Wafer Technology
A Wafer is a technological device, a sort of micro-technology capable of transferring vast amounts of knowledge to a sophont who possesses a wafer jack.
- This knowledge far surpasses conventional cyberware and can even include elements of metempsychosis, the ability to pass on a mind or personality from one body to another.
- The Angin-wafer is one of the best known types of wafer.
Please see the following AAB Library Data articles for more information:
- Cognitive Science / Cybertechnology (Cogno-)
Description (Specifications)
A Waferjack functions like a computer systems allowing for a data connection between an organic brain and an electronic processor. Perhaps the biggest advantage is that the waferjack allows much greater speeds of data transfer allowing a user to access, scan, and understand data at a rate nearly a hundred times faster than by reading and with much greater retention.
Waferjack Vehicle Interfaces
Waferjack allow users to operate a waferjack-supported vehicle or devices much more quicker than by manual means.
Skillsofts
Waferjacks accept Skillsofts, which essentially provide experiential databases, and memory experiences which allow a user to simulate skill in a field, or improve their existing skill level. Whether, cooking lessons, vehicle repair or martial arts. • If a user inserts a Skillsoft wafer of a skill that they are not trained in, the user acquires Skill-0 with that skill regardless of what complexity the Skillsoft is. • If an individual is trained in the skill, but the complexity of the Skillsoft does not exceed their own skill level, they receive a Boon on all tests with that skill.
Skillsoft Media
The user can record sensory information onto removable wafer media. • The waferjack can provide hours of limitless entertainment through a huge catalog of experiences, including novels, adventures, sports, travels, etc. anywhere waferjacks and skillsofts are available. • Due to the Imperium’s distaste for robotics, cybernetic and bionic enhancements, Waferjacks and Skillsofts are listed as a Class-3 Processor Device and are generally restricted and/or illegal on any planet of Law Level-4 or above. • Imperial veterans may receive permits for Waferjacks obtained during honorable military service. • Detecting a Waferjack is difficult (…except for low tech external device versions) and becomes more difficult as the TL increases.
Waferjack Locations
Perhaps the most popular location for a waferjack is at the base of the skull and the back of the neck. However, other installation locations have been known.
History & Background (Dossier)
The Waferjack, or more colloquially, the chipsocket, was developed by the Solomani company UBM, initially as a way to speed up transfer of information. It is an evolution of virtual reality simulations, from observing, to experiencing.
The waferjack is essentially a computer data transfer interface wired directly into the cortex. However, after a lazy initial civilian market success, due mostly to social stigmas regarding cybernetic and bionic enhancements in the Solomani Rim, new uses were discovered. Users found that they could save and transfer memories, and experiences in addition to pure data. In addition to the development of skillsofts, this also sparked a new niche in entertainment, the virtual world exploded.
Like computers, Waferjacks are rated for the complexity of software they can operate. The higher the skillsoft complexity, the more information and data provided. At the early tech levels, the device consists of a large module attached to the head. As the tech progresses, it all but disappears as it becomes completely subdermal. The device incorporates an access port that accepts various media, with the “wafer” being the imperial standard. (See “wafer”)
An order of magnitude above the heads up display, the waferjack allows a user to access information at the speed of thought. It also allows a user to mentally operate a piece of equipment or machinery, (or vehicle) thereby resulting in quicker response times. The first waferjack in civilian use was initially developed and employed in racing circuits, but eventually found more mundane uses.
The waferjack also allows a user to record their experiences and share them as a virtual reality adventure. In this way, someone can no only see the vacation, they can experience the vacation through all of the recorders senses.
Technologists are working on recording an individuals entire personality profile for the cloning industry, but have so far been unsuccessful.
Use of a Waferjack is not without risks. Anything that wires directly to the brain can be dangerous, and numerous early adopters suffered extreme brain damage from faulty waferjacks. Mandatory failsafes and feedback protocols have subsequently been developed, but there always remains a risk.
In addition, extensive use of a waferjack over time can cause personality degradation, and/or other neurological disorders.
Wafer Homes
TBD
References & Contributors (Sources)
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- Agent of the Imperium
- Cirque Novel
- Traveller Wiki Editorial Team
- Author & Contributor: Don Headrick
- Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis) and Master of Sophontology Maksim-Smelchak of the Ministry of Science