03 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
Applied History of Technology
Ravna had known that “jumpstarting” technology must be a topic in the ship’s library. It turned out the subject was a major academic specialty. Besides ten thousand case studies, there were customizing programs and lots of very dull-looking theory. Though the “rediscovery problem” was trivial in the Beyond, down in the Slow Zone almost every conceivable combination of events had happened. Civilizations in the Slowness could not last more than a few thousand years. Their collapse was... 1 
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notesAn academic field for a galactic civilization in which they study the technological advancement of different species on different planets. Includes the concept of "jumpstarting," where a civilization is given more advanced technology, similar to the concept of "leapfrogging" for third world countries on Earth.
03 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
The Skrodes
Ravna looked across the surf. When the waves backed down the sand, she could see the Skroderiders’ fronds peeping out of the spray. How she envied them; if tensions annoyed them, they could simply turn them off. The Skroderiders were one of the most common sophonts in the Beyond. There were many varieties, but analysis agreed with legend: very long ago they had been one species. Somewhere in the off-Net past, they had been sessile dwellers of sea shores. Left to themselves, they had develop... 1 notes
notesAn alien species that looks like plant and lacks short-term memory is given mechanical mobility and mechanical memory to help them learn how to use their mobility by a more advanced alien race.
03 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
The "Powers" in Vernor Vinges' Universe
Marketing calls our current visitor ‘Old One.’” He smiled. “That’s something of a joke, but true even so. We’ve known it for eleven years.” No one really knew how long Transcendent beings lived, but it was a rare Power that stayed communicative for more than five or ten years. They lost interest, or grew into something different—or really did die. There were a million explanations, thousands that were allegedly from the Powers firsthand. Ravna guessed that the true explanation...Folksonomies: singularity otherness
Folksonomies: singularity otherness
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notesThey have transcended our kind of existence, but they disappear after just a few years... possibly for the flexibility of their intelligence and ability to rapidly transform themselves, much like Kurtzweil's singularity.
