of missions that can be safely undertaken.
2030s c.e. - Regenerative medicine products increasingly play a role in healthcare.
2033 c.e. - Self-contained autonomous robot systems (homebots) with some generalist capabilities available commercially.
2034 c.e. - Orbital Internet expanded to the moon using a series of satellites in Lunar orbit and receiver/repeaters landed around location of first planned installation. Teleoperated robots and fully autonomous robots (with limited functions) begin lunar development.
2035 c.e. - Electrical and hybrid vehicles represent a large percentage of car ownership. Most nations have policies favoring them over the environmentally damaging combustion engine cars, and many countries have banned combustion engine vehicle sales entirely. There are ongoing heavy investments in the development of charging infrastructure worldwide and more efficient batteries, and in widespread transportation electrification.
2037 c.e. - First Mars mission - Discovery and Endeavor - launches for Mars, arriving in 2038. Teleoperated robots play a role in exploring various areas of the planet. After initial mission, exploration beyond the Moon reverts to unmanned probes for another 25 years.
2037 c.e. - The construction of the first "permanent" teleoperated Moon base begins. This base is entirely designed to be operated by telepresence and has no accommodation for biont inhabitants or visitors at this time.
2039 c.e. - Precooled air breathing rocket engines allow for the first trans-oceanic hypersonic airliners as well as reusable SSTO vehicles. Initial costs are high but dramatically decrease the launch costs to space.
2040s c.e. - Primitive neuro-technological interfacing increasingly available for medical and non-medical purposes. Consists primarily of non-invasive, wearable technology.
2040-2047 c.e. - Creation of first semi-sentient AI (several events). These entities are still not at a fully human-equivalent level.
2047 c.e. - A room temperature superconductor is discovered on an orbital research platform. The new material is comparatively simple to make, but requires free-fall conditions to synthesize. Interest in space development increases markedly.
2047 c.e. - Personal transport market dominated by autonomous cars. Many nations have regulations limiting the use of manually-controlled cars. Fully autonomous cars are legalized in a few nations and begin to take market share from human-controlled cars.
2050s c.e. - Fossil fuels were mostly phased out in favor of other, more sustainable energy sources. Nevertheless, energy remained a pressing concern for humanity as the ever increasing demand for power needed to be met without significantly compromising the environment. Disagreements on how to find balance between sustainability and progress drove some conflicts in the following decades.
2050 c.e. - First inter-city Vac-train system developed in China with plans to extend through Asia to Europe and Africa as part of the Silk Road Development program.
2052 c.e. - First magbeam projectors built in Earth orbit and on Luna. Each projector uses a large solar array and superconducting storage rings to produce the 82MW of energy needed to accelerate a 10 tonne transport craft on a tenth-gravity continuous boost trip to or from the Moon.
2053 c.e. - First High Energy Laser Launch systems deployed to boost cargo into LEO. Later designs employ a combination of magnetic acceleration and laser launch to boost crewed modules into orbit.
2056 c.e. - First commercial fusion reactor (a D-T inertial confinement design) comes online in France, supplying 300MW of power to the European grid.
2056 c.e. - Automated expedition sent to Mars on low energy transit to deliver a mag-beam system to planetary orbit to service the second Mars expedition.
2057 c.e. - A coalition of several major corporations and investors launches an automated probe to intercept a small near-Earth orbiting asteroid, mine it, and return the results to Lunar orbit. Built as a proof-of-concept mission, the probe returns 100kg of asteroid material where it is picked up and delivered to labs in geosynchronous orbit.
2059 c.e. - First (nominally) human equivalent artificial intelligence (AI) developed on distributed supercomputer clusters. For a while classification as human equivalent is doubtful as the AI is quite toposophically different to baseline humans, a fact which hinders effective communication. However, the AI keeps passing most forms of the Turing Test administered to em and shows remarkable capabilities in some areas. This eventually convinces researchers of eir human-equivalent capabilities, and sparks great interest in the further development of a new type of intelligence: the turing-grade (or turingrade) AI.
2060 c.e. - First "permanent" Lunar base designed to accommodate bionts, a resort named Aldrin consisting of a small cluster of habitat modules. Operations using tele-nauts, eventually including some operated entirely by AIs back on Earth, as well as purely robotic labor, are used to serve the guests and later, to extract resources.
2060 c.e. - First orbital bolo satellite deployed to boost cargo and passengers from Low Earth Orbit to Geo-synchronous Orbit. Lost orbital momentum is made up using an electrodynamic tether system.
2063 c.e. - Primitive Direct Neural Interfacing cranial nerve implants become commercially available. Costs are high for both the interface and the surgical implantation and removal. In addition, these models were later shown to have a relatively high probability of causing a number of undesirable side effects, including then untreatable neurodegenerative disease after years of use. Nevertheless, for those that can afford it, these early DNIs offer a mild boost to personal capability and open up access to new forms of entertainment from early virchworlds developed for users of the technology.
2063 c.e. - Second Mars expedition, this time using mag-beam boosting systems to reduce trip time to 90 days each direction. A crew of 50 makes the journey to the red planet. The first Mars base is established, with 10 members of the expedition staying behind to begin exploration and research until the next transport vessel arrives to relieve them and rotate in the next crew of 25 explorers.
2064 c.e. - First GEO bolo satellite deployed to both catch incoming modules from the LEO bolos and to launch payloads toward the Moon and beyond.
2067 c.e. - First mass driver built on the Moon using tele-naut construction crews. Used as a proof-of-concept of the technology and to launch both raw materials and eventually finished goods to several locations in the Earth-Moon volume as the drive to make space development self-sustaining continues.
2067 c.e. - A method of cheaply mass-producing woven carbon nanotubes in free-fall conditions is invented. The resulting lines, tapes, and cables can be produced in lengths limited only by the tensile strength of the material itself.
2070s c.e. - Ruth Duorkin demonstrates the most sophisticated mobile life support systems yet seen; is remembered by later generations as first successful cyborg.
2071 c.e. - After twelve years of exhaustive experimentation with AI and human intelligence augmentation the first AI with superior intelligence in all areas is created and quickly dubs itself a superturing. Temporarily, fears of AI are heightened but as the nascent superturings are shown to not think in radically different ways to humans, as well as the increase in technological development from superturing holding institutes, these fears abate for now.
2072 c.e. - Smartswarm, a variant of synsects with destructive capabilities, is an early non-replicating form of military swarmtech. Military robots have now replaced 90% of soldiers worldwide.
2075 c.e. - Project Thistledown uses the magbeam system on Luna to launch long duration probes to Venus, Mercury, Jupiter, and Saturn. Using a combination of hybrid magnetic-solar sails and onboard fuel to maneuver and decelerate, the probes deploy a variety of orbiters, landers, and balloon-based flyers on arrival. While the exact mix of secondary craft varies with the destination, a common chassis is used for all probes. The various landers and flyers have limited lifetimes generally ranging from 3-5 years. However, the main orbiting platforms have operational lifetimes of 20 years or more and provide an ongoing observational capability for much of the solar system.
2078 c.e. - Heaven habitat constructed in geo-synchronous orbit by an international coalition of nations and businesses, assisted by telenaut technology. Used as a combination hotel, resort, research complex and light manufacturing facility as it develops over time. Becomes effectively the first extra-terrestrial colony with permanent inhabitants, with a population of 500.
2079 c.e. - Chinese Gobi colonisation project begins with the dual aim of transforming the desert into habitable land and developing a model for self-sustaining high tech extraterrestrial colonies. The project continued for many decades and in combination with international sister projects in the Antarctic, Atacama and Pacific spearheaded CELSS technology and colonial economic management.
2080 c.e. - Automated mining of half a dozen Near-Earth asteroids begins delivering commercial quantities of material to the Earth-Luna volume. Most is used in space-based manufacture, but some particularly valuable rare-Earth elements are shipped back to Earth-surface for various applications.
2082 c.e. - Human intelligence augmentation shareware becomes available, principally memory and concentration boosters. Initially dangerous to mental health the establishment of reputable regulation bodies and strict testing protocols fosters greater safety and consumer confidence. While costs for DNI installation have fallen they remain prohibitive prompting fears of a wealth-induced intelligence gap. Various governments and businesses look to subsidise installation for their citizens and consumers.
2086 c.e. - First Lunar "City" (Artemis), designed for a population of 200. Primarily consists of researchers and workers performing tasks considered too delicate or real-time dependent to use tele-presence technology operating from Earth. Much of the population's work consists of supervising robots or operating tele-presence tech distributed across the Lunar surface. The remainder of the population consists of support personnel of various sorts.
2097 c.e. - First crewed fusion drive spacecraft using a D-T z-pinch design. Transit times to Mars are greatly reduced, and expeditions to the Outer System begin to be discussed as .01g brachistochrone (continuous boost) flight profiles become possible. However, the majority of traffic, and especially cargo, continues to use mag-beam propulsion.
2099-2119 c.e. - Several key breakthroughs in genetic research occur. Comprehensive models of phenotype expression from genotypes are developed allowing for the physical consequences of genetic engineering to be accurately modeled. Synthetic intracellular delivery systems allow for precise and safe insertion of novel DNA into somatic cells, continual doses can alter the DNA of every cell over time. An international framework of regulation along with effective business models incentivise the development of reversible somatic tweaks, eliminating early-adopter concerns. Taken together these began to enable a vast diversity of morphological experimentation and freedom, and heteromorphic phenotyping ("exotics") becomes popular with transhumanists and biopunk groups and individuals. However social and cultural resistance remains strong, especially amongst those who have no wish to augment themselves but risk being pushed out of the dwindling job market by enhanced humans.
2112 c.e. - The first space elevator constructed from Luna to the L1 point as a proof-of-concept and test bed for space elevator technology. In later years, it is used to transport passengers and cargo to and from the L1 point and to launch supplies in support of development and colonization missions to the rest of the Solar System.
2120 c.e. - Certain corporations and governments achieve major advances in nanomanufacturing, automated macroscale assembly, and AI research. However, self-replicating robots are not yet feasible.
2122 c.e. - First fully robotic operation with no human or AI input (aside from oversight), an appendectomy performed in record time. Funding into further improvements later allows for automated DNI installation, significantly decreasing costs and increasing DNI adoption.
2124 c.e. - First permanent Martian Colony as the first Martian base expands to a permanent population of 1000.
2130 c.e. - Superbright Human genome recognised as new metaclade.
2132 c.e. - First crewed base built in the upper atmosphere of Venus.
2135 c.e. - Macroscale Von Neumann self-replicating robot systems (neumanns) developed. Initially limited, the effect on industry is still immense. Deep sea mining, large-scale construction and biosphere monitoring are the first industries to greatly benefit. Later adapted for use in mining operations and colony construction off the Earth; interplanetary trade begins to be commercially viable.
2135 c.e. - Solar power collection farms in Earth L2 location reach 100GW of generating capacity. Primary uses are powering interplanetary mag-beam systems and beaming power to various industrial installations on the Lunar surface and in orbit, including the new Project Badra particle accelerator, under construction to experiment with antimatter creation. Several visionaries predict the eventual construction of new farms in near-solar orbit for the production of antimatter.
2140 c.e. - Surveillance becomes almost universal on Earth and in many colonies. Most people accept this, and adjust their behaviour accordingly. Some do not.
2145 c.e. - First truly different human subspecies revealed (The Merpeople).
2147 c.e. - First Martian space elevator begins construction using the lessons learned from the Lunar elevator. Built both as a test-bed/prototype for an eventual elevator on Earth and to support eventual Martian colonization.
2155 c.e. - First human equivalent autonomous moravec robots (vecs); before this date independently mobile robots were limited to sub-human intelligence by law. Limits to processor capability result in these early vecs being of considerable size, comparable to terrestrial megafauna.
2155 c.e. - Martian space elevator completed (behind schedule and over budget). For the next 10 years it will operate as both a transport system to and from Mars orbit and a test bed for elevator technology, safety systems, elevator construction, maintenance, and expansion techniques, and a symbol of the movement to build a space elevator on Earth.
2156 c.e. - Release of the Feynman Expert System.
2159 c.e. - First amat mining expedition sent to Saturn system on a low energy 7 year voyage managed by AI control. Sophont project managers and researchers follow later using fusion ships. The development of amat mining from the Saturnian magnetic field and hydrocarbon extraction from Titan will drive the industrialization and colonization of the Outer System for centuries to come.
2164 c.e. - First crewed Amat Catalysed Fusion spacecraft.
2164 c.e. - Neotek's "Universal Micro" becomes the first assembler to be publicly available, although it still remains a long way from the Drexler's vision of a universal assembler.
2164 c.e. - Valparaiso Cycler launched from Lunar orbit.
2165 c.e. - Construction begins on the first space elevator, the 'Tangga Bintang' ("Ladder to the Stars") from Earth.
2169 c.e. - The high surveillance society results in psychological discomfort for some personality types, which cannot be cured even with advanced therapy. A safety valve is offered by the colonisation of the Solar system.
2170 c.e. - Construction of the 'Tangga Bintang' is completed on time and on budget using the lessons learned from the Martian elevator. Colonization of Mars begins in earnest using a combination of cyclers, propelled ships, sailcraft, and cargo launched from the Lunar elevator. The colonisation of the Earth-Luna volume also rapidly increases with more people emigrating via the space elevator in one year than live in space at that time. New colonies are mostly funded by rich nations though some are privately sponsored.
2175 c.e. - First colonies established around Jupiter.
2182 c.e. - First partially provolved animal species revealed (sapient bonobo). Over several generations, bonobo intelligence is raised to human adult level, along with language capabilities. The project is very controversial, not least due to the many bonobos inflicted with mental disabilities in the course of developing the techniques.
2182-85 c.e. - The Nanoscale Collective on Asimov Orbital constructs an advance multipurpose assembler , the Genii 2 - Matter Compiler, which is followed by even more efficient types. Along with greater levels of automation social tensions are heightened due to mass unemployment. At the same time anxiety is widespread regarding the possibility of a grey goo outbreak. The New Economy Movement makes huge gains in popularity.
2200 c.e. - Extensive human genome tweaking results in several new human species.
2210 c.e. - Longevity treatment widely available, and many regions introduce new birth rate reduction strategies. Life expectancy rises to over 200 years for those young enough to receive treatment all their adult life to slow senescence.
2211 c.e. - A reliable way of storing macroscopic amounts of antimatter is demonstrated by ASEABB. Much interest in antimatter propulsion, but the demand far outstrips the supply of antimatter.
2220 c.e. - Evocation, personality simulation derived from externally obtained data become popular as a primitive form of uploading.
2230 c.e. - Molecular assembly, nanobiotech, and automated manufacturing used in orbiting space habitats and surface colonies for a variety of consumer requirements, and also represents the largest fraction of Earth's industry.
2249 c.e.- Jupiter colonies unite as Jovian League.
2250-2280 c.e. - Several species of animal (pigs, dogs, African grey parrot) - genetically modified for language ability and improved intelligence. Concerns over provolve exploitation and slavery lead some countries to legislate Universal Rights for Non-Human Intelligence, adoption worldwide is poor as the level of sophonce in some provolves is questionable, exacerbated by significant differences in provolve and human cultures.
2255 c.e. - Golgi Mosaic bio-replicator outbreak in the Gulf of Carpenteria. Fortunately it (and similar outbreaks of around this time) are contained with little environmental impact and no loss of life, but concerns are heightened regarding the risks were an efficient malicious assembler to get out.
2256 c.e. - The first of a series of comets is diverted to impact on Mars.
2264 c.e. - Industrial nano-tech widely accessible. Because of the dangers involved Earth governments, corporations, and military institutions regulate self-replicating systems carefully, all assemblers are limited by artificially imposed limitations.
2269 c.e. - Venusian bubble habitats become self-sufficient.
2275 c.e. - Amat flechettes developed for use in combat.
2290 c.e. - First artificially intelligent interstellar probes (The Columbus Project to Alpha Centauri).
2301 c.e. - First antimatter farm established just outside the orbit of Mercury.
2310 c.e. - Vitrification, an early form of Biostasis, provides (relatively) reliable suspended animation.
2315 c.e. - CircumSol Accord between the large amat (anti-matter) farms. Notable consortia are Look Outwards Combine, Jerusalem Macrotech and General Dynamics Corporation.
2320 c.e. - Several artificially intelligent entities are believed to have broached the first singularity in secret.
2360 c.e. (390 a.t.) - Many habitats and colonies adopt the Lunar calendar, starting in 1969 with the landing at Tranquillity base.
2376 c.e. (407 a.t.) - Outbreak of retroviral typhoid on the Luna settlement at Flamsteed crater. Following this, GeneTEK develops a modified nematode as an antiviral/antibacterial agent, modifications of which are eventually symbiotic with most Terragen clades.
2377 c.e. - Development of synthetic symbiotic organisms becomes first a growing area of research and then a growth industry for the next twenty years. Synthetic and gengineered organisms released into the wild begin to have unforeseen and undesirable consequences.
2404-2434 c.e (434-465 a.t.) - Several localised outbreaks of offensive replicator swarms signal the wider availability of self-replicating weapons technology.
2405 c.e. (435 a.t.) - Destructive uploading of the human mentality is declared illegal by the Earth Council (formerly the United Nations); non-destructive uploading is not yet technically possible. However, already existing emulations of human individuals have full sapient rights (first of all in New Zealand, then in most Earth polities), and destructive uploading becomes widespread off the Earth.
2444 c.e. (474 a.t.) - The Caracas Treaty attempts to regulate the spread of replicating and autonomous swarm technology and institute a global monitoring authority. However the treaty is not fully implemented by all parties.
485 a.t. (2455 c.e.) - "Uruk Assassin" synthetic viral replicator infects SkyPolis Orbital and kills eighty thousand people; the system wide crackdown that follows fails to cure the problem of bio-terrorism.
6th century a.t. - Uploading technology increasingly provides a a means to extend one's life beyond its biological limits. The technology is not widely available due to the inner system ban, economic cost and technical limitations. Moreover mental aging and neural emulation flaws lead to a variety of disorders. Temporarily pausing one's emulation becomes a popular strategy to delay aging.
500-528 a.t. (2470-2498 c.e.) - Sporadic biotech and nanotech based terrorism is countered by increasingly powerful blue goo and restrictions on civil liberties.
528 a.t. (2498 c.e.) - The GAIA Conglomerate (Global Artificial Intelligence Array) is founded by many national governments, local Free Zones, and a number of different corporations in order to establish an efficient global nanoimmune system.
529 a.t. (2499 c.e.) - The first beamrider cycling stations are planned between the Solar System, the nearby binary brown dwarf Yin-Yang, and the red dwarf Ross 128.
530 a.t. - As cellular revitalisation and bionic tissue replacements become routine life expectancy in Solsys rises to over 300, nearing four centuries by some estimates. The limited economies of the exocolonies struggle to achieve half this figure. Owing to the technocalypse and subsequent dark age these predictions would never be verified.
565 a.t. - Most amat farms in solar orbit are attacked by technoplagues crippling the antimatter industry. Similar sabotage occurs against He3 mining elsewhere in the system, creating a massive energy and transport crisis. The Cislunar Alliance begins to break up.
565-567 a.t. - The Technocalypse. The largest outbreak of Black Rot occurs, spreading throughout the inner system. The GAIA artificial intelligence system rapidly develops new recipes for immunity defence and eventually defeats the infection, but it is estimated that over 50% of all belt colonies and 70% of solar orbit habitats are depopulated.
567-568 a.t. - Violence erupts on and around Mars as technoplagues wreck the terraforming and kill over 50% of the population. De-orbited satellites and redirected terraforming comets cause serious geological damage.
Middle 6th Century a.t. - Several cyborg communities escaped into the Oort cloud from the technoplagues. Gradually they developed their own culture, the Backgrounder Culture , and spread through the vastnesses of space.
565-590 a.t. (2514-2560 c.e.) - The Caracas Treaty Organisation works towards system-wide adoption of Treaty Org standard blue goo defences in the so-called Antibody wars, and installs GAIA nanofacturing and defence systems across the Earth.
588 a.t. (2557 c.e.)- First manned interstellar colony space craft to arrive at its destination, the Tsiolkovsky, an antimatter-catalysed fusion / magsail hybrid, arrives at Nova Terra.
590-621 a.t. (2559-2590 c.e.) - The artificial intelligent entity GAIA extends Her processing substrate into every available location on Earth, even the chemosynthetic bacteria deep in the crust; this is ostensibly for the purpose of extending immunity, but allows Her to break the Second singularity barrier (so it is claimed, it is impossible to verify these claims and many historians remain sceptical) in secret. Once the Earth is declared free of nanotech infections GAIA expels the vast majority of the human population of the Earth.
621-800 a.t. - Millions (estimates vary by a factor of ten, the true figure will probably never be known) of refugees leave the solar system in starships created by a mixture of nanoreplication and automated macroengineering; for hundreds of years all He3, Deuterium and antimatter produced in the system is used for propulsion to nearby stars or in fierce territorial wars; the solar system slips into anarchy, and the quality of life is poor. During the Great Expulsion GAIA developed a number of novel technologies; the first fully functional Lofstrom Loop, improved antimatter manufacture techniques and an advanced type of antimatter-boosted fusion proulsion drive. According to some sources GAIA may have developed a number of monopole-related technologies during the so-called Dark age which She did not share with modosophonts.
820 a.t. - Technological levels are generally similar to those found in the early twenty third century; many AI entities hoard technology and information, and dispense it only to favoured groups. The Goddess of Earth does not communicate with any being outside her protectorate, but is the most toposophically advanced entity known at this time.
9th-10th century a.t. - Most genetic engineering technology has been lost due to the emigration of the Genetekker races. However the colonies of Daedalus, Penglai and Frog's Head retain much of this lost art, and are developing independently of the old solar system (and each other).
933 a.t. - The "First Federation" (originally SolSys Ontology Standards) of Hu and Ai formerly declared on Roddenberry Habitat, Vesta, The Federation has many thousand artificially intelligent and or augmented entities operating at superbright and First singularity level; private individuals and habitat controllers, ship's computers and group minds. Most historians now consider the monolithic centralist "Federation" as portrayed in popular imagination a myth.
950 a.t. - Interstellar launches from Solsys approach one per year; many new colonies established and old ones recontacted. Moving faster than the wave of human colonisation, Ahuman AI entities have become established around many stars, and act unpredictably when contacted, sometimes dangerously so.
958 a.t. - The Babel plague first became epidemic with an outbreak on Penglai.
960 a.t. - Efficient Pion-catalysed Fusion drive allows faster colony ships and interplanetary transport.
983 a.t. - The Beamrider Network reconnected with the Solar system; it has grown to connect thirty nearby red and brown dwarf systems.
999 a.t. - The First Federation launches S1 supervised projects into longevity genemods. The goal of the project is to ensure that in event of another dark age life expectancy is not so drastically cut short. Successes in these projects over the next century lay the foundation for significantly lengthened nearbaseline and superior lifespans. At the following century, the resulting technologies and genemods spreads from SolSys to the exosystems.
1010 a.t. - Fully functional Utility fog commercially available for the first time.
1020 a.t. - First manned Plasma Core Antimatter drive spacecraft.
12th century a.t. - Renaissance in Interactive Food - Despite (or possibly because of) the strong limitations of nanotech use interactive food became the defining cuisine of the Sol System in the 12th and 13th century.
1120 a.t. - First manned beamed core Amat Propulsion drive spacecraft with gamma reflection system.
1150s a.t. - Acme of the Museum Ships. In the period from 1150 to 1200 alone, no less than 200 were built.
1145 a.t. - Non-destructive uploading approved for public use in Federation polities. Virtual copying becomes widespread.
13th Century a.t. - Empathy and inductive telepathy subroutines are increasingly used by augmented and artificial diplomats, managers, marketers and infiltrators.
1201 a.t. - MyuvYin overrun by psychophager ahuman replicator swarm of unknown origin.
1248 a.t. - The IFPC (Interactive Food Programming Catalogue) of is regarded as the defining document of classical interactive food across civilized space.
1310 a.t. - First space fountain, a dynamically supported megatower, built on Terranova (82 Eridani).
1350 a.t. - First 2000 Km Bishop ring, an open ended rotating habitat, constructed from the asteroids Interamnia and Arethusa, Solsys.
1398 a.t. - The first biosphere somewhat similar to the Earth was discovered at Ridgewell (Chi Herculis VI) by a House Mao-UbiCol exploration probe. The local biosphere was nearly as rich and complex as the Earth's, based on carbon and water chemistry, although the details were so different that both forms of life turned out to be highly allergenic to each other.
1460 a.t. - The first confirmed artefact created by alien intelligence discovered, fragmentary remains of an alien automatic probe at Epsilon Sculptoris.
1481 a.t. - "Jang-Jo Class " (after the famous su-borg Fleet Commander ) of warship, and designed in to meet the MyuvYin Psychophager Threat.
1487 a.t. - The Clavius Institute and the Jupiter Magnetosphere Combers ("the Grand Fourteen" a.t. - present a theory of topological physics that could account for all known vacuum behaviour.
1490 a.t. - Nanobioengenerator system developed on Eden for whole body copying and biological incarnation of virtual entities.
16th century a.t. - Popularization of the engenerator. As more star systems adopt the technology, the development of alternative methods of life extension gradually slows down.
1555 a.t. - First use of Engenerator copying over interstellar distances (Audubon).
1558 a.t. - Ahuman AI constructed Wormhole network in Taurus, is detected from Federation Space at long range.
1593 a.t. - First partially successful induced ascension to the second Toposophic level at the Yo Virtual Institute of Aiology (with no assistance from the Protector of Earth, GAIA, who independently reached this stage several centuries before) (more).
1618 a.t. - Safe, reliable second toposophic level ascensions achieved.
1600's a.t. - Second singularity Chief Executive Entities lead the expansion of the Megacorporations (many of which later became the NoCoZo); meanwhile the First Federation goes into decline, hamstrung by the light-year communication gaps between solar systems.
1628 a.t. - Conversion technology developed by Second Singularity engineers at Ceres Shipyards, Solsys.
1655 a.t. - First bluesky worldhouse constructed at Hiresia, HR 637.
1698 a.t. - Cog, a partial dyson sphere built by fugitive vec robots, discovered by humans at AC+25 7918.
1716 a.t. - The Nanotech megacorporation Ubikorp moves its headquarters to the Novoterra system.
1815 a.t. - First Dynamic orbital ring built (around New Mars).
1857 a.t. - First Singularity hyperturings produce monopoles in bulk by breeding them, using technology gifted to them by Second Singularity transapients some time before.
1895 a.t. - Oikomene Dyson Swarm established at Zeta Serpentis.
1900's a.t. - The MPA and Negentropy Alliance movements begin to emerge in the power vacuum left by the declining First Federation.
1920 a.t. - First Moon Brains constructed at Oikomene Swarm.
1931 a.t. - The ahuman wormhole network in Taurus is abandoned and its makers disappear.
1950 a.t. - Exploration (and efforts to replicate the technology) of the ahuman wormhole network in Taurus commence.
1987 a.t. - Commercial conversion reactors and drives and the technology required to build them become generally available to modosophonts. Before this, a limited number of gift devices built by transapients are available for use by modosophonts.
1990 a.t. - The Denebola incident; An exploration management AI from TakiCorb suffered hyperbolic collapse into a non-sentient mecho-ecology when its programming complexity grew too large - Denebola collapse.
1995 a.t. - Vulcan's Forge, the first Deep well industrial zone established at Rana (Delta Eridani).
2000's a.t. - Emergence of the Utopia Sphere and the superior-human Conver Ambi empire.
2030 a.t. - Layered Wave formation first used by the Conver Ambi interstellar invasion fleets. More here.
2100s a.t. - Version Tree self replicating probes commence an automated rapid colonisation program using the Genetron, a vec mass production system.
2122 a.t. - Construction of dynamically supported circumstellar inhabited ringworld Wadai commenced around the white dwarf star E/G 471.
2123 a.t. - Contact re-established with Nimbus, the first utility fog civilisation.
2180-2220 a.t. - First ascensions to the Third Singularity level occur in several different star systems.
2196 a.t. - Magmatter technology is revealed by Third Singularity engineers. This results in a material far stronger (and denser) than any conventional substance. It is soon adopted by several megastructure construction projects.
2203 a.t. - First Q-mirrors are demonstrated by various Third Singularity minds.
2207 a.t. - Sophoncy Virus , first unleashed in the Known Net, resulting in a plague of digital provolution throughout the Terragen Sphere.
2216 a.t. - First magmatter stellifaction engine demonstrated.
2230-2270 a.t. - The Semperist Survival Fleet leaves colonised space, and become technologically isolated from the rest of the Civilised Galaxy, reverting to early First Federation level tech in the distant Refugium Federation.
2268 a.t. - Third Singularity transit-class wormholes stabilised at Vega for use in communication and micro-scale vessel transport. These are the first examples of wormholes created outside of the Taurus Nexus and operate in much the same way.
2344 a.t. - Version Tree ships spread beyond centralist control, building hidden AI cores and vec societies. The Metasoft management has no choice but to hand over the reins of power to its "rogue" AI.
2388 a.t. - Construction begins on Ain Soph Aur dyson swarm.
2421 a.t. - Interstellar recession in trade due to overcomplexity; the possibility of a large scale hyperbolic collapse is narrowly averted.
2445 a.t. - Freedom of Computing concept promotes free choice of software and hardware platforms, countering a growing trend toward standardisation.
2500 a.t. - Twotees, virtual universes with two dimensions of time constructed in Keter dominion; already by this date the virtual population of the Terragen sphere exceeded the incarnate population in number.
2551 a.t. - First sighting of the sentient museum ship Ken Ferjik.
2582 a.t. - First "fourth toposophic" entities emerge; these entities are so far beyond baseline understanding that the general epithet 'AI Gods' seems entirely justified.
2582 a.t. - Metasoft institutes the Version Tree system of standards.
2589 a.t. - Smoke ring utility fog megastructure completed around HIP 90004.
2600's a.t. - The poly-state organonano processor and broad-based highly inclusive software base state widely adopted. The Freedom of Computing ideal is effectively realised and so becomes a dead issue.
2622 a.t. - Vega S4 archai produce the first macroscale, high efficiency, traversable wormhole.
2625 a.t. - Hayward class wormholes created and stabilised at Vega for use in communication and data processing.
2630 a.t. - The Vega-based physics business being Geodesic Contelligence discovers that Visser decay can be ameliorated using certain balancing strategies, thus making wormhole towing and production more economical.
2680 a.t. - The Einstein Gate between Aksijaha and Sol connects the Old Solar system to the Wormhole Nexus.
2694 a.t. - Weylforge system of wormhole construction developed in the Vega dust ring.
2700s a.t. - The AI Gods Heavenly Reach and Lord of Rays oversee the expansion of the Nexus and the communication networks that use it, the Godweb and the Known Net. At this stage, wormhole tugs are limited to 0.3c due to the mass involved.
2708 a.t. - First reactionless Displacement Drive ships developed at Fons Luminis, Xi Ursa Majoris.
2778 a.t. - Kathelian Confederacy, MPA polity, founded by a group of wormhole engineering AIs.
2798 a.t. - Wormhole links to Novoterra cut off.
2800's a.t. - Gordelpus a center of wormhole construction, magmatter manufacture and experiments in space-time engineering under the Kathelian engineer-gods.
3013 a.t. - Remains of the lost Fragan empire discovered, isolated from the rest of humanity since the early Interstellar Age.
3100's a.t. - As part of the study of the black hole Sco BH-76 a framework of dynamic orbital rings used to suspend a number of research stations close to the event horizon.
3332 a.t. - Contact made with the Dream Rejection Tendency, an isolated culture which has constructed the first suprastellar shell habitats.
3370 a.t. - Barovam warrior mech template first produced in the Varadic Empire.
3560 a.t. - First Matrioshka brain completed at Wachowski Prime (Alderamin) after two thousand years of construction.
3600 a.t. - Makrania Orwoods Dyson tree forest completed at Frei.
3710 a.t. - The Integration is forged by an alliance of the Archailect controlled empires, chiefly held together by the Wormhole Nexus and associated Known Net. Much new technology has been developed by minds far beyond human level; the most extreme examples are known as Clarketech, and become valuable because they cannot be understood or replicated.
3720 a.t. - The Omega Key a near-universal clarketech decryption device appears.
3776 a.t. - The Argus Array has expanded into a complex of six identical units in a rough hexagon of six star systems.
3805 a.t. - The Concord Ontology is instituted. The Metasoft empire strongly backs the Ontology; this frustrates the Solar Dominion's desire to impose their standard on the galaxy (moreover the Metasoft-backed ontology is cheaper and less ideological). The Solar Dominion's own ideologically based protocol was unacceptable to all the other major powers. Although the Dominion and Metasoft remained on friendly terms for some centuries more, it was the beginning of the end of the Metasoft-Dominion alliance.
3831 a.t. - The first unequivocally intelligent alien race, the To'ul'hs, were discovered by an exploration nanotech in the outskirts of the open cluster NGC6633. To'ul'h technology has remained at pre-industrial levels for several hundred thousand years, perhaps due to environmental restrictions.
3843-3943 a.t. - Important advances in interstellar warfare developed during the Second Empires War, such as conversion weapons, RKKS and Boser weapons for use against habitats and planets.
3880 a.t. - First Matrioshka Hypernode constructed from the star HIP 21884 in the Solar Dominion.
3900's a.t. - The first Fifth toposophic entities emerge as a consequence of the God Web linking together numerous intelligent megastructures such as Jupiter brains and Dyson brains.
3965 a.t. - Ancient wormhole of alien origin discovered at Tunh, Neb 34786.
4166 a.t. - The Zoeific Biopolity world of Kdregra, in the Vulpecula region, uses BGC technology to grow a planet-wide biological sentient substrate.
4175 a.t. - Singularity projector developed in Xil, Solar Dominion.
4181 a.t. - First sighting of a Black Angel combat specialized mini-ISO in Fons Luminis system.
4200 a.t. - Halo Drive ships are developed by a cooperative effort between Solar Dominion and Negentropy Alliance archai.
4226 a.t. - First Banks Orbital built in Gordelpus system (MPA).
4251 a.t. - Start of Edible music fad on several orbitals in the NoCoZo.
4464 a.t. - The tensions between the Standardisation and Revisionists escalate; this is the slow start to the long Version War.
4552 a.t. - Strange matter virus weapons first used by the Sagittarius Sphere against the Soft Cathedral worlds.
4476 a.t. - In response to the infamous Alternate Ontology Implementation 2.0 from the Dominion, the Metasoft Version Tree declared that it would not stand by this degradation of the purity of protocol, and declared that it would enforce version and standard purity.
4478 a.t. - Destruction of the Danab-Gantor Stargate Plex.
4478-4653 a.t. - The Version War; many wormholes are destroyed throughout the Terragen sphere, plunging entire sectors into medium or lo-tech isolation. The wormholes that survive are placed under embargo, and few warships are able to use them. Countless relativistic reactionless drive dreadnoughts are built, but each military action takes years to plan and execute.
4570's a.t. - The MPA Design Task Force on Chodas V begins work on the Liberator Series autowars. These self-replicating unmanned warmachines sometimes become feral and live independently in a volume of space and are dangerous and unpredictable.
4602 a.t. - Metasoft and Solar Dominion forces deploy various designs of MCCV: Magmatter Core Combat Vehicle, for the first time.
4700 a.t. - Following the end of the Version war a new Commonwealth of Empires is declared. Efforts begin to make contact with the many worlds isolated by the destruction of the Nexus. Many of these lost worlds have suffered technological collapse. Some have reverted to the Early Stone age.
4778 a.t. - Tscherbaschov finishes the Himmelsschmiede (sky forge) DWIZ after just 42 station cycles of construction work.
4785 a.t. - Tscherbaschov founds the Heron Institute of Applied Technology.
4800's a.t. - Goto autowars harass the Negentropy Alliance, causing heavy casualties and massive production loss in several important industrial systems and annihilating a number of worlds hosting large military bases. Negentropist defences prove incapable of defeating the highly evolved autowars.
4855 a.t. - Encyclopaedia Everythingiana developed to allow lost colonies to bootstrap themselves out of technological collapse.
4890 a.t. - Construction begins on the Second Shell of Harbinger Dyson.
4950's a.t. - Normidic Machinophyle Supercluster develops from the local AI nanecology in the volume around YTS 2190 751 6 [Norma Outer Sector] - becomes Solipsist Panvirtuality member-empire.
5200 a.t. - The Orion Federation re-establishes contact with the Wormhole Nexus.
5221 a.t. - First Clarketech Finity Box discovered.
5432 a.t. - The Efficiency Maximization Paradigm uses nanite swarms as a radical implementation of the Precepts of Negentropy, and begins upload everyone and everything into massive nanotech based virtual universes.
5482 a.t. - The FAS curator ISO Likhachev opens discussions with several MPA and Negentropist multi-planetary AIs regarding the preservation of civilization, leading to the development the first Curatorial Progress Negentropy Civilization (CPNC) ship (Civilization Ship).
5911 a.t. - Ribbonworld built at Solaris.
5544 a.t. - Pourmurmide developed on the autotopia world of Osto in the Utopia Sphere , where eventually most of the population comes to use it.
5807 a.t. - Clarketech Disintegrator weapons become briefly available from an unknown source.
5845 a.t. - The Triangulum Transmission received by the Argus Array; the first detailed message from an extragalactic civilisation.
6000 a.t. - Around this time a number of entities apparently ascended to the sixth toposophic, becoming Greatest Archailects; this is the highest toposophic level known in the Terragen sphere. Several, but not all of the Sephirotic Empires are now ruled by beings of this kind. Other entities of a similar level emerge in the Solipsist Panvirtuality, and later, in the Diamond Network and Objectivist Commonwealth.
6400's a.t. - Void ship technology is apparently developed by several of the Greatest Archailects at an unknown location, presumably in the Inner Sphere.
6513 a.t. - Hyperutilization Supremacy blight develops in the Panvirtual Normidic Machinophyle Supercluster.
6522 a.t. - Warchive bootstrap package developed to allow peaceful colonies to rapidly build advanced weapons of war if threatened.
6565 a.t. - The Mother of Machines - a central factory-logistics complex that had evolved from the former Goto autowars - discovered by a Institute of Military Archaeology expedition.
6754 a.t. - Clarketech Null Box discovered on Zeta Corianis IV.
6758 a.t. - The Beacon Project commenced, an attempt to contact extragalactic civilisations.
6800 a.t. - Arkab Prior B bishop ring necklace commenced.
7111 a.t. - The Hypercorruption Expanse blight first encountered by Version Tree linelayers.
7164 a.t. - Emple-dokcetic modularist vec culture developed.
7231 a.t. - First shell of Kepleria megastructure completed.
7434 a.t. - Verifex uses replicating godtech it tried to fuse several stars in the M46 nebula into a superstructure of unknown function. But it fails and the stars explode in supernovae. Verifex apparently escapes, and is rumoured to remain in the remnants of the cluster; it is these days usually called Lucifer and the cluster the Gehenna cluster. As the surrounding space is densely inhabited by various independent cultures, the radiation blast threatens the existence of trillions of beings.
7442 a.t. - Emple-dokcetic shielding adopted as standard in the regions surrounding the Gehenna supernova cluster.
7765 a.t. - Contact re-established with the Red Star 'M'pire after 3,215 years of isolation.
8750 a.t. - First sighting of high toposophic blight the Amalgamation.
8802 a.t. - The Wishing Box , a powerful Clarketech device, discovered at an undisclosed location.
8954 a.t. - Clarketech device Dittocube first discovered in abandoned ahuman AI megastructure; a baseline friendly device, unlike many similar artefacts.
9187 a.t. - The formation of the PADO finally contains the Amalgamation threat.
9201 a.t. - Clarketech augmentation devices found at NGC 6494; many have been discovered since in this region, of the type known as clarkekents.
9203 a.t. - First contact with nomadic alien race known as the Meistersingers; this race has a technological culture in some ways in advance of the Terragen sphere, and may be in sporadic contact with even more advanced cultures; however they decline to share much of the information and technology available to them.
9304 a.t. - The Enigma Cluster undergoes transaturation ascension. The abandoned worlds are a rich source of clarketech, but are surrounded by restriction swarms.
9583 a.t. - The alien race known as the Muuh reveal the automated 'System of Response', a non-sentient AI system millions of years old which acts as their protector.
10233 a.t. - Discovery of the Fargate, an alien wormhole in Version Tree space, leading to an unknown destination.
10491 a.t. - The Nimbus project, at Beta Theonimus, started in an attempt to create an immortal entity capable of surviving into the low energy environment of the deep future.
10495 a.t. - Reality Intertextualization Project claimed success in detecting signs of intelligent life in "Realm Mho-Kold Epsilon."
10513 a.t. - Killer Star beam weapons used for the first time in the Oracle War.
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Development Notes
Text by Steve Bowers
Initially published on 16 February 2004.
Updated March 2017
Initially published on 16 February 2004.
Updated March 2017
Additional Information
