NGOs are supranational organizations dedicated to activities such as humanitarian assistance, scientific research, or lobbying for social change. Among the oldest NGOs are the Red Cross and Amnesty International. NGOs strive to remain independent, but rely on donations from individuals, corporations, or governments to fund their activities. Most are nonprofit agencies.
A private research institute devoted to intelligence augmentation in humans. The founder, Rust China millionaire Chen Jing, is obsessed with the idea of a coming machine singularity. He believes that only through enhancing human intelligence through techniques like genetic engineering, computer implants, and nanorestructuring of the brain can humans hope to compete with machines. The Foundation does not maintain laboratories of its own, instead arranging grants for academic researchers and lobbying governments or corporations to match its funds or support research of their own.
The Algernon Foundation has also been active in collecting data on rogue AIs and emergent intelligences, and supports a number of independent researchers engaged in exposing or investigating potential threats.
The Argus Society is an association of Public Eyes with worldwide membership. It acts as an independent observer, watching the activities of governments, large corporations, and other powerful institutions worldwide.
The Argus Society was founded by Marien Smith in the early 2040s. Smith was an American political activist. She believed that news outlets and other media were effectively corrupt, serving the interests of the government or of large media corporations rather than of the people. She conceived of the Argus Society as a tool for uncovering inconvenient information, secrets and half-secrets that powerful institutions would prefer to conceal.
During the turbulent years of the Transhuman Awakening, the Argus Society made a considerable (but mixed) reputation for itself. Naturally, governments and the establishment media frowned on Argus activities, but the Society was favored by populists and radicals of all stripes. Aside from its anti-establishment bias, the Society had no specific ideology. National military secrets, the corruption of government officials, corporate violations of environmental law, the hypocrisy of leading Preservationists, or the horrific results of unbridled genetic experimentation – all were subject to the eyes of Argus.
The Argus Society still exists, although it has split into factions in recent years. Some of its members have gone beyond radicalism, pursuing strange conspiracy theories and regarding even other Society factions as untrustworthy. Others have become almost mainstream, providing information to a consistent audience much like any other media outlet.
The Society is probably the world’s most prominent example of a “network polity”. It has a very loose and decentralized organization, with members all over the world. Members rarely use the best available information-gathering technology. As private citizens, they buy whatever equipment they can afford (although some of them can afford a great deal). They normally operate independently, gathering into teams only occasionally and on an informal basis. The Society has no formal hierarchy of rank, although members can accumulate status by “counting coup” on powerful institutions.
This Geneva-based organization attempts to solve interplanetary disputes before they can deteriorate into conflicts. CIPS diplomats travel from one hot spot to another, attempting to mediate between rival factions and defuse tense situations.
An association of corporate space-freighter captains and crews, founded after Mars Interplanetary replaced its human crews with bioroids. About 65% of space freighters are Guild, including most independents, but the guild only carries about 45% of all cargo by volume, as many non-Guild craft and robot freighters are very large. Relationship between Guild and non-Guild skippers are tense, sometimes exploding into violence.
This organization is an activist group with a genetic preservationist agenda. It flourishes primarily in the United States and Europe. It rejects all radical alterations to the human somatype. Critics claim that the main principle of the Human Alliance is 'you aren't human unless you look human.' Given that most major morphological changes require brain modifications to function, and often result in a major shift in both self-image and perspective on the world, this is not as shallow as it sounds.
The Human Alliance was founded in 2064 by Carl Edward Stokes, a prominent American bioethicist. At the time, Stokes was the most articulate spokesman in the United States for the philosophy that would later be known as Preservationism. He called attention to the limits of biotechnology, and pointed out “the essential callousness of those who would manipulate the foundations of life.”
At first the Alliance was simply one advocacy group among many, but within a few years Stokes had forged a partnership with several American religious groups. He himself was an agnostic, but he found that many Christian and Muslim organizations shared his mistrust of radical genetic engineering. With their help, he was able to raise large amounts of money and buy a great deal of media access. By 2060, the Human Alliance was one of the largest and most powerful advocacy groups in the United States, and was rapidly making headway in Europe and Latin America as well.
As of 2155, the Alliance remains an influential pressure group. It is one of the primary supports of the Democratic Party in the United States, and often plays a part in European national and Union elections. For the most part, it works within the legitimate political system in pursuit of its goals. It has also been known to sponsor mass demonstrations, and there have been occasional (unproven) allegations of violent sabotage.
Alliance critics claim that it is a racist organization, advocating the position that “to be human you have to look human.” In truth the Alliance’s position is much more subtle, focusing on the intangible costs of advanced biotechnology. Alliance leaders publicly doubt that bioengineers are wise enough to redesign the “natural” human form, and they claim that many “improvements” are actually detrimental to their recipients. The Alliance argues against any genetic or biotechnic innovation that doesn’t have proven therapeutic value.
The IEF is dedicated to the study and protection of extraterrestrial native life. It seeks to promote, coordinate, and publicize academic and corporate research on such lifeforms, especially through the respected Journal of Exobiological Studies. It also lobbies government and corporate policy makers and the public to raise awareness concerning threats to these life forms and their habitats. The IEF generally supports preservationist views, but members differ on issues such as whether the use of microbot swimmers to observe Europan vent life risks disturbing the ecosystem. The IEF officially condemns violent radical groups such as the EDF and Negative Growth, although a minority of members may be sympathetic toward, or have links to, individual members of radical organizations.
This is an association that promotes the private homesteading of the asteroid belt, publicizing the efforts of successful colonists. Its leadership tends to social conservatism and libertarian memes. They believe that Earth-Lunar and Mars society are too dominated by governments and authoritarian special interests for individuals to have real freedom. The Plymouth Rock Society helps would-be homesteaders get bank loans to buy or lease spacecraft and equipment, and organizes families into co-ops. They have offices on Earth (mainly in the United States) and on Luna, Mars, Islandia, and Titan. They have assisted the homesteading of about 30 asteroids in the Main Belt. Members who received assistance pledge to assist (financially or otherwise) two other families.
Founded in 2081, this is a multinational educational institute based at Nix Olympica on Mars. It is best known for its genetic engineering and terraforming departments.
This is a series of athletic and martial-arts contests between various categories of bioroid athletes, sponsored by their manufacturers. Since 2093, the event has been held at the annual Kyoto HuGEX trade show, where biotech companies display their latest living products. Originally a publicity stunt, it has become a major media event and the centerpiece of the three-day expo. Much like auto racing, it is a contest of engineering technology as much as one of individual prowess, and a good showing in the Kyoto Cup can give up-and-coming design companies or individual genetic engineers the publicity boost needed to market their wares.
The Kyoto Cup is often targeted by pan-sapient rights groups.
The credibility of the United Nations Organization was badly damaged early in the century, when it proved helpless to prevent several major wars and international conflicts. This process culminated in 2040 when the United States withdrew from the organization entirely. U.N. headquarters relocated to Geneva, but the organization never recovered. The final meeting of the Security Council was held in 2049.
In 2155, many people would be surprised to learn that the United Nations still exists. In fact the organization never officially disbanded. Many nations continue to regard at least some U.N. institutions as useful, and are willing to maintain their existence. The General Assembly continues to meet to this day, with about one-third of the world’s nations regularly sending delegates. According to the U.N. Charter, the Assembly decides most questions by the agreement of those present and voting – so even though many member nations no longer send delegates, those that do can still carry on the Assembly’s business. Specifically, the Assembly continues to hold regular elections for the post of Secretary-General, and it manages the budget of the truncated organization.
Several U.N. agencies still operate, maintained by the Secretariat’s international civil service. The U.N. no longer recruits peacekeeping forces from its member nations, but when the budget permits it sometimes hires military force. Such employment of mercenaries is often controversial (and represents a significant departure from earlier U.N. policy), but it has effectively resolved several small conflicts.
The World Court (officially, the International Court of Justice) is a United Nations agency which still operates in 2155 A.D. Indeed, it may be a more powerful institution than it was before the partial collapse of the U.N.
The World Court meets in The Hague, in the Netherlands. It has 15 judges, who (since the 2044 reforms to the U.N. Charter) are elected by the General Assembly acting alone. Many nations who have stopped participation in other U.N. activities continue to support the court; major examples include China and the United States.
The primary function of the court is to render judgments regarding international disputes. Any nations involved in a dispute may bring it before the court, and in fact many nations have made blanket agreements to subject all disputes of a certain kind to the court’s judgment. The court cannot force any nation to submit to its judgment. Rulings are made on the basis of existing international law, although (as with all courts) the World Court sometimes makes new law when there is no useful precedent. The court also issues advisory opinions when consulted by other U.N. or international institutions.
The World Court has had little success in preventing warfare or other violent conflicts – by the time a dispute reaches violence, the parties are usually unwilling to submit to the court’s arbitration. Still, it has often been able to resolve disputes involving boundaries, international trade, treaties, and so on. If anything, the world’s nations have brought such disputes to the court more often in recent decades. With other global institutions in a state of decline, the court has built a reputation as a fair and impartial arbitrator.
The World Bank (officially the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, or IBRD) is one of the most effective global financial organizations in existence. It is currently based in London, having moved there from Washington, D.C., in 2049.
The World Bank’s function is make large loans to national governments, or to private corporations on the condition that a national government guarantee repayment. The loans support long-term projects to improve local infrastructure and standards of living. The Bank usually arranges for technical assistance to accompany loaned funds, helping the recipient country to use the money effectively. Loans are often made conditional on economic reforms within the target country. Most loans are made to developing countries.
Over 170 nations are “members” of the World Bank. Decisions on loans and other policies are made by a vote of the board of governors, but a member nation’s influence is weighted according to its contributions to the Bank’s capital fund. As a result, the Bank is effectively controlled by the world’s wealthiest nations. In 2155 A.D., the European Union dominates World Bank policy, although Brazil, China, Japan, Korea, and Mexico are also influential.
Controversy has surrounded the World Bank for most of the past century. Some claim that its loans go to support corrupt local regimes or multinational corporations, doing little to improve the lives of ordinary people. Others point out that the Bank usually requires economic or social reforms before offering loans – thus making the Bank a tool for violating the sovereign independence of minor nations.