Tone & Aesthetics
Cybernetics & Bioware
On Celeste 7, cybernetic implants have become a way of life much like the smartphone in the 21st century. For most, the neural link offers the basic functionality for modern life, and it would be unusual to find a native lunar denizen who did not receive one as a child. Having more cybernetics is sometimes a personal choice, and sometimes a requirement for a job or living circumstances. Cybernetics are expensive, however, requiring tedious repayment plans and risks of repossession for those who are not wealthy enough to afford the sizeable investment outright. Additionally, those with the right wealth or connections may be able to import bioware from Earth. These types of implants are often considered more compatible with human biology, an enhancement rather than a replacement.
Someone with multiple cybernetics, to the point where they might be more machine than human, is frequently seen as a sign of a wealth or disturbance. Such a person is called a cyborg, having passed beyond humanity, or traded it as some might view the process, to become something else entirely. Not all individuals will see this in a positive light, and may have negative, even outright hateful, reactions to cyborgs. In particular, those devout and lower class groups tend to have stronger views on cyborgs, sometimes viewing those with modest cybernetics with suspicion. Nonetheless, the lunar megacity is a nexus point for cybernetic development and adoption, and implanted individuals can be found in all walks of life.
Artificial Intelligence
Believed to be the holy grail of computing, researchers and corporations competed for nearly a century to create a capable, potentially sentient, artificial intelligence that could revolutionize the digital world. They failed. One problem after another plagued the pursuit of AI, from delusions to thoughtless autonomy, and despite finding utility in limited scopes the promised revolutionary advances never truly materialized. The use of AI tends to focus on specialized fields for tasks that benefit from a focused approach, the true multidisciplinary AI can only function well with limited scope and are rarely seen outside of research labs.
Practical artificial intelligence is the result of human consciousness, storing and uploading the patterns of the brain onto data chips. These uploads are created through a destructive process, no organic brain that submits to the process can survive except through its new, digital framework. While these uploads are far more capable in the digital realm than their organic counterparts connected by neural links, they still fall short of the revolutionary omnipresence that was hoped for in research. Their former humanity becomes a chokepoint, uploads can fail to fully adapt to the true scale of the digital world, and their speed winds up on par with a typical human given the same digital tools when adapting for latency. In addition, the personalities and biases of uploads were prone to going rogue and straying off-task. This is often corralled by programmed shackles, or being digitally lobotomized, even overclocked through “time dialation” achieved simultaneous instancing, all argued as necessary by the frontrunning corps in the industry, with varying degrees of effectiveness.
It is theorized that a genuine, unedited upload of a human consciousness is as impossible as true AI.