OA is my Iain M. Banks substitute

[Baldanders]

I've spent the last month or so perusing OA, and I have to say it's been a lot of fun. I ran out of Culture novels to read in November, and this site has helped fill the void for me. Thanks a lot to all the writers who have produced all this great content.

I'd like to contribute sometime in the not-too-distant future. I have some ideas about the future of e-cigarette tech, and I think there's a lot of room for articles on marriage/family life on OA. How does Homo superior deal with family structure?

Thanks again.

[Drashner1]

Hi, Welcome to OA!

The Culture universe is a major inspiration for parts of OA, as you've probably seen by now and we always welcome new contributors.

By all means, please feel free to post ideas for articles and articles themselves for whatever area of the setting interests you. We have some mentions of tobacco I believe, but I'm pretty sure we don't have anything on e-cigarettes. Regarding marriage/family life in the setting, with millions of systems and cultures, there is certainly room for lots of ideas. Just to give you an idea of what is currently in place if you haven't seen it yet, we have this page here:

http://www.orionsarm.com/eg-topic/45bd06d4e307b

Please feel free to suggest additions or updates to the existing material or to contribute new articles for this or any other part of the setting that catches your attention.

Hope this helps and once again: Welcome to Orion's Arm!

Todd

List Moderator

[Matterplay1]

I've spent the last month or so perusing OA, and I have to say it's been a lot of fun. I ran out of Culture novels to read in November, and this site has helped fill the void for me. Thanks a lot to all the writers who have produced all this great content.

I'd like to contribute sometime in the not-too-distant future. I have some ideas about the future of e-cigarette tech, and I think there's a lot of room for articles on marriage/family life on OA. How does Homo superior deal with family structure?

Thanks again.

Hello! Welcome to the group! I believe Todd has taken care of a few basics, so onwards to writing/discussion items. If you start a threat on e-cig tech and how it might work out in the OA setting, I have a few observations you can probably use, since although I'm neither an e-cig user nor a traditional smoker I've had reason to look into the issues involved. As for how 'Homo superior' might deal with family structure, that's worth starting a separate thread too. Looking forward to what you have to say, on both accounts.

[Baldanders]

Thanks for the warm welcome!

Sorry I haven't been back on sooner but raising a new puppy has taken a bunch of my time.

I am an e-cig user myself--as the one friend I bummed "the real thing" off of switched to an e-cig, I had no choice. I have a fairly decent unit myself--it's basically a battery the size of a pack of smokes with a digital readout showing wattage, voltage, power and the resistance of the cartomizer/atomizer/hot coil "upper" that is plugged into the "bottom". It has a USB out so it also doubles as a cell/tablet charger. I order my "juice" form an online retailer who will assemble just about any custom blend I desire.

As far as an OA article goes, I think that other intoxicants/drugs will follow nicotine in this delivery method (caffeine and melatonin are already available from some suppliers), THC being the logical first big expansion--I imagine we will see this out of Washington or Colorado sometime soon, considering all the legal hash oil production going on in those areas now. More sophisticated "e-rigs" might be able to mix drug and flavor combinations at user request--probably by voice command. A nanotech rig would probably synthesize the drugs and flavoring agents on demand.

My ideas on Superior family structure are pretty vague at the moment, but I think the "Shaper Ring Council" from Sterling's Schismatrix with it's planned clan structure might be a good starting point.

[Drashner1]

As far as an OA article goes, I think that other intoxicants/drugs will follow nicotine in this delivery method (caffeine and melatonin are already available from some suppliers), THC being the logical first big expansion--I imagine we will see this out of Washington or Colorado sometime soon, considering all the legal hash oil production going on in those areas now. More sophisticated "e-rigs" might be able to mix drug and flavor combinations at user request--probably by voice command. A nanotech rig would probably synthesize the drugs and flavoring agents on demand.

Sounds interesting. As a starting point (assuming you haven't seen it already), may I refer you to the current EG pages on drugs:

http://www.orionsarm.com/eg-topic/45c7f87fe575f

What you're describing would fold in here in the form of one or more EG articles, depending on how you're wanting to structure things.

In terms of the actual technology, this would probably be something that would start in a more primitive form (meaning, around what we can do now and a bit beyond) and then advance from there to some much more advanced level.

While voice command (or maybe a simple 'wheel' or 'dial' around the waste of the e-cig) would probably be available in the early/mid Interplanetary Age, in the later IP Age and beyond, control might come from a DNI interface (assuming they become so common, small, and cheap that nobody thinks anything of wasting one on an e-cig Seems likely that at least some cultures might do it that way.

Synthesizing the drugs and flavoring agents on demand via nano would probably be doable, more so with some sort of designer molecule 'base' that can be rapidly restructured by the nano into whatever drug is desired. The biggest limitations would be waste heat, time, and the limited supply of feedstock available inside the unit. A possible workaround for much of this would be to have the e-cig use its DNI wireless system to also interface with local nanoforges and download a given blend template to whichever one is convenient. You take it out of the forge, plug it into the ecig and off you go. Essentially unlimited supply that you can access anywhere with a nanoforge.

Perhaps e-cigs would contain an onboard matter supply (perhaps the pack of cigs unit) for times when the user is away from ready access to nanoforges. Otherwise they just use larger nanoforges in the area to make what is desired faster while remaining very compact (essentially just the size of a cigarette (or cigar if you prefer that sort of thing).

My ideas on Superior family structure are pretty vague at the moment, but I think the "Shaper Ring Council" from Sterling's Schismatrix with it's planned clan structure might be a good starting point.

That would work as a starting point (with a bit of tweaking so we aren't just copying his stuff of course), although likely only in some Superior clades and cultures. OA encompasses tens of millions of solar systems and there are literally literally over 300 trillion of them around. So lots of different cultures who will do things lots of different ways. Not that you need to describe every variation of course. But a broad cross section of some examples would be a good thing to include, even if you then decide to drill down in more detail on one particular type of culture, such as something inspired by the Shapers.

Hope this helps,

Todd

[stevebowers]

The Shapers inspired the orioginal concept of the Genetekkers in OA; but they have taken on a life of their own, of course. I intend to write up the Genen homeworld of Frog's Head at some point, Iota Horologi, (originally named Heqet); the Genen have a family/genotype based political structure, and I'd be interested to read your take on clan-based politics to compare them with mine.

[Baldanders]

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.

[Drashner1]

This all sounds good - 'E-Bowl' is probably as good a name as any and makes sense if the concept dates from early in the setting. Once you put an initial draft put together for the group to review, I wouldn't be surprised if various suggestions and ideas for related technologies start popping up

Looking forward to seeing it and the Superior writeup as well (not an area of expertise for me, but those members who focus more on genetics and such will likely weigh in around that.

Thanks!

Todd

[Baldanders]

I'm working on these now. I guess I should post over in the EG section when I have first drafts ready?

[Drashner1]

You got it