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skwirlinatorfollowshare
5-2-2008 10:19 AM111 views
Now, you can either go to one of the above pages, or scroll down for the
Grand List of FAQs (so far)
Yes, more are being added all the time...
7 Comments   | Add a Comment
5-2-2008 10:20 AM
skwirlinator
Explaining the Setting
Why call it "Orion's Arm"?
Why the year 10,000?
What does OA have in the near future?
What is meant by "Hard Science Fiction"?
What is "Worldbuilding"?
What is a "Shared World"?
How does Orion's Arm differ from other "Space Opera"?
What is the OA position on souls, life after death, the existence of God, etc?
Why aren't humans in charge in the setting?
There are some spelling mistakes
What happens when history overtakes the timeline?
5-2-2008 10:21 AM
skwirlinator
OA and Transhumanism
What is the Singularity?
What is Transhumanism?
What is meant by Pessimistic Transhumanism?
How does Orion's Arm differ from Transhumanism?
Technical Questions
I've received conflicting views about people living long periods of time....what's the Orion's Arm take on this?
What happens to the Soul during Uploading?
If the attainment of superhuman intelligence and power is open to all, why don't all sapients automatically ascend?
What is the difference between 'ascension' and 'transcension'?
Within the setting anti-biological (ahuman) AI polities are said to exploit biological sophonts (bionts). What could they possibly gain?Why are the superhuman AIs...
5-2-2008 10:21 AM
skwirlinator
Science, Technology, and "Hard Sci Fi"
How do you know that nanotechnology (apart from biological organisms) is even possible?
Don’t you think that nanotechnology is a tired cliché in science fiction?
What about articles in Scientific American refuting the possibility of assembler-type nanotechnology?
A reactionless drive is silly; it's something for nothing.
How can you be "hard sci-fi" and yet have speculative science like wormholes and assembler nanotechnology?
5-2-2008 10:22 AM
skwirlinator
Social Sciences
Why does the OAUP objectively claim that we will allow ourselves to be ruled by machines? Surely society will restrain AIs from rebellion?
Isn't the emphasis on memetics misplaced, and memetics simply a bad metaphor?
The societies you present are dictated by human organizational behaviour, as is evident in the religions and economics of such societies. This suggests that the very foundation of the concepts of Orion's Arm are moot, since they are all baseline-human based.
5-2-2008 10:22 AM
skwirlinator
AIs, Transapients and Archailects
What makes you think AI is possible, or if it is, is easily attainable?
Can humans design and build advanced AIs?
Doesn't it seem far-fetched to have Computer Intellects (AIs) taking over from humanity?
Why would you want to build a sentient evolving AI that would inevitably supplant you?
How can you be "hard science" and yet have AI Gods?
If the AI Gods are so advanced why would they bother taking up the roles of gods in the first place?
What difference is there between having Terragen-derived Archailects, and having god-like alien intelligences or literal supernatural intelligences doing the same thing?
The 'transapients' don't impress me at all; we...
5-2-2008 10:23 AM
skwirlinator
The Place of Humanity
I have a problem with Orion’s Arm and transhuman scifi in general - the fact that human beings are obsolete.
Isn't the idea of humans worshipping AIs blasphemous?
Isn't a setting with humankind beneath (and subject to) AIs and other transapients profoundly anti-humanist?
I find a setting with humans as at best pampered pets and at worst vermin grabbing for scraps under their transapient or archailect masters as something not at all appealing
I don't want to write about a human leech affixed firmly to the generosity of some transapient. That's boring to me.
The biggest weakness of your setting is that there is no compelling need for any baseline humans.
It seems t...
5-2-2008 10:23 AM
skwirlinator
Prophecy or Fiction?
How do you know the things you describe will even happen?
How can you attempt to predict a future governed by intelligence that is beyond human?
How can you claim to be scientifically plausible, and then make wild propositions about god-like archailects and the rest?
Isn't speculating on a post-singularity future a contradiction in terms?
OA is based on hard science accumulated by human intelligence alone up to the present. How do we know that the current known laws of physics (by baseline humans) will have any merit 10,000 years in the future?
Your extrapolation of current human knowledge is linear, when in fact it should be exponential, since the whole concept ...
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