2231 Treaty of Vegas/Luna

Foundation of the UPO, the United Planets Organization.

By the treaty of Vegas, the major powers on Earth and in space approve the creation of independent nations in the Belt. They agree that the inner system between Mercury and Earth will remain the domain of Earth's nations, and the outer system beyond the Belt will be kept free of claims for all humanity to explore. The Palladian League of independent stations receiving the status of a single nation gains a seat in the Earth Council, while Earth's nations are represented in the UPO, each with a single vote like all individual, independent, interplanetary micronations, often comprising just one space station, rotating habitat, or asteroid base.

Since the independence movement, the political and economic landscape of the inner Sol System has been in flux. Earth's space-oriented gigacorporations have supported the independence claims of individual space stations and small groups of habitats to gain sovereignty over vast stretches of interplanetary space decoupling themselves from Earth's jurisdictions. Earth is trying to secure the inner system and to keep the yet unused outer system free of ownership claims to be decided upon in the future. Earth-based gigacorporations are attempting to limit access of space-based corporations to Earth's markets. The newly independent stations are striving to assert their independence from Earth while also trying to maintain strong ties to Earth, as they are still dependent on supplies. The small populations of these stations, while effectively being managed by their sponsoring corporations, seek at least some independence from the habitat owners as self-administered communities of individual people with a civil court system, rather than being just corporate employees under corporate security. So, there are many factions, many interests, and many ideas about the future. What is missing is a framework for the future political and economic system of a growing interplanetary civilization that includes the Earth.

Efforts to establish a new order find an unexpected catalyst in a reclusive Buddhist monk known by his Dharma name, "Silent Running", a so-called "public hermit". Living in a small pressure cabin in a lunar lava tube near Vegas, Silent Running has an improbable following. His meditation slinks (Sensory Links), which allow millions of followers to share his serene experiences – gaining mental clarity, emotional balance, and spiritual insight through neural implants – are wildly popular. Despite his complete detachment from the frenzy surrounding his streams, his spiritual insights and the purity of his solitary existence inspire a global, actually a system-wide, audience. Silent Running has a GB upstream for his slinks and a rather symbolic 1 bps downstream. While he streams his private experiences, feelings, emotions, and spiritual insights in ultra-sensHiDef quality (USHD) all the time, he does not interact with his followers. He just lives his life and meditates, letting millions share his experience. He completely ignores the entire ecosystem that has grown around his stream including all the comments, discussions, secondary content, and derivative applications in various other fields from business to the military.

In 2228, Silent Running's offhand remark during a meditation session where he reflected on the news his com had aggregated over the week on its thin downlink – "Mabe if yall cum to Vgas t grok it we'll tgetr fin nu waiz frall umanity" – is interpreted by several world leaders among his followers as an invitation to discuss a new interplanetary framework. This seemingly casual statement sparks a historic and unconventional RL-convergence (real life vs. virtual) of political, economic, and opinion leaders in Vegas/Luna.

So, they come to Vegas, turning Vegas into a modern and permanent Davos. They meditate and talk, exchange ideas, and plan a future econo-political architecture. Others, afraid to miss the boat, join them. Over the next three years, the city of Vegas/Luna transforms into the epicenter of interplanetary diplomacy. Delegations from Earth’s major powers, the Palladian League, and numerous independent space habitats convene in a series of formal and informal gatherings. These meetings, blending traditional diplomacy with meditative sessions inspired by Silent Running’s teachings, foster a unique atmosphere of cooperation and introspection.

After three years of spiritual gatherings, more conventional meetings, and actual negotiations the interplanetary political and economic class comes to an understanding about a new set of rules for the organization of the Sol System. A consensus slowly takes shape and eventually, a treaty is signed inaugurating the UPO, the United Planets Organization.

Key provisions of the treaty include the recognition of the Palladian League as a single sovereign nation with a seat in the Earth Council, despite the fact that the League is itself an organization of independent interplanetary territories each with their own sovereignty claims. In addition, Earth's nations and the independent interplanetary micronations all together form the UPO. The treaty stipulates that the inner system – Mercury and Venus – remains under Earth’s domain, while the outer system beyond the asteroid belt is designated a neutral zone, free from ownership claims for at least a century. The cis-lunar space beyond Earth's geostationary orbit (GEO) is shared between independent habitats, earth-bound corporations, and space-oriented corps. The treaty invalidates all past and future sovereignty claims within the GEOsphere arguing that Earth does not want "foreign nations in our backyard", completely ignoring the fact that all Earth nations are foreign nations to each other and that neighboring nations are, by definition, located in each other's backyard. This provision goes against the interests of several large rotating habitats in high Earth orbit that have been striving for self-governance but missed the 2210s wave of independence. Also, Luna will be free of territorial claims in general, with exceptions for exclusive economic zones around bases and already existing sovereign entities, like the recently inaugurated Kolus nation, of which consul Sirivansa serves as lead negotiator for the "moonies".

During all this time, many heads of state visit Vegas with their delegations. Vegas becomes a much-talked-about place, and the news reports on attendees and their delegations, their accommodations, cultural activities, fashion, and the style of the delegates. There is also reporting about intrigues, personal drama, political scheming, economic maneuvering, and trade deals. Media celebrities join in, mixing politics with fashion, arts, and entertainment:

  • The Yuens: twin daughters of Callie Yuen, who accompanied their mother, one of the first to respond to Silent Running's remarks. They are stars of the AR fashion holo couture scene in their own right, with augmented reality designs adapting in real-time to the wearer’s mood. Their fashion, worn by several delegates, contributes immensely to the open and cooperative spirit of the early phase of the deliberations.
  • Negyxo: a slink-DJ, performs live from the moon to an audience of 100 million on Earth and tens of thousands in space. His prodigious mix of slinks, directly experienced by observers on the spot, makes the entire process known to a huge audience.
  • Os Meme Senhores: a collective of meme-slam shorts publishers, use the proceedings to establish themselves in the political sphere. Their skillfully crafted memes, with a unique blend of satire and realism, resonate deeply with many previously apolitical consumers, drawing millions to the otherwise dry topic of interplanetary politics.
  • R@fi&Nyx: a duo of leading VR game designers, are known for creating adaptive open-world games. Their fractal meta-team creates a continuous series of political simulations during the three years of 4D chess with twists and turns of multi-faction negotiations, including simulations of post-treaty scenarios, helping leaders visualize their initiatives to the wider audience.
  • L1M1N: the Sabo-Dambe teacher performs public sessions attended by many delegates in Vegas and elsewhere. She intentionally extends Sabo-Dambe's typical "Ignition" and "Recovery" phases to give political and economic leaders, both in person and virtually, ample time to get to know each other and advance their discussions in a casual way.
  • oo, a.k.a. Infinity, has gained recognition for eir immersive storytelling in interactive V-adventures. Ey moderates negotiations in eir distinctly entertaining fashion and with surprising efficiency in achieving compromises. Especially in later phases, when serious negotiations usually happen behind closed doors, oo's well-known effectiveness combined with eir demand for openness contributes to the transparency of the final negotiations.

And many more flock to Vegas: fashion influencers and trend scouts, optigene models, virtual models, synth models, and natural style archetypes, companions, political strategy muses, social dynamics commentators, game theory experts, space lawyers, mood analysts, reputation brokers, simulation runners with their variant tree pruners and chaos hedgers – an entire industry that supports the professional and private lives of delegates.

They all need accommodation, life-support, business services, and of course, entertainment. Beyond its original reputation, the profile of Vegas, as a city of lifestyle, life-services, and working accommodations for interplanetary netizens, increases immensely. The businesses of Vegas flow with the hype, growing their ventures, making deals, and expanding their services. Basically, all of Vegas goes viral. Vegas becomes the 'in' city.

Even the simulation sciences profit from this plentitude of opinion-forming processes and negotiations on connected topics, accompanied by an almost seamless dataset of environmental conditions meticulously recorded by slinks and drones. The entire process is basically a large-scale non-synthetic data source for builders of evolutionary behavioral AI models.

Particularly noteworthy in this context is Ekaterina Yang's transfer tuning of GHOST, the Generalized Human Observation Simulation and Transformer engine, that later comes up with Cymbolics, a formalism for chaotic symbolic math, earning her not only a PhD but also a Fields medal in the newly established category of Chaotic Computing.

The signing of the treaty takes place in a highly publicized ceremony in Vegas/Luna, attracting immense media attention. Silent Running, true to his nature, abstains from the event, retreating further into meditation. The treaty’s final draft is written by the mayor of Vegas/Luna, which symbolizes the city’s newfound prominence. In addition, Vegas is designated as the seat of the UPO, establishing its status as the central hub of interplanetary diplomacy.

The aftermath of the treaty sees a flurry of activity. Vegas's businesses flourish, with a surge in investments and expansion of services catering to interplanetary travelers, new UPO staff, and permanent delegates.

The city, bolstered by its role in the historic negotiations, declares its independence from the North American Union (NAU) in 2232, riding the wave of newfound confidence and prestige.

Buch
Printed Book

Galactic Developments as Buch and eBook (in German).