Technology
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Contents
Arcologies[edit]
The Japanese government built the first two arcologies in the mid 21st century. The Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid and Sky City 1000 pioneered the use of carbon nanotubes and robotic labor to build structures capable of housing an entire city of nearly 1,000,000 people in an area with a footprint of only a few kilometers.
Following the massive west coast earthquakes of 2032, the United States government and several private corporations worked in concert to create the Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle arcologies to replace the largely-destroyed metro areas they once occupied.
Artificial Intelligence[edit]
True, independent Artificial Intelligence, as far as the public knows, does not exist. Limited slave AIs have existed for a number of years, however, used primarily in conjunction with robotics technology and computer security systems.
Biotech[edit]
Computers[edit]
Cybernetics[edit]
Cybernetics, the science and industry of replacing organic components with mechanical ones, came into wide use largely due to military and government research, then slowly expanded into civilian use. As refinements made cybernetics less bulky and more life-like, its use extended beyond mere limb replacement and into human enhancement. The final step towards what has become common cybernetics in the current day was the invention of nano-scale brownian motors powered by the body's own bioelectricity.
Full body cybernetics are still largely the purview of the military and special police organizations. When legal civilian use does occur, it's usually among the wealthy as the result of severe injuries or illness or, in very rare cases, fashion. Of course, full-body, military grade cybernetics also see use among private security and criminal organizations.
Information Technology[edit]
Nanotech[edit]
Neural Interface[edit]
Neuro-machine interface technology is considered by many to be the primary foundation of the last century’s advances. Cybernetics, computers, and information technology have all been shaped and perfected by the ability for man and machine to communicate directly with one another. Most commonly, the neural interface is used to interact with data in one’s surrounding environment. The sorts of tasks that hand-held computers, cell phones, and other portable electronic devices were once used to perform can all be accessed via neural interface now. Large portions of most major cities and arcologies now have features that can only be accessed via neural interface, with only the most basic menus and commands available via hand-held devices.
Neural interfaces are also used to control or enhance the usability of a wide variety of mechanical and electronic devices, from vehicles and computers to robots and even firearms. The speed and ease of use of these devices for neural interface-equipped individuals far outstrips that available to hand-held users.
Power Sources[edit]
Robotics[edit]
The most common uses of robotics in the modern day are construction and manufacturing. Remote-operated robots are also often used for work in situations or environments that are difficult or hazardous for humans to access. With the rise of slave-AI, however, the appearance of semi-autonomous robots in common society is growing rapidly, particularly among the wealthy. Such robots are capable of duplicating human intelligence and interactive capabilities to an astonishing degree, but (due as much to strict regulations as research and technological limitations) are not truly sentient, and have highly developed fail-safes that allow their actions to be easily overridden by human operators.
