Computers
A commodity found on the F8 markets screen.
Intelligent machinery, positronic AI's, NavCon electronics.
Traded in TCs & stored in the Cargo Hold for trade.
Cheaper on industrial worlds, and more expensive at agricultural worlds. A premium-priced product.
Lore
More specifically, Disembodied's lore:
That's the great thing about fiction: it's very stretchy.
This process seems to be as inevitable as stellar evolution. Cultures who survive this come out the other end with a strong aversion to automation and to electronics in particular. Our multi-species society, held in loose alliance within the Co-operative, has managed to develop organic computation: it's slower and squishier, but every computer-node has a short and finite lifespan, and is guaranteed not to gallop away over the eschatological horizon. These organic brainlets are what we call "computers". They are vat-grown on an industrial scale, and all have the exact same properties. Because they are mortal, there's a constant demand for them, and because they're identical there's not a whit of difference between a computer from a TL-15 world and a computer from a TL-5 world. A Rich Industrial planet can grow them in bulk, making them a little cheaper: price is the only difference. |
| (Disembodied) |
