I had an idea for a setting, /tg/, and I'd like some help brainstorming. It's post-modern, with some serious scientific advancement. A large group of people went for (near) immortality by machine uploading as soon as it became available, while other people waited for medical technology to provide biological (again, near) immortality.
What I'm trying to figure out is if there'd be a good reason for these two groups to conflict, and what sort of society would develop when everyone's going to live foreve as long as they have the right parts and drugs?
>>47026032
Once we no longer have needs to fight over, war will truly be the domain of values.
>>47026032
>It's post-modern,
I suppose you mean either futuristic, or post scarcity. "Post-modern" means something different.
The problem with post scarcity setups is always creation of conflicts. The idea of post scarcity settings in general is that it provides such a distant and difficult to imagine scenario that making any kinds of speculations about the nature of such society is going to be wonky.
As for conflict between people awaiting digital immortality vs. biological one is again pretty difficult. There is no reason why these two groups should be inherently at odds. Hell, even the distinction between the two seems very blurred to me.
Since there is no inherent conflict between the two groups, you are quite literally free to make up any. But as anyone with a bit of world-building experience probably knows now, freedom is actually usually your biggest enemies, and creative constraint your best friend.
Maybe you should think of other aspects of the settings first. What are the most important ideologies and philosophies of your world? Religion? Ethical doctrines? Technical limitations? Identities (how do people indentify themselves as parts of some bigger group - where does "us vs. them" mentality come from in such a world? Nationality, race, religion, class-based/wealth-based (the two aren't necessarily the same, keep in mind)?
Put more principles and constraints up, and maybe the conflict will emerge on it's own.
>>47026032
Well, as for conflict, I would point to religious or philosophical groups, as they'd most likely question the idea of if uploading yourself is the same as death, while biological immortality is more 'wholesome' or 'natural'
As for society itself, you'd be looking at very low birthrates, and general pushing towards utopia in general. As long as immortality is widely available enough, and since it's into the future where robots are doing most mundane labor, you'll probably have a lot of people working most of their hours online, and a smaller number of them at that.
Thus, people have more freetime for leisure and hobbys. Basically it becomes Renaissance 2: Electric boogaloo.
>>47026233
>Renaissance 2: Electric boogaloo.
and we know how that went
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdQceIJ-t-M&list=PLJ-sErhD-26eOewsd6K0QkbO8JT8YaZQ4
>>47026233
This is actually extremely naive and short sighted idea about humanity, and one of the reasons why all post-scarcity and post-mortality stories and worlds tend to be pretty dumb and let's be honest, boring.
>>47026352
Then I'm sure you'd care to enlighten the rest of us as to what that future would actually be like?
>>470260
Take a cue from Endless Space.
Those guys who are uploading their minds to robots? Well they ain't quite right, yeah? Something doesn't tick right anymore since they no longer have flesh.
But what about those fleshy guys? Well, they're not exactly all happy bunnies and sunshine either, and the stuff they get up to when nobody is looking.
Basically, mutual suspicion, ala cold war Russia and the USA. Where both sides don't trust the other and all it takes is one little mistake, one small trip, and suddenly the nanite swarms, EMP bombs, KKV bombardment and scrap code go flying in every direction.
Pretty soon you've got a full blown genocidal war.
>>47026032
This is the plot to Endless Legend/Space
>>47026032
People that have gone all machine would rapidly become very alien compared to their fleshy counterparts. They no longer have brain chemicals influencing them and they can and will begin experimenting with altering and expanding their own code and becoming something other, edit emotions to feel or experience things humans couldn't. That is conflict. A whole population becoming completely unknowable and unpredictable can scare a lot of fleshies.
>>47026032
Those who uploaded themselves to computers could advance beyond what it meant to be a human. They could think faster, and be free of biological influences. The others would remain largely the same.
But just as the computer people became more advanced, they would lose their humanity and become strange and distant and alienating to the biological humans.
