BY LETTER
Transapientech Societies
 Image from Keith Wigdor |
The transapients, from the lowest First Singlarity entities to the great Archailects, seem to form nets of relationships comparable to what subsingularity beings call societies, though apparently the full reality of what these associations entail is incomprehensible to ordinary sophonts. Transapientech societies are understood to be highly diverse, more so than those of lower tech societies, but the differences between them are generally not explicable to beings of a lower toposophic. Transapientech societies may form a framework within which lower tech societies exist, as is the case for the Sephirotics, or they may seem to have no connection whatsoever to "lesser" beings. Why this is so is simply unknown. The absolute number of transapients is of course orders of magnitude lower than that of subsingularity beings, so one might suppose that there are far fewer transapientech societies than there are lower tech societies. Whether in fact this is true depends on which transapients are consulted and how their statements on the topic are interpreted. Much hangs on one's definitions of such key terms as "individual", "society", and "difference".
Transapientech societies may sometimes be recognized by enormous energy signatures, or by tremendous works of engineering, or by the presence of subtle but miraculous-seeming events. Some seem to be hyperfast and short-lived by comparison with modosophont societies: they disband, depart for abstract spaces, or form new beings of a higher toposophic, or otherwise vanish. When they do so, they may leave behind unusual traces and artefacts.
Articles
- Autotopia - Text by Ryan B
Hightech and above class of post-scarcity infrastructure and socioeconomic system, controlled by non-sophont AI. - FCL Disorder - Text by Michael Boncher
Archailect Hyperactivity Disorder. - Gnostic Net - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Posthuman or hyperturing intranet; links a group or extended individual via a transingularitan protocol. - Godstar - Text by Keith Halperin
The godtech modification and transcension of a star into a high S-level (>SI:4 due to multi-nodality) archailect. - Partial Death - Text by Anders Sandberg
When an extended entity suffers partial irrevocable destruction, removing sizable aspects of the previous individuality. Legal concept intermediate between wounding and death in many jurisdictions. - Philosomorpher - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
A transapient occupation/hobby/lifestyle, poorly understood by subsingularity beings, in which a high level sophont augments eir psychophysical template in order to maximizes the intuitive grokking of reality as a whole, or some specific aspect or application of it. - Progression of Technology in the Terragen Civilisation - Text by Todd Drashner and Steve Bowers
A short outline of the development of technology in the Orion Arm. - Revenant - Text by Todd Drashner
Recreation of either historical figures from the past or hypothetical people from the future, based on extensive software simulation of either past or future history. Revenants are created in data space along with an appropriate surrounding environment and, after an extensive simulated existence are uploaded into realty in a body grown for the purpose. In this manner, civilization is able to 'time travel' to both past and future eras and meet those living there. Revenant creation requires an S3 mind or higher to be wholly successful. - Seraiph - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
A high transapient in the service of an archailect or AI God. May be an autonomous being, or simply the remote of that god. - Seshat - Text by Anders Sandberg
Seshat, Great Lady of the House of Books. Also known as Sefkhet-abwy, the Silicon Goddess, the Glass Cat and Our Lady of Mathematics. Among the Inner Sphere superintelligences there exist an archetypal attractor or perhaps office as Seshat, providing a shared interface to trans-singularity mathematical and notational understanding. - Stellar Engineering - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Modifying or customizing a star in any manner. Could be for the purposes of stellar husbandry, or for more exotic purposes. - Stellar Husbandry - Text by Dave Criswell, in Anders Sandberg's Transhuman Terminology
A type of stellar engineering which involves controlling the evolution and properties of stars, especially to stabilize them, prolong their lifetimes, manipulate the stellar wind, lift off useful material or create new stars. Typical methods include star lifting or mixing the stellar core with envelope material to make hydrogen burning last longer. - Swarm (nanotech or biology) - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Massive numbers of nanobots acting in concert for different purposes, or a mass of interplanetary-capable nanite goo, or a biological organism or alive in which millions of individuals move and act as one. - Xanware - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Firmware standard distributed by the Xan Polity (TRHN). Not to be confused with xunware. - Xunware - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Firmware standard distributed by the Xun Polity (TRHN). Not to be confused with xanware.
Related Topics
Development Notes
Text by Stephen Inniss
based on earlier versions by M. Alan Kazlev
Initially published on 17 September 2008.
based on earlier versions by M. Alan Kazlev
Initially published on 17 September 2008.
Additional Information
