Old Earth is a term used by various theorists, philosophers, and fiction writers to describe the planet Earth before the advent of Cyber Nations and de facto Planet Bob. There are various theories, myths, legends, and thoughts about Old Earth. The following are some of the many views on the subject.
About Old Earth[]
Real Life[]
Many people use the term Real Life as synonymous with Old Earth. Those who do so often refer to Cyber Nations as a "game"; nothing more than a simple distraction from the "reality" of Old Earth. This line of thought is held by mostly pessimists and fatalists who claim that Real Life is an ultimate reality where all people, animals, jobs, galaxies, houses, and very small rocks actually exist.
The concept of Real life is inherently difficult to prove, due to it being a conceptually abstract notion, and to its often subjective nature. The empirically falsifiable evidence remains to be discovered, however the bulk of the evidence supporting Real Life is not of empirical basis; rather it originates from philosophical postulations.
The first piece of evidence, known as Fandellos' Punctuated Real Life centers around the question "Those within Cybernations CAN'T be declaring war, sending aid, buying infrastructure, buying soldiers etc ALL the time." This question was first notably posed by Fandellos, a prominant Planet Bob philosopher and leader. He then went on to further this theory by expanding the question into a logical format, as is shown below:
1: Everything that can be done on Planet Bob can be done in a short time (owing to the somewhat odd time frame on Planet Bob)
2: Since everything can be done in a short time, time must be left over.
3: Since time is left over, there must be time between each period of conducting all business on Planet Bob.
4: Entities do not cease existing sporadically only to exist again some time later, thus they must continue existing until they die, which is a permanent state (see Zero Infrastructure).
5: Since entities must continue existing until they die, they must experience the "free" time between conducting business on Planet Bob.
6: This period of free time is Real Life.
Other theories have been formed from this idea, notably the theory that "Entities DO cease to exist sporadically and then begin to exist again when business needs to be conducted on Planet Bob again", in direct contradiction of argument number 4 in Fandellos' Punctuated Real Life theory.
Alternate Universe[]
Similar to the Real Life theory is the Alternate Universe theory. This theory hypothesizes that there is a different reality or parallel universe. This seems to be a majority view within the academic community of theorists and philosophers.
There are two major schools of thought in the Alternate Universe Theory. The first one recognizes the possibility of such a dimension, but that there is no way to access the dimension. The second maintains that the dimension is real, and that one can move in between these two (or more) possibilities. According to theorists and philosophers, the second camp is the more popular of the two.
The term 'Old Earth' has also been applied to NationStates.
Fiction[]
A small but very vocal minority vehemently deny that Old Earth actually exists and is nothing more than a fairy tale concocted by fundamentalists to justify the existence of a Supreme Being. This minority cites a complete lack of scientific evidence of Old Earth, claiming that it is only mentioned within certain religious texts.
Old Earth Religion[]
There are a number of controversies regarding religion on the Cyber Nations universe. As a result, a number of nations -- mostly those who follow the Accessible Alternate Universe theory -- have chosen to recognize that the only true religions are the ones of Old Earth.
Old Earth Roman Catholicism[]
The greatest impact of this view affects the various Antipope figures within Cyber Nations. Those who reject these popes often refer to the current pope of Old Earth, Benedict XVI. Supporters of the Cyber Nations Antipopes often call these particular believers Old Earth Catholics.