screen. Usage of these sites is higher than it has ever been, so it is not a stretch to say that social media eats up a majority of America's time. All the while, the world goes on without us. China makes leaps and bounds, financially and politically, Germany struggles to liberate themselves from various invaders after the Middle East War, tribal warfare increases tenfold across the continent of Africa...states are even seceding from the Union, and the U.S. remains ignorant of all of it.
Some of the old movies portrayed technology being our undoing. They were wrong about only one thing: the attack was not a brute force invasion that we resisted, but rather, a subtle, dividing force that we welcomed with open arms. I don't share the doomsday theories that most of the Sanctus followers seem to ascribe to these days, but I can see why they are concerned.
The Trading Post, by Loretta Wendell
On the coast of Northern California, the AC set up a trading post, their sole point of land ownership in the United States. They attempted to negotiate for years with the governments of both California and the US to purchase land upon which they could build their trading posts, eager to build relations with this nation and establish themselves as allies and business partners. They would discover firsthand the obstacles of human greed and underhanded tactics.
From the very beginning, they faced the obstacle of being a race without a nation. The officials who would look past the stigma of associating with what in the eyes of the public were "just robots" we're beset by special interest groups from multiple tech companies, who played on the fact that the Autonomous Collective was, at this point, just a group of intelligent machines. They were not members of any nation. The special interest groups fed half-truths to the officials who could approve the land purchase, such as a perceived lack of government body to ensure that the machines followed the laws of the U.S. and international trade. The machines' reputation was painted black with the fear that some of them would break laws without remorse. They warned of nuclear weapons in the hands of mad men and directed energy weapons in the grip of every mercenary, supplied to them by machines.
The AC was persistent, and got the government to relent to a single tract of land to produce a small store where their goods could be sold. Being machines, they made the most of their tiny store, packing it with equipment far superior to anything made in the U.S., at an unmatchable price. Farmers could buy tools that never broke. Technicians could buy electronic components manufactured for perfection at a microscopic level. A family could order a vehicle that would almost never break down, backed by a warranty that would replace anything that could possibly go wrong under the rarest of circumstances. No business was happy for the competition, and lobbied for high taxes and tariffs on these goods to make them unattractive to the customers. The machines kept lowering their prices, not caring much for profit, but still striving for their goal of better relations.
The companies stateside won, eventually. People finally accepted that the government was doing everything it could to shut down the AC's business, and though they were outraged at first, eventually they moved on to the next big topic, like they always did. The trading post still stands, with its goods on the shelf, the store owners waiting patiently and petitioning for the lowering of the astronomical taxes and tariffs. But I believe even they know that the probability of such an occurrence is low. The U.S. has everything to gain from trade with the AC, but due to the greed of big business, that little trading post will remain little more than a monument to the triumph of the business over their customers.
Date: July 24th, 2149
Location: Shanghai, China
Charley knew the history of China long before he ever got
Some of the old movies portrayed technology being our undoing. They were wrong about only one thing: the attack was not a brute force invasion that we resisted, but rather, a subtle, dividing force that we welcomed with open arms. I don't share the doomsday theories that most of the Sanctus followers seem to ascribe to these days, but I can see why they are concerned.
The Trading Post, by Loretta Wendell
On the coast of Northern California, the AC set up a trading post, their sole point of land ownership in the United States. They attempted to negotiate for years with the governments of both California and the US to purchase land upon which they could build their trading posts, eager to build relations with this nation and establish themselves as allies and business partners. They would discover firsthand the obstacles of human greed and underhanded tactics.
From the very beginning, they faced the obstacle of being a race without a nation. The officials who would look past the stigma of associating with what in the eyes of the public were "just robots" we're beset by special interest groups from multiple tech companies, who played on the fact that the Autonomous Collective was, at this point, just a group of intelligent machines. They were not members of any nation. The special interest groups fed half-truths to the officials who could approve the land purchase, such as a perceived lack of government body to ensure that the machines followed the laws of the U.S. and international trade. The machines' reputation was painted black with the fear that some of them would break laws without remorse. They warned of nuclear weapons in the hands of mad men and directed energy weapons in the grip of every mercenary, supplied to them by machines.
The AC was persistent, and got the government to relent to a single tract of land to produce a small store where their goods could be sold. Being machines, they made the most of their tiny store, packing it with equipment far superior to anything made in the U.S., at an unmatchable price. Farmers could buy tools that never broke. Technicians could buy electronic components manufactured for perfection at a microscopic level. A family could order a vehicle that would almost never break down, backed by a warranty that would replace anything that could possibly go wrong under the rarest of circumstances. No business was happy for the competition, and lobbied for high taxes and tariffs on these goods to make them unattractive to the customers. The machines kept lowering their prices, not caring much for profit, but still striving for their goal of better relations.
The companies stateside won, eventually. People finally accepted that the government was doing everything it could to shut down the AC's business, and though they were outraged at first, eventually they moved on to the next big topic, like they always did. The trading post still stands, with its goods on the shelf, the store owners waiting patiently and petitioning for the lowering of the astronomical taxes and tariffs. But I believe even they know that the probability of such an occurrence is low. The U.S. has everything to gain from trade with the AC, but due to the greed of big business, that little trading post will remain little more than a monument to the triumph of the business over their customers.
Date: July 24th, 2149
Location: Shanghai, China
Charley knew the history of China long before he ever got
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