Inner Horizon timeline 2020-2400
Future history from now until the events of Inner Horizon
2020s-2030s: The initial seeds of the collapse in trust in digital information are planted (deepfakes, factionalization, and collapse of content moderation). Largely in a secret black market, wealthy people across the world are using CRISPR to add designer genes to their children.
2040s: In San Francisco, the first case of severe Kakutani syndrome (footnote here) is documented in a teenager from the first generation of CRISPR babies. In MRI’s, portions of affected patients’ brains appear to alter completely in one image and then appear normal in another. In particular, the images always appear normal when a patient is unconscious and when conscious develop signatures (interference-like patterns) parallel to the gravitational field. The latter fact was discovered by noting the slight differences in angle the head is held in MRI machines built by different manufacturers and minor rotational mis-calibration of the head restraint. These signatures similar to those discovered in high density quantum computers (i.e. a quantum computer with a large number of qubits in a small volume) and explained by quantum information theory when taking the limits due to the Bekenstein bound into account (itself a consequence of the positivity of quantum relative entropy). Two major directions of research arise out of these findings: 1. a program advancing the “Penrose model” of consciousness, and 2. a program using the fine control of these “interference patterns” in high density quantum computers to manipulate fundamental quantum information measured in Planck areas as limited by Bousso’s covariant update of Bekenstein’s bound applied to the causal horizon — so-called hyperquantum computation. CRISPR is banned worldwide for use with human DNA.
2050s: Miranda Sierra is born in Laredo, TX. The first hyperquantum CNOT gate is built from a high density quantum computer. Within a year a two-qubit hyperquantum computer (i.e. a two-qubit conventional quantum computer with qubits occupying a very small volume) is shown to be able to correlate with and alter digital information processing on a system from which it is electromagnetically isolated but causally connected. A few months later, a rash of bank hacks occur causing a major bank run — including the electronic accounts of central banks — and results in a severe world recession. Trust in information security in general and encryption in particular evaporates. Physical currency becomes the primary option for money, and some previously networked information is transferred via physical media (writable optical disks/CDs, printed QR codes). However the (trusted) long-distance transfer of digital information largely ceases almost overnight. The internet rapidly turns into a cesspool of misinformation and scams — so much so that it is no longer economically viable to sustain via ad-based or subscription-based business models.
2060s: The first holonet terminals are installed between DC, New York City, and Boston (Cambridge), MA. The first mass-produced Silicon Matrix (SiMat) capable of supporting a hyperquantum computer is developed in South Korea. The Planned Community (PlanCom) movement starts creating autonomous gated communities. The first “memorizers” are trained from the 1st and 2nd generations of CRISPR babies with memory enhancements. They are used to memorize top secret information in governments around the world.
2070s: Miranda Sierra receives her Phd and begins work at MIT. The first hyperquantum teleportation of a physical object occurs at Los Alamos National Lab in a secret military program. Dr. Shibuya Rei starts the movement to ban quantum weapons (“No Q”).
2080s: Worldwide regulation of hyperquantum computers powerful enough to teleport objects goes into place and governments agree to START V and START VI to control teleporting bombs. The first 3D printed SiMats capable of supporting hyperquantum computation are made. The US supreme court overturns the limits in the US turning the country into a safe haven for other nations and criminal organizations to build hyperquantum teleporters.
2090s: The first teleporting bomb terrorist attacks begin and set off the “Crisis of the 90s” which include several national conflicts around China and in Eastern Europe as well as internal conflicts in the US and Brazil. The NELF (Neo Earth Liberation Front) teleports a bomb into the US Supreme Court, killing all of the justices. The US declares martial law and moves the seat of government to an “undisclosed location” (Tallahassee, FL). The prospect of Korean unification exacerbates conflict with China. Miranda Sierra invents the Aegis and the first large area deployment protects the Korean peninsula from invasion. China’s government collapses in the wake of the failed invasion. Sierra’s stand off with the FBI in Yucca Valley goes on for two years becoming a worldwide symbol of the end of the ability of authoritarian and fascist governments to project power and use the resources of nation-states to their own ends. Several “autonomous zones” arise protected by Aegis fields that turn into the first Aegis Regions.
2100s: The Aegis Regions Collective (ARC) forms. The theory behind information entropy reservoirs is established allowing for the first teleportation of sentient beings without developing Kakutani syndrome. The first regular teleportation service begins between Lagos and London as well as Seattle and Seoul.
2110s: The first flight of the Agbufon. The Uutaruu begin their first small-scale contacts with political leaders and scientists leading up to the first inter-species conference held in the Seoul Aegis Region. Hyperquantum computers are used to solve the “economic problem” and the task economy (aka the “side quest economy”) is established.
2120s: The ARC formalizes into the Aegis Region Union (ARU) with a stronger parliamentary central government. Construction of L2 station begins. Miranda Sierra writes Aegis Sierra (and has a holonet AMA). Memorizers are legally established as the source of truth data.
2130s: Embed technology is first developed (see footnote here). The CHI Institute is founded as part of the Korean Institute for Advanced Study.
2140s: The first off-world settlements are founded. The Orion Union (OU) forms and begins construction of the first Galactic Mission flagships including the Bellatrix.
2150s: The OU is recognized as the primary government of humanity with the path to membership in the Intergalactic System sponsored by the Uutaruu while the PlanComs are recognized as cognizant conservate enclaves of the OU. The CHI Accords are established between the OU and PlanComs.
2160s: The first human hyperquantum singularity drives are built after the discovery of EHTc (Extremely High Tc) superconductors and the development of the vortex lattice interface reproducing the functionality of the SiMats.
2200s-2290s: After several generations, and amplified by founder effects in the various closed-off (and off-world) communities of the 2100s, the long term impacts of CRISPR use in the 2030s-2040s manifest through widespread genetic abnormalities. Artificial wombs once considered just an option after their invention in the 2070s become the norm in the Orion Union alongside a reduced emphasis producing your own genetic offspring in favor of increasing genetic diversity and eliminating CRISPR genes from the gene pool. With the exception of “memorizer dynasties” and in the PlanComs the use of family names and surnames fades out and “name + base 32 alphanumeric code” from artificial womb IDs takes hold. The base-32 system is based on five binary digits for a human hand with fingers up/down for 1/0 — its represented by the digits 0-9 plus Greek letters alpha (α = 01010) through chi (χ = 11111). The CHI institute uses a hand outstretched with five fingers up as a symbol/greeting.
2390s: The events of Inner Horizon occur.