Persona Automata: Robots, Coffee and the return of a simpler life.

[BB_ROOK]

Hey guys,

I wouldn't mind some feedback on a project of mine, a speculative work of fiction that I call Persona Automata;

https://trundlerspath.neocities.org/primer.html

The gist of it? It's a huge "what if". What if the whole world decided to call it quits and give up on the financial system altogether, the economic crash causes everything to go sideways and Humanity takes a huge nosedive.

But that's not the whole story.

What would happen? What would replace it? And what would be the consequences as such? Come have a look at what happens when the future is simply...not that bad?

Oh there are robots, and lots and lots of coffee!!

[Dan Q]

This is really cool; I especially love what you've been doing with the interspersed diagrams and the "future history" lesson feel to it.

It makes me wonder how the rest of the world is doing in this strange future? Short of a strong dollar, many smaller economies would definitely follow suit, but there's a possibility that other parts of the world (China? The Eurozone?) might go in a different direction... or the same direction, but with a different overarching outlook?

I wonder what the experience would be of those trundlers fortunate enough to be able to sail the coastlines (ocean crossings would probably be less-common), up and down the Americas or else round the Mediterranean? Such trundlers could explore the future of so many different cultures, and I'd especially enjoy their thoughts too!

The "meshnet" concept is awesome too. There are experimental networks that do this today, of course, as you probably know already (e.g. Meshtastic), but the concept reminded me of what it was like to be a BBS node on FidoNet, back in the day: when an email might take a week to reach a recipient in another country, but that still felt magical compared to phone calls etc.! There are also parallels in P2P networks "within" the Internet that might reflect the kinds of cultures you'd see in such a future meshnet (albeit slowed-down and without so much crypto bullshit chatter, I'd guess!).

Anyway: you've got an amazing project going there, and I appreciate you sharing it!

[Dan Q]

Ooh! I've just remembered what your writing reminds me of! Becky Chambers' A Psalm for the Wild-Built. It's very different in many ways (not on Earth, for a start!), but still tackles the idea of "what if the status quo of a familiar economic system was rapidly rejected?": that same kind of solarpunk feel, you know what I mean?

[BB_ROOK]

I haven’t read that one (yet! ;) )

One of the ideas I had, was to slowly uncover the world, bit by bit. I started with the USA because them falling down on their faces? It will be happening sooner than later.

I do like your idea of the Mediterranean Trundlers. I already have a mental image of a dullard rolling around in Athens, and then an elderly woman kicking it as it passed by. “Darn robot! Mind yourself!!”

Glad you like it!!”

[pepper]

This is very cool! I'm bookmarking for sure.

I feel like I would be a Trundler for sure, tbh the main thing keeping me from spending years wandering around the EU or something today is my debt, if not for student debt and the need to maintain steady employment I would have spent my twenties wandering and backpacking. Alas, I worked at a cafe instead.

I really like the Tabby! I want something like that today. It's actually something I'm interested in with LoRa and meshatastic (Dan Q already mentioned meshtastic but I also think it's similar to what you're describing here). Something I'm doing in response to the *everything that is happening in the world today* to prevent myself from spiraling, aside from channeling my anxieties into my art, is engaging with my local community and making connections that don't rely on the existence of modern technology. So like, I'm learning LoRa networking, I personally know several people in my local punk/ anarchist community (and know where they live and how to contact them without a phone!), I grow some of my own food, stuff like that.

Also I adore your drawings of the robots and such! Looking forward to reading more in this setting 

[BB_ROOK]

@pepper I am glad you like it. I had a lot of fun with the idea of the tabby. I also saw that I stumbled into what is known as a "T-deck". Mine however, would have ssh capability and a slot for an localised AI (Servitor). So...kinda like the T-Deck...but with a cartridge slot (Gameboy with identity crisis?)

Yes. It is my hope that many will see themselves among my characters (I do have a few that I will slowly introduce to all soon).

The road is free to all to walk on!!