Which age would you prefer to live in?- The information age or The Sundering?

[QwertyYerty]

If you were plucked down or born in a random year in either:


The Information age

http://www.orionsarm.com/eg-topic/45b2afc424975

Or

The Sundering

http://www.orionsarm.com/eg-topic/45b2b27e35ae4

Which you prefer? You could be born anytime and anywhere humanity was in either age, you couldn't choose or know where or when. You could be born in the middle of the Syrian Civil War or the height of the Technocalypse. You might be born sometime and/ or somewhere better or excellent. You are equally likely to be any baseline or maybe nearbaseline human whatever age you choose.

Would you choose the Information age or the Sundering?

[Drashner1]

Neither period is what I would call my first choice. Statistically speaking (and considering civilization as a whole), neither offers good odds of me having what I would consider a long and happy life. I am lucky enough to live in a portion of the global civilization that I find reasonably pleasant - but there are lots of other places I would find much less so.

Considering the Technocalypse - the majority of the people living in that time died (often very unpleasantly) and the survivors often ended up in highly unpleasant conditions. Even those lucky enough to escape both of those fates would often end up living out the rest of their lives with the constant fear that one or more of the causes of the Technocalypse would slip past the defenses and kill them all.

All things considered, I'd rather say neither of these and opt for somewhere in the Inner Sphere in Y11k. Although I realize that's cheating:p

Hrm.

Todd

[stevebowers]

The Sundering.
If the Technocalypse doesn't get you, the Last War might. Then you have to cope with the crowding of the Warrens or some other barely suitable habitat, with all the social problems they bring. Stir-crazy refugees might kill you for no rational reason, or for food, or water, or air.

But there is a chance - a very slim chance- that you might be among the lucky ones who escape Solsys altogether an travel to a distant star, in a cramped, inadequate starship using intrinsically dangerous cryogenic technology. Once you get there you will be faced with a set of inhospitable, uninhabitable planets with nothing to breathe but manufactured air - but you will be free.

[QwertyYerty]

I perfer my current life over either of the options I presented.

Now that I think about it, the Interplanetary age wouldn't be pleasant either. What do y'all think?

[stevebowers]

Just before the Technocalypse, the civilisation on Earth reached a level of comfort and sophistication that was probably not equalled until the Middle Federation Age (on Nova Terra and elsewhere). With global warming under control at last, the modosophonts of Earth could live in relative peace in a diverse, densely populated world with plenty of opportunities. They didn't realise that everything was about to fall apart.

[QwertyYerty]

The Sundering.
If the Technocalypse doesn't get you, the Last War might. Then you have to cope with the crowding of the Warrens or some other barely suitable habitat, with all the social problems they bring. Stir-crazy refugees might kill you for no rational reason, or for food, or water, or air.

But there is a chance - a very slim chance- that you might be among the lucky ones who escape Solsys altogether an travel to a distant star, in a cramped, inadequate starship using intrinsically dangerous cryogenic technology. Once you get there you will be faced with a set of inhospitable, uninhabitable planets with nothing to breathe but manufactured air - but you will be free.

It sounds like there would be a slim chance of escaping the nightmare. What is it about the information age that would make Sundering your preferred age? Do you believe it will be or was worse in the information age than the Sundering?

[Drashner1]

I perfer my current life over either of the options I presented.

Now that I think about it, the Interplanetary age wouldn't be pleasant either. What do y'all think?

The Interplanetary Age lasted nearly 300yrs. During that time a lot of changes took place, both positive and negative, so it would be an oversimplification to say that the entire period was either pleasant or unpleasant.

Of the three choices provided, the IP age seems like it would be preferred.

Todd

[QwertyYerty]

I perfer my current life over either of the options I presented.

Now that I think about it, the Interplanetary age wouldn't be pleasant either. What do y'all think?

The Interplanetary Age lasted nearly 300yrs. During that time a lot of changes took place, both positive and negative, so it would be an oversimplification to say that the entire period was either pleasant or unpleasant.

Of the three choices provided, the IP age seems like it would be preferred.

Todd

I figured the IP age would be preferred, although as I read between the lines the IP age seems a lot more like Black Mirror than I had originally thought.

If the IP age is going to be nice to live in, it will require widespread use of government redistribution. During the Information (IN) age widespread use of automation will almost certainly lead to mass unemployment on Earth. I understand that there will be additional demand for labor due to space exploitation, but in setting and in RL there is no way it will more cost efficient to redesign genetics than use robotics or AI.

Now that I think about it, I am curious what force pushed for genetic research over AI or robotics research. There are a lot more ethical, political, and research costs for every gain in productivity via genetically engineering a new human sub- species as opposed to robotics or AI. At this point in the setting a Vec which would be considered sophant in 11K will not be likely treated as such in the IP age.

While there wouldn't be many sapient vecs in the IP age, there would be a huge number of animal equivalent intelligence, many of whom would be as conscious as a dog. Most people recognize that dogs experience pain and advocate for basic rights for them (in addition to animal rights in general). Most AIs would not be much better off, since even the sophant and super intelligent AIs of the IP age had a minority of global power for one or two of the first centuries of their existence. The second wave of AIs were often developed in hostile conditions or treated poorly (1) (much of which would be considered torture in other contexts), and they would be unlikely to have the option to retaliate or self- terminate early in their lives, like a reverse scenario of I have no mouth and I must scream.

Anyone have thoughts? Did I miss something?

(1)
http://www.orionsarm.com/eg-article/48bdab3a92bad

[QwertyYerty]

I know my original question was about baseline and nearbaseline humans. I am curious if the answer to the question would change if there was a possibility of being born a Vec or an AI in the scenario I laid out. If I add that possibility I would add the IP as a third possible age since there are serious downsides to being a sapient Vec or AI during the IP age.

"For the most part they were treated as experimental animals rather than sapients. All of them, however, were fully aware that the humans had the upper hand, and to keep emselves alive they played along with the "monkeys" and planned eir breakout."

https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=632218

[Rynn]

Note that we have an update for the AI history article that's not been put on the site yet;
http://www.orionsarm.com/forum/showthrea...920&page=2

Also genetics wasn't prioritised over AI, both developed alongside each other with increased quality of life being the main driver for the latter, not productivity. Also I have to ask...why is a copy of one of our articles on another website?