Hi!
Found this site searching for fiction via Tv-tropes.
While I’m a new reader, I’ll likely lurk a lot.
The internet is a constant deluge of input—my instinctive counter is
to provide output only when I have something interesting to say, hoping others will reciprocate...
(And even then, I only feel comfortable when what I say is concise, relevant and new.)
After all, thousands of people might read my message;
wasting their time would be unspeakably rude.
Elyandarin
Karma: 7
Technologal weirdtopia:
95% of all innovators have joined one of three factions: Cyberpunk, Biopunk or Steampunk, whose conflicting aesthetics make the Mac/PC debates look like playground scuffles.
As soon as one faction makes a new gadget, the others stubbornly construct their own version based on THEIR tech. (The biological toaster must be seen to be believed, and the continued existence of the Steampunk pneumatic-tube-based Internet is an ongoing miracle.)
Most “Square” technologies have been appropriated by one faction or the other; for example ‘zipper’ technology is officially classified as Steampunk, ‘velcro’ is Biopunk, and the easily-fabbed zip-ties are of course Cyberpunk.
A coalition from the remaining 5% of innovators recently TRIED to break out of the mold and form a workshop for neglected Square technologies such as fusion, meta-materials and superconductors, but now everybody else is referring to them as “those Crystalpunk guys” and several of the contributing scientists have recently begun sporting a crystals-and-togas motif…
Sexual weirdtopia:
Sens-o-tape technology can record and play full sensory experiences, and as usual, the porn industry is the first to cash in on the new trend. Naturally, ‘amateur’ sex pales in comparison to commercially produced, computer-enhanced experiences, and as a result, real-life sex dwindles in popularity, mostly performed by highly trained professionals on each other, or by long-term couples who have had the time to work out each other’s specific buttons.
Economic Weirdtopia:
After population pressure have shifted the economic basis for money to “reproductive success”, having ten kids is now restricted to billionaires. Harsher inheritance laws and gift laws have not only abolished unequal inheritance, but the money is also ‘cashed in’, giving heirs an non-refundable increase in allowed children. As a result, the measure of ‘real’ wealth becomes having a diverse network of affluent relatives to support your commercial endeavors via goods and services.
After a hundred years of this policy, the top 1% have become the top 10% - however, most of those people actually belong to sprawling interconnected clans.
On the bright side, the middle class have been substantially bolstered, and as parenthood shifts to becoming the prime status symbol in society, increasing amounts of time and resources are spent on education and child health.
Governmental Weirdtopia:
Every political candidate who gets even a single vote is elected to office. (“No votes wasted!”) Consequently, there are over 5000 presidents of the United States (It would be more, but those with a constituency of less than 1000 people tend to drop out because the hassle isn’t worth it.) Some presidents are simultaneously staff members of other presidents. Many presidents elected other people to be THEIR presidents. All presidents dictate policy, which affects precisely those citizens who voted for them.
A special network of supercomputers is continually busy calculating what laws, regulations and taxes apply to each particular citizen.
Cognitive Weirdtopia:
After the secrets of the mind have been unlocked, personality traits can now be bought and sold on the open market. Everyone wants a piece of successful businessmen’s brains, and many people pay to have the currently-trending virtues and vices installed. There is a popular movement to mandate Integrity, if not Honesty, in anyone serving as a politician or CEO. (This is heavily resisted by current politicians and CEOs, but the install seems to be a competitive advantage for the up-and-coming politician.)