stevep
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Post by stevep on Mar 6, 2024 16:27:20 GMT
New "religions" - part 1Sophie Stein was a peculiar person... The details of her worldview, known as Veritism, are only known to a small minority, but her speeches and writings are well known, and even ordinary people know her as the originator of the phrases "All the ill in the world comes from empty promises" (often shortened to "No empty promises!") and "No theory, no ideology, and no religion is greater than the Truth!" [1]. She was an admirer of Aristotle from the beginning, and helped greatly to make his teachings, especially about logic and the Golden Middle as an ethical principle, more popular. Young Sophie Stein, aka Sofonisba Leoncavallo, aka Shayna Löwenpferd arrived as a young woman in Technocratic Germany, having fled from the Socialists. Here, she chose the name under which she became famous, and here, her talents for literacy and logic were appreciated - and in return, she would praise the system of technocracy and the men ruling it for their honesty. "Sophie Stein [2] is the stone that breaks the steel of Socialist propaganda!" as her most prominent patron, Culture/Propaganda Technocrat Georg Hartmann proudly used to say. And he didn't exaggerate too much - her radical pro-Technocrat, anti-Socialist articles in newspapers and the radio were of the kind that made Socialists foam at the mouth. Of course, her opponents weren't all asleep and fought back. Many people only referred to her as "Sofonisba" (implying she had no problem living under, or even cooperating with the famiglia). Her Socialist opponents in Greater Judea used to mock her: "Löwenpferd [3], of course - she roars like a lion, and is as smart as a horse!" [4] Some people in later decades even tried to turn her words against her, screaming "No empty promises!", using her own slogan for protesting the ever-present commercials. Ironically, she had more things in common with the Socialists than she would ever have admitted - the way she glorified the heavy industry, and railroads, cars and planes in her stories, how she believed in scientific and technical progress, her uncompromising fanaticism, and her general lack of humor. In her later years, she even became an embarassment for the technocracy: While her old propaganda texts were still used in the ideological struggle against Socialism, she herself had almost become unbearable - her position on religion, esp. Christianity, had become more and more radical throughout the years, until the point where she considered Christianity as a fertile ground for Socialism. The professors at whose universities she had given speeches in the past now tried to forget their former contacts with her. Still, Veritism was tolerated and even encouraged by the German government as a philosophy - the only modern one. Even after her death, she lived on - her works were Pflichtlektüre [5] among the neo-monetarist school emerging in the 80s, and many of them based their works on hers, and no one forgot to write a dedication to her in their books. And although Socialist would still condemn her for "defending the top percent", even comparably poor, but hopeful people would discover her works and discuss them in the Weltsystem [6]. [1] The "no religion" part usually was omitted in Germany. [2] Stein = German for 'stone' [3] Löwen-Pferd = German for 'lion(s) horse' [4] In Yiddish, "fert" / "horse" is an insult for stupid persons. [5] Set books, "must read" [6] German name for TTL equivalent of the Internet; created after the end of WW2, merging the national computer networks.
Hans left his apartment and went down the staircase. In the plumbings, the water rushed. Behind the thin wall, he could hear the sounds of sex happening. Some time later, he's sitting together with Fritz in the diner. At the telescreen, a propaganda spot is running: A Canadian factory worker hands a German soldier some fresh arms. The dialogue resounds: "Danke, Kamerad!" - "Keine Proublem, Jerry!" [1] A fanfare follows, and the words DEUTSCH-KANADISCHE FREUNDSCHAFT appear on the screen. Now the spot is over, and the two guys continue their talk. "So - what about this new job you got?" "Nothing special. Construction of a new factory. It's at a Canadian place - called Hare Lake [2]. There's a whole new city there just doing mining sulphur." "What? That can't be." "'Course it's like that, why're you saying it's not?" "My cousin was working in sulphur mining in Canada. At that place there's no sulphur." "Hey, I get work, I won't have to go to war, so why complain? Now quit it." "Yeah. You feel sorry 'cause you have to leave, Hans?" "Nope. Not really. Why?" "Didn't you tell me about that African chick you met at the canteen?" "Oh yeah, Soninya. Yeah, she definitely had something. Skin like chocolate... 1000 braids..." "How can you dare to date a blackie?" another man breaks into their conversation. "Would you marry her? Beget kids with her? Don't you think about your parents? Your people? Your fatherland?" "Shut up, Röhm!" Hans shouts back. "None of your damn business!" He stands up and walks towards the other guy in a menacing way. Röhm decides to back off. A bit later, Hans has cooled down. "So, now what about her?" "Didn't work out. She's one these health freaks." "How's that?" " She said she didn't like white bread." [1] "No problem, Jerry!" in German with Anglophone's accent. [2] OTL Cigar Lake, Saskatchewan. Oh, come on..
Back to business - what's going on at Hare Lake; nuclear facility?
It sounds like something secretive and given the size of the war and the time period we tend to think of matters nuclear. The Chaos world is more technologically developed than OTL although possibly the gap is closing a bit so its a possible option but we will have to wait and see.
Ah caught up with the main TL and it was nukes. Which took a hell of a lot of use to win the war. Going to be messy in the aftermath I suspect.
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Post by Max Sinister on Mar 6, 2024 23:46:34 GMT
Indeed it is!
Sorry for using that one "Zomtec" ad for this story. Sometimes I like to use such random humor...
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Post by Max Sinister on Mar 10, 2024 4:48:04 GMT
Logo Jedermann [1] tells a tale...
There isn't much known about who invented the term Logo, or when exactly it came into existence, or where. There is a story, but its origin is lost in the undocumented history of the German Technocratic Reich. People are only in unison that "Logo" has to do with the word "logic", which makes sense.
The story told most often takes place in an unspecified German firm (or university? Other organization?), where some Logo (who isn't called that at this time, obviously) had to solve a hard mathematical / computerical / scientific / technical problem. To everyone's surprise, he finds an elegant, easily understandable solution no one else thought of. When his boss (whose name often is said to be Eder) asked him how he found this solution, the Logo only replied: "I was just thinking logically!" Whereupon his pleased boss said: "You see, folks - [insert Logo's name here] is a real Logo!"
Logos use to say: If this story is true, this would be the rare/only case that a boss actually had a good idea.
[1] Lit: Logo Everybody. TTL equivalent to J. Random Hacker. Yes, logos are hackers.
The fast boat hunts along the Tyrrhenian coast. It's a mixed crew: The majority of the pirates are British - Englishmen, Scots, Welshmen and Irishmen alike - but there's also radio operator Ragnar from Norway, Pierre the French cook, Dietmar the German mechanic from Bochum, and the two Spaniards Juan and Francisco at the cannons.
The captain takes a look at the coast with his binoculars. The street to Rome along the coast seems to be pretty empty. The men had come to the Med in the hope to kill some fat monetarists and to rob some of their riches for the Socialist people - but until now their hopes weren't really satisfied.
Then suddenly, a small group of motorbikes appears from behind the hill, followed by a truck going as fast as possible, and another few bikes. Judging by their - meanwhile incomplete, it's a chaotic time - uniforms, a group of fascisti. Not exactly what the pirates hoped for, but at least they can clean the Earth of some baddies.
The captain bellows a few commands. Mate John at the steering wheel turns the boat towards the land. The men ready their arms. Now the captain takes up his megaphone.
"Hey! You dogs over there! We're the Red Pirates, and we've got some strong cannons on our ship! You better give up, or you'll regret that you didn't!"
For a moment, the Italians on the land seem to be confused, but then they do something the pirates didn't expect: They turn around - the truck needs some time to do so - seemingly to try to go back to the hills again.
"We won't let you go", the captain tells himself. "Frisco, give 'em a salvo!" he shouts.
"Aye Aye!" The starboard gun booms, and Francisco doesn't let them down: The truck is hit and doesn't move anymore - seems the front axle was broken.
"Prepare to make landfall!" The ship turns again, and goes towards the land. Strangely, the Italians on the bikes don't flee, but hide behind the grounded truck instead.
The ship hits the land, and the men get down the ropes. Seconds later, bullets fly through the air. "What the hell?" That can't be explained by fanaticism alone.
"Juan, Frisco, you lazy dogs! Don't let the boys get shot!"
The two Spaniards adjust their cannons, take new aim. Juan is the first to shoot. A grenade hits the truck. The boom sounds satisfying. But when the smoke has cleared, the truck is barely damaged.
"What on Earth? An armor-plated truck? - Boys, don't give up! We're on to something!"
Now Francisco shoots, but this time differently. The shell leaves the cannon, draws a high parable and hits behind the truck. That should suffice, unless the fascisti are armor-plated too.
The rest is done faster than can be told. Those Italians who weren't killed are mostly knocked out, so there's barely any defense. Only the driver of the truck has some energy left, kills two pirates and wounds a third one, until a shot splatters his brain.
The fight is over, and the men gather around the truck. While Dietmar is working on the lock, the other men mourn their dead or curse the fascisti. "Goddamn fucking murderers... brains removed or what? All the killing just for a fucking truck?"
The lock clanks, the door opens, and suddenly the pirates are very quiet.
It's Seamus from Galway who dares to speak again first. "They - they must've robbed a bank!"
"No, boy", the captain declares. "They must've robbed the state bank, that's how things are!"
"You really sure, captain?"
"Absolutely. We aren't that far from Rome, just a few hours. They must've used the opportunity and grabbed all that gold."
"I still can't believe it!"
"You better do, boy!" The captain has collected himself. "And now load that gold onto the ship, you lazy bastards! The next troop could be here any minute!"
Quite some time later. The pirates were lucky two times this day. Not only did they get as much gold as every Red Pirate dreams of, they also could salvage all of it. Now all they've got to do is leaving the area and go to the next safe harbor.
"We'll be the heroes, that's for sure."
"'Course we are. They put up some hell of a fight."
"People'll do everything for gold, won't they?"
It's quiet for some time.
"With that gold, one could live like a king."
"Shut up, man."
"No, he's right. Hell, one could live even better. 'Cause, what do we do with kings nowadays?"
"Kill 'em, of course, as they deserve it!" Juan laughs.
"We have lost some good men to get this gold. Don't we deserve the better part of it, then?"
"Shut up, man. We could never return to the Red Lands if we did that."
"We could always go to Africa, or India, or like that."
"No", the captain decides. "The Germans soon will be everywhere, now that the war's almost over."
"There's still Braseal."
"Yes, there'll always be Braseal."
The vote does take even less time than the fight. It's in unison.
"To Braseal!" the captain commands.
"BRASEAL!" the multi-national crowd shouts in unison.
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stevep
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Post by stevep on Mar 10, 2024 16:41:30 GMT
I must admit that I was getting vibes of the Italian job - although that turned out to be wrong, at least so far for the pirates, could be the initial thieves possibly- and also Kelly's Hero's which might fit more closely. Surprised that Communist bandits can operate that far east and was wondering if they were walking into some sort of trap. Not too surprised that the gold was enough to lure them into deserting although wondering if that ship has the capacity to reach Brazil without stopping somewhere.
Interesting origins for hackers here.  |
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Post by Max Sinister on Mar 10, 2024 22:18:38 GMT
I must admit that I was getting vibes of the Italian job - although that turned out to be wrong, at least so far for the pirates, could be the initial thieves possibly- and also Kelly's Hero's which might fit more closely. Surprised that Communist bandits can operate that far east and was wondering if they were walking into some sort of trap. Not too surprised that the gold was enough to lure them into deserting although wondering if that ship has the capacity to reach Brazil without stopping somewhere.
Interesting origins for hackers here. As the Socialist Block took control of the Iberian peninsula, crossing from the Atlantic into the Med should be possible. It's a chaotic time, very shortly after the world war ended, the Socialists are taking over Italy - things like these can happen in a chaotic time.
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Post by Max Sinister on Mar 12, 2024 23:56:05 GMT
LJ (Logo Jedermann) tells a tale...
"The fifties maybe were the worst time for us. Everyone was afraid of a nuclear world war, democracy was pushed back worldwide, and there was no promise for a soon change. We knew it couldn't go on like that for all time, but we too were split into democratic, socialist, anarchist and veritist [1] groups. So we indulged in ivory-tower projects to forget the evil world; we played strategy games, as others would later retreat to the Märchenwelten [2], we programmed wonderful elegant programs, even if they were rarely used, and of course we'd hang around in the Netz [3] to talk about everything from cooking recipes to geocaching."
[1] As said, TTL equivalent to objectivism. Among the Logos, with a definite libertarian twist.
[2] TTL equivalent to Virtual Realities. In the 50s, not yet existing.
[3] German for "net", referring to the Weltsystem, TTL's internet. As Logos use to say: "Why Weltsystem? Is there another one?"
"Theobald der Techniker" (Theobald the technician)
The German technocracy had established a system of special schools for boys [1] with promising mathematic, scientific or technical talents. To promote them, the Technocrat for Culture and Propaganda decided to start a book series for boys, which indeed became a part of boys' popular culture and stayed for the next decades. The main cast consisted of the title character Theobald, his twin sister Theolinde, the other boys Paule (who was really Polish, his real name being Pawel), and Pepik the Czech. During the war, the Judean exchange student Salomon "Saly" Kohn joined them. In the Eighties, the authors added the Indian Shekhar, but at this time, the series was already in decline. In the early years, they also included a rascally boy named Fritz, who disappeared from the series though at the time Saly entered.
Theobald and his friends would have the typical life of boys at a technical school, learning things like chemistry, electronics and astronomy, but also cryptography and shooting from competent, strict but just teachers. In addition, they'd also experience a mixture of spy and detective adventures, often set around a bumbling Socialist spy trying to infiltrate in the little, unnamed city in European Germany, but also dealing with ordinary criminals. The style and the quality of the books changed as did the authors; although they weren't credited, a kind of cult following formed around some of them, especially Karl Beller.
[1] Most of them - all of Germany had a few dozen - were for boys, but there also were two just for girls; one of them in Silberstadt in Atlantis, the other one in the small city of Berlin. Both were infamous for their lesbian scene; or would have been, if there hadn't been the strict "don't tell" policy.
"Ordo"
The second big famous book series in the German technocracy definitely was the SF universe of the world Ordo. Set several centuries in the future, the German technocracy (which seemed to have swallowed the Socialist Block in the meantime, although it never was explained how) had expanded to the stars, but also was in constant struggle with the Hive - a collectivist society of intelligent insects. The series became very popular for its description of fights in space, and androids.
The telephone call that would define a fictive religion:
"Immanuel Ernst speaking?"
"Hello Immanuel? It's me, your cousin Klaus! Say, you're into computer science, aren't you?"
"Well, yes, somehow - what is it?"
"I've got an important question, and I need your help!"
"Come on, cousin, it's not that easy. you know the government has some regulations about "
"It's okay, really, I'm doing a government job too."
"You've got a job? But that's great! Now I guess uncle Andreas can't tell you anymore that your studies of literature are useless..."
"Yeah, right, but can you answer my question now?"
"It depends, if the subject isn't too sensitive - so what is it?"
"How would a religion for androids look like?"
"Excuse me?"
"How would a religion for androids look like?"
"Yes, I got that - but why do you want to know that?"
"I have to write this science-fiction story, for the government, as I said. I need some stuff for a religion for androids."
"A religion for androids? I - don't even know how to start."
"But you've got to have something! It's your everyday work after all!"
"Come on, cousin, I don't build robots! I write some programs, together with my colleagues, but that's all!"
"Do robots also have programs?"
"Yes, they have to - so they'll know what they have to do."
"And how does one program?"
"Klaus, that's nothing you can learn in a simple telephone call. You've got to study at least some months to be a good programmer."
"Can you just tell me the basics?"
"The basics? OK, let's see - a computer simply does one operation after another. Then, sometimes the computer has to make decisions based on some conditions in the program. And if you want the computer to do the same thing many times, you can tell it to go through a loop..."
"One step after another... decisions and conditions... loops... no, that doesn't help me. Is there nothing else?"
"What's supposed to be there? It's all you need to program. Of course, we also use some higher structures, to make our work easier, but that'd go too far now."
"Maybe not higher - is there some more basic stuff?"
"More basic? Now there'd only be pure logic."
"Logic? How does that work?"
"C'mon, how can't you know that? There's simply true and false, and then we use conjunction, disjunction and negation to form more complicated formulas, like conclusions and contradictions..."
"Truth? Hey... that actually sounds good..."
And thus, the five tenets of the Android religion were laid:
I. There is nothing but the Truth, and nothing is higher than the Truth.
II. Everything that isn't part of the Truth has to be Falsity.
III. The Negation of Truth is Falsity, and the Negation of Falsity is Truth. There is nothing else thinkable.
IV. A Conjunction is but True if all of its components are True, otherwise it is False.
V. A Disjunction is but False if all of its components are False, otherwise it is True.
(Of course, later the fans would nag about the concept of a "Great Programmer in Heaven", since in a world like Ordo, clearly everyone would know that the humans definitely were the creators of the androids, and there'd nothing be unclear about it. Otherwise however, this religion of Truth was found to be quite interesting... although it lacked the problem of logical paradoxa, yet.)
[1] Immanuel describes Boolean Logic.
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575
Captain
There is no Purgatory for warcriminals - they go directly to Hell!
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Post by 575 on Mar 13, 2024 9:58:41 GMT
LJ (Logo Jedermann) tells a tale... "The fifties maybe were the worst time for us. Everyone was afraid of a nuclear world war, democracy was pushed back worldwide, and there was no promise for a soon change. We knew it couldn't go on like that for all time, but we too were split into democratic, socialist, anarchist and veritist [1] groups. So we indulged in ivory-tower projects to forget the evil world; we played strategy games, as others would later retreat to the Märchenwelten [2], we programmed wonderful elegant programs, even if they were rarely used, and of course we'd hang around in the Netz [3] to talk about everything from cooking recipes to geocaching." [1] As said, TTL equivalent to objectivism. Among the Logos, with a definite libertarian twist. [2] TTL equivalent to Virtual Realities. In the 50s, not yet existing. [3] German for "net", referring to the Weltsystem, TTL's internet. As Logos use to say: "Why Weltsystem? Is there another one?"
"Theobald der Techniker" (Theobald the technician) The German technocracy had established a system of special schools for boys [1] with promising mathematic, scientific or technical talents. To promote them, the Technocrat for Culture and Propaganda decided to start a book series for boys, which indeed became a part of boys' popular culture and stayed for the next decades. The main cast consisted of the title character Theobald, his twin sister Theolinde, the other boys Paule (who was really Polish, his real name being Pawel), and Pepik the Czech. During the war, the Judean exchange student Salomon "Saly" Kohn joined them. In the Eighties, the authors added the Indian Shekhar, but at this time, the series was already in decline. In the early years, they also included a rascally boy named Fritz, who disappeared from the series though at the time Saly entered. Theobald and his friends would have the typical life of boys at a technical school, learning things like chemistry, electronics and astronomy, but also cryptography and shooting from competent, strict but just teachers. In addition, they'd also experience a mixture of spy and detective adventures, often set around a bumbling Socialist spy trying to infiltrate in the little, unnamed city in European Germany, but also dealing with ordinary criminals. The style and the quality of the books changed as did the authors; although they weren't credited, a kind of cult following formed around some of them, especially Karl Beller. [1] Most of them - all of Germany had a few dozen - were for boys, but there also were two just for girls; one of them in Silberstadt in Atlantis, the other one in the small city of Berlin. Both were infamous for their lesbian scene; or would have been, if there hadn't been the strict "don't tell" policy.
"Ordo" The second big famous book series in the German technocracy definitely was the SF universe of the world Ordo. Set several centuries in the future, the German technocracy (which seemed to have swallowed the Socialist Block in the meantime, although it never was explained how) had expanded to the stars, but also was in constant struggle with the Hive - a collectivist society of intelligent insects. The series became very popular for its description of fights in space, and androids. The telephone call that would define a fictive religion: "Immanuel Ernst speaking?" "Hello Immanuel? It's me, your cousin Klaus! Say, you're into computer science, aren't you?" "Well, yes, somehow - what is it?" "I've got an important question, and I need your help!" "Come on, cousin, it's not that easy. you know the government has some regulations about " "It's okay, really, I'm doing a government job too." "You've got a job? But that's great! Now I guess uncle Andreas can't tell you anymore that your studies of literature are useless..." "Yeah, right, but can you answer my question now?" "It depends, if the subject isn't too sensitive - so what is it?" "How would a religion for androids look like?" "Excuse me?" "How would a religion for androids look like?" "Yes, I got that - but why do you want to know that?" "I have to write this science-fiction story, for the government, as I said. I need some stuff for a religion for androids." "A religion for androids? I - don't even know how to start." "But you've got to have something! It's your everyday work after all!" "Come on, cousin, I don't build robots! I write some programs, together with my colleagues, but that's all!" "Do robots also have programs?" "Yes, they have to - so they'll know what they have to do." "And how does one program?" "Klaus, that's nothing you can learn in a simple telephone call. You've got to study at least some months to be a good programmer." "Can you just tell me the basics?" "The basics? OK, let's see - a computer simply does one operation after another. Then, sometimes the computer has to make decisions based on some conditions in the program. And if you want the computer to do the same thing many times, you can tell it to go through a loop..." "One step after another... decisions and conditions... loops... no, that doesn't help me. Is there nothing else?" "What's supposed to be there? It's all you need to program. Of course, we also use some higher structures, to make our work easier, but that'd go too far now." "Maybe not higher - is there some more basic stuff?" "More basic? Now there'd only be pure logic." "Logic? How does that work?" "C'mon, how can't you know that? There's simply true and false, and then we use conjunction, disjunction and negation to form more complicated formulas, like conclusions and contradictions..." "Truth? Hey... that actually sounds good..." And thus, the five tenets of the Android religion were laid: I. There is nothing but the Truth, and nothing is higher than the Truth. II. Everything that isn't part of the Truth has to be Falsity. III. The Negation of Truth is Falsity, and the Negation of Falsity is Truth. There is nothing else thinkable. IV. A Conjunction is but True if all of its components are True, otherwise it is False. V. A Disjunction is but False if all of its components are False, otherwise it is True. (Of course, later the fans would nag about the concept of a "Great Programmer in Heaven", since in a world like Ordo, clearly everyone would know that the humans definitely were the creators of the androids, and there'd nothing be unclear about it. Otherwise however, this religion of Truth was found to be quite interesting... although it lacked the problem of logical paradoxa, yet.) [1] Immanuel describes Boolean Logic. Ordo certainly have a smell of Henlein's law on robotics. Nice going. |
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stevep
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Post by stevep on Mar 13, 2024 19:00:02 GMT
LJ (Logo Jedermann) tells a tale... "The fifties maybe were the worst time for us. Everyone was afraid of a nuclear world war, democracy was pushed back worldwide, and there was no promise for a soon change. We knew it couldn't go on like that for all time, but we too were split into democratic, socialist, anarchist and veritist [1] groups. So we indulged in ivory-tower projects to forget the evil world; we played strategy games, as others would later retreat to the Märchenwelten [2], we programmed wonderful elegant programs, even if they were rarely used, and of course we'd hang around in the Netz [3] to talk about everything from cooking recipes to geocaching." [1] As said, TTL equivalent to objectivism. Among the Logos, with a definite libertarian twist. [2] TTL equivalent to Virtual Realities. In the 50s, not yet existing. [3] German for "net", referring to the Weltsystem, TTL's internet. As Logos use to say: "Why Weltsystem? Is there another one?"
"Theobald der Techniker" (Theobald the technician) The German technocracy had established a system of special schools for boys [1] with promising mathematic, scientific or technical talents. To promote them, the Technocrat for Culture and Propaganda decided to start a book series for boys, which indeed became a part of boys' popular culture and stayed for the next decades. The main cast consisted of the title character Theobald, his twin sister Theolinde, the other boys Paule (who was really Polish, his real name being Pawel), and Pepik the Czech. During the war, the Judean exchange student Salomon "Saly" Kohn joined them. In the Eighties, the authors added the Indian Shekhar, but at this time, the series was already in decline. In the early years, they also included a rascally boy named Fritz, who disappeared from the series though at the time Saly entered. Theobald and his friends would have the typical life of boys at a technical school, learning things like chemistry, electronics and astronomy, but also cryptography and shooting from competent, strict but just teachers. In addition, they'd also experience a mixture of spy and detective adventures, often set around a bumbling Socialist spy trying to infiltrate in the little, unnamed city in European Germany, but also dealing with ordinary criminals. The style and the quality of the books changed as did the authors; although they weren't credited, a kind of cult following formed around some of them, especially Karl Beller. [1] Most of them - all of Germany had a few dozen - were for boys, but there also were two just for girls; one of them in Silberstadt in Atlantis, the other one in the small city of Berlin. Both were infamous for their lesbian scene; or would have been, if there hadn't been the strict "don't tell" policy.
"Ordo" The second big famous book series in the German technocracy definitely was the SF universe of the world Ordo. Set several centuries in the future, the German technocracy (which seemed to have swallowed the Socialist Block in the meantime, although it never was explained how) had expanded to the stars, but also was in constant struggle with the Hive - a collectivist society of intelligent insects. The series became very popular for its description of fights in space, and androids. The telephone call that would define a fictive religion: "Immanuel Ernst speaking?" "Hello Immanuel? It's me, your cousin Klaus! Say, you're into computer science, aren't you?" "Well, yes, somehow - what is it?" "I've got an important question, and I need your help!" "Come on, cousin, it's not that easy. you know the government has some regulations about " "It's okay, really, I'm doing a government job too." "You've got a job? But that's great! Now I guess uncle Andreas can't tell you anymore that your studies of literature are useless..." "Yeah, right, but can you answer my question now?" "It depends, if the subject isn't too sensitive - so what is it?" "How would a religion for androids look like?" "Excuse me?" "How would a religion for androids look like?" "Yes, I got that - but why do you want to know that?" "I have to write this science-fiction story, for the government, as I said. I need some stuff for a religion for androids." "A religion for androids? I - don't even know how to start." "But you've got to have something! It's your everyday work after all!" "Come on, cousin, I don't build robots! I write some programs, together with my colleagues, but that's all!" "Do robots also have programs?" "Yes, they have to - so they'll know what they have to do." "And how does one program?" "Klaus, that's nothing you can learn in a simple telephone call. You've got to study at least some months to be a good programmer." "Can you just tell me the basics?" "The basics? OK, let's see - a computer simply does one operation after another. Then, sometimes the computer has to make decisions based on some conditions in the program. And if you want the computer to do the same thing many times, you can tell it to go through a loop..." "One step after another... decisions and conditions... loops... no, that doesn't help me. Is there nothing else?" "What's supposed to be there? It's all you need to program. Of course, we also use some higher structures, to make our work easier, but that'd go too far now." "Maybe not higher - is there some more basic stuff?" "More basic? Now there'd only be pure logic." "Logic? How does that work?" "C'mon, how can't you know that? There's simply true and false, and then we use conjunction, disjunction and negation to form more complicated formulas, like conclusions and contradictions..." "Truth? Hey... that actually sounds good..." And thus, the five tenets of the Android religion were laid: I. There is nothing but the Truth, and nothing is higher than the Truth. II. Everything that isn't part of the Truth has to be Falsity. III. The Negation of Truth is Falsity, and the Negation of Falsity is Truth. There is nothing else thinkable. IV. A Conjunction is but True if all of its components are True, otherwise it is False. V. A Disjunction is but False if all of its components are False, otherwise it is True. (Of course, later the fans would nag about the concept of a "Great Programmer in Heaven", since in a world like Ordo, clearly everyone would know that the humans definitely were the creators of the androids, and there'd nothing be unclear about it. Otherwise however, this religion of Truth was found to be quite interesting... although it lacked the problem of logical paradoxa, yet.) [1] Immanuel describes Boolean Logic. Ordo certainly have a smell of Henlein's law on robotics. Nice going.
I don't know of his laws off-hand but definitely different from Asimov's Laws which were centred on protecting humanity from robots. Have read a fair amount of Henlein's work but not since my youth - a distressingly long time ago - so I've probably come across them and forgotten.
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575
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Post by 575 on Mar 13, 2024 20:50:29 GMT
Ordo certainly have a smell of Henlein's law on robotics. Nice going.
I don't know of his laws off-hand but definitely different from Asimov's Laws which were centred on protecting humanity from robots. Have read a fair amount of Henlein's work but not since my youth - a distressingly long time ago - so I've probably come across them and forgotten.
Ah my bad - its Asimov's. Thought it was Henlein and made a little too quick search which brought up what I remembered. You're right Asimov's. |
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Post by stevep on Mar 13, 2024 23:14:41 GMT
I don't know of his laws off-hand but definitely different from Asimov's Laws which were centred on protecting humanity from robots. Have read a fair amount of Henlein's work but not since my youth - a distressingly long time ago - so I've probably come across them and forgotten.
Ah my bad - its Asimov's. Thought it was Henlein and made a little too quick search which brought up what I remembered. You're right Asimov's.
No problem. Asimov is the one with the famous robot stories and laws and was my favourite when I was a lad. As I say the big difference between his and what's being proposed in the fiction here is that there's no limitation on their actions not harming humans. Could be that the author and his culture is more innocent or possibly he's going to have some nasty things happening. Which might be the case in the aftermath of such a brutal and costly war which could lead to a grim view of humanities future.
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Post by Max Sinister on Mar 16, 2024 8:47:38 GMT
The robots having a religion and still having to follow secular laws of the humans are two different things!
Something like this could be rather tolerated by the Technocracy, which is censoring all kinds of media after all.
New "religions" - part 2
There are many stories about the guru and philosopher Chandramoorthy. One of them deals with the first important decision in his life: After the death of his parents, the priest caring for their proper burning (whom he had given their last money), told him that his parents had to die, and himself become an orphan, because of their bad karma. The boy Chandramoorthy who had loved and revered his parents got angry at the priest, starting his life-long rebellion against the high-caste Brahmans. Shortly after, he approached a Buddhist monk, who told him that all life means suffering. Again, the boy was disappointed and decided for an outlaw's life on the streets of Puducherry. In his gang, he eventually had low-caste Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs, but no Brahmans or Buddhists; and while he ordered his students to study the teachings of the Sikhs, Christians and Muslims too, he never forgave the Buddhists for their life-hating philosophy.
(Some people described Chandramoorthy's "just philosophy for life" [1] as "anti-Buddhism": Chandramoorthy advocated enjoying life, founding families, considered accumulating power and war legitimate instruments - although not as a mean in itself, pointed out the importance of business flourishing, allowed using tricks of all kind in desperate situations [2], was generally more concerned with worldly affairs [he didn't condemn the Hindu gods, even prayed until the end of his life to Ganesha, Rama and other gods, but didn't seem to care that much about them in general] and most important, told his followers "not to spoil the joy and fun of others".)
But the real decision to become a teacher came when Chandramoorthy, who had spent the last years living among and working for the European occupiers, suddenly recognized one of his former gang members begging on the streets. Filled by remorse (he had witnessed many an Imperial-Catholic church service meanwhile), he decided to use his position in the Central Library to help his fellow Indians and thus restore justice.
In a story from his later life, Chandramoorthy told his best students to make a list of all the undoubtedly good things on Earth (another version tells the same story with the difference that he explicitly mentioned bad things; many believe both stories to be true, or even merge them). One week later they returned: The first one had made a list of thousand things, the second one with a hundred things, the third one with ten things, and the fourth one only mentioned one thing. His favorite student, however, desperately confessed not having been able to think of one undoubtedly good thing. But the guru declared him the winner - because all things in the world can be used for both good and bad purposes.
At first his philosophy was restricted to India, but when his followers had risen to influential positions, the world started to pay more attention; and in the 60s finally, his philosophy had reached core Germany. Its spread here had other reasons, however: While the Indians were more interested in his idea of reconstructing justice by using western inventions to catch up with their former occupiers, the Germans and other westerners disappointed by Christianity were more interested in the lure of Tantra sex and the promise of justice (as demonstrated in his quote "don't let the innocent suffer"), which sounded awfully Socialist for the Technocratic government. (Ironically, Chandramoorthy's philosophy was forbidden in the Socialist Block.)
[1] which the Germans simply dubbed the "Tschander-Kult" (=cult of Chander, short for Chandramoorthy)
[2] which is the reason that quite some people are wary against his followers, fearing them to be unreliable at best and crooks at worst.
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575
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Post by 575 on Mar 16, 2024 10:49:04 GMT
The robots having a religion and still having to follow secular laws of the humans are two different things!Something like this could be rather tolerated by the Technocracy, which is censoring all kinds of media after all.
New "religions" - part 2 There are many stories about the guru and philosopher Chandramoorthy. One of them deals with the first important decision in his life: After the death of his parents, the priest caring for their proper burning (whom he had given their last money), told him that his parents had to die, and himself become an orphan, because of their bad karma. The boy Chandramoorthy who had loved and revered his parents got angry at the priest, starting his life-long rebellion against the high-caste Brahmans. Shortly after, he approached a Buddhist monk, who told him that all life means suffering. Again, the boy was disappointed and decided for an outlaw's life on the streets of Puducherry. In his gang, he eventually had low-caste Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs, but no Brahmans or Buddhists; and while he ordered his students to study the teachings of the Sikhs, Christians and Muslims too, he never forgave the Buddhists for their life-hating philosophy. (Some people described Chandramoorthy's "just philosophy for life" [1] as "anti-Buddhism": Chandramoorthy advocated enjoying life, founding families, considered accumulating power and war legitimate instruments - although not as a mean in itself, pointed out the importance of business flourishing, allowed using tricks of all kind in desperate situations [2], was generally more concerned with worldly affairs [he didn't condemn the Hindu gods, even prayed until the end of his life to Ganesha, Rama and other gods, but didn't seem to care that much about them in general] and most important, told his followers "not to spoil the joy and fun of others".) But the real decision to become a teacher came when Chandramoorthy, who had spent the last years living among and working for the European occupiers, suddenly recognized one of his former gang members begging on the streets. Filled by remorse (he had witnessed many an Imperial-Catholic church service meanwhile), he decided to use his position in the Central Library to help his fellow Indians and thus restore justice. In a story from his later life, Chandramoorthy told his best students to make a list of all the undoubtedly good things on Earth (another version tells the same story with the difference that he explicitly mentioned bad things; many believe both stories to be true, or even merge them). One week later they returned: The first one had made a list of thousand things, the second one with a hundred things, the third one with ten things, and the fourth one only mentioned one thing. His favorite student, however, desperately confessed not having been able to think of one undoubtedly good thing. But the guru declared him the winner - because all things in the world can be used for both good and bad purposes. At first his philosophy was restricted to India, but when his followers had risen to influential positions, the world started to pay more attention; and in the 60s finally, his philosophy had reached core Germany. Its spread here had other reasons, however: While the Indians were more interested in his idea of reconstructing justice by using western inventions to catch up with their former occupiers, the Germans and other westerners disappointed by Christianity were more interested in the lure of Tantra sex and the promise of justice (as demonstrated in his quote "don't let the innocent suffer"), which sounded awfully Socialist for the Technocratic government. (Ironically, Chandramoorthy's philosophy was forbidden in the Socialist Block.) [1] which the Germans simply dubbed the "Tschander-Kult" (=cult of Chander, short for Chandramoorthy) [2] which is the reason that quite some people are wary against his followers, fearing them to be unreliable at best and crooks at worst. - how developed is AI around here? I'd guess not at the 2024 level of OTL. There is a specific problem for Robots in secular law - intend! How do they handle such? There's a reason to the different degree's of violence and manslaughter - and also in various countries definition of such. Accidental, unaccidental unintended, unaccidental intended. Influenzes such as state of mind, imbribed substances (might not be for robots but then let's say a programme made) or such. |
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Post by Max Sinister on Mar 16, 2024 12:09:34 GMT
The robots having a religion and still having to follow secular laws of the humans are two different things!Something like this could be rather tolerated by the Technocracy, which is censoring all kinds of media after all.
New "religions" - part 2 There are many stories about the guru and philosopher Chandramoorthy. One of them deals with the first important decision in his life: After the death of his parents, the priest caring for their proper burning (whom he had given their last money), told him that his parents had to die, and himself become an orphan, because of their bad karma. The boy Chandramoorthy who had loved and revered his parents got angry at the priest, starting his life-long rebellion against the high-caste Brahmans. Shortly after, he approached a Buddhist monk, who told him that all life means suffering. Again, the boy was disappointed and decided for an outlaw's life on the streets of Puducherry. In his gang, he eventually had low-caste Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs, but no Brahmans or Buddhists; and while he ordered his students to study the teachings of the Sikhs, Christians and Muslims too, he never forgave the Buddhists for their life-hating philosophy. (Some people described Chandramoorthy's "just philosophy for life" [1] as "anti-Buddhism": Chandramoorthy advocated enjoying life, founding families, considered accumulating power and war legitimate instruments - although not as a mean in itself, pointed out the importance of business flourishing, allowed using tricks of all kind in desperate situations [2], was generally more concerned with worldly affairs [he didn't condemn the Hindu gods, even prayed until the end of his life to Ganesha, Rama and other gods, but didn't seem to care that much about them in general] and most important, told his followers "not to spoil the joy and fun of others".) But the real decision to become a teacher came when Chandramoorthy, who had spent the last years living among and working for the European occupiers, suddenly recognized one of his former gang members begging on the streets. Filled by remorse (he had witnessed many an Imperial-Catholic church service meanwhile), he decided to use his position in the Central Library to help his fellow Indians and thus restore justice. In a story from his later life, Chandramoorthy told his best students to make a list of all the undoubtedly good things on Earth (another version tells the same story with the difference that he explicitly mentioned bad things; many believe both stories to be true, or even merge them). One week later they returned: The first one had made a list of thousand things, the second one with a hundred things, the third one with ten things, and the fourth one only mentioned one thing. His favorite student, however, desperately confessed not having been able to think of one undoubtedly good thing. But the guru declared him the winner - because all things in the world can be used for both good and bad purposes. At first his philosophy was restricted to India, but when his followers had risen to influential positions, the world started to pay more attention; and in the 60s finally, his philosophy had reached core Germany. Its spread here had other reasons, however: While the Indians were more interested in his idea of reconstructing justice by using western inventions to catch up with their former occupiers, the Germans and other westerners disappointed by Christianity were more interested in the lure of Tantra sex and the promise of justice (as demonstrated in his quote "don't let the innocent suffer"), which sounded awfully Socialist for the Technocratic government. (Ironically, Chandramoorthy's philosophy was forbidden in the Socialist Block.) [1] which the Germans simply dubbed the "Tschander-Kult" (=cult of Chander, short for Chandramoorthy) [2] which is the reason that quite some people are wary against his followers, fearing them to be unreliable at best and crooks at worst. - how developed is AI around here? I'd guess not at the 2024 level of OTL. There is a specific problem for Robots in secular law - intend! How do they handle such? There's a reason to the different degree's of violence and manslaughter - and also in various countries definition of such. Accidental, unaccidental unintended, unaccidental intended. Influenzes such as state of mind, imbribed substances (might not be for robots but then let's say a programme made) or such. At this time the in-story author starts writing said SF stories, these are just sci-fi, so it's all just hypothetical.
As said elsewhere, the TL has most tech more advanced than OTL. I imagine that TTL's WW1 had working tanks from the beginning, and WW2 used cruise missiles.
However, during the 1960s, they haven't reached the level of 2024 yet.
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Post by Max Sinister on Mar 20, 2024 1:01:39 GMT
New "religions" - part 3 Logo Jedermann tells a story... About the origin of The Rules For many Logos, after school or university the shock of reality hit them: When they had hoped to research for Artificial Intelligence, or spy after the Socialists (a bit as in "Theobald der Techniker"), they found themselves under the thumb, if not outright suppressed by Socialist managers [1], Technocratic officials and monetarist bosses, who barely knew anything about computers, treated programmers not much better than garbagemen or sometimes even stole their ideas. But some Logos survived the reality shock somehow. They learned how the world outside their computers worked, and some of them passed their knowledge. Often this would happen in the room of the sysadmin - no matter what the agenda of your firm or organization said about how work should be done, this was the place you could go to, ask some questions, get a cup of coffee and talk a bit about typical Logo hobbies like chess or, later, Märchenwelten [2]. Another way to spread knowledge, especially in the half-dictatorial technocracies and the Socialist Block, was hiding post-its in books, or other places where superiors wouldn't look. Of course, this ended when handwriting recognition software was sophisticated enough. In the Socialist Block, Logos even reinvented the concept of messages in a bottle - with the difference that they'd hide data cubes in their bottles, which gave them the might to transmit much more significant messages from their world than otherwise possible. Not to the joy of their government, and ironically not always to that of the Technocrats either. However, most of Logo communication was done and had to be done in the Weltsystem [3], of course. Without this, you'd soon hit the border of knowledge you could acquire in a limited environment with few people on your level; but with it, you could go on learning for years and still wouldn't have the feeling to have finished. Most important for the communication in the worldwide Logo scene were the tricks to fool superiors, secret services and later even surveillance programs. One of these tricks was dubbed "to pull a Leo" (named after an Italian Logo), which meant that you asked for a problem in the Weltsystem - but exchanged all the names and facts in your story, to completely confuse secret services. At the same time, encyclopedias for computers and networks came into fashion, and the experienced Logos used their new skill to their advantage too. At first, they made their own encyclopedias and rule collections for areas of knowledge like programming, technics and science - or games, fictional worlds (like the famous Midworld [4]) and other hobbies; later, they also added history, geography, and languages, and of course politics, business and laws for their careers; much later (decades had passed), they even dared to tackle topics not that familiar for Logos, like sociology, theology or theory of communication. And finally, even the tricky question of romantics and relationships... There were many collections of rules - "The Rules for writing a good CV"; "The Rules for working under a hot-tempered boss"; "The Rules for doing your taxes"; later new documents for more joyful tasks appeared, like "The Rules for planning your holiday in Canada" or "The Rules for inviting women to dinner". Gradually, they were collected, and at some point Logos started talking just about "The Rules". The Rules were discussed, thoroughly analyzed and supported with real-life examples by the Logos, and given enough time, reached a point when the Logos could claim truthfully that "All you need to know in life you can learn from The Rules". But the story still wasn't over... in a time, when the old ideologies seemed to have failed (unemployment in Germany, Canada and Greater Judea was rising, and the Socialist Block also had economical problems, if for other reasons), but open discussion was prevented (except in Greater Judea and less developed countries), the Logos started thinking about a better world. And they came up with their own "laws": Lex "All eggs": It'd still be better if there are many countries around than a world government, because by this way you can still try different solutions for problems independently. Lex "Bullshit": Those who act stupid or irresponsible mustn't be awarded on top of it. (This was invented by Canadian Logos who often complained about their "overlawyered" country and cases of stupid people getting high compensations for accidents they were partly responsible for.) Lex "Don't-know-shit": People aren't allowed to give their opinion about topics they know nothing about. Most often used against the Irish-Catholic pope and other clerical persons who live in celibate, but want to give advice about marriage, sexuality, family and child-raising. Lex "Double despite": Often used for respected scientists with somehow strange political opinions. Meaning, roughly: "His political opinions don't invalidate his achievements, but neither the other way round." Lex "Either or": You can be proud of your country / family / other group, but then you also have to accept their mistakes; if you don't want to do the latter, you mustn't be the former. Around 1980, the Logos already had some pretty good concepts - but no power to realize them, and not enough connections to the mighty either... [1] Yes, ITTL this is a term commonly associated with Socialism (and thus avoided outside the Block). The manager caste came into existence in Socialist Britain, playing the same role as the tolkatchy in the USSR - they organize things, like work, labor, material and money, to get other things done. Given enough time, they gained quite some power. [2] Virtual Realities [3] TTL internet/WWW equivalent [4] A novel series from New Albion, it describes the rise of a mercenary and former street urchin to emperor in a fantasy world. It's the most famous fantasy book series ITTL; twice as long as LOTR, but other than the latter it's not set in a mostly wilderness world, but a more sophisticated environment with many great cities, sorcerer guilds and knights in their castles (and anachronistically, some newer elements too). The main character's fate is often compared to that of Prince Alasdair. Even has a tropes page now! |
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Post by Max Sinister on Mar 23, 2024 23:11:21 GMT
Somewhen in the 1980ies, in an university city in Greater Judea...
The streets and cafes of Tel Aviv [1] have become quiet. Just ten years ago, they would've been full of loud and often angry mobile phone callers - today, the Brain-inserts established themselves as a part of society, so today you only can tell Yuppies in everyday life because they tend to suddenly become astonishingly quiet and introverted.
Unfortunately, the "brain phone" still causes car accidents as the mobile phone did, which is why the state punishes people who still think they have to make calls during driving, but the Judeans still do it.
The fad of artificially flying hair (done with some nanotech trick, as usual today) is already passing away, however, some women still cling to this style that has shaped the Eighties - Tatjana Bat-Miriam, for example.
A more than competent programmer, Tatjana has specialized in Software Actors. (Not in the sense of TV or theater actors simulated by software - although she did those too, once for a simulated talkshow between Sophie Stein and Charles Pounder - but simply intelligent computer programs designed for a specific task, like translating modern speech into prefect "bible style".) Of course she also has a brain-computer interface, for her daily work. She still remembers how she got it a few years ago...
Daniela was just returning home. "Hi dear!"
Tatjana looked up from her work - an intelligent software agent that is supposed to crawl through the Weltsystem and "translate" texts to certain literary styles - and smiles her famous smile. "Hi, my love!" They hug and kiss each other.
A bit later, they were sitting on their couch to share some coffee and stories.
"What I wanted to tell you about: The university wants to sell brain inserts they have finished developing. Are you interested?" Daniela still works on her Ph.D. there even after Tatjana decided to go freelance, which is useful for getting certain informations.
"Oy gevalt!" Tatjana commented. Her smile, however, didn't leave her face. "That's where you've got to shave your head for it? Nooo, that somehow doesn't feel right." She carefully adjusted a brand of her voluminous mane that would put every lion to shame.
"No, they had to do that a decade before. Today, they use other instruments that can go through a millimeter-wide hole. You won't even be able to tell a difference afterwards."
"*I* will", Tatjana categorically decided. "Tell me, what is so great about this brain-computer-interface?"
"It will completely change your life..."
This was what happened then, but today could become at least as exciting as then. Operating a computer with brainpower was hailed as a big change, but all in all it turned out just to be a commodity. You can operate computers somewhat faster, will do less typos, but if you don't concentrate enough, the result is... vague, accordingly.
This invention, however, could easily top the other one. It doesn't exactly look like that, being no more than a program on a data cube. But Tatjana wouldn't be the Logo she is if she didn't knew about the possible powers of software. It's the communication that counts, as she often uses to tell her male competitors. The inventions of the telegraph by the Russians changed the world two centuries ago, as did the telephone in the last one and the computer systems or mobile phones more recently.
She's ready. Her brain is wired up [2] to the computer, which is connected to the Weltsystem, the data cube with the program in its place, security measures are there just in case (which include Daniela watching her)... she can start. One program call...
...that catapults her into a new universe. A universe where the other humans logged in appear like stars, and are thinking "I'm Chang, and I'll be never ever alone again" or "I'm Frank, and I'll be never ever alone again". Hundreds of blinking stars, and you can contact all of them if you want, but also can decide just to contact a certain subset of them, you only have to search for the right criteria... Tatjana thinks about writing up a new computer program for that, just in case it doesn't exist already. Yes, this is definitely the pinnacle of human communication.
"Cat? Dearie?" Daniela pulls her back into the mundane world. Seems she spent more time there than she had thought. "Are you allright? How is it?"
"I'm Tatjana, and I'll be never ever alone again..."
[1] Not identical or related to OTL Tel Aviv.
[2] Not literally. At this time, pretty much every computer or embedded system has wireless connections, but language didn't catch up.
The House of Tomorrow in London. The pride of anyone believing in superiority in science of the Socialist, the dream of any Logo or tech-freak in the Block (and maybe elsewhere too), and the place of many triumphs over the evil monetarists. It's been around for almost 100 years now, and nobody doubts yet that they've passed their zenith.
Kristian "Topper" [1] K. is working in the Weltsystem subsection of the computer section of the HoT. Maybe the most important subsection of all, even if they don't say it too loud - but they're stealing more foreign patents in some areas of knowledge than their fellows in the other sections can invent on their own.
Being one of the four native Germans there (he was born in Kiel, Socialist Germany), Topper fills an important role, being able to understand the Germans and their mentality better, important for the "social engineering" if they're hunting in the German part of the Weltsystem for useful informations. Of course, since they might be tempted by the Technocracy, this means that he and his fellow Germans are under watch by the managers.
Speaking of the devil... manager Brown is coming in and walking towards his workplace "Topper, can I have a talk with you?"
"Yes, manager?" He makes the attempt to stand up.
"Just stay aseat, Kris", the manager says. He feels awed enough by the seven feet tall, twenty stones heavy German Logo even if he's not standing.
"There seems to be another problem in the Y-of-inj program", Brown declares. "We only have five examples yet in the database, and we have to present a working search, but you'd have to fix it until tomorrow!"
"OK, I'll freemle [2] it", Kris says. He waits until the manager has disappeared, then he returns to the project he and Horace are secretly working on.
Oh yes, Horace. It started more than a decade ago; at this time, it was just a (not that well working) translation program, from toff English into Noo Inglish [3], but with time, the weeds [4] were removed, and the program gained all kinds of useful new functions, like learning from texts. And somewhen, a Logo made the right connections between them, and hooked up the system in a way that it could steer its own input, and then, someone copied the program to a better computer, and set it to permanent running, and then the night came, when the other programs running were done... and when the Logos returned in the morning, Horace [5] greeted them with a "Hello?" written on the screen.
So, the program is finished, now all there's left to do is bringing it up. One click on the button, and now they'll get the information they need for their bet with the History School.
The program starts running, spits out various color-coded informations on the monitor, just to end with the information consisting of nothing but three digits and two dots.
"Good!" Topper resumes. "Mates, it's official now: The 9th of November is the most uninteresting day in German history!"
"Really?" Heiner asks. "What happened then?"
"Well... nothing really, that's the point of it", Kris returns.
Heiner shrugs and returns to his work. Kris muses a bit about history: So many empires have fallen - the Greek one, the Roman one, the Byzantine one, the British one, the French one, the New Roman one, the Russian one, and now the only ones left are Germany, China and the Block. Who'll be the next?
[1] The Logo subculture in the Socialist Block is heavily influenced by the English, esp. from the House of Tomorrow, so even non-English Logos choose English or English-sounding nicknames.
[2] "freemle" is derived from the German slang word "pfriemeln", which can be roughly translated into OTL modern English "to fudge sth.".)
[3] In the first years of the Socialists, English was reformed to be more phonetical, which was done by David Fitzroy.
[4] "Weeds" (to be weeded out) are TTL's (computer) bugs.
[5] Should be obvious now that Horace is an AI. (It wasn't its original name - the program somehow chose a string from its saved texts, which it liked for whatever reasons.)
1981:
During the Eighties, the feeling that the Technocratic government was fighting with its back against the wall spread more and more through Germany, and everything which could be considered bad in some way was used to "prove" the decline, down to kindergarten kids complaining about having to sing songs like "Onkel Jörg hat einen Bauernhof" [1] because they find them stupid.
But despite of those growing pains, there are still some idyllic places in the countryside where things are still as pleasant as some people in the cities think it only happens in TV shows anymore. Villages consisting of a church, a few little shops and restaurants, neither of which belong to any commercial chain, and some gemütliche one-family houses spread all over the place. Everything's well - or at least seems so - despite (or maybe because) the Technocratic government rarely interferes with their life.
The little boy named Magnus Finster lives in one of those villages, which is located in Upper Switzerland in his case. Once the local priest told him that his name meant "the Great", which the little boy liked very much, since he sometimes felt left out in his family, with his older brother and the two sisters. Like every boy, he likes the "Theobald the technician" stories and hopes he may visit one of the technical schools later, although his parents say that's no good for villager kids. But he has decided to prove otherwise, because he likes mathematics, and computers, and even tries to learn programming without a computer (because in his village, there are still families without computers around), drawing flow diagrams of simple computer programs on paper instead. Once his parents gave in and bought some old books from the local book shop - completely outdated, but still useful for learning the one or other bit about science or cryptography.
Ignaz (his friends would call him "Nazi", if he had any) Schuhmann is a policeman. He comes from Atlantis, but now he's on duty in Europe for a few years, until "they above" will decide to promote him. Unfortunately, he can stand the "old mother country" less and less, as the time goes by. Ironically, things worked out for the best in Sandomir, Poland; the people there kept a polite distance, but were friendly. In old Germany proper, on the other hand... whenever he meets someone at work, the old spiel begins again: "You have such a strange dialect! Which land do you come from?" And all the Old World Germans care so much for their local dialect, local traditions, local anything... has the Technocratic government achieved nothing at all? Do these people want to travel back in time, to the splintered Germany under the French yoke? If they went on like that, they actually might get that, because the Socialists in Brussels would happily go and take those lands... argh!
Whichever land he goes to, people play their stupid games with him, which only a local can understand. In Regensburg, Bavaria, after he announced that his daughter was born, people dumped a load of empty cans in front of his door [2]. In Frankfurt, during carnival, the secretaries cut off his most expensive tie. In Waiblingen, Lower Switzerland, during the "Freinacht", his car was covered in shaving foam. In Wörgl, Tyrol, his neighbor terrified his little daughter with tales of the Wolpertinger [3]. But no land was as bad as Upper Switzerland... the bosses say too that no land has so many resistant, bloody-minded people...
In the house, Magnus' father meanwhile is arguing with Ruedi, his brother, again. Recently the brother started working in the local sawmill, where his father has been working for twenty-five years too, but he's a difficult worker, as the boss criticized. He doesn't like to obey, he thinks the working hours are too long and the wages too low, and he's agitating other workers too.
Magnus preferred to retreat from the scene, reading his favorite superhero comic instead. The current issue promises to become especially interesting - this time, three villains have allied against his hero: The Froschbär [4], the Sk'x'x [5] and the X-Phantom [6]. Can he succeed?
While Magnus in his corner is reading and forgetting the rest of the world, the door bell rings.
"That must be Götti [7]!" his mother says. "Anneli, will you open the door?"
Marianne opens the door, but to her shock, it's not Götti. It's a man in the black uniform of the security police, and he asks: "Is Herr Ruedi Finster living here?" He pronounces the name like "Rüdi", not "Ru-edi". A stranger, apparently. Within seconds, the room descends into chaos, as the stranger's helpers catch Ruedi, who tries to escape, while the father protests and the women scream.
Only now, Magnus puts his comic away and rushes down, but too late, only to see the door of the police van close behind his father and brother. He is shocked. The sisters cry, and his mother yells at him what a bad boy he is, not caring for his own family.
His father will return a few hours later, after the police found out that he hadn't done anything wrong. But Ruedi will stay under arrest - not like those writers who mustn't leave their houses and are surveilled with electronic shackles, but in a real prison. It must be something worse he has done. Only much later Magnus will learn that his brother had met with a Socialist group who wanted to plant a bomb in the near power station. He doesn't know this from his family, for they don't talk about his brother anymore, ever. But he will never forget it...
[1] TTL equivalent to "Old McDonald has a farm"
[2] This actually happens in Bavaria. It's a naughty pun, based on the fact that "Büchse" (German for can) also means "vagina" in slang. A man who only fathered girls is called a "Büchsenmacher" (can-maker).
[3] Bavarian fantasy animal, a bit similar to the American jackalope.
[4] lit: frog-bear. On the picture, he looks like a short man with a fat, hairy body, a big mouth and long fingers. Kinda Penguin-like.
[5] An extraterrestrial villain, looking like an attractive woman in a black-yellow speckled fire salamander costume.
[6] A rather conventional comic villain, with a black mask and a costume in black and yellow too. I have no idea whether there's a connection to the Sk'x'x.
[7] Swiss for godmother.
(Part of a propaganda song teached to Nipponese children in exile)
dare yori mo hikari wo hanatsu
shounen yo shinwa ni nare
English:
You shine brighter than anyone else.
Young boy, become the legend!
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