2314 - A Year in Review (by Verity Starchaser)

This post first appeared in the January 2315 edition of Zöenomie

Being a journalist, it isn't always easy to keep a long view of things. Keeping abreast of news across three star systems, eight planets and something like two hundred nations is impossible. Each morning the world you wake up to is completely new. Such is a journalist's lot. Thinking about this article, I went back over everything I wrote this year today. So many times, I could barely remember that I'd written it.

The biggest story of 2314 was the Turing Ascendancy's terrorist attack on Interpol's mainframe computer. The IAAAI (Intergalactic Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligences) was quick to denounce the attack, but many interest groups have now started to call for the abolition of Artificial Intelligences altogether. The question of whether individuals or even governments would be able to function without A.I.s to sift the information contained on the various internets has been raised. Not everyone agrees with the prejudice against "Synthetic Consciousness", and anyone who has never had to argue against the Chinese Room Problem to defend their right to exist should take a moment to think before their opinion is settled. One piece of good news for the IAAAI last year was the landmark legal case, in which one A.I. (who still cannot be named) had her right to reproduce upheld by the US Supreme Court.

So what can we expect from 2315? Governments everywhere in the galaxy continue to struggle to cope with the increasing ease of intergalactic travel, and restrictions on free movement will be fought every step of the way by merchants lobby groups. Space travel, of course, now makes international travel look like child's play. The first circumnavigation of the globe in under seven hours was recorded last year in the new Whisperjet, which has been described by aviation experts as the biggest technological breakthrough since the Wright Flyer. Many commentators remarked at the time that this makes a mockery of the idea that nations can police their own borders any longer, when anyone with a space ship can pop in, land and be out in less than an hour.

The human population is expected to pass three trillion this year, and the increasing administrative burdens on governments and law enforcement agencies continues to cause concern. This has led to the rise of supranational organisations such as Microsoft, who in 2314 won a huge victory in their campaign to be recognised as a people. Increading numbers of people are choosing to associate their ethnic identity with these corporations (the Coca Cola Company is tipped to be the next to apply for national status), interest groups (such as the Gamer Collective) or subcultures (Emo Nation) - and not all of these are as benign or as fair-dealing as Microsoft.

Still, most of these issues have been with us since the late 22nd century at least. Perhaps the old adage is true age all: the more things change, the more they stay the same.