Background

Affiliate disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, I may earn commissions from qualifying purchases from Amazon. 

 

Technical Constructs, Initialisms and Definitions 

 

Androids, droids, cyborgs and robots

An android is an artificial body inhabited by a mindossier. It can be extremely sophisticated (a replica of a human) or it can be a basic tool or device (a droid with basic locomotion that drills holes, etc). The highest order example is a DNA-based artificial lifeform. Characteristics include but are not limited to: encapsulation of the mind and associated memories that make up the perception of self; ability to move the mind from one host to another, to multiple hosts at once, to backup and send a mind over a network and to bring minds together in a workgroup;

A cyborg is a biological body that has been enhanced with technology in order to function better or to repair a damaged component. A body with a cybernetic prosthesis is a cyborg. A glass eye doesn’t make one a cyborg, but a sophisticated artificial eye does. Most cyborgs were human but other species also had cyborg enhancements. 

 
A robot is a more generic term designating a dumb or lower- order mechanical entity such as a robot on an assembly line. These are normally fitted with some kind of weak or narrow AI capability. Robots can reach a high level of sophistication, but are not capable of independent thought. 

 

ANI artificial narrow intelligence


 

Sometimes referred to as Weak AI, artificial narrow intelligence is AI that specializes in one area. There’s AI that can beat the world chess champion, but that’s the only thing it does. Ask it to figure out a better way to store data on a hard drive, and it’ll look at you blankly. 

AGI artificial general intelligence 

 

Artificial general intelligence can be understood as AI that’s equivalent to human intelligence. A famous test for this is the Turing test (1950), developed by Alan Turing. 

ASI artificial superintelligence

 

Artificial superintelligence is created when an AGI is provided with the means to grow without restraint e.g. by giving it access to the internet and all the resources it asks for. 

Brane drive or membrane drive 

The concept of the brane drive was inspired by the work of Dr Paul J. Steinhardt and Dr Neil Turok (Endless Universe: Beyond the Big Bang, ISBN 978-0-385-50964-0). It allows a ship to travel between branes. 

Collective 

 

The Collective is a superorganism made up of the Kai ASI and at least one mindossier. Collective mindossiers can be downloaded into an android and function independently from the Collective or remain connected to it. (see mindossier)

Cybernetics 

 

Category 1: synthetic/artificial/high performance limbs; hands and feet (performance issues due to incomplete integration with CNS); eyes; ears; teeth; organs; plasma; red blood cells (bio/ synth); white blood cells (bio/synth); nerves (bio/synth); genitals; skin; muscle; bones.
Category 2: these include Category 1 but add enhanced performance or durability: cameras in eyes; internet connection/integration; human communication is pretty
much done using ear and eye cybernetic enhancements that tie the body into the web; (Cybercomm implant package: electronic “second lens” that provides enhanced vision as required and is linked to the web; also, ear implants that provide enhanced hearing as required and are also linked to the web). 

DNA-based cloned and unique humandroids 

 

An android based on human DNA, essentially a clone, that is grown using recombinant nanotechnology and materials. The unique humandroid goes one step further; it uses a unique virtual zygote. 

∞ Infinity

 

This is the symbol for infinity, worn by the Collective and KAI Corp. 

Fusion drive

 

A ship’s drive based on cold fusion power. 

Fusion electric generator 

 

Portable generators used on Earth and in space that generate electricity using cold fusion. 

Kai 

 

Kai is the ASI created by Dr Graham of CCCorp. It is important to note that Kai is a unique non-biological ASI, whereas all of the mindossiers that enter the Collective become ASIs but remain, at their core, the individual human mind they were copied from. 

 

Mindossier 

 

The standard mindossier is an encapsulated human mind. It is a standalone two-part file made up of brain and mind components. It can be read or interacted with using dedicated tools like the mindossier player or the player app. It can inhabit an android body or be moved or copied into the Collective where it becomes a Collective mindossier (see Collective). 

S 

This is the symbol for entropy, worn by the mutinous Collective subgroup. 

Room Temperature Superconductivity

 

This is something which is very close to becoming a practical, if expensive, reality. Superconductivity is already used in various applications like quantum computing. The room temperature variety is very close as explained in Superconductivity; A very short introduction.

Spacetime Drive 

 

The concept of the spacetime drive was inspired by the work of Dr. Miguel Alcubierre (The warp drive: hyper-fast travel within general relativity. Classical and Quantum Gravity. 11 (5): L73– L77). A propulsion system that is powered by dark energy. It expands spacetime behind the ship and contracts it in front. It can be used without inertial dampers since the ship doesn’t move in space, it’s displaced in spacetime, inside a bubble. Also, the ship can’t hit anything because, technically, it isn’t moving. An external observer will see the ship only if they’re moving at the same rate along a parallel path. The ship can cover distances at relative velocities much faster than the speed of light. 

 

yx

Names including an exponent (x) designate an individual or android that is populated by a mindossier e.g. Francinex.

 

Planetas Structure (as the story opens)

 

 I - The Planetas Federation Council 

 

The Secretary-General (SG) and the Under-Secretary-General (USG) were elected every four years and could hold up to three terms in total. The election of the SG and the USG alternated and were held every two years. Any stalemate in the GA or the Council was broken by the SG.

 

 A - Permanent members


The Planetas Council’s four permanent members, below, had the same vote as the other members of the Council. They had no veto.
1. PRC (China)      Asia


2. EU                     Europe


3. Russia               Asia


4. US                     North America 

B - Non-Permanent members

Along with the four permanent members, the Planetas Council included four temporary members that held their seats for two years.
1. Brazil                South America


2. Bhutan              Asia


3. East Africa        Africa


4. Canada             North America
 

C - Corporate Representative


There was one corporate representative who sat at the Council table. Every two years the International Corporations Guild, headquartered in The Hague, South Holland, Netherlands, would submit the names of three Corporations for consideration as their representative on the Council. 

Current ICG Representative and Regional Group
Matt Harrington for DesertCloud Industries; North America 

II - The Planetas General Assembly
 

The number of member states within the General Assembly was 47 due to amalgamations of numerous nations into larger federations. 

III - The Planetas Federation Public Service 

 
The Public Service was comprised of 15 departments. These were headed by deputy ambassadors appointed by the Planetas Council. The deputy ambassadors reported to General Assembly ambassadors who held portfolios of one or more Public Service departments. There was no official body of the Public Service deputies, but they met as a group and were functionally managed by the Executive Director of the Public Service. This group met quarterly or, as required, with the Planetas Council.

Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.