Allan
was wrong. He might not have expected to be impressed with Novation, but,
almost against his will, he was.
As
soon as he entered the unprepossessing concrete-block building, he could feel the data rush. Vibrating, racing, dancing.
Whatever made a place blaze on
the very edge of the information front, this place had it.
His
contact entered the lobby just as Allan did. On top of the moves. She
was an Indian woman in her late thirties, dressed in khaki slacks and
a red shirt. All her movements
were quick and light. Her black eyes shone with intelligence.
"Allan.
I’m Skaka Gupta, Chief Scientist at Novation." Although of course
Allan already knew that, plus everything relevant about her career, and
she knew that he knew. "Welcome to our Biorobotics
Unit."
- Nancy Kress, Steamship Soldier on
the Information Front (Asimov’s Science Fiction, April 1998)
The internationalists is a distinct
global culture. It has broken free from the old national and cultural
boundaries, it embraces the new technology and confidently aims for the
stars (or at least stock options). While there has been a jet set travelling
and trading world-wide since the early 19th century, it was
in the late 20th century global travel, trade and communication
became so affordable that a large group of people could do it. As larger
and larger groups began to use these possibilities they came into conflict
with the old power elites that dominated the national states and large
corporations. But due to their flexibility, the speed at which unexpected
and transforming new technologies appeared and the rigidity of the solutions
proposed by the old guard, the internationalists gained power in the 00's
and 10's. They broke down the old system, not with violence but by inventing
new and better systems that out-competed the old.
Today the internationalists dominate
world economy. No national economy can compete with the power of the networked
global economy. The Net is the glue that binds together the internationalists:
it is not just the main information source, communications medium, economic
forum and media, it is also used as the global political forum. Issues
are brought up, discussed, analysed and dealt with by a network of discussion
groups, think tanks, task forces and other associations of the network
age in a flexible and distributed manner. Instead of going for centralication
the internationalists are highly decentralised but can remain a cohesive
force thanks to their net-based institutions.
While internationalists on average are
wealthier than nationalists, it is not always the case despite the stereotype.
It is more of a mindset and culture than a state of wealth. The main reason
for their wealth is that they are connected to the global economic system
in a way most nationalists cannot (or wouldn't) do. In principle nearly
everyone can link up and find a niche, even with very small economic means,
but in practice the cultural differences make things harder.
Internationalists tend to live and work
in the International Zone, the distributed region that belongs to no particular
traditional culture. In the 20th century it was mainly airports
that belonged to the Zone, but over the last four decades it has expanded
to encompass whole enclaves or regions. California, Hong Kong, the cores
of many cities, parts of Marocco and the Caribbean, the floating islands
and many other places are internationalist areas.
The internationalist lifestyle is one
of flexibility and change. In a world where things change from week to
week, you have to be flexible to survive.
Everything is optional, everything can be reconfigured: your home,
your job, your life, your body. If your personality doesn't work, change
it. If you dislike the way you look, change it. There are no fixed "human
nature" or traditions that have to be retained at all costs.
There are no safety nets: your success
is your and yours alone - but so is your failure.
The internationalist view the future
is bright, but dangerous. Great new opportunities wait around every corner
and the human condition is being improved in all directions - but the
new technologies and social possibilities are not just liberating but
could wreck everything. Many internationalists worry that as technology
spreads terrorism will become so dangerous that the survival of mankind
is threatened. The problem is that they do not have any adequate solutions,
since their own ideology promotes the free spread of technology and has
a hard time accepting the Orwellesque measures necessary to track down
all potential terrorism or misuse.
The internationalists stem from people
across the world. While the original "first generation" mainly
were of Western and partially East Asian origin, the economic changes
of the 10's brought forth a large contingent of internationalists from
South America, Africa and exile-Chinese. Today the average internationalist
is non-Western, at least appearance-wise. These days a second generation
is growing up, the children of the first generation who took the step
into the international world; these second generation internationalists
take their lifestyle and worldview for granted and simply cannot understand
why anybody would want to be tied down into a nation somewhere. It makes
more sense to say "I grew up in Ecology" rather than list a
long sequence pf temporary homes. Most internationalists identify more
with their net-associates and subcultures than with any geographic culture.
To the internationalists the main virtues
are ambition, openness and flexibility. They have reached their ascendancy
thanks to them, and can't see why other people can't use them to do the
same. Knowledge is power, but it is free for the taking on the Net.
Culture
"Charlie? Where are you?"
"What do you mean, where am I? It’s Friday, right? I’m at school."
"In . . ."
"In Aspen."
"Why aren’t you in Denver?"
"Not this week, Dad, remember?"
- Nancy Kress, Steamship Soldier on
the Information Front (Asimov’s Science Fiction, April 1998)
Internationalist culture is just that,
internationalised culture. It is largely based on the internationalist
styles common in the 20th century, the Net culture that flowered
in the 00's and influences from the "new wells" of former third
world nations that have emerged onto the global market. As the joke goes,
internationalists speak English, eat Indian and make love in VR. Critics
often call it airport culture: it is the same across the world, comfortable,
a bit bland and too technophiliac and commercial. But it has developed
on its own, freely borrowing ideas and styles from other cultures to suit
itself. Internationalists are generally open and tolerant, and have few
inhibitions to explore new combinations.
The virtualist movement in lifestyle,
philosophy and culture emerged in the 10's as people online began to see
the world more and more as information and care less and less for physical
implementation. It was a kind of new asceticism where information was
more important than the physical. Becoming wealthy wasn't a goal in itself;
you could be more respected for contributing an essential website or skill
than by having money and traditional influence. People spent more energy
on their virtual personas and surroundings than the actual world. One
result was access living.
Access living is common among the most
mobile people. The idea is that what is important is access to things,
not the things itself. Having access to a computer, car or kitchen of
a certain standard is more important than owning it - it can be leased
and configured to behave like the previous one. Access living people own
very little physical belongings, but as they travel their profiles and
digital homes follow them and allow suitable "access hotels"
to configure themselves into copies of the home preferences. The lifestyle
is however going out of fashion as the New Materialism spreads.
The New Materialism developed as a reaction
to the excesses of the virtualists. "Matter matters!" is the
slogan promoted by the circle of Net philosophers originating the ideas.
The New Materialism points at the human needs for stability and authenticity
in a changing world, and suggests way of achieving them without giving
up the dynamics that is the lifeblood of the internationalists. Actually
owning a house at a nice place is a good way of finding stability, by
developing one's tastes one can not just enjoy oneself but one can grow
as a person. It is a restrained, aesthetic view that encourages people
to live their lives like deliberate artworks, finding joy in all aspects
of life. Of course, in practice most adherents are more materialists than
neohumanists, but the ideal of the superdynamic renaissance epicurean
is popular.
There are many subcultures and net.tribes among the internationalists. If you cannot expect to meet your friends physically often as you travel around, it makes more sense to meet with virtual friends on the Net, where you always can find them. Hence the associations of people across the net forms much of their real social identity, regardless of where they are and currently live.
International Organisations
TAG - Threat Assessment Groups
In order to detect and handle potential
global or local threats, TAGs have emerged. Each TAG is a group devoted
to assessing threats within a certain field, such as Astronomy-TAG (meteors,
sunspot activity, supernovae, etc), Climate-TAG (glaciation, hurricanes,
drought, etc), Finance-TAG (recessions, bubbles, fluctuations, fraud,
etc) and many others. Usually the field-specific TAGs contain many smaller
sub-TAGs dealing with specific dangers. The TAGs do their best to include
the leading experts in the field and produce high-quality information
- most are funded by selling the distilled information, acting as review
boards and as recipients of tips.
Most TAGs work by data mining and analysis
rather than field work; others collect the actual data the TAGs need,
and they often have deals with many other organisations and national groups.
Many TAGs are real infovores, and have significant economic flows.
On the top level International-TAG exists,
a kind of moderator TAG compiling all the reports from the specialist
TAGs, reviewing them (and their originators) and acting as a broker for
requests. It is a respected organisation whose pronouncements and warnings
are widely studied. I-TAG however is just a think-tank, it cannot execute
any policy, merely act as a coordinator or advisor. It has close ties
to the global task forces and various crisis consultancy firms.
NERD - Nanotech Emergency Response Division
A global task force intended to control
nanotech (i.e. biobot and phage) emergencies. While many task forces deal
with ordinary epidemics or the spread of bioengineered creatures, NERD
was formed to deal with the problem of deliberate or accidental micro-
and nanoscale threats. Many believe that in the next decade nanotech will
become so powerful that NERD will be essential for human survival.
NERD has a research branch developing
new ways of identifying and controlling biobots, and a response branch
to contain and neutralise identified threats. The organisation has been
accredited with most national governments and is widely regarded as one
of the cutting edge defenses against runaway biotechnology.
Reviewers
If the hippest job in 90's and 00's
was web designer and in the 10's and 20's biotech, in the 30's it is metareviewer.
In an advanced information society too
much information accumulates, most of doubtful quality. There are thousands
of information sources on any given subject, but which are worthwhile
and which are of bad quality or biased? The solution has been the proliferation
of review services, which forms the basis for the "middle class".
Reviewers review information, companies, people, reviews and anything
else and compile the information into databases which are then sold. Review
boards have emerged from the academic journal system, putting their seals
of approval on papers or other information that meets their standards;
if something has been approved by several highly ranked review boards
or reviewers, it is likely good. Of course, review boards are in turn
reviewed, and so on.
E guard
Worldwide internationalist environmental organisation. It works closely with the environmental tags to preserve species diversity, keep biotech tame and if possible "ski on the climate change" - make the transition to a colder climate system as smooth as possible. It is often in conflict with national environmental organisations, which generally try to preserve local ecosystems rather than help migration or change. It is also heavily involved with ecotechnology corporations in Indonesia and West Africa, making it even less palatable to traditional environmentalism.
TTG
TTGs, Transient Tactical Groups are
the international police of the internationalists. Various security and
law enforcement outfits are hired and coordinated by conflict firms through
the net when need arises. TTGs are rare occurences, but essential for
the operations of the TAGs and other distributed international task forces
especially when the normal forces are not enough. The appearance of a
TTG usually starts a wildfire of speculation on the net.
Net Maintenance Audit Board
The key organisation for maintenance and extension of the Net. It grew out of the old IETF and various NIC's, together with the often competing standards groups of the 00's. NMAB is responsible for some of the core standards of the net, deciding how they are to be launched and what deviations are acceptable.
Force Pasteur
Epidemological network, based on the
remnants of WHO and CDC. Well renowned and respected by everyone; it has
been given a wide jurisdiction by most governments and national organisations
gladly work together with it. It mainly deals with natural diseases, leaving
the engineered strains to NERD. The organisations have local headquarters
in most major cities, able to make emergency flights anywhere on the globe.
International Antiterrorism Task Force (IATF)
The most well-renowned and powerful
antiterrorism group. Supported by internationalists and most major nations,
it coordinates other antiterrorist forces when a threat has been identified.
Companies
Finance.world
The oldest and most well-known international digital bank, founded in
2001 in Cayman Islands. It grew into a multibillion dollar business, suceeding
in avoiding the many legal obstracles various nations put in front of
it. As it grew in size, it networked with many other net banks and digicash
companies to become an important meeting point for the digital economy.
The yearly finance.world meetings became the place where much of the New
Economy was defined and announced. Since its turbulent youth the bank
has stabilised, becoming very much a bank for the old-fashioned first
generation internationalists who still consider it and its original directors
the true heroes of the digital economic revolution.
Darwin Days Development
Company involved in biotech, nanotech
and software development. It is specialised at controlling and directing
evolutionary development in order to create an organism or program.
Reclaim
Networks
The Terraformers
The Terraformers seek to gain support
and capital to change the global climate. They envision megatechnological
schemes such as the deliberate release of greenhouse gasses, the seeding
of lichens on the polar ice and launching solar reflectors to bring back
the Earth to the interglacial stage. So far they have had little success
in raising the capital.
The Posthumanists
The vision of becoming more than human
is alive and well. The posthumanists embrace the new possibilities and
try to formulate the philosophies and technologies needed for the next
steps in evolution. The old transhumanist ideas of overcoming human limitations
have been totally absorbed into the internationalist mainstream view (something
that left many of their old adherents disillusioned as they were no longer
cutting edge; they responded by either becoming more radical or simply
settling for jobs as enhancement consultants). Posthumanism is vital but
fractious, with many different groups and views promoting their own vision
of the future.
Psi Cops
Nickname of the the observer networks that acts as monitors, investigators and reporters for the virtual networks in the real world. They tend to work in non-internationalist areas where they observe what is going on, relaying it back to processing on the Net.
The Cabalists
Joking term for the people seeking the
"inner cabal" of everything. Modern networking and markets made
the old conspiracy theories obsolete but has promoted a new form. Cabalists
try to trace the flows of power and influence across the world, often
using sophisticated pattern matching, sociographics or even netwhales.
Some are little more than power- or market-groupies, others are genuinely
concerned about power concentrations and dirty deals, and some are just
nuts.