I'm reading the Mars chapter of Sunward, and it reminded me why I love Eclipse Phase as a setting, but its sci-fi elements can be really confusing and hard-hitting for someone that really isn't tech-savvy or understands the first thing about economics or chemistry.
It constantly mentions physical offices existing, yet in the core rulebook they always go on about how most businesses are virtual, with few physical assets. What exactly would be the uses for physical offices for hypercorps?
What exactly EXISTS as buildings in habitats these days, other than residential areas if most of all the hypercorps' assets are on the mesh? I know things like restaurants (maybe?), shops, brothels, schools, and other stuff still exist, but what else? What wouldn't be around anymore other than the obvious (movie theaters for example)?
It's mentioned that people grow crops on Mars. What would the point be of that if you can just nanofabricate all the food you want? Is it out of nostalgia or culture, or is there a more practical reason for growing crops the natural way?
And lastly, how many people do you think still enjoy actual cooked food over the nanofabbed stuff? Is there really a difference in taste (or quality)? I'd like to think they are not a minority since cooking has always been one of humanity's staple skills---and frequent sources of pride. Shoving raw materials into a metal square and devouring the pizza pie that emerges an hour later, I would think, would be rather bland, both in taste and in execution.
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"Don't believe everything you read on the Internet.”
-Abraham Lincoln, State of the Union address
"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote." -Benjamin Franklin