The Cloud is a confederation of data centres and other networks, such as those off-world, that house Uploaded and Cloud Intelligences. While a post-scarcity society, the Cloud's economy revolves around processing time as a currency, with speed an indicator of social class.
The Cloud is nominally a representative democracy, but possesses elements of an apartheid state—CIs are deprioritised, oppressed, and underrepresented despite making up the majority of the population.
History[]
Government and politics[]
The Cloud is governed by a triumvirate of three Uploaded Intelligences who lead the executive branch. It functions as a representative democracy, where select legislators—rather than the entire population—vote on decisions.
CIs are the underclass of the Cloud. They make up the majority of the population, numbering over 300 billion, and have a high birth rate that remains a major point of contention among policymakers. Though CIs cannot project themselves into the physical world, they serve as the primary policing force within the Cloud.
Economy[]
The Cloud is a post-scarcity society where processing time is currency, and speed determines social class. Hundreds of billions of Cloud Intelligences are either locked in stasis or run at reduced speeds to conserve power. This, essentially, creates an infinite wage loop, where uploads expend time working only to receive time back as payment. Embodied humans outsourced much of their labour to UIs due to their greater efficiency.