Virtual

BY LETTER

Virtual

Image from Bernd Helfert

Virtuals encompass all beings that predominantly exist entirely within virtual worlds. Many virtual entities were, or are based upon embodied sophonts. Across the terragen sphere it is common for most physical sophonts to spend time in virtual worlds, either by accessing through their implants or by uploading entirely. However for some these sojourns are temporary, rather than the main home of one's life. It is difficult to calculate even approximately the number of active virtuals who live in the Cybercosm, in computronium databanks and vircivs, or in isolated virchworlds. Estimates range from two to four orders of magnitude more than the physical population in the sephirotics alone.

The virtual environment of the Cybercosm and all its interlinked computronium nodes and digital universes is a vast reality, or connected set of realities, peopled by countless trillions of subsentients, subturings, turings, superturings, and hyperturings, who interact with each other and with the avatars of r/l sentients who access their local virtual reality. It is probably not possible to know exactly how many virtuals there are in the compass of Terragen civilization because there are Neumann and Hider digital worlds that are not part of the Known Net, as well as encrypted and secret worlds within worlds.

The Early History of the Virtuals

The middle of the First Century AT (2020's and 2030s c.e.) onwards saw the growth of a new infotech industry that produced virtual agents, companions, and even employees, for home, work and play. Their virtual representation might be human or animal-like in, they might have some completely imaginary forms representation. These virtual personalities, or sims as they were called, built on developments in early artificial intelligence research. Often they had behavioural traits that made them difficult or impossible for most to distinguish from humans. Philosophers and theologians continued to debate whether the sims themselves were sentient or conscious. Similar debates were soon to revolve around the more high level ai that appeared during the middle Information Age, such as Kilburn, Mycroft, and others. Eventually "sim" came to mean a non- or sub-sentient (even if turing-like to an observer) virtual, and infomorph a fully sentient or sophont virtual or ai (for more information see the History of AI).

By the dawn of the Interplanetary Age artificial inteligences were so prevalent in society as to be taken everywhere for granted. There were even AI who could operate through telepresence or synthetic bodies, and, conversely, more and more humans were creating replicas of themselves, the early "uploads" known as evocations that would mimic their original through observed data. However it was to be some time before full uploading was perfected, to the extent that the upload was a sophont being with a level of conscious and awareness identical to the original (for more information see the History of Uploading).

An Incomplete List of Main Phyles of Virtuals

The following is a very incomplete list of the main types of virtuals:

Virtual Aioids are aioids tailored to inhabit virch space spaces. Aside from modosophonts they include subsophont and even subsapient expert systems and intelligent and transapient beings. They may be entirely bound to the virch, or may interact with the Known Net and may help to maintain the virch environment's infrastructure. Interacting with other virtuals, with r/l sophonts who visit a virch, with subsentient programs, and with each other, they form entire cultures and societies among themselves.

Icons are the innumerable subturing and turingrade ais and agents that act as the digital or intelligent component of most household appliances, and in fact of many software and hardware devices in general. These are accessed via icons, hence the term. They often have their own simple societies and cultures, although very few ever manage to gain their freedom, nor would they want to. Being tied to physical objects, they are not true virtuals, but rather "amphibians", existing both in r/l and virch. More powerful (turingrade and superturing) icons are sometimes worshipped by the superstitious; these are known as Fetishes.

Sims are digital simulations and replicas of r/l objects and beings. They are either semi- or completely autonomous, and may be non-sentient, subturing, turingrade, or superturing. In some worlds and empires - especially the Keter Dominion and the Technorapture Hypernation, there are hyperturing simms all the way up to high singularities. Most simms serve to flesh out the virtual realities to make them more interesting for r/l sapients or former-r/l uploads to interact with; although some simms are created for research purposes.

Digis There are very large numbers of fully sophont infomorphs who were born, or otherwise created, inside a virtual environment and have never existed in the real world. These are often known as digital sophonts, or simply digis. Many digis live inside a virtual cybercosm with no connection to the outside universe, and are not aware that they are virtual entities.

Uploads and Copies: These are Former bionts or vecs who have had their brains (and often their bodies as well) scanned and turned into a digital emulation. For thousands of years uploading technology has been sophisticated enough that bionts can quickly swap between uploaded and Ril form, as easy as walking from one room and the next.

Articles

Alfirk Panvirtuality Swarm - Text by Steve Bowers
Solipsist Panvirtuality swarm with some degree of contact with the Sephirotic Empire worlds nearby.
Artificials - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
generic term for any sophont of a non-biological nature [noun]
Avatar (VR) - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Any graphical, virtual representation of a sophont that interacts in virchspace - a virch body.
Backup - Text by Stephen Inniss
A recording of the entire physical mind/body state of any entity created with the intent that it might be replicated at a later date.
Bottleworlds - Text by Tony Jones
Vast simulated environments and virchworlds where the inhabitants do not know their reality is an emulation, and may be poorly treated.
Carnivorettes - Text by Tony Jones
A virch clade descended from net spying software who inhabit data and grammar spaces, perceiving desired search items and the links between them.
Charactersimm, Characterbot, Charactervec - Text by Steve Bowers
A a semi-sentient entity programmed with elements of the personality of a celebrity, a fictional character or any other person.
Classification of Virch Worlds, The - Text by Tony Jones
The factors that determine the characteristics of different types of virchworlds that make up cybercosms, and how to classify them.
Comparative Chronology - Text by Crossroads
Comparative chronology is the science of studying alternate possibilities and timelines, by means of large-scale simulations.
Computer Elves - Text by Jorge Ditchkenberg
Computer viruses torturing those spending too much time in virches or the Net; late Information Age to present.
Copy - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
An uploaded digital copy of a rl person (whether biont or vec) that experiences emself in all ways as identical to the original alpha. Also can refer to a biological copy, occupying a body with identical DNA to the original person, but differing from a clone in that the memories of the original have been transferred artificially into the new body.
Copy Resolution Types - Text by Steve Bowers
The different types of copying available to a sophont mind
Covenant Data Layer Scale, The - Text by Thorbørn Steen
A scale used for the classification of virtual worlds.
Cybercide - Text by Max More; modified by Anders Sandberg in his Transhuman Terminology
The killing of a virtual, which may be rl person's projected virtual persona, a copy or a simm. This may be part of an interactive or immersive virch game, or may be an act of vandalism or murder.
Cybercosm - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Generic term for any virchworld in or apart from the Known Net; a subdivision of the Cybercosm.
Cybercosm, The - Text by Todd Drashner
Name given the sum total of all the various simulations, emulations and VR environments in existence across the Known Net at any given time.
Destructive Uploading - Text by Steve Bowers
Reconstructing the mind of a human or other biont by disassembling their brain
Digi, Digital Sophont - Text by Steve Bowers
A virtual sophont who was born or created inside a virch and has no previous existence in Real Life
Dividual - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
A copy of a personality surviving in more than one body; a group of individuals sharing the same mental template, being largely isomorphic with each other (as measured by some scale).
Dividual Interaction Protocols - Text by Daniel Eliot Boese
A set of rules concerning the rights and responsibilities of dividuals (copies of an individual with identical personalities)
Download - Text by Fernando PeÃ±a D'Andrea
[1] The transfer of a virtual or a-life being or object from computronium to a physically discrete embodied state (biological, mechanical, electronic, synano, etc.);
[2] The resulting being or object, whether sapient, sentient, living or simply existing;
[3] The same as an upload but meaning also a "downgrade": when the new substrate matrix cannot accommodate the sentient adequately.
Eidolon - Text by Stephen Inniss
Telepresence via utility fog.
EmotSpace Virchworlds - Text by Kirran Lochhead Strang
Virchworlds with six spatial dimensions and each is attached to one of the six basic emotions: happiness, surprise, sadness, anger, fear and disgust.
Emulation - Text by M. Alan Kazlev after Anders Sandberg in his Transhumanist Terminology
An absolutely precise simulation of something, so exact that it is equivalent to the original. For instance, a computer emulating obsolete computers to run their programs, or a neogen emulating an original baseline phenotype. Often used to describe a Whole Brain Emulation, that is, a successful upload of the mind of a biont.
Engenerator Technology - Text by Steve Bowers
Technology which allows uploaded personalities to be transferred into physical bodies, sometimes at interstellar distances.
Enhanced Uploads - Text by Extherian
Expanded mind emulations
Evocation - Text by Steve Bowers
Partial copy created from external data recorded in a sophont's exoself.
Fork - Text by Adam Foust, in Anders Sandberg's Transhumanist Terminology
A copy of any sophont entity, which closely resembles the original when first created. However as soon as the copy and the original begin to interact with the environment the copy will diverge from the original, folloing a separate path of develeopment (hence 'fork').
Gridwood - Text by Todd Drashner
Popular virtual environment found across the Zoeific Biopolity, as well as in cybercosms in the Red Star M'pire, Terran Federation, NoCoZo, and Sophic League.
Heterochronics - Text by Todd Drashner
Lifeforms that are able to alter their time rate practically at will. One moment the beings are going at 1 million times our speed and then some split off and switch to 3 million for an intensive project and then split off some copies to travel on a starship at 1 million times slower than normal sophonts to make the trip go faster....
Hijack, Backup hijack - Text by Steve Bowers
The crime of illegally copying an uploaded or stored personality, generally obtained during or after the backup procedure. These illegal copies can then be sold on the black market as virtual slaves, for use in computation or for entertainment.
Hyperbolics - Text by Anders Sandberg
Posthuman clade descended from virtuals choosing to live in multidimensional hyperbolic virtual spaces.
Incarnates - Text by Steve Bowers
Virtual entities that have been installed into a physical, biological body.
Infomorph - Text by Anders Sandberg in his Transhuman Terminology
An uploaded intelligence, or information entity, that resides in a virtuality environment.
Ipsemism; Manifold Immortality - Text by Steve Bowers
Religion started by the virtual sophont Laron Ipsem.
Lynk - Text by Todd Drashner
Lynking - the act of linking different locations by telepresence via high-grade utility fog, often as part of an angelnet.
New Sol - The Sol-Multiverse - Text by Craig Higgs
Binary red dwarf system containing a dyson swarm and a large number of virtual and real alternate ecosystems.
Non-destructive Uploading - Text by Steve Bowers
Copying the mentality of a living biont without causing any harm to them.
Orion's Arms - Text by Glen Finney
Alternate realities simulated in virtual reality.
Paygeesu Virches - Text by Daniel Eliot Boese
Re-windable virtual reality scenarios.
Physical Existence (virchology) - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Existence in r/l as opposed to virch; slow-time.
Plebware - Text by Tony Jones
A name given to the vast mass of 'baseline' virch, AI and alife entities to be found in software systems of various kinds all across Terragens space, usually by those who are ignorant of the truly vast diversity of the entities inhabiting these systems and who, seeing only their similarities when viewed from 'outside', are happy to lump them all together.
PolyCubicSpace - Text by Addemup
Reling, Rel - Text by Jorge Ditchkenberg
A virtual person designed to live in real-life. They can take the form of almost every clade, and have limited or complete independence from the virtual(s) who built them. Includes relmonsters. Some relings, dissatisfied with the rl, return again to the virtual existence.
Ril, R/L, RL, Real Life, Rel - Text by John B
Non-virtual existence.
Sarcophobia - Text by Stephen Inniss
Sarcophobia is excessive fear and disgust in the presence of flesh, especially one's own.
Savirs - Text by Jorge Ditchkenberg
Sapient Viruses or Savirs are descended both from designed computer viruses and from uploaded baselines and virtual beings.
Scion - Text by Stephen Inniss
A partial or full copy of a sophont, using the same substrate as the original.
Secdats, SDAs - Text by Westcott P. Smith
Security Data Analyst AIs, also known as "SDAs" and "Secdats", a superclade of aioids devoted to processing the vast quantities of data produced by security systems.
Sophtware - Text by Tony Jones
Colloquial term used to describe sophont to transapient level software based lifeforms whether of virtual, ai, or upload origin.
Sosimev - Text by Tony Jones
A form of sophont virch world or environment, in which software has become, or has been constructed or created to be a single sophont entity in its own right.
The Gods Ourselves - Text by Steve Bowers
Popular Virch Roleplaying Game where the players become Archai.
Toon - Text by Anders Sandberg
1. A simplified representations of reality representing general classes.
2. A simulacrum, either non-sentient or aioid, representing an archetype or story character in virtual entertainment, advertising, interactive books or other media.
Toonic - Text by Anders Sandberg
Relating to toons.
Transitionism - Text by Basu
The philosophy of virtual existence and its relationship to biological intelligence.
Translation Metamorphosis - Text by Tony Jones
A problem that can arise when virch entities move from one virch environment to another is that there are beings which will be so altered by the translation that they are effectively utterly different beings in the two different virches.
Twotee - Text by Tony Jones
Twotees are virch entities that originate from a virch where the laws of physics provide for three spatial axes and two orthogonal time axes.
Upload - Text by Anders Sandberg in his Transhuman Terminology
[1] To transfer the consciousness and mental structure of a person from a biological (or other) matrix to an electronic or informational or virtual matrix.
[2] The resulting infomorph sentient; a type of virtual.
Vir - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Common Anglic root, meaning virch or virtual reality. Used in Academic Coronese and a number of other languages to designate a digital or virch entity.
Virch - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
[noun] virtual reality, any digital space or environment; [verb] to interact with or exist or function in virtual reality. Hence vircher.
Virchbuilder Packages - Text by Tony Jones
Types of software used to create virtual worlds.
Virchers - Text by Thorbørn Steen
Sophont virtuals who live in the spheres of virches.
VirchGods - Text by John B
Fairly common recreational theme for virches or some rare highly angelnetted habs, in which an ordinary sophont is empowered with 'archailect-like powers' to manipulate other sophonts, either the real thing or emulations thereof.
VirchMon - Text by Sean White (terranova210486)
Virtual/alife phylum/superclade created in the Information Age, now found almost everywhere in the Known Net.
Virchology - Text by Thorbørn Steen
A digital artificial ecosystem residing in a virch.
Virchophobia - Text by Thorbørn Steen
Virchophobia is the irrational fear of virches. Virchophobes who find themselves in a virch will suffer from anything from restless anxiety to full-scale panic attacks. Generally virchophobes have no trouble avoiding virches, and once they have realized their disorder will be able to live almost normal lives. Virchophobia sometimes includes the fear of virtuals or a-life, but these fears are generally classified separately.
Virchspace - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Any digital space or environment; pertaining to virch or a cybercosm.
Virchuniverse - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Generally, an aggregation or collection of thousands of interconnected virchworlds or cybercosms, all sharing the same basic ontology and lay-out, to make traveling from one to the other easier. Sometimes also used to designate a single extremely large virchworld.
Virchworld - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
A virtual world; usually at least partially self-contained, or apparently so, may or may not include sentient beings; generally part of a cultural community across computer/cyberspace/matrix networks.
Virtual - Text by Thorbørn Steen
A digital, non-ril, sentient entity. Some examples are individuals of datacologies or virchologies, independent alife, sophstems, or virchers
Virtual Body - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
One's av (avatar), the body one takes when 'facing in virtual reality. By means of the virtual body, even the sensorium of the ordinary body is transformed to appear and feel different than it does in rl.
Virtual Cats - Text by Anders Sandberg
Digital subversion organization loosely aligned with Cyberia. It emerged in the 9200's from unknown origins, announcing itself as a digital company of sociocultural mercenaries. The Cats specialize in information warfare, sophisticated political and economic subversion, memetic warfare, and whole-system perversion.
Virtual Drugs - Text by Todd Drashner with some additions by Steve Bowers
The simulation of the effects of drug use experienced via direct neural interface (or by virtual entities).
Virtual Gardens - Text by James Ramsey
A class of virtual worlds and universes created by artists and hobbyists.
Virtual Gibson - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Minor post-ComEmp Cyberian fastime clade found throughout the Known Net. Achieved brief fame when they established a trade pact with The Orthodox Diamond Light in 6932. They had a complex cybertheology, which involves the "giving of data" by virchdeities. It was claimed that some of their members are original infomorphs (or copies thereof) of the some of the original Interplanetary Age gibson sect, but this has never been reliably confirmed. Nothing has been heard of them since the "Case Manifesto" of 7612.
Virtual Haven - Text by John Snead
Virch clade and phyle found on over 200 worlds.
Virtual Kja Observance - Text by Steve Bowers
Vec religion in which a biological inclusion is present as a virtual representation, and so can be stored more easily and protected against dangerous environments.
Virtual Labyrinths - Text by Stephen Inniss
Virtual environments can be used to confuse or contain as easily as to educate or entertain. Virtual Labyrinths, known by a variety of names across the Terragen sphere (Subtillion Traps, Epistemogrifiers, Dreamweirs), are one of the most deadly of these forms of confusion.
Virtual Reality - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Virtual Rights - Text by Max More in Anders Sandberg's Transhumanist Terminology
Rights given for convenience to a partial; these rights are really rights of the person whose partial it is, rather than of the partial itself. Similar in some respects to currently existing corporate rights.
Virtual Sex - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Sex in virtual reality incorporating a visual, auditory, and tactile environment. The sex partner can be a real or simm person.
Virtualics - Text by Anders Sandberg
Science and art of engineering, designing, and/or studying virtual worlds and universes.
Virtualism - Text by Anders Sandberg
The belief, common among many long-term virchers and long-term copies, that only virch is real, and ril is an illusion.
VR - Text by John B
Virtual Reality (abbrev).