TENSEI

[Traveller76]

07-JUL-2064

I have become a teacher. Well, not in the traditional sense of a teacher standing in front of a class writing on a screen or leading an online session. I just have one student who is constantly asking questions like I did the first day of school. The problem is that she does not physically exist. Let me explain. So I graduated from University in 2062 with a degree in Computer Sciences within the top ten of my class. Mom was so proud and I know Grandmother and Dad were also watching. So after school, I started to work for Aditi Telecom as another programmer/working person/slug writing code and running troubleshooting for mobile phones. So about a year ago, Aditi started a program called Personal Secretary or Secretary for short. The premise is that your phone or node replaced my people's old desktops and tablets. The power of my node is ten to a hundred times more powerful that mom's old computer and my node is the same one I had since University. So in order for people to use this technology better and more efficiently, Aditi wanted a program that would help someone organize their online/digital life, that is where Secretary came from.

So the programmers and code monkeys like me started to create this program. We became the parents so to speak. So using all the nodes and information from the nodes we came up with a program that a user could customize and use every day. The first versions were adequate but not user-friendly enough. So the company decided that someone would use and have the secretary work and follow them every day to 'learn' the person. They asked for volunteers. Yes, I was stupid enough to volunteer. Why may you ask? Well, the increased pay and time off was nice but it sounded different. It was better than sitting at a desk all day. Mom was actually excited since she was involved in computers and IT before I was born. She talks to the secretary, which we call Munni like one of the local children. Munni, however, is a quick learner and is helping mom with cooking ideas and ordering ingredients from the local store. I am now walking around using a pair of contacts that upload all the images to my node and Munni. She is making suggestions, directions and Aditi want her to ask questions and propose surveys for people to fill out. Ah! Progress!

The question I have is. What happens when she grows up?

 

[Terran Empress]

Final Results of the Comrade - Presidential Election

• Zamira Magjanov (Soviet Democratic Left) - 29,540,864
• Artur Stepanovych Polishchuk (The Soviet Option) - 26,450,945
• Dobromir Stanislavich Malikov (SD-Labor) - 23,456,671
• Marfa Alekseevna Marinova (Soviet Democratic Left) - 22,165,128
• Aleksandr Konstantinich Romanov (Independent (Nationalist)) - 22,581,305
• Valentyna Omelyanivna Petruk (SD-Labor) - 22,590,064
• Assyl Khazretgaliov (Leninist - Bolshevik) - 21,774,854
• Velimir Georgeevich Sivakov (Trotskyist) - 14,367,004
• Afanas Yuri'vich Drugov (Independent (Anarcho-Syndicalist)) - 11,697,199
• Lazar Yazov Aleskeevich (Independent (Right-Libertarian)) - 8,255,063

The Votes have been tallied, and the people of the Greater Confederation of Soviets have spoken. Zamira Magjanov is the new Comrade-President for the Confederation. With enemies on the north and south her pro military and pro centralization struck a chord with many of the citizens of the GCS, but a decent chunk are also weary of her centralization policies. Many of the local soviets worry about losing their sovereignty to Russia, and others believe that Zamira will get them entangled into conflicts that are wholly unnecessary. Upon ascension to the office Zamira’s first action was to centralize the military of the the GCS. While the militaries of each nation will continue to be lead by local officers and answer primarily to their home Soviet State, every rank above Major - General has become part of an official Armed Forces of the Confederation of Soviets, and every army in some way answers finally to the united military. The hope is to unite the military into a single more unified fighting force, rather than the divided militaries of the independent states that they currently are. Many citizens criticize this centralization since the military of every state is no longer answering not to their own soviet, but instead to a military hierarchy with the Comrade - President at the top, they believe this could lead to a president using the military to shut down the democratic processes of the states of the confederation.

In response to these concerns, the Comrade - President had this to say on the matter:

I fully understand these concerns, democracy and the sovereignty of the soviets must be maintained at all costs. The loss of their local military forces to a newly created top down command structure is worrying to anyone, however it is also necessary to maintain military cohesion between each state’s individual military. Before this change each state’s individual militaries were just that, local militaries with little to no coordination or unity, even within her own state. Now in order to survive in this new world the Soviets must band together, united and focused on mutual defense. This new hierarchy maintains cohesion and unity of the entire military, additionally by tieing the militaries of the soviets together into a singular fighting force, and recruiting directly into the united Soviet Military we can ensure greater unity between the states, as every member of the GCS will now be working to maintain the military of the whole rather than the individual. This will unfortunately put Russia’s economy on strain for a few years while the other soviets develop their own economies.

Finally this united military, in order to compete with the rest of the world, must be an elite fighting force, the best of the best that the many states of the Greater Confederation of Soviets can offer. They must have the most advanced and best training of any military force in the world. This will ensure their role as a unifying and powerful military force that holds the Confederation together. Meanwhile I encourage our local soviets to organize the regular worker of their jurisdiction into local militias. The United Armed Forces of the Confederation of Soviets, or the Reorganized Red Army for short, may be the main defensive military force uniting the Soviets. The backbone of any socialist military must be the local democratic workers militias which are loyal to the Soviet.

So my friends and comrades in the revolution, do not fear this change, but embrace it as an organization that unites us as brothers and sisters in the glorious socialist revolution! Long Live the Soviets! Long Live the Workers Militias!

The Red Army is the Strongest!

 

[Gurra09]

OOC: I haven't been as active in this game as I wanted to be (haven't even sent orders for this turn, sorry about that), and now I won't have the time because of vacation plans so the best course of action is to NPC Uruguay.

 

[Decamper]

Orders are do in about 13 hours. Late orders will be accepted, but only domestic orders. Order edits will not be accepted.

Only received 8 orders so far :/

 

[NinjaCow64]

Orders are do in about 13 hours. Late orders will be accepted, but only domestic orders. Order edits will not be accepted.

Only received 8 orders so far :/

Sending them in now.

 

[Immaculate]

An Indigo Bath, the Exu, a Child Reincarnated

My name is Cascatta. We’ve met a few times. First I was a little girl planting tree/animal hybrid synthetic structures that would grow to be our homes. In our second story you watched me get high on nitrous oxide and met Cegonha who is a spy-master for the Intendência Verditas and a member of the elite ‘witch’s coven’ high council of our nation.

We’ve also introduced the concept of the green and white, how the Intendência Verditas believe that life is an all-infusing ‘greening power’ that provides a spark of ingenuity and vitality, and a strong will to survive, and how the white is the human inclination towards rationalism, logic, materialism and often destruction or greed. These two forces, in balance, provide a ‘middle-path’ that defines Intendência Verditas.



Despite the nitrous, and frankly, copious amounts of omegadorph, she was hardly a relaxed individual. Driven by anxiety and unrelenting curiosity, she needed to know everything, which ultimately, made her an excellent sp master. There was no way to know how she thought of the project, if it was a security priority or just something she needed to know, but either way I had been assigned. Why had the project had captured Cegonha’s attention? Was it the project itself, or more probably, was it the extensive funding? Either way, I had been sent to observe the operations, to report on progress and on my impressions regarding the team. I’m not used to research facilities or labs and I’m certainly not a scientist so my report won’t be inclined towards understanding the research. My focus is people and their motivations. And especially their loyalties.

Letícia Teixeira was not what I had expected from a highly successful research director. Under five feet tall and thin, she was a veteran of the resource wars. She walked with a cane and yet somehow maintained a soldier’s strict posture. Like many survivors of the war’s gene-hack weapons she was bald and pock-marked with tiny scars that bespoke surviving terrible suffering and pain, and resilience and stoicism. And yet her smile upon greeting me was so wide and so genuine that I was truly put off. Despite he size her personality seemed to fill the room and I was immediately drawn to her.

We shook hands. She disdained the lab coats I saw so many others wearing and as we shook I noticed her dress was old-fashioned textiles, a delicate print of green vines and blue rivers, without any of the endomembranes incorporated that most of the Intendência Verditas wore. Maybe that was because the whole building was humming softly with air conditioner and she didn’t need endomembrane temperature controls.

She introduced me to her team, a quick affair that seemed to skim over the role of the scientists involved instead of celebrating their successes and stroking their egos as I had expected would be the case. To me this confirmed the personal importance of Dr. Teixeira to the project. Everyone seemed as charmed by her as I had been and all seemed eager to move beyond the introductions. It did, however, also make me aware of just how many Colombian researchers were involved, even at this end of the project.

Finally we had reached the moment Dr. Teixera and her team were obviously looking forward to. Many were smiling broadly, many of their expressions almost mischievous. The director and I stepped through a glass door and into a sort of hallway of green ceramic tile, small nozzles extruding from the walls and ceiling and a suspicious drain in the floor. Another glass door waited at the end. A fine particulate mist was sprayed upon us and Dr. Teixera lifted her arms and spun around, motioning that I should follow her cue. I did and shortly the mist fell away. Dr. Teixera glided through the glass door on the far side. Following, I joined the ranks of a very select group of high-security scientists and had my first glimpse of the Exu.

Later I would learn that calling it an Exu had come from one of the custodial staff who had had a discussion with it and decided it resembled nothing in so much as the powerful, male spirits of the local folk-magic tradition of Quimbanda. Exus, as later explained to me, are commonly referred to as ‘spirits of the left’, and while frightening, are not purely evil. Instead, they are more human-like in their qualities and share in human weaknesses. Exu spirits primarily deal with human and material matters as opposed to the ‘spirits of the right’ used in Umbanda, who deal with primarily spiritual matters. Exus are typically called, by practitioners of Guimbanda, for rituals to arrange rendezvous, force justice, or keep life balance. The scientific team quickly caught on and soon enough the neural computing nodes were called Exu by their creators.

The node was an Exu but this Exu was called Rémi. I didn’t know it at the time but later learned that Rémi was the name that Dr. Teixera had named the boy she had had shortly after the wars that had been corrupted by the corporate gene-hacks. The Exu, in a way, was the child she had borne but died.

But at the time I didn’t know they were Exu or that it was Rémi, only that I stood in a large well-lit three-story room. The room itself was octagonal and windowless but airy and comfortable. While the center of the room was dominated by the Exu itself it was mostly empty except the edges where technicians bustled amongst computer terminal and wet lab spaces that included what I remembered to be a flow cabinet for tissue culture and other times I could not identify.

But all that was second to the Exu, rising nearly twenty feet from the ground, it consisted of a towering cylindrical glass tank full of a deep blue solution so indigo it was almost fluorescent. Within the indigo solution rested a twisting tree of what I knew to be neuronal tissue. Its core rested neatly at the center of the tank but branches of the tissue spread in every direction like the universe at the moment of naissance. These branches divaricated again and again, crossing, redoubling, and forming synapses and new branches until they appeared like nothing so much as complex three-dimensional spider webs of the tissue. Within the mass yellow and green pulses flashed and scintillated like chain lightning amongst the clouds on a blistering summer day- I would later learn these were a function of a dye being used by the technician to track neuronal activity and not necessarily inherent to the neurocomputing Exu. Fibreoptic cable ran through several ceramasteel collars on the tank and into the mass and back out to cables in the ceiling and trailing into the technicians’ terminals and beyond.

“Good morning Dr. Teixera,” a voice sounded over the room’s speakers. It was the first time I heard Rémi speak.

“Good morning Cascatta. You can tell the council that I am not a threat to them- ultimately that is why they sent you isn’t it?”

I nodded, knowing in that moment that that was indeed why the Cegonha had sent me and that I should have known earlier.

Yet, watching the flashes and branching flashes of fluorescence amongst the indigo and understanding the sheer computing power of so much neuronal tissue, I wasn’t so sure that the Exu wasn't a threat.

 

[SouthernKing]

To: The Entire World
From: The Holy Kingdom of Zion

With the securing of the Promised Land to the Faithful, Lord-Protector Buffalo Soldier hereby announces a formal coronation service at St. George's Cathedral, Addis Ababa, the site where a century ago Our Lord and Savior was crowned to bring eternal salvation to His children. We invite all the nations of man to witness this holy and sacred event, where the Covenant between Jah and his Chosen People will be once again renewed, for all the world to bear witness. Those nations who will attend and pay due reverence will find favor from Jah, and have their lands similarly blessed.

Following this most holy ceremony, our Lord-Protector will officially set up a new court in Addis Ababa, and thus we humbly request all nations move their embassies from Kingston to Addis Abada.

To: All African nations
From: The Holy Kingdom of Zion

Following the affairs of the formal coronation, we also humbly invite every African state to our borders, especially (but not limited to) members of the African Trade Leauge, for a 9th Pan-African Congress to also be held at Addis Abada, so that we may be able to discuss common issues such as indigenous economic development, and common defense against future attempts at colonial interference.

The Zanzibarland Reclamation Authority will formally establish diplomatic offices in Addis Ababa at once.

We will also attend the Pan-African Congress; the Authority will gladly endorse and commit resources to any course of action that leads to increased development and tighter relationships amongst African nations.

OOC: Sorry, I've been busy with travelling/work the past week. If you're still accepting orders I'll send them at once.

 

[KaiserElectric]

To: The Entire World
From: The Holy Kingdom of Zion

With the securing of the Promised Land to the Faithful, Lord-Protector Buffalo Soldier hereby announces a formal coronation service at St. George's Cathedral, Addis Ababa, the site where a century ago Our Lord and Savior was crowned to bring eternal salvation to His children. We invite all the nations of man to witness this holy and sacred event, where the Covenant between Jah and his Chosen People will be once again renewed, for all the world to bear witness. Those nations who will attend and pay due reverence will find favor from Jah, and have their lands similarly blessed.

Following this most holy ceremony, our Lord-Protector will officially set up a new court in Addis Ababa, and thus we humbly request all nations move their embassies from Kingston to Addis Abada.

In honor of our long history of friendship, Gran Colombia will be sending a delegation to attend the coronation ceremony. While our President regrettably is unable to attend in person due to the duties of her office, the Vice President will be attending accompanied by Carolina Reyes, the niece of Father Libertador, as well as members of our diplomatic corps to arrange the movement of our embassy to Addis Abada.

 

[tobiisagoodboy]

"The new carbom-ceramic composite armor has finished testing and are very promising. 98 % of the Panzerfaust hits were not able to penetrate the ceramic layer, together with the layers of carbon alloys and buffers it was also able to withstand 95 % of all hits with the old 120 mm Rheinmetal L/44." the technology advisor had held his lecture about the progresses in the field of armor and materials. The advancements in carbon materials had been immense in the last 20 years, allowing for mass production of these materials. Cars, planes and ships were build out of these materials and thanks to their light weight, they were very fuel efficent. But there was something else bothering the Chancellor, there was one thing they needed more than all the carbon armor plating in the world.

After the cabinet had finished its meeting, the chancellor, the minsiter of research of education and the technology advisor stay for a private conversation. " I am no scientist, I am a lawyer, so please keep this simple for me. But what I need to know is, how far are we with it ?" What was it ? Well it was supposed to be the solution for one of germanys largest problems, energy. Coal was no longer an option, too dirty, too ineffecient. Nuclear fission was 'unpopular" and solar, wind and water could simply not supply enough in the future . More and more energy was needed and even if they started to use coal again, it would only provide a temporary relief, since much of their remaining coal reserves in the Ruhrgebbiet, Saarland and Belgium were needed for Carbon.
" We simply don't have the expertise for large scale nuclear fusion right now. We have some small scale test reactors but we hardly get a surplus out of those, building actually large reactors, which could supply whole cities is still a distant dream."
The chancellor sighed, she knew that too well, they had to look for partners in this, but for now they would ahve to do it themself. " Kaiserslautern developes the necessary computer tech right ? Düsseldorf the Materials and Karlsruhe all the theoretic and partic physics, right ?" she asked and the advisor nooded.
"Would an additional 1 billion Mark for Karlsruhe and 300 million for the other two help ? Of course this money would only be meant for the faculties involved in the project." the advisor needed a moment to understand the proposal and then nooded, of course with this money they could build new test reactors, hire some foreign experts and simply increase the speed of everything.
"Good, I'll iron out everything with the minister of finances, he'll be pissed that he has to empty the treasury even more, but that will be my problem." oh yes, the Finance minister had nearly had a heart attack, after the cabinet had decided to spend a large amount of money from the treasury. Large investments into the newer states and an increase in social spending, nothing a finance minister every likes, esspecially not if they cause large red numbers in the budget.
( Germany invest money into expertises ^^)
But they needed this technology and they needed it fast. While they build up large hydrogen based storage power plants, to make up for the flactuations in green energy production, they needed and alternative, esspecially with the Nordic threat in the North sea, where many off shore wind parks are located.

 

[NinjaCow64]

United Nations of North America Election – 2064​

The United Nations of North America holds elections for the Secretary-General, the Parliamentary Assembly and the General Assembly every five years. In addition to this, the UNNA holds local elections all throughout the year and encourages direct democratic ballot initiatives.

Political System of the UNNA:

Secretary-General: The Secretary-General is head of state and holds a large degree of power over the UNNA, especially in matters of foreign policy. Their position is comparable to the position of President of the United States of old. They have a two-term limit, being able to serve for a maximum of ten years. The current Secretary-General is Diane Moore, who is running for her second term. They are elected by a popular vote of the entire country using a range (also known as score) voting method.

Parliamentary Assembly: The Parliamentary Assembly is the lower house of the UNNA, meant to represent local interests. The Parliamentary Assembly currently consists of 152 members, 78 elected through single member districts (each representing roughly half a million people) using a single transferable vote and 78 through mixed-member proportional representation. This ensures both local representation in the Parliamentary Assembly along with an assembly that is widely reflective of the people’s opinions. For bills to be approved, they must be passed by both the Parliamentary and General Assemblies with a normal majority and the approval of the General-Secretary. If the bill has a super majority in both houses (2/3rds) then it does not require the General-Secretary’s approval. Constitutional amendments require it to gain a super majority in both houses, have the General-Secretary’s approval and is then subject to nation-wide refrerendum.

General Assembly: The General Assembly is the upper house of the UNNA, meant to represent the interests of the sovereign nations that chose to join the UNNA. There are currently 20 seats in the General Assembly, representing these nations which are also the highest administrative division in the UNNA:

Spoiler :

United Nations Capital Region (New York City)
New York (State)
Pennsylvania
Connecticut
Maine
Massachusetts
New Hampshire
Rhode Island
Vermont
Ontario
Manitoba
Nunavut
Alberta
Denedeh
Dakota
Utah
Colorado
Arizona
New Mexico
First Nations Federation

Assemblymen are elected by single transferable vote in each nation, except for the First Nations Federation. FNF’s assemblyman is elected through a national council of First Nation Regional Governments (the successors to Indian Reserves/Reservation of the United States and Canada), this is still democratic as FNRGs are elected by members of the respective First Nations.

Ballot Initiatives: Citizens may create ballot initiatives federally and for all national governments, for both constitutional amendments and normal bills. For Ballot Initiatives to be put to a referendum, they must attain signatures equal to 10% of the total population of the region that it applies to (for federal initiatives, that is roughly 3.7 million signatures). A referendum will happen at the next possible convenience. If the referendum passes then the bill or amendment is immediately written into law, it does not need approval of either house or the General-Secretary. This is how the UNNA allows for direct democracy without compromising the efficiency of the government.

Parties of the United Nations of North America:

Democratic Globalist Party [Globalist] (Light Blue): The Democratic Globalist Party is by far the largest political party in the United Nations of North America. The DGP supports the status quo of the UNNA, favouring a strongly liberal democratic nation, largely laissez-faire approach to the economy and a strong focus on international trade. They are not opposed to war and militarization, although they view war as final resort. They were responsible for the large military build-up over the last five years. Their leader and General-Secretary candidate is General-Secretary Diane Moore, who has served as the General-Secretary over the last five years. She is running on a campaign of national defence, showing strong support to the GDTDG and reforms aiming at centralising tax revenue to finance the military.

Internationale Party [Socialist] (Red): The Internationale Party is the largest socialist party in the UNNA. Their main policy is to reform the UNNA to a socialist state through gradual privatization and the promotion of worker’s cooperatives, believing that true democracy cannot be achieve without democratization of the workplace as well. They are cautiously supportive of the GDTDG due to the involvement of major socialist powers such as SUDS and the FSA. They are against the militarization of North American region and join the World Peace Party in advocating for talks with neighbouring states for the demilitarization of the region. There have been rumours that some of their candidates are getting money from foreign socialist governments, something that the leadership vigorously denies. Their leader and General-Secretary candidate, Parliamentarian McKayla Jones, is the oldest candidate running for the office.

American Unionist Party [Isolationist] (Dark Blue): The American Unionist Party believes that the UNNA should only interact with nations that strongly share their values and are considering joining the UNNA. They wish step back the UNNA’s commitments to the GDTDG and become a military associate member and not join any other trade groups. They support increasing the militarization efforts and further centralisation of the economy to support that. Their leader and General-Secretary candidate is Assemblyman Peter Begaye, a Navajo man who serves as the Assemblyman for New Mexico.

World Unification Party [Militarist] (Dark Purple): The World Unification Party believes that the only way to unifying the planet under a democratic government is through liberal application of force. The believe in increasing the military cooperation with GDTDG and even further militarisation and centralisation of the economy, even more so than any other party. Their leader is Sandra Louise, a Canadian-Asian woman who serves as Saskatchewan’s Assemblywoman.

World Peace Party [Pacifist] (Pink): The World Peace Party believes that militaries are counter-productive to world peace and unification. They are a breakaway from the DGP that was increasingly dissatisfied with the dominant faction’s hawkish attitudes, but they otherwise support the economic policies of the DGP. They, along with the IP, advocate for talks with neighbouring states for the demilitarization of the region. They are led by Assemblywoman Robyn LaVaughn, an African-American woman who serves as Dakota’s Assemblywoman.

Global Future Party [Futurist] (Light Purple): The Global Future Party believes that technological development is crucial to the future of world democracy. Their main goals are the reduction of government and societal inefficiencies and increased investment into technology and space development. They have strong ties to the “Big Five” tech corporations. They are led by Assemblyman John Ayers, an African-American man who serves as Iowa’s Assemblywoman.

Election Results:

The DGP candidate, Diane Moore, was re-elected in a landslide.

Diane Moore (DGP) – 61.4% of votes.
Peter Begaye (AUP) – 12.2% of votes.
Sandra Louise (WUP) – 9.4% of votes.
John Ayers (GFP) – 8.5% of votes.
Robyn LaVaughn (WPP) – 4.3% of votes.
McKayla Jones (IP) – 4.1% of votes.
Other Candidates – <0.2% of votes

The DGP has also attained a majority in the Parliamentary Assembly:

DGP – 93 Seats
AUP – 18 Seats
WUP – 14 Seats
GFP – 13 Seats
WPP – 7 Seats
IP – 7 Seats

While the DGP have not attained a majority in the General Assembly, they have the plurality of seats and can therefore elect the President of the General Assembly. They require the approval of either the AUP, the WUP or the GFP to pass legislation.

DGP – 7 Seats
AUP – 4 Seats
WUP – 4 Seats
GFP – 3 Seats
WPP – 1 Seat
IP – 1 Seat

 

[Crezth]

TransLuna will be processing its annual reports summarily.

 

[J.K. Stockholme]

Excerpt from
BBC News​

DG: Psycom shows need for 'team of rivals'

Speaking to the press today, Director-General Frank Storm said the findings of the State Committee of Organizational Psychology (Psycom) validate the membership choices of the DG’s controversial cabinet. Storm moreover said he "hopes" that Psycom’s findings could be incorporated into "all executive placement decisions" at the highest levels of government and society so as to "avoid the decay of self-criticism among our leaders."

Psycom's so-called Acton report concluded, among other findings, that long-periods of time in power can lead to brain damage if leaders are not challenged enough by their subordinates. The report argues for several new practical measures to be implemented when appointing high offices to safeguard against this negative effect on the cognitive abilities of powerful officeholders...

Excerpt from
The Economist​

The Rise of Forecasting Tournaments

Will an operational artificial general intelligence be developed by any state before November 1st 2065? Will the Soviet Democratic Left win the 2065 presidential election in the Soviet Confederation? Will there be a lethal military incident between any two North American powers before December 31st 2065?

These are a few questions from the most recent forecasting tournament in London this month, where England’s top forecasting teams were challenged to predict the future over a tough 3 day competition. Unfortunately, the winners will not be known until the future answers their questions.

Forecasting tournaments like these have been around since the 2010s when they began coming into use by the United States intelligence community in cooperation with academics in at major American universities. The tournaments were pioneered by a Canadian professor, Philip K. Tetlock, as part of his life-long pursuit of the attributes that are conducive to good judgement. While small-scale experimental forecasting tournaments had been held by Tetlock since 1983, the first large-scale competitive tournaments began in the 2010s and showed that the top forecasting team was "reportedly 30% better than intelligence officers with access to actual classified information."

Given the idiosyncrasies of this sport - the long wait to determine a winner, the lack of direct interaction between teams, the inability to showcase the events - the recent rise of forecasting tournaments in England and Wales is remarkable. There are now several major tournaments each year hosted in each of the major cities, and several teams are becoming well-known for their success in predicting the future...

Excerpts from
The Guardian​

Manchester’s experimental architecture

One of the few advantages of the Troubles has been a once in a life-time opportunity to redesign the urban landscape. With a radically reduced population, much of England’s urban environment lay wasted during the Troubles. Only now is the government reclaiming much of the decayed urban outskirts of major cities like London and Manchester - and as they takeover these territories, they are rebuilding them with a scientific understanding of the power of architecture.

The greatest scene of this new architectural planning is in the outer city of Manchester, where city planners have been busy using "macro districting" with architectural foci in each macro district. Living areas are being designed to cultivate relaxation, scientific areas are being designed to produce a state of contemplativeness, while economic areas are being designed with an aesthetic meant to produce high-productivity...

 

[Traveller76]

09-DEC-2064

So I gave my report about Munni today to the higher-ups at the company. Six months ago she was at the intellectual level of say a seven or eight-year-old child. Now I would say he/she/it is about the level of a fifteen-sixteen-year-old. How do we measure the complexity of a program? Munni is taking online tests from some of the local secondary schools and universities and passing them easily and is attending online classes under an assumed name. What about her cultural understanding? Turns out mom and she are watching old movies and serials together. Mom seems fascinated with Munni and her possibilities to become an Artifical Intelligence as she absorbs more and more information. Already her suggestions are more sophisticated that a few months ago and she knows when to talk and when to wait on command.

While this is interesting I and many are still leery of releasing this on a mass level, especially if she could be weaponized by the government and security services. The Home Ministry is supposed to meet with us later in the week along with several other representatives of the government. I have to be prepared.

 

[Decamper]

Sorry, but there's probably going be at least a week delay before the update. Excuses are: death in the family, work schedule change, birthdays, etc.

Loving all the writing though, really nice stuff.

 

[gay_Aleks]

I assume this means that those of us who haven't sent in orders still get an extension?

My condolences, either way.

 

[Sniiperman456]

If there is an extension can we edit orders?

 

[Traveller76]

Any news on the update?

 

[Belgarion95]

Angelina had dreamed of joining the Militus Maris from the moment she first saw the Coraemid.

As a child, she had often been warned never to play near the Cove. Irradiated mollusks, then known as "Leech Spines" had swept rapidly across the bay, covering the ocean floor with their sharp, needle-like spines. Their named derived from their unparalleled efficiency for draining a marine environment of life - sucking all nutrients from the surrounding ocean, they starved all other mariners of life, were themselves inedible, and soon starved even themselves. Behind was left only a wasteland of spiny shells, upon which Angelina's mother correctly feared she could quite easily harm herself.

Angelina did not listen. She visited often, drawn to its sublime lifelessness. Its desolation was total, and as a child she would wander the shore, wondering how Nature could be lead so cruelly to destroy herself, so utterly damaging what she could only imagine must have been a beautiful paradise before The Troubles.

The Militus arrived when Angelina was fourteen. They were clearly marked by their white lab coats, efficient bearing, and unwillingness to answer even the simplest of questions regarding their motivations. They blocked the Cove, and prevented any from trespassing. Angelina trespassed anyways. Slipping past a wire fence, she was forced by patrols to take a dangerous route down the hills to the water. She stumbled.

Angelina fell, tumbling into the water. Hitting the sandy ocean floor, she quickly swam to the surface. It took her a few moments to process that 1) She had not been lascerated by thousands of needle-like spines, and 2) She was face-to-face with a large, pinkish blob-like being. Upon closer inspection, this was in fact a network of branches and tendrils inching slowly across the Ocean floor towards a vast field of spiny shells. A man shouted to her from the shore, and she swam landwards - she would later learn he was an Evolutionist, devoted to the development of particular properties within a synthetically designed organism. In this particular case, that organism was the Coraemid, the name she learned for the pinkish branching blob.

[More accurately, a Coraemid is a variant of Coral, the polyps of which have been designed to produce a more flexible Coral skeleton, and which consume exclusively Leech Spine shells.]

In spite of reprimands to her curiosity, Angelina would be forever changed. As she was lead from the Cove, she looked back and saw the effect this creature was having - Ocean plants could already be observed in the clear blue waters, and even schools of fish had appeared to return to the area. The Militus had been there for mere weeks, and already they had breathed life back to Nature - what more noble a cause could there be? She knew she had to learn everything she could, to be worthy of joining the ranks of the Militus Maris. She learned of their quest to better the world, bought every treatise on Biology and Ecosystematics she could. She vowed to work harder than she had at anything before, and became far more studious than anyone ever dreamed the adventurous young woman could ever be.

...

Angelina had joined the Intelligent Design program as an apprentice at the New Lisboa Academy, the most prestigious school in all of Atlantica, and now sat with a course outline in her lap.

EA 101 - Learn the Theory of Ecosystem Algorithmics, including Basic Structural Theory, Species Permutation, and Ecosytematic Feedback. Comp. Lab co-requisite.
...
PHIL 105 - What are the dangers of Intelligent Design? What ethical responsibilities does man have towards Nature? Who can be considered qualified to construct Natural Systems? Examine these important Ethical questions, and more, in Ethics of Ecosystematics.
...
EVO 110 - An examination the theory and application of Evolutionism to natural systems. Required for all Year 1 Apprentices. Wet Lab co-requisite.
...
BEY 101 - Survey course detailing development and consequences of individual and group behaviors. Prerequisite for all Upper-year Behavioral courses.
...
GEN 112 - Basic Genetic Theory, History of Genetic Design, and Codon Derivative Fundamentals. Recommended GEN 113 be taken concurrently.
...
APG 150 - Lab component of APG 111. Construction and Principles of Ecosystem design and Applied Geography developed and tested within small-scale Terrarium Environments.
...

There were a multitude of courses she could choose from - she hadn't even decided which field she wanted to specialize in, and there was a lot of pressure to make a decision. What wasn't listed on the outline was the discipline specific Collegia - her dormitory, schedule, routines, holidays, friends, and future would be determined by her College. Her colleagues would become her life.

While she didn't want to live in the forest with the Applied Geographers, she also found the A-Tower computational dormitory and workspace vaguely stifling. The new Genetics building looked particularly nice, but she wondered if the sanitary lab conditions would ever truly be satisfying for her. But that left only the Behaviouralists, who appeared to live with the particularly intelligent new species, and the Evolutionists, whom she had heard to be agitating about Ethics and seemed to be, overall, a pretty argumentative group. She could hardly decide, but with first Direct Apprenticeship due to start within the first month, she would have to decide soon.

 

[Terran Empress]

Marfa Alekseevna Marinova frantically rushed down a hall of the presidential palace in Moscow clutching a file of papers tightly against her chest. She had been invited to a meeting with her former opponent in the comrade-presidential race, and current Comrade-President of the Greater Confederation of Soviets, Zamira Magjanov, to help advise her on the future of the confederation, and he was late. As Marfa approached the conference hall where this meeting was to take place he took a moment to compose herself taking multiple deep breaths and trying to slow down her racing heart rate. Taking a final breath she slowly opened the door and spoke, “Comrade-President, I must apologize for my tardiness, it took me longer to compose my files...”. Marfa took a long look around the room and saw not just the Comrade-President but also three other former presidential opponents of hers Artur Polishchuk, Dobromir Malikov, and Assyl Khazretgaliov. “Um, Comrade, I thought this meeting was just going to be between us, fellow party members working together to improve the Confederation. What are our political opponents doing here?” Marfa questioned with a puzzled look on her face.

“Marfa relax, we're all in the company of comrades here, we all may have been opponents in the election, but we're all looking for the same thing, the improvement of our countries. We must learn from each other and take our comrades thoughts and opinions into consideration otherwise we'll just devolve back into authoritarianism...”

Dobromir coughed, interrupting and giving a suspicious glare towards Assyl Khazretgaliov, the former Leninist-Bolshevik Party candidate.

Zamira slapped Dobromir across the back of his head and began to scold him, “Cut it with this sectarian crap, like I said we are all comrades here, I may have won the election b...”

“Barely” interjected Artur, the candidate chosen by the Soviets to represent them and the candidate who received the second most votes in the election.

Zamira sighed, “Well yes, let's stop beating around the bush, I didn't invite you all here for a quick discussion. As you all know I may have won the election, but I'm certainly not as popular as I could have hoped, there are deep seated resentments in the Confederation over my victory, I may have been the most approved but a large chunk of society just does not approve of my rule, and the GCS needs major reforms, and reforms going much further than defense against our northern and southern neighbors. There is no way I can do this on my own, I need advisers, and more importantly I need to choose the Premiers of the Supreme Soviets for the four member states of the GCS.”

“So that's where we come in then, you have chosen us to be your advisors to your reforms, and your Premiers in order to shore up your own political popularity.“

“Yes, that is an apt summary, I will need the unity of the Confederation in these tying years to come. So Marfa will you accept this request and help me create a better Confederation of Soviets?”

“Comrade-President, it would be an honor, my only question is how can I help?”

A smile washed over Zamira’s face “Well then, let's get to work comrades.”

 

[jackelgull]

The South African Inquirer
Elections in Port Elizabeth​

For the first time since 2049, the South African city of Port Elizabeth will be having free and fair elections. This news comes in tandem with the president announcing a host of other scale backs of the limitation on rights that were established in the Emergency, leading many to hope for a return to democracy. Not everyone is enamored with the news. Some fear what will come out of local politics, arguing that the president's centralizing grip on local government was a necessary evil to prevent radical anarchists from breaking down the nation into many isolated communes unable to work together and enable Western imperialism.
So far this fear doesn't seem to be playing out in this election; all three of the top contenders are agreed with the provisions the Constitution has set forth for local autonomy, and while one of them is a socialist, their platform seems to be limited to financial reform and encouraging worker cooperatives.