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New reader with a question about wormhole networks
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(04-11-2016, 04:59 AM)somnolent Wrote: I like the carnival troupe idea. In a way it might make for a more interesting story if a whole group of people is traveling along the wormhole network. It could also be one member from the group who decides not to be a performer and wants to travel further. Maybe my protagonist prides herself (emself?) on being able to survive without augmentation.

One option could be to have the character come from a baseline reserve world. That would explain why they were baseline, perhaps in addition to that they're very light on augmentation by OA standards and instead choose to use more external technology. E.g:

- Robot personal assistant rather than DNI
- Angelnet reliance for safety plus docbot for health
- Fashionable wearable tech for AR/VR

(04-11-2016, 04:59 AM)somnolent Wrote: In my first scenario, what would happen if some powerful and rich being creates a baseline human, and says to them, "You are free to go anywhere and do whatever you want. But if you stay here, talk to the tourists, and don't augment yourself, I will feed you and pay you and protect you, and you can enjoy the orwoods in your off time." Would this be against NoCoZo rules?

That basically comes down to how reproduction is regulated. Again even in the NoCoZo you might run into problems freely reproducing. In this case the parent may find themselves sued for neglect by the offspring.

If you like the idea of the baseline reserve character you could combine the two ideas. Have the character approached by an entity/group whilst they are still on the reserve offering them a job in a carnival with a contract that stipulates no augments.

(04-11-2016, 04:59 AM)somnolent Wrote: I'm also curious about the story you described. If an AI creates a human as a slave/exhibit/curiousity, and some authority notices and takes the human away, what happens then? The human has no money and no skills in a very free-market stretch of the galaxy. Does NoCoZo have welfare? In Rynn's post he mentioned "living off of free basic products and charity". Different cultures may have very different approaches, but if a NoCoZo member world decides to let the homeless starve to death, would some administrator step in and forbid it?

The answer is, essentially, market forces. The most powerful archai in the NoCoZo exercise that power through commerce so a benevolent, somewhat safe lifestyle is assured through that. A few example scenarios:

1) You want to make a slave. First you'll need the equipment (like an engenerator and software) but when you try to use it it locks up/melts. You've violated the terms of service. You also violated the terms of service on your rent, your education (no using bioengineering for slavery!) and find that your standing in reputation markets has bombed so you'll be paying premiums on everything, from medicine to milk.

2) Recovered from the earlier catastrophe you decide to work smarter. After a century of hard graft you've got your own private hab. In that hab you laboriously work to build your own engenerator, free of any contract. You go to turn it on and: bang everything else turns off. Because every other piece of equipment you bought came with a customer agreement contract that you've just violated. Similarly services like traffic control have been withdrawn so you may get blasted by a ships drive plume.

3) It's thousands of years later. You've set yourself up on a planet with no technology other than your hands. In all this time you've slowly worked up from stone tools to an engenerator. You can and do create a slave. Bad things happen. One day lights flash in the sky; it's a task force from Freedom Security Inc, contracted by the charity Ancaps for Abolition. They take the slave from you and enact punishment. Unless you can fight them off yourself you're now subject to their whim, no other security firm comes to your aid because of the loss of status associating with you would create (though they may step in if Freedom Security go too far, because it attracts customers being noble).

Final point regarding money in the NoCoZo: you'll never find yourself homeless, starving or lacking in basic goods. For two reasons; firstly the aforementioned charities (likely backed by archai), secondly the cost of offering basic services is virtually nothing for businesses and landowners. A few hundred cubic meters, some CHON and other feedstock, some solar panels, an assembler and a library of vots. All of those could keep a person alive indefinitely, are all examples of self-sufficient tech and are the cost equivalent of a cup of coffee in OA terms.

Money in OA is extremely different. It's not used for the type of material goods and services we associated it with for everyday life. Money is used, pretty much exclusively, for non-fungible goods and services. Brands, private membership, artwork, specific land etc. Everything else is allocated differently.
OA Wish list:
  1. DNI
  2. Internal medical system
  3. A dormbot, because domestic chores suck!
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RE: New reader with a question about wormhole networks - by Rynn - 04-11-2016, 08:46 PM

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