Orion's Arm Universe Project
Where Do You See Yourself in Five Years - #1
Recently, a member of the Orion's Arm forum raised the following questions:
Assume that you're suddenly whisked into the OA universe, also assume that you arrive somewhere stable like a Sephirotic and that you're not overwhelmed/driven mad/get PTSD from the switch. Given all that how do you answer these questions?
What have you done by the end of the day?
What are you doing in a month?
What are you doing by the end of the year?
Where do you see yourself in five years?
Any plans beyond that?
Answers to these questions came quickly and were both numerous and diverse. The discussion also quickly expanded from the OA forum to our Facebook page, where more answers were forthcoming.
For your enjoyment, here are just some of the answers that our members provided. Additional responses will be appearing in upcoming issues of V:FT.
What have you done by the end of the day?
By the end of the day I imagine I would have done a lot of gawking at the city/hab and strange clades all around me and rejoiced in the simple joy of on-demand gourmet food from public assemblers. I would have also requested from the angelnet an introduction to the civ I was in, probably a request for guest/resident status and possibly even citizenship. I'd find a quiet place with a good view (a polymorphic hotel room/flat high in an arcology would do). From there I would have set up a credit account with whatever resource allocation system is in use and, under advisement from the angelnet, acquired a nanomedical system and DNI. Both of which would be basic at first but with the ability to be modified/grow into more advanced forms.
What are you doing in a month?
I doubt I would have fully found my feet yet but would be getting there. I'd have spent a lot of time with the angelnet aiviser (or most likely an infinitesimal part of it) learning about the world and the various options I have ahead of me. Most likely would have been fully integrated with my DNI at this point which would instinctively respond to my needs. Using this I would have shortlisted and started a few educational programs. Short ones to boost my general knowledge with one being a full degree (as discussed in this thread).
I would also have undergone a few physical and mental augments, the latter especially. I'd hazard a guess that I'd be making the transition to superior thanks to the already established set of cool augments. I'd also be trying to build up a social life, most likely with a mixed-clade group with a few superiors to support the change.
I would also have taken a trip to space:) because why not!
What are you doing by the end of the year?
If alls going well I'd be a superior with a few extra augments, notably mental augmentations (as sophisticated DNI as possible with some cooling augments [radiator spines/fins] and high bandwidth implants connecting to a hefty exoself). By this point I would have completed one full degree and be well into the next. IRL I'm a biologist/nanotechnologist, that's probably the exact route I would take again: a full degree in OA level biology with nanotechnology on the way. I don't expect to be able to contribute to OA science but that wouldn't matter to me.
I doubt I'll be living in the same place. In fact I'd probably have taken up a travelling lifestyle, going from place to place (with at least one trip being somewhere else in the system) to experience different local cultures. Definitely going to make use of the superior sleep improvements because between travelling, education, socialising and having fun there wont be much time to sleep. :)
Where do you see yourself in five years?
After five years I'd hopefully have at least 8 full degrees* and would have travelled beyond the local system. Would visit some megastructures (Kiyoshi and Cabelville would be high on the list) and have spent time in some radically different bodies. I'd probably come back to my human looking bodyplan but enjoy spending time as a flying clade in a microgee environment, as a goliath, as a sentient ship and as an upload (not to mention the many other options). I may also have become a dividual with one consciousness spanning multiple bodies.
After a lot of education, augmentation and mental expansion would find a famous ascension school and aim to safely become an S1 transap. Then the journey really begins :)
I would just upload to a virtual universe ASAP. There's no advantage to the one we're in other than physical limitations. The ideal universe would be a My Little Pony-based utopia, but not sure if I could find one of those... Definitely somewhere looked after by a benevolent god though (one who caters to my needs and values as much as possible).
(Over 99% of the OA sophont population lives in a virch, but for some reason the "real-life" planets are much more publicized in EG.)
Next five years: Meditate, relax. Study the sciences and arts when bored with that. Explore alterations to own consciousness, and perhaps link consciousnesses with fellow sentient beings.
Next few thousand years: Much the same thing. Some things to do in that time:
Visit the Earth (I assume there are thousands of Earth replicas available for visit dotted around various virches).
Get lost reading various history books to catch up on the missing years.
Become a wise talking tree, conversing with the children climbing in my branches.
Float on a lake that's a giant Pensieve (Harry Potter universe), dipping in every now and then to explore random memories of persons long passed.
Ride a dragon above the treetops.
Get lost for years on hallucinogenic drugs.
Visit the world of 1/0.
Duplicate mind, converse with self, reunify mind.
Get lost in a state of ennui for a while after experiencing all wants and only desiring more, before getting snapped out of it by another new experience.
And never once leave virtual reality. The quest for knowledge can easily be simulated. I pity the poor fools who believe there is an objectively greater quality to the universe we were born in, rather than the many we have made.
I plan to immediately apply for an upgrade to near baseline standard be it in the form of a genetic or cybernetic upgrade. After that see what I can do to find meaningful employment/or hobby depending on the level of post scarcity economy I find myself in and then working towards upgrading to superior status if possible.
Also Anglenet worlds all the way buddy.
Making some money as the only baseline human that remembers earth as it was before the expulsion. selling my memories perhaps?
I'd like to spend some thousands of years living in the Sephirotics and then, when I feel I've had every good experience I could as a human, I'd try to ascend.
Table of Contents
Assume that you're suddenly whisked into the OA universe, also assume that you arrive somewhere stable like a Sephirotic and that you're not overwhelmed/driven mad/get PTSD from the switch. Given all that how do you answer these questions?
What have you done by the end of the day?
What are you doing in a month?
What are you doing by the end of the year?
Where do you see yourself in five years?
Any plans beyond that?
Answers to these questions came quickly and were both numerous and diverse. The discussion also quickly expanded from the OA forum to our Facebook page, where more answers were forthcoming.
For your enjoyment, here are just some of the answers that our members provided. Additional responses will be appearing in upcoming issues of V:FT.
Rynn - OA Forum
What have you done by the end of the day?
By the end of the day I imagine I would have done a lot of gawking at the city/hab and strange clades all around me and rejoiced in the simple joy of on-demand gourmet food from public assemblers. I would have also requested from the angelnet an introduction to the civ I was in, probably a request for guest/resident status and possibly even citizenship. I'd find a quiet place with a good view (a polymorphic hotel room/flat high in an arcology would do). From there I would have set up a credit account with whatever resource allocation system is in use and, under advisement from the angelnet, acquired a nanomedical system and DNI. Both of which would be basic at first but with the ability to be modified/grow into more advanced forms.
What are you doing in a month?
I doubt I would have fully found my feet yet but would be getting there. I'd have spent a lot of time with the angelnet aiviser (or most likely an infinitesimal part of it) learning about the world and the various options I have ahead of me. Most likely would have been fully integrated with my DNI at this point which would instinctively respond to my needs. Using this I would have shortlisted and started a few educational programs. Short ones to boost my general knowledge with one being a full degree (as discussed in this thread).
I would also have undergone a few physical and mental augments, the latter especially. I'd hazard a guess that I'd be making the transition to superior thanks to the already established set of cool augments. I'd also be trying to build up a social life, most likely with a mixed-clade group with a few superiors to support the change.
I would also have taken a trip to space:) because why not!
What are you doing by the end of the year?
If alls going well I'd be a superior with a few extra augments, notably mental augmentations (as sophisticated DNI as possible with some cooling augments [radiator spines/fins] and high bandwidth implants connecting to a hefty exoself). By this point I would have completed one full degree and be well into the next. IRL I'm a biologist/nanotechnologist, that's probably the exact route I would take again: a full degree in OA level biology with nanotechnology on the way. I don't expect to be able to contribute to OA science but that wouldn't matter to me.
I doubt I'll be living in the same place. In fact I'd probably have taken up a travelling lifestyle, going from place to place (with at least one trip being somewhere else in the system) to experience different local cultures. Definitely going to make use of the superior sleep improvements because between travelling, education, socialising and having fun there wont be much time to sleep. :)
Where do you see yourself in five years?
After five years I'd hopefully have at least 8 full degrees* and would have travelled beyond the local system. Would visit some megastructures (Kiyoshi and Cabelville would be high on the list) and have spent time in some radically different bodies. I'd probably come back to my human looking bodyplan but enjoy spending time as a flying clade in a microgee environment, as a goliath, as a sentient ship and as an upload (not to mention the many other options). I may also have become a dividual with one consciousness spanning multiple bodies.
- Biology, Nanotechnology, History, Sephirotic Studies, Maths, Sociology, Chemistry, Medicine. Those will all do for a start.
After a lot of education, augmentation and mental expansion would find a famous ascension school and aim to safely become an S1 transap. Then the journey really begins :)
four - OA Forum
I would just upload to a virtual universe ASAP. There's no advantage to the one we're in other than physical limitations. The ideal universe would be a My Little Pony-based utopia, but not sure if I could find one of those... Definitely somewhere looked after by a benevolent god though (one who caters to my needs and values as much as possible).
(Over 99% of the OA sophont population lives in a virch, but for some reason the "real-life" planets are much more publicized in EG.)
Next five years: Meditate, relax. Study the sciences and arts when bored with that. Explore alterations to own consciousness, and perhaps link consciousnesses with fellow sentient beings.
Next few thousand years: Much the same thing. Some things to do in that time:
Visit the Earth (I assume there are thousands of Earth replicas available for visit dotted around various virches).
Get lost reading various history books to catch up on the missing years.
Become a wise talking tree, conversing with the children climbing in my branches.
Float on a lake that's a giant Pensieve (Harry Potter universe), dipping in every now and then to explore random memories of persons long passed.
Ride a dragon above the treetops.
Get lost for years on hallucinogenic drugs.
Visit the world of 1/0.
Duplicate mind, converse with self, reunify mind.
Get lost in a state of ennui for a while after experiencing all wants and only desiring more, before getting snapped out of it by another new experience.
And never once leave virtual reality. The quest for knowledge can easily be simulated. I pity the poor fools who believe there is an objectively greater quality to the universe we were born in, rather than the many we have made.
Henry McGuire Ornar - OA Facebook
I plan to immediately apply for an upgrade to near baseline standard be it in the form of a genetic or cybernetic upgrade. After that see what I can do to find meaningful employment/or hobby depending on the level of post scarcity economy I find myself in and then working towards upgrading to superior status if possible.
Also Anglenet worlds all the way buddy.
Angel Rivera - OA Facebook
Making some money as the only baseline human that remembers earth as it was before the expulsion. selling my memories perhaps?
Filipe Sobreira Muniz - OA Facebook
I'd like to spend some thousands of years living in the Sephirotics and then, when I feel I've had every good experience I could as a human, I'd try to ascend.
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