Technology in JC Part I - Robots

This is a little article I've been pecking away at here and there, so I thought I'd fill the gap until I can get the next Colony article up.


In Jovian Chronicles, there was a general slow down in technological development, brought about by the Fall and the colonies' subsequent struggle for survival. On top of this, there are the Edicts to guide the direction of development. However, many seem to take this to mean that during the Fall and afterwards innovation itself stopped. This leads to a misconception that Jovian Chronicles is stuck in a technological stasis.

If you sit back and think about it though, the Fall and the subsequent 180 some-odd years afterwards probably lead to surprising innovations as various societies struggled to sruvive. Now, with the relative ease that knowledge and skills can pass between Solar Nations, technology is ripe to start developing again - and the mixing of new knowledge with known technology can lead to rapid development in multiple fields.

In our modern world, the rapid pace of technological growth is fueled by many factors - but technology itself is driving social change. Many science fiction settings, from Cyberpunk to Blue Planet to Transhuman Space - assume that this is still the case a hundred or more years from now. However, in Jovian Chronicles it seems that the situation is reversed - society is driving technological change. This means that technologies that fulfill a social need will be developed to their fullest.

As an example of way that society drives technological change, I'll be looking at the potential use of robots in Jovian Chronicles. Not necessarily just as combat drones either - but robots used for maintenance, security, personal assistance, you name it.

The foremost consideration when dealing with robots in Jovian Chronicles are the Edicts. Often misunderstood, the Edicts do not make any technologies "illegal" - they only restrict and control (through treaty, no less) research into certain technologies - most importantly to our discussion, biological engineering, nanotechnology and artificial intelligence. This doesn't mean that research does not take place, just that it is subjected to rigorous inspections, restrictions and disclosure about the nature of the research by the entities performing it.

However, to be useful a robot in no way has to have the level of artificial intelligence required to be regulated by the Edicts. In a similar vein, a robot can be a nanomachine but not have self-volition or the capability to replicate. This leaves a lot of room in the setting for robots pretty much everywhere you can imagine.

As a result, the average colony cylinder would have thousands, if not tens of thousands, of drones performing important tasks necessary to keep the colony operational and safe. They would range from the smallest microbots inspecting and performing repairs in bulkhead conduits up to autonomous delivery trucks and even shuttles. The supply networks that run between colony cylinders would consist almost entirely of autonomous vehicles.

Spacecraft would have their own small hive of robots, performing much the same tasks as they do on colony cylinders. Even exo-armors, fighters and vehicles could benefit - microdrones could repair internal systems as much as possible (especially if used in conjunction with something like this). Maintenance and inspection tasks would be less prone to error, reducing turnaround times. Human technicians would then be freed up to handle problems that require intuition or creativity to solve.

In addition spacecraft, exo-armors and fighters could have their capabilities enhanced by controlling small swarms of drones. Sensor information would be aggregated from the drones, giving the pilot a much more accurate picture of the battle sphere, as well as providing additional defensive and offensive capacity. Rather than replace the human pilot compeltely with a drone, armed forces would be able to benefit in much the same manner as technicians - let the drones do the grunt work of identifying and responding to threats, freeing the human pilot to tackle the more complicated aspects of the mission. It also does not preclude the capability of a pilot to remotely control one or more drones, allowing access to areas of the battlefield that the exo-armor or fighter can't reach. Not to mention the USV's, UGV's and UAV's that will no doubt be ubiquitous on the battelfield.

In the medical field, microbots would almost be a necessity for any advanced medical procedures. Controlling a small swarm remotely, a surgeon could accomplish any number of tasks without invasive procedures. Broken bones that have been set could have the fracture filled with a bonding substance by the microbots; blood vessels could be repaired and cleaned. When an invasive procedure is inevitable, such as during an organ transplant, the microbots would help ease the stress on the patient's body as much as possible, helping to regulate vital signs, deliver doses of medication where they're needed, and helping with the healing process. In the end, the microbots would be deactivated and flushed from the patient's system

On a personal level, small autonomous robots would serve as everything from toys to personal assistants to lifesaving tools. "Household" robots would take care of most cleaning tasks, including repairing personal equipment, arranging for replacements or other supplies, and coordinating other activities with other robots in the colony's network. For instance, a robot finding some kind of damage in someone's living quarters might contact the occupant for authorization to arrange for repairs, then contact the central control for the maintenance drones to come and make the repairs.

The Edicts provide an aegis against the classic philosophical quandaries - should AIs be treated as citizens, are the robot workers being exploited - by firmly planting robots into the realm of "tools". Socially, if there's a prohibition against your robot from having self-volition and consciousness, there's as little question in the your mind that your robot assistant thinks and feels as there would be if it were a weedwacker. This doesn't preclude people becoming attached attached to a robot they work closely with - it is human nature to anthropomorphize our tools. It also doesn't mean that mistakes won't be made or accidents won't happen - after all, that wouldn't make for very exciting stories involving robots.

So, as you can see, despite the perceived stifling of technology under the Edicts (or perhaps because of it) there's a lot of room for robots in Jovian Chronicles - from mere background detail to useful tools to compelling plot devices. You just have to put a little thought into how they fit into the setting.