I think much of the Traveller Zeerust/Schizo Tech is intentional. I have heard before that not having nanobots is, for example, in order to preserve the feel of the setting. Fallout explained the lack of small computers by the people never having invented transistors in that timeline, everything being still based on cathode ray tubes.

>(1) Are some of the gravcars, such as taxis, self-driving in your Traveller universe.

Yes. Looked upon with suspicion in societies influenced by Imperial culture, typically banned. Doubly so in the Vilani culture sphere.

>(2) What about starships?

Sure. Capable of getting you from place to place, if nothing particularly unexpected happens, but a human pilot would almost certainly be a better choice. Actually sapient AIs - who could be superior - not implemented yet. And anything regarded as having weapon potential, such as a megaton of relativistically-moving titanium steel, facing legal restrictions from being fully autonomous.

On 10 July 2016 at 02:15, Jim Vassilakos <xxxxxx@gmail.com> wrote:

More on the topic of Automation in Traveller:

Here’s another problem I have with Traveller, though YMMV. But I imagine we can mostly agree that if a ship is in orbit around planet X, and planet Y is the same star system and has a known orbit and known physical characteristics, and the ship has the necessary fuel to get there, etc… etc…, that getting from the orbit of planet X to the orbit of planet Y ought to be as simple as asking the computer to plot a course and then hitting the “engage” button, or whatever is required in order to tell the computer, “Yes, do that and let me know when it’s done.”

In other words, it ought not to require the assistance of a sophont with given level of piloting and navigation to achieve such a maneuver. Of course, this sentiment comes from someone who has seen computers advance from floppies (the five-and-a-quarter inch ones that were actually floppy) all the way to today.

I mean, in Traveller, I think you have to run under the assumption that computers are basically all boat-anchor sized antiques with big cassette-tape drives for storage. Otherwise, you end up with a situation where computers can do a lot of stuff that’s normally reserved for humans.

Piloting starships is just one example. Soon, I think, cars will be driving themselves, and then there will be young people who have never driven a vehicle, who have only been driven around by vehicles. And yet we’re still operating in this mindset of, “Yes, of course, human drivers are necessary. Computers can’t automatically steer a spaceship.”

A pair of questions for you all (or anyone who cares to answer): (1) Are some of the gravcars, such as taxis, self-driving in your Traveller universe. (2) What about starships?

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