The Earthseed Chronicles Free to read science fiction blogfic

1-0: Preface

The following paper was given to students of the university of Aix en Provence (in France) in the English-spoken history classes  of Professor James Trowling. It gives a nice overview of the happenings these last 79 years, and as such will tell you most of what you need to know to dive into the story:

"A brief analysis of world development since the year 2000

By Professor James Trowling, Université II of Aix en Provence, France.

As foreseen by economists worldwide, after 2015 the global economy plummeted to new lows - propelling poor and developed countries alike in what would later be called the modern dark ages. Class differences were once more exacerbated, creating a massive divide between poor and rich, global famine causing casualties everywhere numbering in the hundreds of millions. Countries struggled to rise just to fall back down again, carried away by their neighbor's economies.

It was in 2042 that mankind pulled itself back out of the proverbial mud, and following the modern dark ages came what is now to be known as the eco-technological revolution. Simultaneous advances worldwide in the fields of ecology and high technology alike provided means to take care of all basic needs at extremely low costs; until 2050 world hunger was nonexistent and water shortages were a thing of the past. So fast was this evolution from a true dystopia to what can only be seen as an utopia that many had trouble adjusting to and trusting the new world they lived in. In the years that followed however, a global cultural revolution managed to convince the last skeptics that it would probably last a while.

At the time of writing, it is the year 2079 and the eco-technological revolution is at its peak. We are now fully fossil fuel independent, and relying purely on renewable energies. As someone who witnessed the end of the modern dark ages, it is hard to describe how it feels to now live in a world such as only utopists had dreamed of. There are still minor wars over valuable resources and quabbles over territory, but otherwise one can say that mankind has never before seen such peace and enlightenment. Every woman, child and man has a roof over their heads, and while the upper class is still as rich as before, the lower class now lives very comfortably.

World population is an ongoing issue, but global birth control measures manage to keep growth in check. The moon colonies are still far away capacity-wise from being able to unburden the planet-side population count, but with nearly half a billion people living there permanently, chances are infrastructure will grow enough to make a difference. Off-world colonies have so far been a big disappointment, as only the moon has proven viable economically and ecologically. Dreams of Mars becoming mankind's new home puffed up into smoke when reliable surveying information confirmed that there was not enough usable water sources to sustain life. Mad plans involved synthesizing water in Jupiter's orbit and ferrying it over to Mars, but they were abandoned for being too wasteful energy-wise.

Plans to go beyond our solar system exist, but even with our level of technology we have so far been unable to go around the time-related drawbacks of space travel. Some very interesting planet candidates have been found that should be able to sustain life, but the probes that were sent there will not be able to send back data before 2095 (16 years from now). Many believe this to be a good thing; not being able to reach out to the stars has forced us to improve our life on earth first. We certainly have not reached the pinnacle of evolution yet, but we are working towards it.

This concludes this brief analysis.

Your task: study the impact of the technological developments from 2015-2030 on the global economy from an ecological point of view. Provide references for all sources, Internet use is allowed as long as you verify your findings."

1-0: Preface1-1: The Hidden Mogul1-2: The Thief1-3: The Cypher1-4: Aftermath1-5: Awakening1-6: Mainframe