Presumably the cyber visit is indistinguishable from a physical visit. Also, it probably allows an instanced visit, so no crowds or lines.
Just imagine visiting the Sistine Chapel or the Louvre or other major destinations with only your own group. Also in those cases you could do more, since you could physically* touch sculptures or the like without causing damage.
* within cyberspace - not like there's a good word for it. Unless they've invented one, it could become as annoying as 'literally'
You could be right, and their VR experience might be refined into more of a 'holodeck'. In the end, though, it might negate the original reason: There don't seem to be any crowds! :D
Also, by enabling VR visits, they mollify any unrest caused by temporarily restricting access to the area due to an imminent visit by a foreign dignitary.
I’ve done that in China and Thailand. You just tell the travel agent you want your own guide and van for your small group, instead of being part of a a big group on a bus. The cost was maybe 15% higher.
,,no,, i wood say no. to entry spot. as sed, Centy lives in 3c, but city was "Founded" here..
Cent prolly used a doll to interact at that time, so there would be no entry point..
Kyle never did get to say anything to Lynn in Nova Roma, he might be thinking she's mad at him or still thinks he's dead and wants a neutral space to approach her, and he may have figured out the commands to direct Cassians, or they may have been in Aeneas's files he was armpit deep in...and who can fathom the logic of a hormonally driven teenager ? especially a genius level, they're the worst.
No cent-com controls most things you do and eat so you can stuff yourself silly but it will only contain the calories you need to keep you alive a bit like eating sweet corn all day but with more variety
and two thousand unreachable, unkillable witnesses...an assassin's nightmare...or maybe something devious and staged by a professional character assassin to appear to be what it isn't but intended for mass consumption and instant rumour spreading is in the offing ? dem webbie peoples do loves their celebrities and a Taylor is A-list for sure...
Lynn inadvertantly steps on a tiny kitten or other fluffy animal cleverly positioned to pop up in front of her feet ? or maybe it's Acantha to foment even more hostility toward Nova Roma ? (if such is even possible)
Noctis slices up a child runing toward them bearing flowers that are concealing a weapon but nobody online can 'see' that and assume the killer Cassian did it out of pure malice ?
Has Tokyo Rose sealed their fates ?
will they get out of this unscathed ?
and what about those spike heels on that grating ?
Tune in next week for another thrilling episode of 'As the plot turns'...same Cent time, same Cent channel, a half hour later in Nova Roma (Canadians will get that one ;) )
Living in isolation, communicating on the 'net and traveling by VR reminds me of E. M. Forster's 1909 short story "The Machine Stops". Isolation, voluntary or not, is not mentally healthy for human beings. Some people do enjoy it, most do not. Of course, this is the future, so who knows.
As to the story, this situation reeks of a set up involving Acantha and Noctis.
reminds me of today, and last week, and the week before ? the only good thing about 'outside' is the graphics are HD...unless the fog's in...or it's raining...or snowing..or sleeting...or the forest fires are smoking us out again...yeah, outside generally sucks
Yesterday, we went to the beach in the evening. About 75% cloud cover, but must have had a break behind the island while the sun set. The glow was quite ominous, and I made a comment about it. My daughter was, "like a nuclear bomb?" "That IS a nuclear bomb!"
Technically, thermonuclear, of course, but I wasn't going to spoil the moment. ;)
well.. can tell you don't go out much.!! ..haven't had "Fresh Air" since the 30's...
" Yeah, if you don't mind getting all your minerals in one breath." cough , cough ...
Data
https://ourworldindata.org/air-pollution
https://www.futurity.org/birds-feathers-carbon-air-pollution-1570692-2/
Basically, for North America, we're about where we were in 1920, for Sulfur Dioxide, and Europe is about where they were in 1940. Asia, which I presume means coastal China and India, is pretty bad. And apparently parts of Africa and the Middle East are worse.
If it's one out of the way tourist destination surrounded by industrial zone stuff, it makes sense that most people would prefer to visit it virtually.
On the other hand, it's intentionally isolated. Consider, CentCom essentially controls the city. That place should be surrounded by park, historical recreation structures, and tourist trap shops. There should be apartments which advertise "great view of Founder's Park", within a stone's throw of there.
That it is instead surrounded by low-interest things is itself suspect. It suggests there is something there that CentCom doesn't want people to regularly visit, but she can't SAY that, and so she does her best to discourage people from visiting. Maybe it IS a hidden entrance to 3C or similar Achilles heel.
...
Which brings up another possibility. There are potentially two Achilles heels in one place. Lynn's genetics is a control, of some form, on Cent, a key if you will, and this very spot may be the lock.
an all that being sed.. (hidden entrance) ..
for all we know this could be , whats left of the main entrance..
(( without breaking the interweb, again.!! look up , norad main entrance ,..))
Being target #1, ahead of Washington or anywhere else except maybe missile silos themselves, I'd imagine the landscape around that area would have been slightly rearranged during a world-wide exchange.
That park may well be the site of the innermost entrance once the entire mountain was removed and the peaks in the background the walls of the crater ;)
I can see why New Troy is/was a military centre in the far future, it would have evolved from the current NORAD HQ and there are all sorts of films/novels/etc depicting it turning into an AI controlling all the weapons of the US.
New Sparta on the other hand...there's a small mostly closed down radar station in that general area that had a small bunker complex but the main Canadian AirForce base is well north and east and when I was stationed there it didn't have any sort of thing.
Nova Roma is a glorified sandbar that doesn't even have a military base anymore, it was closed down in the 80's, and I lived right in the middle of the city and also in the middle of Aeneas's DMZ...I like what he's done with the old neighbourhood, it must have cost a fortune to import the building material though, I don't think there's two rocks on the entire island bigger than a breadbox :)
Of course, thousands of years in the future anything can be possible and if all the major centres were too irradiated, contaminated or generally MIA, then the more remote areas would by default end up being the new command and control locations and national boundaries would probably have been sort of fluid on the continent, if not the rest of the world. Japan being on a string of islands may have set Tokyo Rose's domain up as something seperate but the continual earthquakes in the area may have had something to say about that as well.
It's always fun to speculate on what would be left after a global catastrophe and our creatrixes have done a masterful job of creating something entirely unexpected that slides neatly around most of the currently existing cities and lets their world be entirely unique yet still hauntingly familiar.
our equivalent of Cheyenne Mountain, and NORAD's secondary HQ, is carved out under a mountain in North Bay, Ont. a little north and quite a bit west of the capital, Ottawa, which I might presume from their travels is where 'Ahta' is ? There is/was a fairly large bunker complex near there, the 'Diefenbunker' that might have been renovated in this time frame, or are the 'vault cities' entirely new construction ?
..whats left.. what i meant, was,, what it looks like after a "CentComm" remodel..
cuz really ,, this is Cent's home, an what she HAS at her disposal.! do you think She let anything close to home.!!! NO.! i wood say, what got close would have been stuff blown in on the winds,, an only because she could not change the drift some how...
So.. virtual reality in New Troy is a fully immersive experience… all the senses are engaged.. sight, sound, taste, touch.. every thing … with out getting to technical the user uses a full neural interface, either using a neural band, a helmet or a cyberjack, (each system has its pros and cons)
Cyberjack: complete immersion requires surgery for implantation and there are various different types from personal use to industrial use for piloting vehicles… New Troy is the masters of man macnine interface….
Nural band/helment: this is what those who are visiting.. or do not have a cyberjack installed will use to access vr.. its limited mostly to the 5 senses and allows for access to the basic networks, doesn’t allow for control of vehicles or industrial equipment but is good for most general use
New Troy has a number of interesting facts with VR, since VR can be undisguisable from reality, and there are those that prefer to live and work in virtual space. There are those who have for one reason or another donated their brains/bodies to their work (these individuals are payed generously by their employers ). Those who have chosen to live and work in VR have no real need for food and are fed intravenously. (Since you can still eat any thing you want in vr you can eat any thing and all you want with out gaining any of the weight)
As has been mentioned… you can do and feel anything in VR … yes even those… you want to visit the depraved dungeon of Dr. Morphus and his harem of assassin sex bots.. you can do that.. .you want to experience 0G Sex.. theres an app for that.. You want to run around in a game where you are a cybernetically enhanced super solider saving Hostages from bad guys…. We got you covered…
Now for work… there are a number of reasons to live and work in VR .. from scientific think tanks to statistical modeling to entertainment… yes a number of things could and have been deligated to various forms of AI… but there are a number of industries such as the entertainment industry that wishes to have a more human/personal touch about things… also .. Inteligent programs (like AI but not as robust) can be hacked, modified and re defined where as humans are significantly more complicated to do (much the same as AI and synth brains)
So.. in short.. VR is much line Reality.. but less messy.
I'd say the tech must be pretty cheap for such a skew in the percentages of those visiting via VR so far over those visiting the Founder's Park in person. Or maybe mostly only those with money have any desire to see it.
after seeing the neighbourhoods around some famous landmarks turned tourist trap, I think I'll go with the virtual tour and carefully planned viewing angles..have you seen what the area around the great pyramids actually looks like ? or how many people are crammed onto the great wall of china at once or the hordes quite literally fighting each other for the best spot to be photographed 'holding up' the leaning tower of pisa ?
I love museums and history, I can and have spent entire days in relatively small museums in Europe, the US, and here. I was in Washington for months and never did get to see all of the Smithsonian, I'd spend a day in each part and then there were all the other museums in the area. I ran out of time
I'd be completely paralyzed if I lived in England, too many things to see, I'd never be able to decide where to start. Online collections aren't a bad substitute, some are very detailed and you get better views than if you were trying to peer through a glass case covered in fingerprints behind a three layer deep crowd.
some places, like the frescoes in sistine chapel and elsewhere, and neandertal caves are being destroyed by the mere breath of the throngs of visitors, it's really best to see those online without causing further damage.
[Here's the latest installment of my lyric silliness. As always, comments are appreciated. This is set to the tune of "Send In The Clowns"]
Isn't it rich? Here in the square.
Long ago this was the place where we cleared the air.
Send in the crowds.
We gathered here, clinging to hope,
Seeking a home, at the end of our rope.
Now where are the crowds? Send in the crowds.
We huddled close, gathered in throng,
Needing support, keeping each other strong.
But that was earlier when we were deep in despair.
Look around now,
No one is there.
We love our lives, what we built here.
Towers upifted from yesterday's fear.
Once there were crowds. Where are the crowds?
Who bothers to cheer?
All we could want, now in our sphere.
Starscapes and seascapes were never so near.
But where are the crowds? Send in the crowds.
Well, maybe next year.
Moving as always, Gilrandir
You inspired me to come up (plagairize)
this bit of drivel myself...
Note: you HAVE to get the tune in your head to make this work, there's just no other way.
For those of you who don't know 40 year old Canadian Top 40 off the top of your head...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmKU25HFlAQ
Ready ? now read on...if you dare...sorry it isn't better but I'm no poet ;)
It ain't easy watchin' 12 years
Crawlin' across my 'puter screen
Like some wounded Murderturd
Limpin' round the customs yard
Dolly's boiling, Ceci's waiting
The plot I notice - it's still on the rails
The Prince of douchebags lying face down
His hidden programs all fell apart
Whoever the cool mystery man Black is
I've got to admit - he knows his business
He's makin' the deals on the right and the left
And it's coming out just the way you might expect
Tokyo Rose is calculatin'
While Centcomm blows up sets
Ka-Blooie, Ka-BOOM-blam-Blooie
The story flows so fast and tight
And I'm gettin' the feeling that nothings been lost
Acantha's friends got some cynical bends
But their dialogue's on a steady track
They say she's mad 'cause the prince came stalkin'
Well he paid the price... didn't he know the cost?
Sometimes power but mostly the crazy
That seemed so much a part of his act
Whoever the New Troy rescue band is
You've got to admit - they know their business
They're comin' in hot, no unbroken stuff left
It's not coming off the way New Rome expects
Tokyo Rose profaninatin'
And Centcomm takin' meds
Gettin' better, Her heart got better
(piano break with chorus line of Cassians high kicking their way across the screen, Malati throwing panties at the crowd)
Tokyo Rose ruminatin'
And Centcomm's kickin' ass
People and backgrounds, those detailed backgrounds
It ain't easy
Watchin' 12 years
Bouncin' across my 'puter screen
Like some wounded Murderturd
Chasin' blueshirts around the place
Dr. Silver's cold equations are
hackin' and guidin' all of her drones
TeeDee tried to hog all the action
Til' Ada's guns spoke so intense
Whatever the new mystery Feelie found is
I've got to admit - it's nasty business
We don't know how many sub-plots are left
And they never come out the way you might expect
Tokyo Rose has machinations
And we're all taking bets
Messy and gooey, chunky salsa gooey
Cassians and gutters, androids and the works
(piano break to finish, cue conga line of all characters side kicking across the screen)
@Oldarmourer, I have never heard Chinatown Calculation before; that rocks! Good choice! I played it on the tablet just now, but I think I'm going to have to play it on the good speakers tomorrow. ;)
"Too Bad", "Dangerous" and "Makin it Work" are personal faves.
And as for "your hidden meanings make no sense"...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38LmeqHHW2w
Sadly, Doug Bennett is long gone but the Slugs are still slithering on, the new singer sounds so uncannily like the late Doug that there might be some cloning going on...or he's a model 4 android ;)
I should have taken more than ten minutes to steal their song, As soon as I posted it I saw at least four passages that need to redone to make mine scan a lot better but maybe the next time ;)
This is one of those songs you have to listen to three or four times in a row in HQ sound to really get the full effect of what they put into the instruments. There are a few versions on Youtube, some cleaner than others.
I've been listening to it since it came out and every time it comes up I hear something new :)
Might try to rework this one next for Cent, "Trying to keep her 80 plots straight" ;)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGIlWSey4pQ
Sadly the pianist Jane Vasey, died quite young from leukemia, just shy of her 33rd birthday :(
to see her on one of the top Canadian jazz/blues music programs of the era, Peter Appleyard's (on vibes) program, try this and be prepared to be amazed by both of them :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCR1KDxAnZ4
I should never get started on music this early in the morning :)
I would be surprised if the reason behind Noctis' requesting this diversion was a history lesson, though. Some sort of meeting or exposure perhaps?
I see you're making good use of the new tablet, @Centcomm! Nice added motion effects in panel 1. I also like the lighting in panel 2!
Just imagine visiting the Sistine Chapel or the Louvre or other major destinations with only your own group. Also in those cases you could do more, since you could physically* touch sculptures or the like without causing damage.
* within cyberspace - not like there's a good word for it. Unless they've invented one, it could become as annoying as 'literally'
Meaning, they can interact with the things using haptic interfaces and feedback.
there has to be a reason, to drag em out here.!!
...at Centy? I guess that is a vulnerable entry spot...
Cent prolly used a doll to interact at that time, so there would be no entry point..
Obesity rate must be enormous...
Lynn inadvertantly steps on a tiny kitten or other fluffy animal cleverly positioned to pop up in front of her feet ? or maybe it's Acantha to foment even more hostility toward Nova Roma ? (if such is even possible)
Noctis slices up a child runing toward them bearing flowers that are concealing a weapon but nobody online can 'see' that and assume the killer Cassian did it out of pure malice ?
Has Tokyo Rose sealed their fates ?
will they get out of this unscathed ?
and what about those spike heels on that grating ?
Tune in next week for another thrilling episode of 'As the plot turns'...same Cent time, same Cent channel, a half hour later in Nova Roma (Canadians will get that one ;) )
As to the story, this situation reeks of a set up involving Acantha and Noctis.
Technically, thermonuclear, of course, but I wasn't going to spoil the moment. ;)
" Yeah, if you don't mind getting all your minerals in one breath." cough , cough ...
Now, China, on the other hand...
https://ourworldindata.org/air-pollution
https://www.futurity.org/birds-feathers-carbon-air-pollution-1570692-2/
Basically, for North America, we're about where we were in 1920, for Sulfur Dioxide, and Europe is about where they were in 1940. Asia, which I presume means coastal China and India, is pretty bad. And apparently parts of Africa and the Middle East are worse.
A short story of about 12000 words describing some cautions about an existence becoming too virtual.
That it is instead surrounded by low-interest things is itself suspect. It suggests there is something there that CentCom doesn't want people to regularly visit, but she can't SAY that, and so she does her best to discourage people from visiting. Maybe it IS a hidden entrance to 3C or similar Achilles heel.
...
Which brings up another possibility. There are potentially two Achilles heels in one place. Lynn's genetics is a control, of some form, on Cent, a key if you will, and this very spot may be the lock.
that's what Colorado Springs looks like....
for all we know this could be , whats left of the main entrance..
(( without breaking the interweb, again.!! look up , norad main entrance ,..))
That park may well be the site of the innermost entrance once the entire mountain was removed and the peaks in the background the walls of the crater ;)
I can see why New Troy is/was a military centre in the far future, it would have evolved from the current NORAD HQ and there are all sorts of films/novels/etc depicting it turning into an AI controlling all the weapons of the US.
New Sparta on the other hand...there's a small mostly closed down radar station in that general area that had a small bunker complex but the main Canadian AirForce base is well north and east and when I was stationed there it didn't have any sort of thing.
Nova Roma is a glorified sandbar that doesn't even have a military base anymore, it was closed down in the 80's, and I lived right in the middle of the city and also in the middle of Aeneas's DMZ...I like what he's done with the old neighbourhood, it must have cost a fortune to import the building material though, I don't think there's two rocks on the entire island bigger than a breadbox :)
Of course, thousands of years in the future anything can be possible and if all the major centres were too irradiated, contaminated or generally MIA, then the more remote areas would by default end up being the new command and control locations and national boundaries would probably have been sort of fluid on the continent, if not the rest of the world. Japan being on a string of islands may have set Tokyo Rose's domain up as something seperate but the continual earthquakes in the area may have had something to say about that as well.
It's always fun to speculate on what would be left after a global catastrophe and our creatrixes have done a masterful job of creating something entirely unexpected that slides neatly around most of the currently existing cities and lets their world be entirely unique yet still hauntingly familiar.
cuz really ,, this is Cent's home, an what she HAS at her disposal.! do you think She let anything close to home.!!! NO.! i wood say, what got close would have been stuff blown in on the winds,, an only because she could not change the drift some how...
Cyberjack: complete immersion requires surgery for implantation and there are various different types from personal use to industrial use for piloting vehicles… New Troy is the masters of man macnine interface….
Nural band/helment: this is what those who are visiting.. or do not have a cyberjack installed will use to access vr.. its limited mostly to the 5 senses and allows for access to the basic networks, doesn’t allow for control of vehicles or industrial equipment but is good for most general use
New Troy has a number of interesting facts with VR, since VR can be undisguisable from reality, and there are those that prefer to live and work in virtual space. There are those who have for one reason or another donated their brains/bodies to their work (these individuals are payed generously by their employers ). Those who have chosen to live and work in VR have no real need for food and are fed intravenously. (Since you can still eat any thing you want in vr you can eat any thing and all you want with out gaining any of the weight)
As has been mentioned… you can do and feel anything in VR … yes even those… you want to visit the depraved dungeon of Dr. Morphus and his harem of assassin sex bots.. you can do that.. .you want to experience 0G Sex.. theres an app for that.. You want to run around in a game where you are a cybernetically enhanced super solider saving Hostages from bad guys…. We got you covered…
Now for work… there are a number of reasons to live and work in VR .. from scientific think tanks to statistical modeling to entertainment… yes a number of things could and have been deligated to various forms of AI… but there are a number of industries such as the entertainment industry that wishes to have a more human/personal touch about things… also .. Inteligent programs (like AI but not as robust) can be hacked, modified and re defined where as humans are significantly more complicated to do (much the same as AI and synth brains)
So.. in short.. VR is much line Reality.. but less messy.
Better inexpensive than cheap; cheap frequently costs more over time than inexpensive.
I love museums and history, I can and have spent entire days in relatively small museums in Europe, the US, and here. I was in Washington for months and never did get to see all of the Smithsonian, I'd spend a day in each part and then there were all the other museums in the area. I ran out of time
I'd be completely paralyzed if I lived in England, too many things to see, I'd never be able to decide where to start. Online collections aren't a bad substitute, some are very detailed and you get better views than if you were trying to peer through a glass case covered in fingerprints behind a three layer deep crowd.
Isn't it rich? Here in the square.
Long ago this was the place where we cleared the air.
Send in the crowds.
We gathered here, clinging to hope,
Seeking a home, at the end of our rope.
Now where are the crowds? Send in the crowds.
We huddled close, gathered in throng,
Needing support, keeping each other strong.
But that was earlier when we were deep in despair.
Look around now,
No one is there.
We love our lives, what we built here.
Towers upifted from yesterday's fear.
Once there were crowds. Where are the crowds?
Who bothers to cheer?
All we could want, now in our sphere.
Starscapes and seascapes were never so near.
But where are the crowds? Send in the crowds.
Well, maybe next year.
You inspired me to come up (plagairize)
this bit of drivel myself...
Note: you HAVE to get the tune in your head to make this work, there's just no other way.
For those of you who don't know 40 year old Canadian Top 40 off the top of your head...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmKU25HFlAQ
Ready ? now read on...if you dare...sorry it isn't better but I'm no poet ;)
It ain't easy watchin' 12 years
Crawlin' across my 'puter screen
Like some wounded Murderturd
Limpin' round the customs yard
Dolly's boiling, Ceci's waiting
The plot I notice - it's still on the rails
The Prince of douchebags lying face down
His hidden programs all fell apart
Whoever the cool mystery man Black is
I've got to admit - he knows his business
He's makin' the deals on the right and the left
And it's coming out just the way you might expect
Tokyo Rose is calculatin'
While Centcomm blows up sets
Ka-Blooie, Ka-BOOM-blam-Blooie
The story flows so fast and tight
And I'm gettin' the feeling that nothings been lost
Acantha's friends got some cynical bends
But their dialogue's on a steady track
They say she's mad 'cause the prince came stalkin'
Well he paid the price... didn't he know the cost?
Sometimes power but mostly the crazy
That seemed so much a part of his act
Whoever the New Troy rescue band is
You've got to admit - they know their business
They're comin' in hot, no unbroken stuff left
It's not coming off the way New Rome expects
Tokyo Rose profaninatin'
And Centcomm takin' meds
Gettin' better, Her heart got better
(piano break with chorus line of Cassians high kicking their way across the screen, Malati throwing panties at the crowd)
Tokyo Rose ruminatin'
And Centcomm's kickin' ass
People and backgrounds, those detailed backgrounds
It ain't easy
Watchin' 12 years
Bouncin' across my 'puter screen
Like some wounded Murderturd
Chasin' blueshirts around the place
Dr. Silver's cold equations are
hackin' and guidin' all of her drones
TeeDee tried to hog all the action
Til' Ada's guns spoke so intense
Whatever the new mystery Feelie found is
I've got to admit - it's nasty business
We don't know how many sub-plots are left
And they never come out the way you might expect
Tokyo Rose has machinations
And we're all taking bets
Messy and gooey, chunky salsa gooey
Cassians and gutters, androids and the works
(piano break to finish, cue conga line of all characters side kicking across the screen)
Try the rest of their stuff :)
"Too Bad", "Dangerous" and "Makin it Work" are personal faves.
And as for "your hidden meanings make no sense"...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38LmeqHHW2w
Sadly, Doug Bennett is long gone but the Slugs are still slithering on, the new singer sounds so uncannily like the late Doug that there might be some cloning going on...or he's a model 4 android ;)
I should have taken more than ten minutes to steal their song, As soon as I posted it I saw at least four passages that need to redone to make mine scan a lot better but maybe the next time ;)
This is one of those songs you have to listen to three or four times in a row in HQ sound to really get the full effect of what they put into the instruments. There are a few versions on Youtube, some cleaner than others.
I've been listening to it since it came out and every time it comes up I hear something new :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGIlWSey4pQ
Sadly the pianist Jane Vasey, died quite young from leukemia, just shy of her 33rd birthday :(
to see her on one of the top Canadian jazz/blues music programs of the era, Peter Appleyard's (on vibes) program, try this and be prepared to be amazed by both of them :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCR1KDxAnZ4
I should never get started on music this early in the morning :)
now about that chorus line of Cassians as a vote incentive..... ;)