The Extra-Solar Union of Systems Archive

I define transcendentalism as being 'right' or 'left'. Both types generally have their personifications and their admirers.

Right transcendentalism is the kind of transcendentalism where you've stayed with the one-body, few-centuries-lifespan archetype, but your tech is very public and also magnificent beyond belief (on a scale from one to ten, it's somewhere around "haha, oh wow").

Left transcendentalism is the kind of transcendentalism where you're mysterious, eccentric, and the subject of general admiration. Your tech may be high-level, but it's well-concealed most of the time. Options for left transcendentalism include multiple bodies, AIs as major components of the population, etc.

Centre transcendentalism incorporates features of both.

Subtranscendentalism is when you're not transcendent.

Which are you? Right now, I'm subtranscendent aiming for centre-right transcendentalism, hopefully when I hit about four billion population.

I wouldn't consider myself transcendent, and I'm not really sure what you mean by it.

Transcendent is when your society has undergone a paradigm shift from its initial state; my society is driven by the same motives that today's is, so I'm subtranscendent. Left-transcendents are nations like Xenonier - ridiculously free - and right-transcendents are nations like Cypria - militaristic, but eh, still free. Most transcendent societies are free, although there are some successful dictatorships up there.

Call them two contrasting paths to the same technological level, if you will.

"First of all, what is it really all about? What is it you object to? You want to abolish Government?"

"To abolish God!" said Gregory, opening the eyes of a fanatic. "We do not only want to upset a few despotisms and police regulations; that sort of anarchism does exist, but it is a mere branch of the Nonconformists. We dig deeper and we blow you higher. We wish to deny all those arbitrary distinctions of vice and virtue, honour and treachery, upon which mere rebels base themselves. The silly sentimentalists of the French Revolution talked of the Rights of Man! We hate Rights as we hate Wrongs. We have abolished Right and Wrong."

"And Right and Left," said Syme with a simple eagerness, "I hope you will abolish them too. They are much more troublesome to me."

Ehm... where would a society founded upon what this quote implies fit?

*Edit: Also, I was expecting something like this:

*Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri SPOILER*

No one wants to de-ball CF? D:

*fiddles*

Well, we shall (shortly) have liberalized immortality for the Anikari species, plus some other nice things are waiting in the wings. We still have very strong religious traditions, however, all across the spectrum, enough so that they, combined with fairly sober education on the negative social impact that a self-centrered desire for immortality brings, probably diminishes the transcendentness of the Anikari. Elves, on the other hand, I imagine have never had an issue with either immortality or wearing their technological prowess on their sleeve. Kaleesh are too busy hunting huge-ass armored beasts to care, and Tzoy are just content making music with the communal mind and frankly exasperated with all the strange notions that walkers carry in their pockets. So when you get right down to it IS is just too dang diverse to pin down.

I suppose I would be subtranscendant, and I'm not aiming to become so. Well, the way we are currently heading is definitely not that direction anyway.

And durrrrrrrrr, NS pop.

[...]"And Right and Left," said Syme with a simple eagerness, "I hope you will abolish them too. They are much more troublesome to me."[...]

where would a society founded upon what this quote implies fit?

Trailers wrote:de-ball CF

Historically, Mindsetti were left-transcendant, by your definitions. They cloned and duplicated their minds to establish immortality. Now, they exist as purely digital uploads and download into bodies whenever they need to perform tasks in the "real world". Modern Mindsetti are the ultimate in left-trancendance.