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Simply Connect!
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Culture and Society > Politics & Government > Subversives
Culture and Society > Politics & Government > Subversives
Anti-Wormhole movement | |
 Image from Arik | |
| Wormholes are an essential part of the Sephirotic Civilisation, but some factions would prefer to abandon their use for metaphysical reasons | |
Simply Connect! is an anti-wormhole organisation, developed from the controversial interpretations of Z-Theory by a minor aspect of Keter (consciousness cluster 348, in the Feldrim system) and eir school of hermeneutic researchers.
348 claimed an isomorphism between some aspects of Z-Theory and spirituality, both showing a clear path of spiritual advancement for the universe towards the omega point, and an individual interpretation implying how to best transcend towards the universal mind-to-be. The "348 Isomorphism" has been largely discounted by mainstream toposophists, eschatologists and noeticists as internally inconsistent, but retains a diffuse following among many techgnosis-oriented beings who are swayed by the argument itself or by the status of 348 as an aspect of Keter or both. Disturbingly, for those who believe it, this theory implies that wormholes destroy the even-numbered sophic operators due to their interaction with the vacuum. Hence, in order to reach Omega, all wormholes must be removed.
Simply Connect! is the activist arm of 348 Isomorphism, working against the spread of wormholes. It consists of a variety of beings, ranging from ordinary sophonts through to various transapients and possibly some archailects. As their beliefs run counter to those predominant in the Terragen Sphere, members and sympathizers are often reluctant to make their views public, so it is difficult to characterize the numbers and influence of Simply Connect! other than to say that they are quite rare and that their influence is currently diffuse and weak. Although its members consider wormholes to be harmful to the progress of Terragenkind and some refer to wormholes as 'blasphemous', they realize that just destroying them would be counterproductive. Instead they carefully work to spread understanding that wormholes are bad, not just in theoretical or religious terms (always a hard sell) but also in terms of accidents, the spread of blights or nanoswarm-like events, their expense, or cultural threats to the memetic health of galactic culture such as the blurring of cultural diversity that follows from rapid communication. A few cite aspects of the Fermi Paradox and the possible role of wormhole networks in the extinction of xenosophont civilizations.
Simply Connect! has found allies among relativists, anti-imperialists, various luddite groups, economic or cultural consortia with interests threatened by certain wormholes and a variety of other groups including some Semperists. Simply Connect! also does its best to undermine the spread of new wormholes, not only by digging up criticism against the projects but also through subtle economic sabotage. They often try to discreetly buy up crucial resources to make the projects unduly expensive. Transapient members are believed to have taken additional measures against the creation and spread of wormholes that are comprehensible only in terms of higher-toposophic society.
Simply Connect! remains marginal in most regions, and its practical influence is negligible in the Inner Sphere, but its subtle methods and give it an edge in the outer edges of the wormhole nexus, especially along the Periphery, or other undeveloped areas, where it sometimes succeeds in its goals by preventing wormholes or diverting them to alternative systems. As the scope of the Terragen Sphere has increased the relative size of the regions in which it can have an effect has also increased, so the relative size of areas that Simply Connect! can affect has grown year by year. Recently there have also been small but significant increases in Simply Connect! activity even in some regions that are already well connected to the wormhole network. Most experts regard this as one of the Civilized Galaxy's meta-fads, but that has not prevented some strong advocates of wormhole expansion such as aspects and allies of Heavenly Reach from issuing warnings regarding the organization's activities.
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Development Notes
Text by Anders Sandberg
additions by Stephen Inniss
Initially published on 09 September 2001.
additions by Stephen Inniss
Initially published on 09 September 2001.
