- Writing Levels
- Adaptable
- Genres
- I'm wary of magic with lots of rules.
Science is amoral, many will claim. Science is only concerned with revealing the nature of the universe. But why does an amoral practice always lead to the biggest moral crises in human history? If the natural philosophers and alchymists were aware of the consequences of their actions, would they have pursued their craft? The printing press, gunpowder, levers and machines, mechanization, nuclear power, and nanotechnology ... perhaps if they knew what the people would do with this knowledge, they would have been content to allow humanity to stay as hunter gatherers forever.
Dr. Gromak probably did not foresee the fractal history that would spawn from his discovery of how to grow carbon nanotubes of limitless length. Drawn from the furnace in a neverending thread, the nearly infinite strength of the nanotube bundles effortlessly stretched hypodermic-like into black space. Space travel became a commodity, and so did asteroids. Resources were sold at zero margin. Big miners gulped small ones, absorbing their niche technology to become gigantic mining conglomerates. On 2100 A.D., the Rol Mining-backed President of the United States dissolved the country with a majority vote. The EU soon followed, parceled into the purview of giant companies with opaque power structures and operations, while the Asian Conference remained an elected government.
In some ways the world was more peaceful. Each company had an overt mission - to maximize its share of power, profits, and people (PPP). With nearly complete automation of all skilled labour and declining birth rates, the only humans left alive were the ones that could still do things machines and robots could not. Human suffering was largely eliminated, and those left continued the charades of negotiations and secret handshakes.
But ambition always dreams big.
A mooring cable was severed by a small nuclear device. Fusion plants were as common and small as batteries, and the failsafes behind them were supposed to be unbreakable. Duracell was immediately placed in stasis, their factories swarming with third-party audit agents in black suits and red ties. Deep as they could dig, they found no conspiracy. Someone had to be made responsible, and Duracell was sacrificed in the hidden boardrooms, its nuclear division funneled off into an independent company equally split between all who were affected by the mooring cable disaster.
In a way, it did not matter who the true culprit was - the bombing was the catalyst everyone was looking for but could not ask for. With such a glaring security issue, it would be natural for a big fish to seize control of the New Congo elevator in the name of stability and continuing profits.
What follows will be the sometimes delicate and sometimes brutal dance for control of the cable.
This is ...
Dr. Gromak probably did not foresee the fractal history that would spawn from his discovery of how to grow carbon nanotubes of limitless length. Drawn from the furnace in a neverending thread, the nearly infinite strength of the nanotube bundles effortlessly stretched hypodermic-like into black space. Space travel became a commodity, and so did asteroids. Resources were sold at zero margin. Big miners gulped small ones, absorbing their niche technology to become gigantic mining conglomerates. On 2100 A.D., the Rol Mining-backed President of the United States dissolved the country with a majority vote. The EU soon followed, parceled into the purview of giant companies with opaque power structures and operations, while the Asian Conference remained an elected government.
In some ways the world was more peaceful. Each company had an overt mission - to maximize its share of power, profits, and people (PPP). With nearly complete automation of all skilled labour and declining birth rates, the only humans left alive were the ones that could still do things machines and robots could not. Human suffering was largely eliminated, and those left continued the charades of negotiations and secret handshakes.
But ambition always dreams big.
A mooring cable was severed by a small nuclear device. Fusion plants were as common and small as batteries, and the failsafes behind them were supposed to be unbreakable. Duracell was immediately placed in stasis, their factories swarming with third-party audit agents in black suits and red ties. Deep as they could dig, they found no conspiracy. Someone had to be made responsible, and Duracell was sacrificed in the hidden boardrooms, its nuclear division funneled off into an independent company equally split between all who were affected by the mooring cable disaster.
In a way, it did not matter who the true culprit was - the bombing was the catalyst everyone was looking for but could not ask for. With such a glaring security issue, it would be natural for a big fish to seize control of the New Congo elevator in the name of stability and continuing profits.
What follows will be the sometimes delicate and sometimes brutal dance for control of the cable.
This is ...
Cat's Paw