comStar Firewall alert - PhaseThrough
comStar Firewall alert - PhaseThrough
comStar Firewall alert - PhaseThrough
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popULar SoUSveiLLance videoS<br />
knight errant attacks Sinless Man—Watch<br />
three uniformed officers approach a sleeping ork<br />
and kick, punch, and taser the man. See official KE<br />
response that man was “resisting arrest.” [Link]<br />
Students face racial discrimination at<br />
Harvard—Watch as the dean of admissions culls<br />
out ork applicants, instructs admissions counselors<br />
to “encourage the tuskers” to apply to a state<br />
university. [Link]<br />
Humanis policlub Members, revealed—Catch<br />
the action as a group of HP torch a local troll family’s<br />
home, then return to their homes and unmask.<br />
Hear police response. [Link]<br />
suicide while in VR, hoping to shed their mortal coil. Becoming purely<br />
digital, apparently, means they’ve achieved a purely spiritual form.<br />
Free from the flesh’s lust, anger, hunger, thirst, craving for material<br />
goods … well, you get the point. The Virtual Purists are gaining<br />
popularity, too, led by a very charismatic person named Reverend<br />
Illias. The “transitioning” is accompanied by elaborate ceremonies,<br />
attended by other “initiates” of the religion. Reverend Illias attends<br />
each transitioning virtually, welcoming the newest member into the<br />
fold. I’ve heard—mind you, just heard—that if the person fades away<br />
with his body’s death, it means he didn’t have a pure enough soul, or<br />
perhaps didn’t have enough faith, or just wasn’t ready to transition<br />
to the next level of human spirituality. Unfortunately for the VPs,<br />
most jurisdictions consider an attended suicide the same thing as<br />
murder, regardless of if the person claims to be “transitioning” into a<br />
digital form. That’s put Reverend Illias on the most-wanted lists of a<br />
few governments and organizations, like Horizon’s Dawkin’s Group.<br />
> Goat-Foot<br />
> Is it even possible to live just in the Matrix? I’ve heard the Ghostin-the-Machine<br />
stories like everyone else. Aren’t they just urban<br />
legends?<br />
> Ethernaut<br />
> Weeellll … I certainly wouldn’t recommend swallowing cyanide and<br />
then jacking in to see what happens. But I think a lot of us who spend<br />
significant time in the Matrix have seen things we can’t explain.<br />
> The Smiling Bandit<br />
tHe new LangUage<br />
The availability of real-time translation programs, of universal<br />
iconography, and of developing iconographic languages<br />
has eroded the language barrier that used to stand between us. If<br />
you’re speaking to someone via an AR or VR connection, you can<br />
use an interpretation program to assist your communication. Free<br />
services, like Babel-Tree, are fairly handy and universally known,<br />
although there are translation delays between when you speak<br />
(into the program) and it translates into the chosen language.<br />
Babel-Tree relies on continual customer feedback and input, so<br />
it supposedly manages to keep up with current slang and provides<br />
fairly accurate translations that catch real meaning, not just syn-<br />
Unwired<br />
tax. Corporations often use professional grade programs or even<br />
high-level agents to provide translation services for complicated<br />
subjects, like conferences between research scientists, where the<br />
slightest misconstrued word can ruin an entire project.<br />
Most public newsfeeds are broadcast in a variety of languages,<br />
regardless of their country of origin. Music, sim, and entertainment<br />
downloads can be customized into almost any available<br />
language (if there’s demand for that language, that is). With the<br />
proliferation of teaching sims, many people learn multiple spoken<br />
languages. Even in-person interactions can be made easier by the<br />
ability to utilize real-time translation and prompting software or<br />
services. Babel-Tree has a very popular searchable database filled<br />
with examples of phrases, words, and slang spoken by native<br />
speakers. If you’re at a meeting and want to be polite, you can have<br />
Babel-Tree running; mentally say a phrase and the search returns<br />
the same phrase, translated, for you to repeat.<br />
Written language is another issue altogether. So much knowledge<br />
can be converted into an auditory, pictorial, or iconographic<br />
media that being able to read is no longer a necessity. In fact, instead<br />
of focusing on increasing literacy, the focus has shifted to<br />
creating a standardized iconographic language. A new form of<br />
communication, relying on symbols, pictures, sounds, and cobbled<br />
together words has become the Matrix version of city-speak, a bastardized<br />
language born online. It’s easy to pick up, very intuitive,<br />
and is very fluid—instead of being standardized, it relies on the<br />
constant evolution of human-Matrix interactions. Even someone<br />
with no exposure to Matrixese can pick up essential messages in the<br />
language with little or no prompting. Horizon has been a major<br />
push behind this new global language, and AR ads in Matrixese<br />
are popular among the younger population.<br />
tranSparent poLiticaL proceSSeS<br />
Another global impact of the Matrix is how transparent the<br />
political process has become. Politicians can target ads directly,<br />
speaking through AR to targeted audiences, holding virtual rallies,<br />
and conducting real-time polls to gauge their popularity.<br />
Many governments have instituted public broadcasting for public<br />
interests, allowing citizens to see what is going on in the “hallowed<br />
halls” and provide live feed-back to their representatives.<br />
Corruption charges have raised in the popularity of sousveillance<br />
of political figures and offices. Somehow, knowing their constituents<br />
are watching supposedly keeps the politicians honest. Most<br />
politicians also allow constituents to link directly into a “votersnetwork,”<br />
with posted polls and areas for feedback.<br />
In the UCAS, over 90 percent of the Senators in congress<br />
have a live-feed access for their constituents. When a new proposal<br />
or bill comes up for a vote, the text of the bill is posted online<br />
along with a more concise summary. Interested voters can read<br />
(or listen to) the bill and send their opinion (generally a yea/nay<br />
vote—occasionally small messages are allowed) directly to their<br />
Senator. The system allows constituents to see a measure of the<br />
for/against responses, as well as the percent of the population<br />
who’ve responded. When the Senator votes, he or she can make<br />
decisions based off of what the people really want, rather than<br />
special interest groups hired to influence the Senator.<br />
> And if 80% of voters wanted a “yes” vote and their Senator votes<br />
“no,” it generally makes some major news, at least in DC. Senators<br />
Simon Wentworth (order #1132857) 9<br />
29<br />
Matrix overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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