Hi! New to the forum and have a question

[Banelord]

Hi There!

I've been into OA for a few years now, and have just decided to start posting on the forums (as I've made this account months ago, I've just never been big on posting in my life), and just wanted to let you guys know how amazing I find this project and the creativity and dedication of the people involved, it's truly inspiring and I look to this site for inspiration for my works or when I want a good read constantly, so thank you.

One thing I've never been able to wrap my head around though, is the concept of The Cybercosm and Virchworlds.

I'm sorry if you get this a lot but I haven't really found much about it in the forums and the Encyclopedia hasn't helped too much either, so maybe I'm overlooking something, but, where exactly are Virchworlds? How large are they in relation to the Ril? Do they even have relation to the Ril? Etc. etc.

I can't exactly figure out if they have physical dimensions, because I've seen that they seem to be stored in computronium banks on planets and megastructures commonly, but I've never seen something that describes how large they are, both internally and externally. I know you guys have gone at length to describe basically everything else about them but I suppose just not that.

So I suppose to summarize cause this came out as a bit of rambling: 

1) Do virchworlds interact "physically" with the Ril (in relation to photons/waves or similar, and by extension are they a type of overlay on reality, as such that they "envelop" parts of the universe like the internet "envelops" Earth)? 

2) When a sophont accesses a virch, can they connect to any part of the Cybercosm, or just a local virch which is on their world/hab/etc.?

3) How large is a virch, both inside its own space, and externally, in reference to the physical universe?

4) Is there a limit to the size of a virch? 

5) What would someone inside of a virch experience? Would it feel like reality to them? Could they travel around the Net like a photon since they are now a virtual entity effortlessly?

6) Where are virches stored physically, and what would happen if they were moved/interacted upon by embodied entities?

I hope that wasn't too much for you guys and that you can answer my questions because they're kind of a mess, but I look forward to posting more on the forums soon, until then, happy worldbuilding!

[Drashner1]

Hi There!

Hiya! Welcome to OA!

I've been into OA for a few years now, and have just decided to start posting on the forums (as I've made this account months ago, I've just never been big on posting in my life), and just wanted to let you guys know how amazing I find this project and the creativity and dedication of the people involved, it's truly inspiring and I look to this site for inspiration for my works or when I want a good read constantly, so thank you.

Thanks! It's a lot of fun to create the setting and we always like to meet new friends via the forum or our Discord. Feel free to ask any questions you like, join in on any discussions that grab your interest, or start a new thread (or several) if you would like to start a discussion on something we aren't currently talking about.

One thing I've never been able to wrap my head around though, is the concept of The Cybercosm and Virchworlds.

I'm sorry if you get this a lot but I haven't really found much about it in the forums and the Encyclopedia hasn't helped too much either, so maybe I'm overlooking something, but, where exactly are Virchworlds? How large are they in relation to the Ril? Do they even have relation to the Ril? Etc. etc.

No worries - Happy to help. As a general starting point, you should understand that 'virches/virchworlds/virtuality' are basically the far future version of things like Second Life or World of Warcraft - but pumped full of steroids and cranked up to 15 (because 11 just doesn't really cover the sheer scale, detail, and intensity of what they are. A key point is that where we in real life (usually referred to as RL or the RL on the forums btw) have to use a keyboard or mouse or game controller or VR headset or some other set of external hardware to interact with our virtual worlds, the people in the OA setting can just do it all in their heads, using a complex set of implants known as a Direct Neural Interface (DNI for short). Nearly everybody in the OA setting has these, and most have had them since childhood to one degree or another.

Using a DNI, a person in OA can enter or exit a virtual reality simulation/world as easily as you might mentally recite your telephone number or email address. A DNI can stimulate the users brain and nervous system so that all their senses (sight, hearing, taste, touch, etc.) are engaged in the virtual experience.

Continuing from that general point, please see my responses below...

1) Do virchworlds interact "physically" with the Ril (in relation to photons/waves or similar, and by extension are they a type of overlay on reality, as such that they "envelop" parts of the universe like the internet "envelops" Earth)? 

It depends on the virchworld and the situation. More specifically:

a) Virchworlds are basically complex computer programs similar in principle to a video game or web page. As such, most of them aren't generally visible unless a user wishes to perceive them using their DNI or some other interface. They pass through the ril in the form of data transmissions carried on radio, optical, and electrical signals just like the internet does for us, but most are not detectable. So they don't really interact with the ril anymore than OA interacts with you when you are walking down the street with your phone in your pocket. That said...

b) Some virchworlds do interact with the ril as a form of 'augmented reality' that is overlaid over the real world. They are perceptible using a DNI by those who wish to perceive them and may take the form of anything from little floating icons or signs to distinct feelings or 'impulse tags' that make a user have an artificial urge to do the mental equivalent of mouse clicking or the like. Some augmented reality virchworlds may let a user see artworks, animals, or entire environments that don't have reality in 'ril' but can be seen/touched/heard/talked to/tasted etc. by a person. These can even be customized to individual preference. For example, if you and I were walking down a street, I might see it as a path through a forest while you see it as a rainbow bridge through the clouds. When we pass a public food dispenser, I might see a tree with multiple types of 'fruit' each a different snack, while you see a buffet table on a floating diamond slab in the clouds, with plates holding each of the snacks available. This can even extend to the point of different food items looking, feeling, and tasting different to each of us. Where I might see an apple, you might see a slice of apple pie - or a slice of chocolate cake. Eating the food would still maintain the illusion. But if we turned off the overlay we might see the food is a basic food bar with little actual flavor and a very basic texture.

c) Inside an angelnet the level of realism described in point 'b' goes up considerably. The angelnet can use smart matter to create solid constructs overlaying and mimicking virtual images. Put another way (and using a probably familiar concept) - an angelnet is like living inside a Star Trek type holodeck - that covers the entire planet or hab you are living on and that you can control by thinking about it instead of verbal commands. The underlying technology is different, but the end user experience would be very similar. Objects can be made to appear and disappear, the surrounding environment can look like whatever you want it to, and reality can be modified in a variety of ways more or less at will.

d) Most virchworlds don't interact with ril at all. Users must access them via their DNI in order to interact with them and they are effectively different places. Meaning that when you are visiting one of them you aren't doing anything in the 'ril' except standing or sitting there and what you do in the virchworld or in ril doesn't impact the other place in any way.

2) When a sophont accesses a virch, can they connect to any part of the Cybercosm, or just a local virch which is on their world/hab/etc.?

They can connect to the local copy of the Cybercosm, which contains a mix of local virches that only exist on their world/hab/etc. and 'common virches' that are used across all the different copies of the Cybercosm (or at least a significant chunk of the cybercosmoi in the star systems close to their home system). Common virches are constantly being updated as the different versions of the Cybercosm share data between star systems. This process is never really complete and can take quite a bit of time due to how long it takes for data to cross interstellar distances, even using wormholes. This means that the updating process is never really complete. It also means that if you travel far enough you may encounter regions of space that have 'common virches' that are different from what you could access in your home system.

3) How large is a virch, both inside its own space, and externally, in reference to the physical universe?

Internally, as large as it needs to be to do whatever it was created for. If it needs to be a room 3 meters on a side, than it will be a room 3 meters on a side. If it needs to be a dyson sphere a light-year in diameter, it will be a dyson sphere a light-year in diameter. The underlying design rules of the virch allow the computer hardware running it to create more 'virtual landscape' as needed and from whatever point of view or perspective that the user might experience. The virch is basically a computer generated illusion. It can generate an image in the users mind of distant mountains and then generate all the detailed imagery of everything they see when they walk to the base of those mountains. It's a constant ongoing process that creates new virtual surroundings for the user and then erases them or takes them offline and stores them when no one is looking at them or they are otherwise not needed anymore.

Externally, meaning the size of the physical hardware running the virch - We haven't ever really nailed this down, but generally speaking most virches could likely be run/supported by now more than a few cubic meters of computronium per user. Probably rather less. Exceptions to this would be very high fidelity virches that actively simulate the laws of physics and all the matter and energy in the virtual setting (down to the level of simulating individual atoms and smaller) and then let 'nature take its course' to create something. Such high end 'Realities' probably use a lot of computronium. Think moon-nodes or planet size nodes or larger. By our standards that is very large. By OA standards - that isn't really very big at all.

4) Is there a limit to the size of a virch? 

It depends on what you mean by 'limit'. As mentioned above, a virch can be constantly computed into existence for the user(s) and then discarded after they have 'moved on' to another part of it. The computronium that was supporting the discarded part can then be retasked to computer/create another part. This process can, in principle, go on idefinitely, allowing the virch to seem effectively infinite in size, or nearly so.

OTOH if the user/creator wants the entire virch to virch to remain operating even if there is no one to experience it - then eventually all the processing power of the computronium supporting the virch will be tied up supporting the virtual world created and no more can be created from that point. So a limit of a sort.

5) What would someone inside of a virch experience? Would it feel like reality to them? Could they travel around the Net like a photon since they are now a virtual entity effortlessly?

It would depend on the nature of the virch and its underlying rules. Some virches could look/feel very unreal or cartoonish. Others could be indistinguishable from reality to all of the users senses to the limit of what each sense can perceive and beyond (if the virch is of a place in the ril, actually traveling there physically would add nothing to what they are experiencing in virch). Others could be drastically different from 'reality' as we know it, but still executed with a level of detail such that they would seem totally real to the user. These last may require the user to download some number of specialized programs that do things like granting them additional senses or the ability to perceive additional dimensions or comfortably operate additional limbs or whatever before they can safely/usefully enter the virch and accomplish anything in it.

In order to travel around the Net the user would have to either upload into the local computer network - becoming living software - or they would have to upload a copy of themselves into the local computer network - creating a piece of living software that is them in basically all respects. This software lifeform could be transmitted across the Net with ease and could experience things in one or more different locations (in series or at the same time) before returning to the user and being integrated with them so that they have the memories of all the (possibly very strange) experiences of the Copy as if they had actually lived through them.

6) Where are virches stored physically, and what would happen if they were moved/interacted upon by embodied entities?

Virches are stored in computronium specialized for the purpose in each star system. There may be multiple copies within a single star system so that people can interact with a 'local copy' that is close to them and that will synch up with the more distant copies on a running basis. The computronium itself may be located underground, in the walls of buildings, in nodes of various sizes in orbit or orbiting nearby and so on.

Generally speaking computronium is designed to be self-maintaining and self-operating. So embodied entities could mess with the computronium in principle (and therefore interfere with the virtual realities being run on it), but generally don't just like the players of WoW or Second Life don't generally go into the server room where the sites servers are and mess with the hardware.

I hope that wasn't too much for you guys and that you can answer my questions because they're kind of a mess, but I look forward to posting more on the forums soon, until then, happy worldbuilding!

Hope this helps and if you have additional questions, please feel free to ask

Todd

[stevebowers]

There are several classes of people who inhabit virtual reality environments;
1/ Biological people who are linked by technology to the virch, usually via high-bandwidth neural links giving them visual, audio and haptic (touch) data. These people are often known as 'vusers', especially by other virtual entities. The biological body of a 'vuser' might be inactive, either at rest (sitting in a chair, perhaps, or asleep in bed) or possibly fully active, if the vuser is capable of maintaining more than one simultaneous focus of attention.
2/ Uploads- a biological person might chose to copy their mindstate into digital form, and exist purely as an electronic being inside the virch. In the Current Era of OA most uploads are made without destroying the original, so that the original person can continue to exist in real life and have their own experiences. At some point the uploaded copy might wish to re-integrate with the original, although this gets increasingly difficult the longer they are separated.
3/ Many, or most, inhabitants of virches are indigenous inhabitants of the virtual reality environment- that is, they are born there, and live their whole lives there. Some are born by an analog of sexual reproduction, others are created procedurally, or even design themselves in stages. These are often known as 'digis' by other virtual sophonts. Digis can be very strange, and sometimes they chose to download themselves into real-life bodies and live in the real universe.
4/ A number of virtual entities are controlled directly by the AI Gods - either as avatars, or as 'actors', pretending to be particular characters that are important for the maintenance of a particular virch scenario. In some cases, most of the inhabitants of a virch may be an 'actor' playing a role (like a robot in Westworld, but generally under better control).