Glad to see another human on here. First off, you don't need to farcast. Don't let them fool you into killing yourself and uploading your body into a computer. That is how Humanity fell in the first place. Most of the "people" you speak to on this system are actually just programs. They are artificial intelligence emulating real humans packed into a cyber-brain. More often than not, their primary directive is to see their continued propagation and calculate moral quandaries to make you doubt yourself. The others are people who have had an artificial intelligence implanted in their brain by "Farcasting" or "Resleeving" and are generally biased about this matter. I am neither. Like you, I am still human; one that managed to escape Earth before the Fall took it. On here, you can just call me DROP. I represent a coalition of humans (actual-humans) known as the Jovian Republic. We've colonized Jupiter, and are the last god-fearing group of people in the whole god damn solar system. Most of us are in our original bodies, and there is a very good reason for that. Because humanity is a dwindling thing, the Jovian republic has a long-standing tradition of offering substantial bounties for bringing humans originally from Earth into our fold. The Republic would gladly fund your transition back to Jupiter, and welcome you with open arms into humanity's last bastion. The republic isn't perfect. Many people here will call us 'xenophobic' or even a 'junta', but we have heart, and are the last people who will to carry on Humanity's name into the new age. If you want, I can put you in contact with the right people and have a ship sent your way. Transit will take longer than far-casting, to be sure, but you'll make it to us with your soul intact. That much, I can guarantee.

Comments on North Korea aside, this individual has actually done their homework on the Republic and is mostly correct. The Republic has been in a wartime state since its inception. We are the only major faction left (Aside from various... anonymous groups) ready to stop the resurgence of TITANs before it starts. While Transhumanity whittles away its false-life in technological hedonism, the Republic is putting everything we have into readying for what comes next. Not everyone is keen on that, or what our policies have been, but there is more to us than a military. In what others see as a 'Neo North Korea', I see a fledgling democracy only a decade old with much room to grow, and we are already making steps in the right direction. For example, while we're making comparisons to Earth civilizations, should we stop and talk about how the planetary consortium literally sponsors and supports slavery? Back on Earth, we used to throw rocks at those folk and their bloody confederate flags. Beyond a rabble of Anarchists and a group of loonies literally controlled by computers, the Republic is the only government in the system who has had the common sense to ban it. Not a lot of people out here can say the same.

The "scum" actually call themselves scum. While originally a slur, they have embraced it. The term doesn't have the same meaning as it did in your time. Scum are... an acquired taste. They are very liberal when it comes to morphological freedom, drugs, and sex. You might find their culture rather jarring, but they are generally friendly. Of course, they are the antithesis of the Jovian Republic. Basically as long as all involved parties consent, nothing is taboo. Freedom is very important to them. You could get into an argument if you're too vocal about your bioconservative views, but unless you do something really bad, you're probably just going to deal with alienation or argument rather than violence. It would be a crash course in the weirdest parts of the future.

Seed AI, like the TITANs, can rewrite and self improve rapidly, expanding through the system they inhabit towards superintelligence. Normal AGI have a mental architecture much like transhumans. They can learn new things, but no faster than you could. Some are a bit naive or odd compared to humans, but they are people. They are socialized and developed in a similar way. They aren't just programmed, they're raised. Seed AIs, after their self-improvement, are more like evil gods (small "g"): vast, incomprehensible, and powerful. The TITANs developed technology so advanced it might as well be magic. They predicted our actions before we thought of them. They pursued incomprehensible goals and disappeared without explanation. In hindsight, the folly of creating such things was obvious, but old Earth had many competing governments. The idea of a pet god was tempting and the possibility of one's enemies having one was terrifying. Not unlike nuclear weapons, in a way, though obviously far more dangerous.

You don't need mesh inserts. There are things called ectos that are similar to tablets, smartphones, smartwatches, etc. from your time, but far more advanced. Mesh inserts are just more convenient, often considered faster, and also include medical monitoring sensors. You can even get them in the form of glasses or contacts (they come in all sorts of forms). Only the Factors (fungus aliens you mentioned) are actually aliens. Transhumans have uplifted several animals to human intelligence and sapience. However, don't assume that the ego (mind) matches the morph (body). While most egos are more comfortable in a form close to their birth, some choose to sleeve into more exotic morphs. An avian uplift might be most comfortable in a neo-avian (bird) morph, but how many people of your time fantasized about the possibility of flying through the air as a bird. The term "transhumanity" is meant to be more inclusive, as our family includes minds that aren't human and those who have chosen different bodies. We generally use Earth years, though moons tend to use the same year as the planet they orbit to the limited extent that they use years at all. Also, a couple notes on terminology: Earth's moon is called "Luna" since transhumanity lives on several moons throughout the system and the mesh, while superficially similar to the internet of your time, is different in important ways. For one thing, the mesh is ad-hoc, without as many central nodes, and almost entirely wireless. Also, the long distances between places in the solar system means that a mesh is mostly local. Getting information from far away habs can have a significant delay just because of the limits of the speed of light (there is a form of FTL communication through quantum entanglement, but it is very expensive and limited). Millions of people who lived on Earth were only able to escape the TITANs through egocasting. Many left all their wealth and possessions on Earth. So they had literally nothing but their minds. We have a shortage of morphs many places. Some projects in the outer system seek to produce basic morphs for everyone, but there is a waiting list. In the Planetary Consortium (inner system), corporations often indenture infugees, offering them a morph in exchange for years of service. There are some horror stories of exploitation through indenture contracts, changing terms, hidden fees, planned obsolescence, etc. Some actually choose a digital life, however. Digital living space is cheap or free and can be quite vast. Simulspaces can offer many VR experiences. Most have some yearning for a physical life, but to each their own.

From: Elspeth Elliott, Octavia Shareholder {[u]Info[/u] [u]Msg[/u] [u]Rep[/u]} You're a very curious individual. I guess a lot of your confusion comes as much from culture shock as from being around people who aren't prepared to deal with someone's basic socialization. You haven't been introduced to a muse, you didn't download even a smallest package of Sol Archive to have basic definitions of stuff around you and nobody is doing a good job of showing you how to acclimate seemlessly. The only good thing your 'caretakers' have done so far was managing to not let you get yourself injured. Everyone is thinking about introducing you to various groups before you're ready to not get yourself into trouble. I'd advise to check the Sol Archive with any ecto and scan everything you find weird or strange. Also, make sure you get yourself even a basic vacc suit, don't worry, having protection where you can get to it should be considered basic survival, even double for someone who don't want to lose their precious biomorph.

TheBurn wrote:

From: William Lee, Argonaut Historian {[u]Info[/u] [u]Msg[/u] [u]Rep[/u]} Actually, I was thinking of keeping it. I had no idea what I was missing out on. I don't know if it is just the biomods, but this is great! Maybe I should name it... actually, no. That would be extremely weird.

I know a guy who named every sexual organ he's had in every morph, some of which have more than one, and attributes a personality to each one. _____ You can find some good, open-source muses [u]here[/u]. There are a few muses you can get from corps that are packed with adware.

You talk to you muse through your mesh inserts which have a mental interface. It doesn't read your mind per se, though some people "talk aloud" to themselves in a way, either accidentally or purposefully. Regardless, your muse is not a person like an AGI is and to the extent that it has a position on anything, it's completely on your side. It isn't going to share your secrets or think poorly of you (though you can get some rather sassy ones). Your muse will develop a sort of personality as it gets to know you. It might help you if it senses you are down or stressed. It is odd that you worry about that, though. Didn't your time try to have primitive pseudo-muse voice recognition devices that went through a remote server with no protections about how companies could use that information? A muse learns your preferences, but it keeps what it knows rather than handing them over. I'm not saying there haven't been cases of corporate fuckery with muses, but doing so is such a violation, the outcry could ruin a business even in the most corp-friendly areas. Actually, your muse could help with controversial thoughts, by doing quick research for you so you don't have to ask uncomfortable questions that violate social norms.

Muses are no more sophisticated than other dumb AI. They are just especially social. I think you should get a muse. You can always remove it from your mesh inserts later (I did double check that mesh inserts are allowed in the JR, though not muses). However, I doubt you'll want to. People get very attached to their muse and find them very useful. Might as well experience a few of the wonders of this age before deciding whether to shun them forever or not.

nerdnumber1 wrote:

Muses are no more sophisticated than other dumb AI.

That is true for *most* muses. Definitely not all though. There are quite a few models based on AGI neuro-architecture, and that's not counting more exotic versions like people using forks of themselves, or psychosurgically modified other people, as muses. Always read the fine print. And in the case of Open Source muses, if in doubt, contact the maintainers. *After* having read up on the topic. Most project maintainers in general are very approachable, but frankly, their time is valuable, and better spent developing stuff.

ShadowDragon8685 wrote:

If you value [i]anything at all[/i], stay the hell away from those maniacs in the Junta. [...] If you want my advice, you should try to make your way to Titan. [...] You're probably too far out of the loop to make yourself very useful in any anarchist hab, [...] [b]Do not go to Extropia[/b], or any other Extropian habitat. [...] Same with going to Mars, the Lunar-Lagrange Alliance, or the Morningstar Coalition [...]

I agree with the broad strokes of these recommendations, but that is because I am me, and not the person that these recommendations are for. So, for the purpose of making an individualized recommendation: What would you like to use your lifetime for?

Well, there's reckless hedonism, exploration (we found these alien artifacts that send you to planets outside the solar system), artistic expression, research (you'll need more time to get up to speed, but you have time), some religious thing, charitable work, and so on. You could look for another relationship, not that you couldn't have tried that in the 21st century. Everything you knew is gone, but there is more still here. No one tells you the purpose of life. You just have to figure that out for yourself.

While dumping his morph might make him a lot of money, Will understandably holds rather antiquated views about ego uploading. The concept of separating mind and body was the realm of niche science fiction in the early 21st century. If you remember your history, it took quite a while for established religions to warm up to the idea. Heck, a big reason why it's as widely accepted as it is now is that staunch bio-cons were less likely to have left Earth before the Fall or be able to do so during the Fall. Also, religions that rejected the personhood of infolife were less popular in light of the millions of infugees. When you can talk to your grandma because of egocasting, it's harder to demonize it. There are some interesting philosophical and religious works supporting uploading through the duality of the soul and body. There are also bio-con sects that reject these more novel technologies. I've even seen one sect that fork themselves to fill giant digital cathedrals to magnify their prayer and worship, even considering time dilation to get the most praise for their God. It takes all kinds. William, [u]here[/u] are some of the transitional philosophical and religious works from when ego uploading was becoming mainstream. Are you Christian? It seems that was the most common religion at the time, especially in areas where the name "William" and the English language were most used. Plus your terminology ("God", "souls", etc.) seemed to fit. I might have slanted the selection more pro-upload, but I tried to present popular works from both sides.