Timeline of Eclipse Phase

[robot]

On the recent Eclipse Phase: Duality, there was a discussion about when "The Fall" in Eclipse Phase takes place. From the book:

BF 60+
• Crisis grips the globe in the form of drastic climate changes, energy shortages, and geopolitical instability.
• Initial space expansion creates stations at the Lagrange Points, Luna, and Mars, with robotic exploration of the entire system.
• Construction begins on a space elevator.
• Medical advances improve health and organ repair. The rich pursue genefixing and transgenic pets.
• Computer intelligence capabilities equal and exceed that of the human brain. True AI not yet developed.
• Robotics become widespread and start to replace/invalidate many jobs.
• Modern nations expand their highspeed wireless networks.

To me, this seems like the late 21st century, which would put the fall at the latest 2200 AD, but seemingly closer to 2150 AD. What do you all think?

[unitomega]

I mentioned this in the comments for Duality 01, but based on the position of bodies in the Solar System and other things, people have narrowed the time of Eclipse Phase to between 2150-2190. Bit of a big window, but matches your guess pretty well.

[RadioactiveBeer]

I've heard all the theories about when EP takes place, which I think kind of misses the point of the BF/AF dating system but whatever. Honestly, I kind of prefer EP being a bit further along than 2190.  One of the things that's kind of cool about the setting is that it's in this transitional phase between post-cyberpunk and The Culture, so it could be a pretty long time after the 21st century - or with accelerated technological development, it could be really soon. I think it's up to your individual tastes, but I definitely fall in the "couple extra centuries" camp.

[kindalas]

I think the key factor in determining the year of Eclipse Phase is that Uranus' South pole is experiencing it's summer.

You can extrapolate from there.

Also Gatecrashing makes reference to a recovered Ego of someone who was born in the 1980s.

Which is why the 2150-90 is the current guess.

[crawlkill]

what the hell, extrapolating from celestial bodies' positions is brilliant. and you know that the Transhuman guys would actually have paid attention to that detail, too.

[Mckma]

Yeah I think that (given what I have seen on how carefully they have crafted their lore) they probably have an "official" time where they based everything from.  BUT, the brilliance is not in just doing that but also introducing the BF/AF so that it doesn't really matter to those who want it to be more timeless.

Plus it does make some sense that you would redefine your calendar off of that point, though I would have guessed that they might have done some more redefinition than just the 0 point (say something like Star Trek's star date).