Disruptive Dystopia

It was a hot July day, and the coffee machine buzzed excitedly with a fresh batch of wake-up juice. Clarence Pastidoy wiped the sleep from his eyes and yawned. The house was neat, orderly, and clean, just as he had programmed. Aside from coffee, the bacon waffle machine filled the kitchen with wisps of salivating aroma.

Clarence made for his son’s bedroom, walking past a bright pink desk with a colorful monitor pulsing with today’s date, July 17, 2034. He held his thumb on the readout lock, and the door responded with an open WOOSH. Clarence smiled at seeing his son, Petrov, wrapped in his favorite blanket imprinted with the Korean AI band, ME+. Petrov was awake, listening to his morning sequence gently emitting from his LifeGuide wristband. Clarence walked over, careful not to interrupt the early morning instructions. “now breathe deeply three times, holding your breath for two second between each breath.. breathe in.. hold… slowly breathe out..” Clarence smiled at Petrov’s earnest concentration as his little five-year-old chest expelled the air. The LifeGuide wristband lit up and played a snippet from Petrov’s favorite ME+ song, ‘it’s really all about me not you!’. As the music faded, the LifeGuide wristband announced, “well done Petrov!” Petrov’s face lit up, absorbing the artificial praise.

Clarence took his son’s hand and led him toward the bacon waffles and coffee in the kitchen. Clarence glanced at his LifeGuide wristband and was presented with his son’s vitals, health analysis, and a percentage chance of Petrov meeting today’s learning goals.

Petrov messily consumed his breakfast while excitedly explaining his dream about swimming in chocolate. Clarence was only half listening as he thought about his mom and upbringing. Born in 1990, when Clarence was his son’s age, though the internet was around, he had never seen it. He played outside at his mom’s insistence, watched TV, and listened to CDs on his dad’s Sony Discman. Clarence stared at his son’s pink desk, rubbed his eyes, and sighed. He knew the most significant change wasn’t the growth of the internet, social media, or AI but the dramatic change to school. Like almost every kid back then, Clarence rode a bright yellow gasoline-driven human-controlled school bus. He would join hundreds of other kids and sit in classrooms where a human would deliver the lesson.

He was jealous of Petrov’s learning experience. His son never got bored, felt left behind, was never bullied, and seemed to learn much faster than ever. Clarence often told his son his learning was ‘old school,’ suppressing a laugh at the ‘dad joke’ his son didn’t get.

Clarence’s reminiscing was interrupted by a loud, authoritarian voice from the lifeskill station on Petrov’s desk, “Life shaping commences in 5 minutes!” Clarence encouraged his son to finish his breakfast. It wasn’t necessary as Petrov was already heading for his desk, gleefully giggling. Petrov smiled at his dad and blew him a sloppy kiss as waffle crumbs fell about him. Petrov placed the headphones on and excitedly exclaimed, “I am ready for my life shaping!”

The monitor flicked to an aerial shot of New York, diving down and weaving between the Twin Towers. A passenger plane flew low in the distance toward Petrov, who was hovering next to Tower One. The sound of the city was interrupted by the whine of the approaching plane. Petrov was transfixed, his monitored heart rate and sweat secretion guiding the intensity of the scenario playing out before him. Clarence could hear the sound of a gentle female voice in his son’s headphones, “this is Betty Ong. I was a flight attendant on American Airlines Flight 11, the one you can see heading towards the North Tower.” As the plane approached the tower, Betty shared the story of the September 11 terrorist attack. Petrov started to cry, which immediately softened Betty’s voice and changed the imagery on the screen to something less confronting, yet still teaching the lesson on freedom, resistance and the American way.

Clarence stepped away from his son’s lesson and poured himself a coffee. As he sipped the bitter liquid, he thought about the psycho-pedagogical testing Petrov had gone through the prior year, followed by a battery of physiology-logic tests designed to understand his physical stress capacity. Once these were submitted, a life-shaping program was created specific just to Petrov. It included every lesson, every subject for ten years. At 15, Petrov would be tested again, only they would include a vocational aptitude assessment, out of which his college education would be created. Clarence was amazed at the accurate and precise micro personal life shaping plan (MPLS). By the time Petrov was 20, he would be fully trained to work in various professions as an AIA (Artificial Intelligence Adjunct). Eventually, every adult’s goal was to work 15 hours a week, focused on providing support to various AI professional systems. The rest of the time was free to maintain health, relax and be happy.

Clarence knew his son would never understand how slow, challenging, and complicated life was before AI. Petrov experienced peacefulness, joy, and immeasurably lower stress. The biggest issue Petrov would face was system outages caused by the mysterious ‘Keep It Real’ cult, which refused to embrace AI and passionately fought to destroy it.

Clarence shook his head, sipped his coffee, and smiled, thankful at his and his son’s peace and certainty. BANG!! Darkness enveloped Clarence and his son as all the AI systems failed. Clarence drew breath, shocked by the sudden darkness. He called out to Petrov, “Son, are you ok?” Petrov responded with a piercing, desperate scream.

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- An original story by Mark Brown, 2023