Catalog of the Weird Parallels

[PTTG]

In this obvious myth parallel, a charismatic and eccentric software engineer, businessman, and inventor starts a business commercializing spaceflight. While not immune to occasionally bizarre behavior, this inventor manages to sell his services to a likewise outlandish fashion magnate, who in turn elects to offer a small crew of artists seats on the first private spaceflight around the moon.

The perilous flight was considered risky from the outset, so noone was surprised when the ship vanished at some point while passing the far side of the moon... aside from its unusual timing, and puzzling lack of debris.

What WAS surprising was when the vessel reappeared two years later, none the worse for wear. The passengers reported being transported to a distant star and meeting with representatives from an alien species...

[Dalillama]

Gaia-1
The Earth here is alive and in some sense aware; it actively maintains a balance of ecosystems, and allows only very gradual changes to them. Any rapid change or damage to an ecosystem is met with countermeasures ranging from rapid plant growth to earthquakes and flooding.

Local cultures are perfectly aware of this, and engage in large scale geoengineering to make their hunter-gatherer lifestyles easier. Local TL averages around 1, but is sometimes advanced in medicine and biology.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by PTTG

In this obvious myth parallel, ..

....Some people were unable to tell what myth it was parallelling. You could ahve at least given it a name.

[TGLS]

I'll fill the blanks for you.

Originally Posted by PTTG

In this obvious myth parallel, a charismatic and eccentric software engineer, businessman, and inventor [Elon Musk] starts a business commercializing spaceflight. While not immune to occasionally bizarre behavior, this inventor manages to sell his services to a likewise outlandish fashion magnate, [Yusaku Maezawa] who in turn elects to offer a small crew of artists seats on the first private spaceflight around the moon [#dearMoon Project].

And that's where reality ends and fiction begins.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by TGLS

I'll fill the blanks for you.



And that's where reality ends and fiction begins.

That's not even a roman a clef yet. Myths need more widely known sources than this morning's press releases.

[PTTG]

Keep in mind that Homeline is not OTL, and that in particular its spaceflight is less advanced.

From that perspective, the idea of an independently wealthy figure credibly planning to fly around the moon sounds like something out of a golden-age science fiction story before you even get to the idea of awarding half a dozen seats to artists.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by PTTG

Keep in mind that Homeline is not OTL, and that in particular its spaceflight is less advanced.

Homeline'/s space capability may or may not have been much beyond ours in their 2018 but in 2026 they harvest Earth-grazing asteroids (Homeline TL box p.23).The odds of us duplicating that in 8 years are very poor.

Even worse, on p. 14 we see that that the Special Operations division has subquantum conveyors built into "armored TL9 Icarus suborbital VTOL gunships" that can carry three squads of soldiers anywhere on Earth in 4 hours after getting an alert.

We're not catching up to that in anything like 8 years. Homeline's space program is only backwards compared to somewhere like the world of Transhuman Space (which is set in 2100 anyway). I'm not sure even they have anythign better than the Icarus.

[PTTG]

From my reading, their practice may be more advanced, but it all comes from crosstime trade, as it's generally easier to copy something from a more advanced timeline than it is to invent it yourself, and the resources are hardly more accessible in space than they are via conveyor.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by PTTG

From my reading, their practice may be more advanced, but it all comes from crosstime trade, as it's generally easier to copy something from a more advanced timeline than it is to invent it yourself, and the resources are hardly more accessible in space than they are via conveyor.

<shrug> Doesn't really matter how they got their tech, just that they have it. I suspect the real point of mining the asteroids in orbit is to provide the necessary infrastructure for off-earth colonies being built as insurance policies. After all Homeline is conscious of the the existence of forces that can and do obliterate worlds and may yet be attracted to in by their explorations.

[(E)]

Gamer World
Upon arriving in this world any interworld traveler has an interface appear in their vision. They receive a prompt "please select a race and assign your statistics." All their equipment will vanish and they will receive a cheap set of clothes, a healing potion and a simple weapon of poor quality. They will change to match the race they have chosen.

The rules of this world match those sound in a CRPG or RPG, it is otherwise similar to a world matching its genre, fantasy, sci-fi etc. For performing various actions the visitors can gain "experience" after getting a fixed amount they will find they are asked to select a "class" and they will then gain abilities. The local inhabitants of this modern myth world see this as normal.