Dataspace

Idea; Magic; Technology

The idea of Dataspace is part of the paradigm of Technomancy. It's founded on the belief that material reality is a manifestation of powerful universal phenomena, called datawaves. The true universe, "behind" the material universe, is dataspace. This nonmaterial space is governed by at least three types of wave-like phenomena: imaginative, constructive, and destructive. For example, the planters are often constructive, the reavers are often destructive, and many humans are very imaginative. At least three more wave types are believed to exist.

The oldest known descriptions of Dataspace are in Planter philosophy. There is some circumstantial evidence to suggest that early technomancers on Earth studied some of this philosophy during the Enlightenment.

Technomancers (like Dwight Mackey and Elias Rossman) have or develop paranormal abilities that permit direct influence on dataspace. In effect, a paranormal being like a magician can generate very minor datawaves directly.

The Breakwater & Datawaves

The Breakwater limits the influence of datawaves from outside the Closeness. The Breakwater has resulted in a mostly static reality (e.g. gravity, carbon-based life, etc.). Within the Closeness, the datawaves still manifest as mostly-Earth like entities (e.g. large fleets of ships, imperial nations, collective minds, etc.). But as the Breakwater decays, strong datawave-influences are increasingly noticeable, especially on the fringes of reality and society (e.g. quantum research, criminal insanity, etc.). To protect the Closeness from the full force of the datawaves, the Rational Ascendancy believes that Breakwater needs to be maintained and improved. Since the turn of the millennium, RA has been moderately successful.