[God's Dice] Socrates at Zenith

[3278]

When I used to do group creative writing and worldbuilding, one of the most effective methods I knew of was to buy a carton of cafeteria pizzas from Gordon Food Service and a 12-pack of Mountain Dew, and sit around a big table, answering the questions of our Devil's Advocate.

It was like the Socratic method, but constructive and not instructive - although both methods are only constructive by elimination. It's like answering the questions of a very, very annoying child who tends to ask the questions to which youdon'tknow the answers yet, and must instead rely on Mr. Britannica for. Or in our case, must create ourselves.

I'd like to ask a series of questions, challenging what we know about the God's Dice universe. I won't necessarily ask them one at a time; it's just that I keep thinking of questions to which I don't know the answer yet, and I'll share them as they find me.

The nature of this sort of creative process is inherently adversarial and condescending, and any conversation with me doubly so, but I retain hope we can weather through the storm if it means reaching the shore. <font color="#3597cf">Hmm. Should have been a space metaphor. Damn.</font> Also to be weathered is any redundancy; I'm certain I'll ask a number of questions to which the answer is available somewhere, but I most definitely do not know everything about God's Dice.

Onward:
How many people live on Earth?

How many on the Moon?

What are Earth and the Moon called?

How many live in orbital habitats, and what are they called? Orbs?

How many people live on Mars? On her moons? In orbit?

How many people live in the Belt?

Jove? The Saturnals? On the Outside?

Which races live where?

How far is the furthest unmanned spacecraft from Earth?

The furthest manned? The furthest /recorded/ manned?

What supplies can be made locally in each locale, and which must be imported?

How are supplies imported; how is cargo transferred to all the systems?

What currency is used to trade? Is there a single currency everywhere? Where does the barter economy rule?

Who is the oldest living person? The oldest living /recorded/ person?

That's it for now. I promise I won't normally have this many.

[Bethyaga]

Blah-biddy-blah-blah-blah...

Good idea.

How many people live on Earth? At last count, 27 billion. But that may increase. In any case, it's a number that seems ridiculously huge to our 21st century sensibilities, but is still reasonable for 1000 years from now.

How many on the Moon? No clue. A few million. Or tens of millions maybe?

What are Earth and the Moon called? By their inhabitants, they are called the Earth and the Moon. Their formal names are Earth and Luna--but sometimes Earth is called Terra. Inhabitants of Earth are officially called Terrans, however that term is often loosely applied to anyone who appears to be of relatively pure homo sapiens stock. Also, the Earth, Luna and most earth orbiters are part of the United Governances of Sol--or UGS. So often, the Earth system is simply referred to as UGS.

How many live in orbital habitats, and what are they called? Orbs? No. Any habitat in space is called a hab for short. Orbital is redundant--virtually all conventional habs and satellites are in orbit around something. Anything standing still eventually succumbs to whatever small pull of gravity there is and falls into something. The non-Earth population of Sol is just under a billion, but I have not worked out how they are distributed. That number may well rise some as people fill in details.

How many people live on Mars? On her moons? In orbit?

How many people live in the Belt?

Jove? The Saturnals? On the Outside?

Which races live where?

How far is the furthest unmanned spacecraft from Earth? We likely have all sorts of craft that are beaming back images both in slow time (light speed communication) and in real time for more recent projects from light years away. We've sent probes to every star within 20 light years and in a more spotty fashion have sent vessels to many stars forming a rough sphere with a 100 light year radius. But I've not given this any thought, so it's all off the cuff here.

The furthest manned? The furthest /recorded/ manned? The furthest known permanently manned station is Suluon II riding in the Oort cloud beyond Pluto at 31 light hours from Sol. Think of Suluon II as being like a modern-day Antarctic research station. The furthest recorded and known successful flight from Sol would be the Armstrong (the Huong hab) which left before the advent of FTL communication and was gone from Sol for 4 centuries, traveling several light years from Sol. Other habs have left Sol system, but none have yet traveled farther--or if they have, they have not communicated that to Sol.

What supplies can be made locally in each locale, and which must be imported?

How are supplies imported; how is cargo transferred to all the systems?

What currency is used to trade? Is there a single currency everywhere? Where does the barter economy rule?

Who is the oldest living person? The oldest living /recorded/ person?

[Bethyaga]

Currency: Earth has a single unified currency which it has had for centuries. Call 'em Euros or Dollars or Credits... doesn't matter. All currency in the UGS is electronic. The UGS dollar is also the currency of credit throughout the Sol System, because the big banks all use the one standard. However, being tied to such a system is a problem for many across the solar system, so many local currencies have sprung up--there are labor coupons and currencies backed by hard commodities, plus there are contractually entered barter groups, as well as systems of pure barter. Whether or not any particular community uses any of these or simply relies on the Earth currency depends on the community itself.

[Eliahad]

Jove? The Saturnals? On the Outside? I've always felt that the Sung live near here, (if they can't live inside it) these two planets are just so beautiful. Not to say the others aren't, but the ever changing nature of the gas planets...well, there's a certain art to the science of them

Who is the oldest living person? The oldest living /recorded/ person? Well the Sung were just born At leat on their time scale...

(Can you tell I'm fixated )