EARTH—PLANETWIDEOver the last few years, with the availability of periodic backups and rejuvenation, Earth’s population rate of growth had gradually declined. At the time of the Asterian invasion, the population had reached nearly ten billion. Since then, it had declined to just over eight billion. Except in relatively undeveloped areas, births were in steep decline, and deaths were becoming singular events occasioned by those who, for one reason or another, chose not to have a backup, or who chose death for some other reason.
Advertising on Earth fell into two categories, public ads and personal ads. Public ads addressed the general public. They appeared on the sides of large buildings, embedded in cloud formations, on the sides of airships, towed by drones, and on electronic billboards
