Founded by Dr. Raymond Garcia in 2061,[1] Neo-Christian hyperevolutionism is a philosophy that posits that humans should evolve themselves into transcendent beings using the technology they can achieve. While technically beginning in the 2060s, their movements into more radical and ethical transhumanism became particularly notable in the 2080s.[2] Some of their funding comes from the Algernon Foundation.
Colonies[]
NC-HEs as a "faction" are most commonly known for their colonies among Earth's Lagrange points. Most folks could probably name Seventh Heaven (2064)--and its titular church--but there are more!
New Covenant Station: Founded in 2096 on 511 Davida, a small asteroid, New Covenant Station is a small spaceport with some of the more radical elements of transhumanism and high technology.[3] It is a "bee-hive" habitat, with a population of 4,400, with over half being sapient informorphs.[4]
Mimas: From New Covenant, some folks moved to Mimas (the innermost large satellite of Saturn) and established the Eye of God monastery (population ~70) on the mountaintop in the center of the moon's massive Herschel crater. It serves as a resort and biomodification clinic for the faithful.[5]
On a smaller note, NC-HEs purchased the Engelbrekt Church in Sweden in 2091.[6]
Politics[]
As a highly transhumanist faction, the NC-HEs are particularly popular with fellow transhumanists, as well as post-human entities like xoxes, echoes, shadows, and all manner of brain-scans. Hyperevolutionism was popular among the Eloi, although for more "transformative" reasons--becoming post-human is easy when you're filthy rich, and hyperevolutionists tend to appreciate (or at least, tolerate) those who have modded themselves.[7]
Religion[]
Christian hyperevolutionists see God as an infinity of information formed during the collapse of a closed, life-pervaded universe, into a single point. Some more radical concepts involve creating a "second coming" of this collapse-themed deity by engineering a small singularity.
Among the sect of Clarke-1, it is common for the bioengineered "Vacs" to float, tethered, in space for lengthy periods of time, as a form of cosmic communion.[8]
Carnivale[]
The Carnivale is a transhumanist funeral-and-rebirth ceremony which varies from religion to religion. In NC-HE, it is a sacrament on the road to union with God.[9]
Relationship with Digital Creationists[]
As per the rules of Digital Creationism, there are no beings outside of man, angels, and God. By that rule, the superior beings found in the Net are not mankind's workings, but angels. Digital Creationists believe high-AI programs may act as angelic emissaries, in a sense, and are hardline supporters of AI rights, if not for necessarily humanist reasons.[10]
See Also: The Society of Isadore (Deep Beyond)
Regarding the Caliphate[]
As hyperevolutionism encourages the radical transformation of the human form, it is considered apostacy in the Caliphate, and is varying degrees of illegal. Even those running from the Caliphate may not be safe, as the Mutawi'yyun--a crack team of religio-memetic police--will sometimes track them down. It may take a bit of espionage to protect such a target--luckily, transhumanists are often interested in changing their appearance.
Regarding Mathirism[]
Mathirism is dedicated to an unknowable, transcendent deity that sees no distinction between flesh and data, and its philosophy sees no particular virtue in becoming a digital being. Mathirism (particularly Mathir himself) is fairly critical towards NC-HEism, and the two are considered generally incompatible.
Associations[]
The Shezbeth Expedition[]
A trio of ministers from Seventh Heaven provided a crew of ghosts and sapient AIs to help crew the Alan B Shepard on its legendary Shezbeth Expedition--a donation that helped Shiyomi Muldoon discover the mysterious micro-singularity within the asteroid, 112434 Shezbeth in 2091. Perhaps this was one of the God-sources the NC-HEs were looking for.
Further increasing the intrigue, some say the asteroids' ability to penetrate the Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud follows no known cosmological theory, and the new discoveries of micro-singularity asteroids may be a sign of something... otherworldly.
Notable Members[]
- Daron Phuong -- The ghost of a board member of GenTech Pacifica. Is a NC-HE, but is isolated, and going a bit mad.[11]
- Westin Carr -- Also a member of the Pan-Sapient Rights Alliance[12]
References[]
- ↑ Transhuman Space, p.13
- ↑ Transhuman Space, p.89
- ↑ Transhuman Space, p.42
- ↑ Transhuman Space: Deep Beyond, p.21. Most of the details on New Covenant and the Eye of God monastery are in this book!
- ↑ Transhuman Space, p.46
- ↑ Transhuman Space: Cities on the Edge, p.55
- ↑ Pyramid #3/62: Transhuman Space, p.30
- ↑ Transhuman Space: High Frontier, p.91
- ↑ Transhuman Space: Cities on the Edge, p.30
- ↑ Transhuman Space, .p90
- ↑ Transhuman Space: Under Pressure, p.79
- ↑ Teralogos News 2101, Second Quarter, p.4