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OA is my Iain M. Banks substitute
#7
Thanks for the feedback! I have perused the drugs articles fairly heavily---and I have a whole bunch of ideas on many of those articles as well. I think the key to me writing a good article on recreational drug delivery devices will be to limit the time period to just the next 1000 years or so--perhaps something written as an excerpt from a database entry on "Early Solarian euphoriant use".

The title of the article will probably be the "E-Bowl" (I am certainly open to suggestions for a cleverer name, however-nothing too original in taking the name from Banks) for the device I see as the culmination of the e-cig, the E-Bowl (the "E" may stand for euphoria, ecstasy, electronic, etc.), a saucer or snifter-shaped vessel, sometimes ornately fashioned. It would contain a neutral carrier substance infused with active ingredients, either a potable liquid for oral use, or a fluid with a vaporization point near the user's body temperature for inhalation. Alternatively, a straw-shaped atomizer unit could sit inside the drug mixture. Drug mix could be controlled by DNI or by concealed touchpads on the bottom of the bowl. One party game could be to see who can still properly control the settings on their bowls after playing "follow-the-leader" in a series of polysubstance cocktails. Failure to set the next mix correctly by hand means elimination from the game.

I see the e-bowl as the signature item of some group of well-off near-baselines off Earth in the solar system. Perhaps it survives to the "present day" in OA, since it seems "Bacca" and Marijuana are still in current use, and I imagine various methods of using nicotine and cannabinoids must still be in vogue somewhere. Of course, small semi-disposable "e-rigs" (again, very much open to better names) are far more popular than bowls.

I plan to have a very narrow focus on my article on the Superior Clans as well. Of course, since su- and tweak clades would vary more than baseline and near-baseline humans, one would expect their social arrangements to vary more as well. I see the clan group originating in the early moments of the differentiation of Superiors from merely heavily augmented near-baselines. These su, every generation vat-grown, would be designed to function well outside of strong parent-child bonds, with a predilection to strong group identification. The clans each have their preferred ethos of upgrades, sometimes coming together to create "hybrid" offspring to cement deals for co-operation. I would really appreciate any suggestions on where and when to place this group.
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OA is my Iain M. Banks substitute - by Baldanders - 01-28-2014, 01:23 PM
RE: OA is my Iain M. Banks substitute - by Baldanders - 02-13-2014, 10:11 AM

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