New Enlightment Era (The New Renaissance)



By the end of 21st century, the world had been undergone a deep, through out series of reforms and revolts, against outdated, corrupted and bureaucratic systems, extreme ideologies and religious fanatics. It results in a world completely new & marked as one of the most prosperous, peaceful and highly open-mind eras of all time

The formation of nine superstates, and their systems aggressively expand into space, create an economy with endless possibility, fairer and more open than ever. Tax on the rich rises significantly, social welfare being expanded.... contribute in closing the gap of income continuously.

MUSIC

 * While people continued to listen to music from across the ages, something enabled by digital content and file sharing over the last several decades, a number of new genres emerged during this era. Typically anti-authoritarian, many of those genres reflected the new generation's distaste for Augment restrictions, and what many believed was unnecessary power to the government and the generation's relationship, especially in Asia.

TECHNOLOGY

 * Robot has been widely adapted and used, mostly in surgery, construction or many projects where human involvement is virtually impossible. That, combine with a fact that robot getting more and more emotional capable, i.e more humanized, raise another series of fierce debates and discussions about whether or not they should have basic rights like normal human.
 * Space become the next frontier to go through. From late 2030s, powerful nations on Earth start to build up their own programs to explore beyond the stars, find new home for Men and "boldly go to where no men has gone before", thus create a whole new kind of economy.
 * Gene modification is widely recognized and accepted. However, the fear, date back to the dawn of sci-fi movie, of terrors created from changing the nature remain strong. As a result, a lot of bills are created to prevent it being used by wrong hands.

SOCIETY

 * Mankind from 2040s onward mostly work, study & enjoying life in megalopolises, which could house up to 800 mil a time. Most of those cities located on man-made islands and/or surrounded by great walls from nature, though, as living space now mostly comprise medieval/fantasy-style villages, strengthen by hi-tech and powered by solar, wind and/or heat energy, stand among nature.
 * With the evolving views due to the revolution in medical technology, a changing culture and lifestyle, as well as more and more supports for social life had been introduced, sexuality is widely accepted as just another needs of a man/woman. For instance, wearing very appealing and/or revealing now is perfectly normal, even in public, in Middle Eastern or Asia. Or prostitution is accepted, registered and managed normally like any other jobs across the Solar System.
 * Morality and a lot of traditional values enter a greatly revolting state. By the time of around 2047, family becomes somewhat an iconic symbol, rather than a restrictive binding. This led to a lot of riots and debates in Asia, where family traditions sometimes consider above even the law.
 * The Basic Rights Preservation Act, signed in late 21st century, frankly put an end for censorship, once and for all. With that, outright banning/restriction are illegal, period. Freedom of Read, Expression and Speech finally are fully recognized and respected as mankind basic rights. This trigger a whole load of protests by many last extreme religious, self-righteous moralist and conservative groups, especially in Japan, where many of old generations persistently insist that such a move "was an attempt to destroy the morality of our Great Japan by evil outsiders". Most protests are fading quickly, though, since the world finally move on from self-righteous morality.
 * As a result, moral panic, whether due to some books, media or even prostitution or strip bars, is all treat as a form of nervous breakdown. In late 21st century, the shortest way for a politician to go straight to an asylum is to provide acts "to help protect the children from explicit books", "prevent the negative affect of violent games" or "give rights to collect private information for national security".