Technology From The Old Worlds
The Internet, Books, & T.V
Some of our old readers have been disappointed with the latest issues of Voices. Though what we have been reporting from The Spirit Realm is profound and important, they miss some of the older features, like reports on what things were like on The Old Worlds before we came to Earth. We received an inquiry about three different things;
1. Did we have the internet on The Old Worlds?
2. Did we have web sites?
3. Did we have satellite t.v.?
4. How were books published on The Old Worlds?
We thought these were interesting questions and deserved a response.
To number one, yes, there was an internet of
sorts, on all The Old Worlds, though each one was quite a bit
different than what is on Earth. On Haven the internet was
completely controlled by the government. There were many
restrictions on its usage, but even still quite a bit could be
done with it. Though there was no commerce over it, all commerce
was handled through the local stores. There were several
catalogue companies that could post their products on the
internet, but all purchases had to be finalized at their local
store. So the internet on Haven was quite a bit different from
that on Earth.
The Hashons had an extensive internet, quite a bit freer than the
Havens. But the Hashons liked to do business in person. They did
not like buying from people they didn't know. So there was very
little e business on their internet either. Not because the
government restricted it, but because of social custom.
The Peepians had an extensive internet, that was open and vibrant before the holocaust. But after the holocaust it almost disappeared, completely. The different groups, though cooperating with one another, becaue fiercely independant, and the reestablishing of their internet simply never took place. Though there was a great deal of electronic communication, there was no real internet, as we would recognize it.
Web Sites
Both the Havens and the Hashons had web sites. Among the Havens the web sites were provided by the government. You were allowed a considerable amount of space but what you could put on them was extremely limited. They were mainly biographies, telling of the citizen's life. Some of them were extremely popular, especially the sites of famous military commanders that received many visitors. But religious leaders and politicians were sometimes very popular. Each citizen could send one unsolicited email a year to these web sites. More if the owner gave them permission to correspond. But no advertisments could be sent to the web sites. This was strictly forbidden.
Havens could put all their information on a web site with very little fear of it being misused, because it was a capitol offense on Haven, to use anyone else's identity for any purpose whatsoever, or, to establish a false identity. And if anyone DID use anyone else's identity illegally, any debts they incourred were not acredited to the actual person. So Havens felt very safe in giving out private information.
Hashons often had extensive web sites before The Conquest. Though the punishments for misusing a person's identity were not as severe among the Hashons, they were severe enough to discourage people from doing it. There was also email restrictions among the Hashons very simliar to those of the Havens. There was also another difference on Hashon web sites. All politicians were required by law, to post their financial transactions on theirs, as were all churches and politicial groups required to keep the public informed of who donated to them, and how those donations were used. Things that would be appalling to humans, but that were generally accepted among the Hashons as acceptable practices.
Before The Holocaust the Peepians had extensive web sites. But they were never reestablished afterwards. They were very open but often misused as the penalties for using someone else's identity were very lax.
Satellite T.V.
Very strangely none of The Old Worlds ever developed satellite television technology! They all had extensive cable systems that provided excellent service throughout their worlds, but the idea of delivering commercial entertainment by satellite never caught on. This is understandable in the strict controls of the Haven society, but why no system such as this developed among the Hashons and the Peepians seems to be a mystery! Both had ample technology to develop such systems. But they just never appeared.
Book Publishing
By the time of the late eras all books were published on The Old Worlds electronically. All three worlds used a very similar system. Books were recorded on data chips that could hold thousands of volumes. A person wanting to purchase a book took their chip to a book dealer, told them what book they wanted, and had it put on their chip, paying for it. Only dealers could put books on chips. Any copying of books onto chips illegally was severely punished.
On Haven, under certain conditions it could be a capitol offense, especially if the books put on the chip were illegal banned books. Under Haven law the Guardian (police) could legally examine a person's library chips for illegal books.
Restrictions were not so severe among the Hashons. But there were severe penalties for illegally copying books that made it quite unprofitable to do so.
After The Holocaust the Peepians frowned on the private ownership of books. They had extensive public libraries and new publications were readily available, and censorship was very low. But private ownership became socially unacceptable. And very few people owned their own books.
There were three basic ways of reading books. Your library chip could be plugged into a computer very similar to the home PC and read on the screen. Or, they could be plugged into a readout board about the size of a modern day clip board, and read on these. Readout boards were often provided on public transports so that passengers would not have to carry one with them, only plug in their chip to read while they were travelling. The third mode was to put your chip in your pocket computer. In the late ages almost everyone carried one, and project the pages you wanted to read on a flat, light colored surface. This was not as convenient as a readout board, but did enable a person to read when a board was not available.
Well, basically, that's what these things were like on The Old Worlds. We hope you have liked this revisit of the old technologies. If people have more questions, do write. We enjoy answering them, and it helps keep the memories of The Old Worlds alive.