PCBaller World/Byzantium

For other Byzantium info go see PCBaller World

Economy
The Economy of Byzantium is characterized by high growth rates (but not too high) of around 4% per year, with the economy forecasted to have a similar level of growth in this decade under current neoliberal economic policies. It is a mixed-market economy, with most businesses being privatized (with a few nationalized business) the government also engages in Keynesian investment, recognizing the competitive world that it is under, with these investments being subsidies to private corporations to further enhance their technologies, and it has worked greatly, especially through bills like the HITECH Act.

The Byzantine economy is based on tourism, trade, services and manufacturing, with agriculture not really making up that high of an economic percentage due to the nation's geography, however, things like vertical farming and aquaculture have been gaining steam lately and have allowed for agriculture in areas previously deemed unfit for farming. Tourism is especially high in Byzantium, due to its stunning beaches in places like Varna, Thessaloniki and Izmir, but also its natural wonders in the mountains and historic towns. In 20XX, it was reported that 65 Million People visited Byzantium, a number slightly higher than their own population, which says something.

Its manufacturing has become cleaner, with manufacturing becoming more clean energy oriented, with solar, wind, hydro and nuclear being the main power sources in Byzantium. Semiconductor manufacturing has also become an important industry in Byzantium, as semiconductors offer an important leverage in things like computers and phones.

Technology

 * Technology is accelerating at a pretty rapid pace in Byzantium, especially after the passage of the HITECH Act, a 400B$ investment bill which is the biggest investment in research & development the country has ever seen.
 * Byzantine semiconductors manufactured by Broadcom and RS Components have just created a semiconductor chip that is 0.25 nanometers (or 1/4 of a nanometer), this is thanks to recent government subsidies to the Chip manufacturing industry from the HITECH Act. These chips have a density of 3 billion transistors/mm^2, a record amount.
 * Panayotis Services has released OpenPYI 7.5, the latest version of the OpenPYI artificial intelligence, with its "brain" power becoming ever closer to the brain power of a real human being, allowing it to tackle itself in multiple things and not be limited to one program. This is so far Byzantium's closest AI to artificial general intelligence. It operates on ArtGen and ChatY, an image website and word generating website respectively.
 * Laser technology has becoming the dominant military technology in Byzantium as it is seen as a superior way of warfare compared to regular missiles and bullets. Its laser technology isn't perfect, but it isn't rock bottom either. The HITECH Act has also further scaled up Laser technology.
 * Artificial intelligence security cameras are also beginning to be implemented in order to track criminal activity (especially by banned groups such as the Red Turks, Revival Group and Godfathers Of The Night) and to more easily stop any Dacian activity that could spill over into our borders. This is a step forward in surveillance technology and can allow much quicker responses towards crime.
 * After failed attempts at creating a working fusion reactor in the Byzantine Organization for Nuclear Research Reactor (BONRR) in Athens, they have instead tried to use a magnetic cloud. A recent breakthrough has managed to generate 40% more energy than it had to consume, which is an improvement but they say it will take around 20-30 years for Nuclear fusion to truly be scaled up.
 * AEKKEA (a main defense company) has created AI-powered drones that can have over 95% accuracy based on very high AI calculation power that can exceed that of humans in programmed situations like these. AEKKEA has created the RAAB-AI, programmed specifically for military drones. However, these are still in their early stages and RAAB Drones are still under construction. However, it may be sped up due to HITECH Act investments and the threat of Dacia and Poland.

Experimental Technology

 * The Byzantine Space Agency is currently discussing the idea of space tethers, which can allow space ships to go to Mars and the Moon at a much quicker pace than they regularly would. This would make setting up a Martian/Lunar Base much easier and less costly overall. However, this is still in discussion.
 * AI soldiers are being discussed by the Armed Forces as an alternative to regular human soldiers, as they can be mass produced and are harder to kill than a regular human being. Out of all experimental technologies, this along with the first one are the most likely to happen in the short term.
 * Another idea being discussed is that of a quantum computer, however this is considered unlikely, but if it were to happen many problems would be solved very easily because of its massive computing power and some say its the key to AGI. As such, interest in this technology is high, however as said previously, it is currently unlikely. Research is being conducted on it however.
 * The Byzantine Space Agency is also discussing a nuclear powered rocket along with a laser satellite that has the purpose of defending the planet from asteroids. This technology is currently unlikely due to how expensive it is (especially the laser satellite) and how expensive it is to create a nuclear rocket.

Technology Conspiracy Theories

 * It is said that the Byzantine government has access to a "Mind control device" through a microchip and through it a person can follow the rules of the mind controller, regardless of how weird they may be, due to that person essentially controlling their mind. It may or may not be true, but people think that it is true seeing the breakthroughs in AI that have happened and the increasing understanding of the human brain.