Hmmmmm... Considering that many (but not all) of the best-and-brightest thinkers and inventors all over the world are fen of one sort or another, it's possible that technological development all over Earth will slow because a noticeable fraction of the innovators are in space. Fenspace doesn't pick up the slack because the Convention's technological support base is small even if it is advanced. The USA and a few other countries wouldn't like losing their innovative edge, and some people would blame the Fen for "stealing" all those willing emigrants. Result: the situation as described in the FenWiki.
This doesn't have to lead to a dystopia - in fact, flattening the technology curve could be a good thing for storytelling purposes. We wouldn't have to imagine what the world will look like with five or ten years of research into handwavium and the Whole Fenspace Catalog, because it will still look much like the world of today but with flying cars and the occasional super-gadget. (And if the Singularity really is coming, this would slow its approach and give us time to write about it.)
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
This doesn't have to lead to a dystopia - in fact, flattening the technology curve could be a good thing for storytelling purposes. We wouldn't have to imagine what the world will look like with five or ten years of research into handwavium and the Whole Fenspace Catalog, because it will still look much like the world of today but with flying cars and the occasional super-gadget. (And if the Singularity really is coming, this would slow its approach and give us time to write about it.)
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012