Fiction:PGPS/The Art of Technology

Itizíro Ómatnagemnakhá [The Creativity of the Technology Tree]

''Written by Kitnúnalsun Taumnákhoron, contributor to Churitáuri Kōramhásanunno, iss. 424, July 12 2805''

Many would have reason to believe, that, in the current day, five and a half years into the twenty-ninth century - especially in a world of post-scarce societies such as our own possess readily available amenities and harnessing resources at an all-time impressive efficiency - not that many readers of this would think of the output that all civilisations, charted and uncharted within Kōramhásanunno do in one day, let alone a second. Our own culture openly adheres to technological advancements - frightfully so. I usually leave my residence every day and before I even reach the transport station, I have counted at least a hundred - not to mention many other residents of  who are not Kicath - sporting some sort of technological marvel. The question has been raised before, and I will raise it now - is the First Gigaquadrant slowly losing itself in the face of technology?

Strange question to ask. All civilisations - all superpowers of the known universe - rely on technological mediums to simply sustain themselves every second. Many of those Kicath who I see every day walk down the streets often possess a mobile device; often speaking angrily so at someone as we normally do. The same goes for the kasatánin I see walking not too far from them either. Then it goes as far as to have some with cybernetic replacements to their bodies, often courtesy of Kicathian Armaments as I see the logo subtly put on the elbow at times. Probably every Kicath I see has a subscription to Kicathian Pharmaceuticals to prolong their lifespan past our (comparatively) short life of three and a half centuries - though now we are so advanced in that respect, that age really is just a numerical count. Reliance on technology is strange in that respect. It has become a social custom to possess the most up-to-date piece of hardware, and, Dal'nyur forbid - even I have had my fair share of shaking the monitor as I wait for the next author software to upload from he-knows-where. Even as I type this, millions of contributions from across Kōramhásanunno has found its way into the two-hundred-million-or-so data banks so readily accessible from what seems like every significant place a commoner like me might go in Anatezc-ji 0. I guess I would, and many others, would dread the day there was a power cut across the planet - even though we are assured daily the chances of that is an exponentially small number that if I were to type it, the editors at Churitáuri Kōramhásanunno might think of me as mad.

A lengthy anecdote that I remember from something that happened not too long ago. I was present at the opening of the stock market on Dzaranäo 2 as our own Kitmadzäron Vórnurään saw presided over it. I travelled that morning from my home on Anatezc-ji 0 to Dzaranäo 2, and as I had thoughts on writing this not so long ago, it felt sort of absurd that I was travelling from one ecumenopolis to the next. We seem to have some sort of fascination with the concept of ecumenopolis planets - Anatezc-ji 0, Dzaranäo 2 and of course among hundreds of other planets that we have like that. When it was decreed that our homeworld of was to never be converted into an ecumenopolis - and that was signed nearly 158,223 years ago - there must have been a spark of ethical hindsight in that decision that Paclernos would remain, bizarrely to some, a rural planet in comparison. The mind boggles to think that a decree signed so long ago has remained to this day, and has spawned a few other rules in that some planets have remained mostly untouched by a technological civilisation, and only small settlements of a million at most are there every time. So why is it that we don't have a population of 2.2 trillion per planet and we just want to spread out, especially considering the crazy social reliance on technology? I have travelled to before and one day may hope to cross the barrier to  to ask those questions to the citizens. I would suggest that, considering us Kicath as a race, that their answers would be different to ours.

I find that the correlation of currency and technology doesn't appear to apply to us Kicath. It is no doubt that our economy appears bizarre and formless to the outer eyes of the galaxy, and much of our imports and exports for trading - that is, architectural technology towards most of Borealis alongside healthcare and the likes, is often traded with the Borealis credit that we rarely ever see on our worlds, or any other currency in that respect. Would a foreigner find it unfair to have an extortionate price on our technology though not as much on others in the respect that we do not possess a currency? Perhaps. Negotiations and trade schemes with the is always a little awkward - our relative currency rates of trade, in order to trade with a post scarce society is a device of cunning in some respects. It is democratically detrimental to ship technology at a price most cannot afford. A smug grin may be found on the face of some of the head honchos of the galaxy.

Once again, returning to the concept of technology on a personal level. The difference of opinions on the culture of augmentation - having some myself with cybernetic replacements for hands with an improved performance of dexterity certainly comes in handy for typing this out faster. It has however, sparked different views across the Gigaquadrant, as it appears that the Kicath are among the most technologically adhered races currently living. That is, I do not know much about technologically accustomed civilisations such as the - a name I say with trepidation in the light of current events, or the, or workings of the , but I know that races such as the  find our augmentation culture unethical. A warrior culture, they find that the idea of augmentation is unnatural and a desecration to one's own body. Some Kicath may feel the same I believe, but our cybernetic culture has existed here since Tauyachon-4 was established. Though we are, as I feel, truly beginning to delve into hyperspatialism as the century has turned, even now, the old order of things prevails in many parts of the Gigaquadrant. Perhaps that is for the best for where it is.

Despite having travelled many places across the Gigaquadrant, Paclernos is not a place I have frequented much. The old saying, that every Kicath must return to their homeworld at least once in their lives did not appear to ring true in my family home growing up on Kanäräälór. The old ways - that is, our culture long before the first ecumenopolis was even built, where our world views were based upon the north-south divide, and that houses had reasonably greater sway there than they would now (save for a few - those names are already in your head). The more I read on the ancient culture of our kind, the more I see it in the modern world. For example, the tattoos that we all bear to denote our house - that culture has been since before the emergence of the Two Hundred Thousand Year War. I still see old ways across many civilisations in the Gigaquadrant - the fact that House Ultanos in the Draconid Imperium has remained a monarchy for a quarter of the Imperium's history, and that the ideals of democratic thought in many places such as Siranunno and the Quadrant Galaxies - as distorted as it is now - still remains in places and territories that we still call allies long before the. It seems that tradition does not die so easily in the world, though I fear technology may soon blank it out. I might have to look out of my window again and see how many Kicath down there wear their tattoos proudly.