Editing Gridlink (section)

= Technology =

== Space Travel ==
Space travel is still a slow process-- we can plant jump-gates to allow us to return to places easily, but actively reaching those places for the first time is exceedingly difficult, often using cryogenic freezing. Wormholes are of limited use, as the technology to replicate them outside of jump-gates is still young and expensive.

High-power fusion rockets powered with biotech AI are used as the main method of reaching other stars, but so far only attain 15% of the speed of light as a raw maximum.

A recent plan, started in 2081 and released in 2100 as a centenary celebration, is the Century Rocket. This is a mobile, travelling jumpgate ship, moving at 12% of light speed outwards from Earth, away from the sun. It is from this technology Discovery was first reached, and a permanent jump-gate installed.

Most Jumpgates are space-based only, as it is extremely difficult to miniaturize the technology without the wormhole collapsing.

== Climate ==
Global warming hasn't killed us all only on account of clever application of technology; climates are about the same as they are now, for most places.

== Energy ==
We tend to use small-scale fusion power, surprisingly. It's proven easier to use smaller reactors than larger ones, so small fusion reactors tend to power groups of houses, large vehicles, or such. So, what do drones and cars and the like run on? Piezoceramic batteries. Highly pressurized layers of ceramic and lithium containing more charge than seems right. Do NOT break the small mirror! There is the equivalent of a laser in there!

== Sophonts ==
AIs exist. A few orangutans and dolphins now have evolved enlarged language centers, partially due to South American experiments. In 2183, an orangutan known as "Genio" was unveiled in Nicaragua; he was fully able to use sign language, understood fluent Spanish, and read voraciously. He was nonetheless the only real success from their experiments. Some genetic experiments have lead to extremely smart dogs, but nothing up to the level of the aforementioned examples. Sentience and sapience take a while to evolve, and human dickery doesn't seem to work too well in hastening it.

== Language ==
Language has shifted and swayed a great deal, including and especially English.

The 20th and 21st century saw the rise of the internet and indefinite information storage, and other semi-permanent media has existed for a long time. This has somewhat reduced the amount of change in language, though some changes have been inevitable, including major influences from Hindu into British English and French into European English. The English languages are officially recognized as separate, though the differences are mostly dialectical; there are no major fundamental differences, and speakers of one- while not fluent can generally get by in another.

Various Englishes are incredibly common worldwide; roughly 2 billion- 20.89%- people on earth speak at least one type of English fluently, and another 3 billion know the language to some degree.
This nonetheless leaves another 5 billion who cannot speak a word, something that tourists and heavy 'net users still tend to forget.
It should also be noted that this figure does not include the number of English languages that have diverged sharply from standard English; while it includes Standard African English, it does not include Ugandan English, AKA Lugandishi.

On the internet, the most widely spoken form of English is Grigg's English, an evolution of an amalgamation of the various offline languages and many slang-terms. It is a strange pidgin, nonetheless understandable by most people with a knowledge of an English.