English version (20th century midwestern American, net-accessible, alphabetic with images, alphabetical order, perspective-set:moderate liberal) and all other versions ©2221 ARCADI.
Explanation of code used.
| Name(s) | Earth |
| Primary | Sol, the Sun |
| Orbit | 1.00 AU |
| Diameter | 12700 KM. |
| Satellites | 1: The Moon (Luna) |
| Density | 5520 kg/m³. |
| DMTP | A1 |
| Gravity | 1.00 G's |
| Atmosphere | Nitrogen, Oxygen, others; 1.00 Atmospheres at sea level |
| Population | 8,955,000,000 humans; scattered Qiqiu, Starwhales and Hammerheads |
Eden is covered by vast, shallow seas (three kilometers at their deepest). Tectonic activity is quite high, and volcanoes are producing new landforms constantly. There are a large number of island chains, but only a dozen or so land masses larger than a few thousand KM². Most human settlements are located on the landmasses, but a wide variety of sea-bottom and ship-based settlements have arisen.
Eden was a very unusual find: a garden world orbitting a rather small
sun. Life on its surface appears to be rather young, with nothing
larger than microscopic organisms on land and small invertebrates in the
oceans. Life on Eden is fundamentally incompatible with Earth life,
as Eden-based lifeforms do not use standard Earth protein. Thus,
Eden has begun to develop two distinct ecospheres which exist coterminously.
Humans have developed ways to convert Edeteins (as they are called) to
human-consumable forms. However, most Earth organisms cannot gain
nourishment from Eden lifeforms, and thus wild Earth lifeforms must subsist
on other Earth-based life.
| Name(s) | Eden |
| Primary | Egality |
| Orbit | 0.23 AU |
| Diameter | 15600 KM. |
| Satellites | 3: Shakti, Puck and Sailendra |
| Density | 4710 kg/m³. |
| DMTP | A3 |
| Gravity | 1.09 G's |
| Atmosphere | Low pressure (0.79 Atm at sea level): Nitrogen, oxygen, high amounts of carbon dioxide |
| Population | 887,000,000 humans; scattered Qiqiu, Starwhales and Hammerheads |
In 2221, universities are perhaps surprisingly similar to their 20th century counterparts. People still study for several years in a small, localized community of like-minded others. Most universities are still physical, and a large number of students still live in dormitories. While virtual universities are quite possible and popular, it is very difficult to maintain interactivity and thus scholarship over long distances (perhaps more than one light-second). Agent programs are able to teach a wide variety of knowledge-based skills, but true learning has generally been found to suffer when given by computers. Many expect that stable artificial intelligence will be the largest boon ever to universal education, but it is still a long way off.
Most universities are, perhaps even more surprisingly, still liberal arts programs. Experiments with corporate universities (UniCorps) in the 2030's failed, as they produced students who eventually proved to have too little flexibility. Second-wave UniCorps in the 2100's were also blamed for the Wall, and are thus in general disfavor to the present, though they do still exist.
College degrees have gone through something of a revolution. The increasing inflation of degrees in the late 20th and early 21st centuries resulted in the creation of higher level degrees (first Post-Doctorates, then Advanced Doctorates) to allow for higher discrimination at the higher levels of education. However, named degrees of all sorts have fallen by the wayside as universities have continued to shed their ties with the contradiction-laden past. Most colleges and universities now use a simple designation of the number of years studied, with 2-, 4-, 6-, 8-, 10- and 12-year degrees being the most common types. Note that these year values do not necessarily mean the chronological time spent studying; if a student has studied for ten years but learned too little, they may be awarded a 4-year degree instead, for example.
Simulated entertainment includes the old standbys of books and movies, but has also broadened to include a wide variety of biotech and infotech-based forms of simulation. For example, it is now possible to record and replay others' experiences (though never with perfect fidelity to the original); thus, experiencing others' lives is pretty much possible. While such recorded experiences are far from perfect (the best systems are able to achieve approximately 80% "reality"), they are nonetheless far easier to access than real experiences in many, many cases. Because of the difficulty in accessing live entertainment, simulations are primarily the province of the poor (who can't afford real excitement), but are also very common among ship crews and passengers (being cramped on a ship for months at a time leads to excessive cabin fever), those who wish to experience things at interstellar distances, etc. Especially things like music and dramas are considered by most to be better when done through simulation, as every aspect of the performance can be carefully crafted.
However, real-life entertainment still has its province. Generally speaking, people seek out fun in real life when they want real experiences. Simulated food can look, smell and even taste good, but it doesn't actually fill you up, and this is even moreso for sex; simulated characters and dialogue are often missing that human element or human flair which make them so interesting and exciting to watch. People also look to reality for a means of showing off (having visited Petit-Sol in a sim is nice, but having a real Petit-Terre suit to show to your friends gives much more satisfaction to most). Artificial entertainment tends to be coddling, allowing consumers to experience whatever they want, as much as they want, and this can of course be unhealthy. In fact, some jurisdictions require that all citizens experience a minimum percentage of their time in real-world situations to avoid just this.
Furthermore, only reality can give true privacy and solitude; it is virtually impossible to find an infolink without at least some sort of rudimentary client/customer tracking, and so those who wish to have truly personal entertainments (especially those who are doing something illegal) may want to remove themselves from the constraint and legality-filled real world. Certainly, of all the factors which play into the continued popularity of real-world entertainment, privacy is the most valuable. Getting true privacy, far from the cares and cynicism of the world, in extremely expensive, and requires either amazing infosystems or, again, simply resorting to reality itself.
Trends tend to come and go, and of course different systems evolve different tastes and even cultures. Therefore, it's difficult to give an accurate unified picture of the entertainment business. This is exacerbated by the fact that most people have access to systems which allow them to instantly generate music which matches their tastes exactly, or to generate a dramatic story.
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