Orion's Arm (or "OA" for short) is an online science fiction world-building project, founded by M. Alan Kazlev. Anyone can contribute articles, stories, artwork, or music to the website. A large mailing list exists, in which members debate aspects of the world they are creating, discussing additions, modifications, issues arising, and work to be done. Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... A constructed world or conworld is a fictional world, often created for a novel, video game, or role-playing game, but sometimes for its own sake. ... M. Alan Kazlev is an amateur paleontologist and New Age writer who lives in Melbourne, Australia. ...

OA is set over ten thousand years in the future, and adheres to plausible, or "hard" science fiction; that is, no human-like aliens, no faster-than-light travel or other violations of the laws of physics, and no "naval analogy" space battles. Certain theoretical technologies, such as exception of planck- and lepto-scale tech, do appear in the setting. The denizens of this universe are ruled over by god-like, superintelligent artificial intelligences (AIs), called "archailects", the descendants of humanity's early artificial life experimentations. These beings are so powerful that they can create new miniature universes. Their bodies exist as distributed intelligences in networks of planet-sized computer brains; their subroutines are themselves sentient, making an "archai" an individual and a civilization at the same time. Extraterrestrial life exists, but the focus is entirely on the descendants and creations of Earth life, here collectively called "terragen life". Normal humans, called "baselines", are an endangered species. Their genetically and cybernetically enhanced descendants have supplanted them. There are many types of intelligent life: nearbaselines (enhanced humans), posthumans, cyborgs, vecs (intelligent robots), aioids (intelligent computers), uploads (intelligences transferred into computers), neumanns (self-replicating robots), provolves (animals with enhanced intelligence, similar to "uplift" - see below), rianths (humans with animal DNA spliced in), splices (similar to provolves, upgraded with human DNA), neogens (life genetically synthesized from non-life) and xenosophonts (aliens). Nanotechnology, picotechnology, and femtotechnology are common. Ringworlds, Dyson spheres and other "megastructures" exist. Known space is connected by a network of wormholes. Hard science fiction, or hard SF, is a subgenre of science fiction characterized by an interest in scientific detail or accuracy. ... Faster-than-light (also superluminal or FTL) communications and travel are staples of the science fiction genre. ... ... In the Orions Arm Universe, an Archailect is an ascended post-singularity intelligence that has grown vastly beyond even the Transapient level. ... The existence of extraterrestrial life remains hypothetical though human beings continue to search Extraterrestrial life is life that may exist and originate outside the planet Earth. ... Earth, also known as the Earth, Terra, and (mostly in the 19th century) Tellus, is the third-closest planet to the Sun. ... Kinship and descent is one of the major concepts of cultural anthropology. ... The term cyborg, a portmanteau of cybernetic organism, is used to designate a creature which is a mixture of organic and mechanical parts. ... Robots is a computer-animated movie released March 11, 2005. ... The tower of a personal computer. ... A mite next to a gear set produced using MEMS, the precursor to nanotechnology. ... Picotechnology is a term used by some futurists to refer to structuring of matter on a picometre scale, by analogy with nanotechnology. ... Femtotechnology is a term used by some futurists to refer to structuring of matter on a femtometre scale, by analogy with nanotechnology and picotechnology. ... Larry Nivens Ringworld, seen from space. ... Diagram of an idealized Dyson shell of 1 AU radius A Dyson sphere is a hypothetical megastructure first described in 1960 by the physicist Freeman Dyson. ... 2D analogy to a wormhole. ...

OA is a part of the transhuman space opera subgenre. The world was influenced by Iain M. Banks' Culture series, Vernor Vinge's A Fire Upon the Deep, and David Brin's Uplift Universe, among others. It takes the concept of the technological singularity from Vinge's work, but changes its meaning considerably. In Orion's Arm, there is not one singularity but at least six, and they refer not to stages in the technological development of civilizations as a whole, but to different levels of consciousness in individuals. Transhumanism is an emergent school of speculative philosophy analysing or favouring the use of science and technology, especially neurotechnology, biotechnology, and nanotechnology, to overcome human limitations and improve the human condition. ... Space opera is a subgenre of speculative fiction or science fiction that emphasizes romantic adventure, interstellar travel, and space battles where the main storyline is centered around interstellar conflict and character drama. ... Iain Menzies Banks (born on February 16, 1954 in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland) writes mainstream novels as Iain Banks and science fiction as Iain M. Banks. ... Vernor Steffen Vinge (pronounced VIN-jee, rhyming with stingy) (born February 10, 1944) is a mathematician, computer scientist and science fiction author who is best known for his Hugo award-winning novel A Fire Upon the Deep, and for his 1993 essay The Technological Singularity, in which he argues that... Glen David Brin (born October 6, 1950) is a well known American author of science fiction. ... The Uplift Universe is a fictional universe created by Science fiction writer David Brin. ... When plotted on a logarithmic graph, 15 separate lists of paradigm shifts for key events in human history show an exponential trend. ... For other uses, see Civilization (disambiguation). ... Consciousness is a quality of the mind generally regarded to comprise qualities such as subjectivity, self-awareness, sentience, sapience, and the ability to perceive the relationship between oneself and ones environment. ...

A computer game and a role-playing game are being developed by the community, within the OA milieu. A computer game is a game composed of a computer-controlled virtual universe that players interact with in order to achieve a defined goal or set of goals. ... A role-playing game (RPG) is a type of game in which players assume the roles of fictional characters. ...

Prominent fictional technologies

Technologies that feature prominently in the Orion's Arm setting include:

• Nanotechnology, and sub-atomic analogues.
• Extremely advanced artificial intelligence.
• Space megastructures.
• Production and manipulation of exotic matter, for use in reactionless space drives and wormholes.
• Stable wormholes, allowing apparent faster-than-light travel between star systems, though they must be transported to the systems at sublight speeds (with physical limitations intended to prevent time travel).
• Several types of reactionless sublight space drive, including almost all of the types described by NASA's Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Program.

A mite next to a gear set produced using MEMS, the precursor to nanotechnology. ... Properties For alternative meanings see atom (disambiguation). ... ... In science fiction, a megastructure is an artificial construct of enormous size, the product of megascale engineering. ... Exotic matter is a hypothetical concept of particle physics. ... 2D analogy to a wormhole. ... 2D analogy to a wormhole. ... Faster-than-light (also superluminal or FTL) communications and travel are staples of the science fiction genre. ... Time travel is a concept that has long fascinated humanity—whether it is Merlin experiencing time backwards, or religious traditions like Mohammeds trip to Jerusalem and ascent to heaven, returning before a glass knocked over had spilt its contents. ... A remote camera captures a close-up view of a Space Shuttle Main Engine during a test firing at the John C. Stennis Space Center in Hancock County, Mississippi Spacecraft propulsion is used to change the velocity of spacecraft and artificial satellites, or in short, to provide delta-v. ... NASA Logo Listen to this article · (info) This audio file was created from the revision dated 2005-09-01, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. ... The Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Program is a research program established in 1996 by NASA to develop revolutionary methods of spacecraft propulsion that, while they may be possible in the future, require breakthroughs in physics before they could be implemented, which may be seen as a sign of wishful thinking. ...

Prominent fictional artifacts

Types of megastructure that feature prominently in the Orion's Arm setting include: In science fiction, a megastructure is an artificial construct of enormous size, the product of megascale engineering. ...

• Dyson spheres (shells around stars), both swarm-based and rigid.
• Ringworlds (rigid hoops around stars at a distance of about 1 AU).
• Bishop ring (large ring-shaped habitats), described as the largest spinning ring-shaped habitats that can be built using non-exotic materials.
• Complex orbital ring variants (suprastellar and supraplanetary shells) that perform functions similar to Dyson spheres.

Types of nanotechnology-based artifact include: Diagram of an idealized Dyson shell of 1 AU radius A Dyson sphere is a hypothetical megastructure first described in 1960 by the physicist Freeman Dyson. ... Larry Nivens Ringworld, seen from space. ... The astronomical unit (AU or au or a. ... The space fountain concept is a form of space elevator that does not require the structure to be in geosynchronous orbit, and does not rely on tensile strength for support. ... Diagram of an idealized Dyson shell of 1 AU radius A Dyson sphere is a hypothetical megastructure first described in 1960 by the physicist Freeman Dyson. ... A mite next to a gear set produced using MEMS, the precursor to nanotechnology. ...

• Utility fog (swarms of microscale robots that act as a reconfigurable bulk material).
• Disassembler swarms (grey goo-like swarms of nanorobots that dismantle hostile craft/objects).
• Angelnets (nanotechnology-based infrastructures allowing for complete control of the local environment, up to and including mind uploading in the case of severe accidents, that provides functional immortality in addition to its holodeck like uses).

Other noteworthy artifacts are usually unique items whose principles of operation are unknowable to "baseline" humans (named Clarketech, after Clarke's third law). Utility fog is a collection of tiny robots, envisioned by Dr. John Storrs Hall while he was thinking about a nanotechnological replacement for car seatbelts. ... Grey goo, or gray goo, is a term first used by molecular nanotechnology pioneer Eric Drexler in his book Engines of Creation. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with nanorobotics. ... A mite next to a gear set produced using MEMS, the precursor to nanotechnology. ... In transhumanism and science fiction, mind transfer (also referred to as mind uploading or mind downloading, depending on ones point of reference), or whole body emulation refers to the hypothetical transfer of a human mind, body, and environment to an artificial substrate. ... Immortality (or eternal life) is the concept of existing for a potentially infinite, or indeterminate length, of time. ... In the Star Trek fictional universe, the holodeck is a form of virtual reality. ... Science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke formulated the following three laws: When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. ...

External links

• Homepage
• Mailing List (Note: requires Yahoo! membership to view messages).
• Introduction page
• Full text of a conference paper about suitable light sources for Bishop Rings, from SPIE's non-imaging optics proceedings.