I cast my mind back to the year when it all started falling apart. 2035 - The age of AI was well and truly entrenched and all the dystopian future scenarios that the pundits were talking about for the last ten years were rolling out with exponential speed.
Coming across Sam's journal is what triggered this flashback. Sam had initially survived two rounds of layoffs at the Port Authority, but was now unemployed for the last five years. Survived. That word keeps coming up when I think about that period. Like it was something to overcome rather than something that simply happened as the normal course of life events.
I kept reading.
SAM’S JOURNAL: March 14, 2035
5:47 AM - Waking
The alarm on my phone doesn’t go off
anymore because I stopped paying for the premium tier. Instead, the light from
the east-facing window of my allocated apartment gradually pulls me from sleep.
The morning is grey and soft, and I lie there for a moment, noticing the familiar
pain in my lower back. Ten years of irregular sleep and stress have that effect.
I’m 45 years old and I’ve been unemployed for five years. That’s strange to write, even after all this time. The first few years of job losses hit others harder, I thought.
My apartment in the Westbrook District is
340 square feet. It’s clean because I maintain it obsessively, as it is one of the few
things I can control. The synthetic wood furniture came with the unit. The
paint is institutional beige. Two windows. One small kitchenette. A bathroom
with a shower but no tub. The government-issued mattress is reasonably firm.
I get up.
6:15 AM - Morning Routine
The shower is lukewarm, not by
accident, but by design. The water is metered. I get 8 liters per day for
bathing and drinking combined. It’s enough if you’re careful. The government’s
AI water management system calculates precisely how much the island’s desalination
plants can sustain. Every resident knows their allocation. Mine is displayed on
the smart meter in the kitchen.
I shower every other day now. Today is a
shower day.
The water pressure is weak. I remember
showers from the before times - 2020s, early 2030s - where you could let the water
run hot and heavy. Now even the wealthier residents have begun to accept
constraints. There’s nowhere to go. This is an island nation.
I shave with a razor I’ve kept for three
years. The blades are getting dull. I’ve thought about ordering new ones, but
they cost 12 credits, and I want to save my monthly allotment. I dry myself on
a thin towel that has been patched twice.
My medication is waiting on the bathroom
shelf - a small blue pill and a larger white one. I took them yesterday too. The
smaller blue one is for blood pressure. The white one is for anxiety. Both are
covered by the Basic Health Protocol, maintained by the island’s Health
Ministry AI. Anything beyond basic care requires credits, which I don’t have
extra of.
6:50 AM - Breakfast in a Quiet Apartment
I make tea with water from the kettle and eat two pieces of bread
with a thin spread of the subsidized margarine. The bread is dense. It’s made
from the island’s agricultural AI system’s optimized grain blend. It’s not
unpleasant. I’ve stopped expecting taste to be a priority in food. Nutrition
per credit per calorie is the equation. The system has optimized it well.
I look out the window while eating. Westbrook is quieter now than it
was five years ago. Not empty. There are people around, but there’s a rhythm of
absence that wasn’t there before. The commercial street level on the east side
used to bustle with small shops. A coffee place, a clothing boutique, a
bookstore. Two of those are now boarded up. The coffee place is still there,
but it’s a franchise now, run by the city council’s Tourism and Service Bureau.
It’s cheaper but tastes like it was designed by an algorithm.
Which it was.
I finish my tea and rinse the cup carefully. I have six cups in my
small kitchen, and I’ve broken three in a decade. Every replacement is a credit
I didn’t want to spend.
7:30 AM - The News Briefing
I sit on my small couch, a donation
from a charity redistribution center, and pull up the daily briefing on my
allocated tablet. It’s 7-inch screen, about 6 years old. The government
replaced all phones and tablets on a strict rotation in 2032 because the previous
technology had become too fragmented for the central government’s efficiency
protocols. Mine still works fine, though the battery dies faster than it used
to.
The Island Daily Brief is administered by
the Department of Information Systems. It’s generated largely by AI, with human
editors to ensure compliance with public health and morale guidelines. I don’t
know where the truth ends and the curation begins anymore.
HEADLINES:
AI Manufacturing Sector Reports 22%
Productivity Increase The agricultural and clothing
production facilities have integrated newest optimization protocols. Output now
sufficient for island population with only 180 workers across all facilities,
down from 1,240 five years ago. Surplus production being stockpiled for
potential export revenue.
City Council Approves Expansion of AI
Healthcare Diagnostics Dr. Sarah Chen,
Director of Medical Services, announced integration of third-generation
diagnostic AI into all primary care. Reduces wait time for initial assessment
from 8 weeks to 2 weeks. Estimated 40 positions eliminated from radiology and
phlebotomy departments.
Minor Civil Unrest in South District - Handled Effectively “A small gathering of residents
expressing concern about UBS payment schedules was peacefully dispersed
yesterday evening. City security protocols managed the situation without
incident.”
I click for more details. The article
offers none. There were three paragraphs of explanation in the past. Now
there’s a sentence, a link to city council’s page, and a poll asking “Do you
feel safe in your district?” with options: Very Safe, Safe, Neutral, Unsafe,
Very Unsafe.
I click “Neutral” because it feels
truest.
UBS Payment Processed Successfully “Your Universal Basic Stipend for March has been deposited. Current
Balance: 184 credits.”
I do the math in my head. 184 credits for
the month. That’s about 6 credits per day. Rent and utilities are covered by
the housing allocation. Food is subsidized at the core level - bread, grain,
protein substitute, standard vegetables. 6 credits for everything else.
Medicine is mostly covered, but not all supplements. Transportation is free on
the buses and the tram system. Clothing from the redistribution center is very
cheap. But if I need anything -a new pair of shoes, which I will before summer,
replacement kitchen items, a book, a haircut - it comes from these credits.
Last month I had 47 credits left over at
the end. I’ve been saving. I have 1,200 credits in my savings account earning
0.1% interest annually. It’s enough to live for maybe 200 days if something
happened to my housing allocation.
;;;;;
I could not continue reading. Sam's story was just one of the millions of others in similar situations. The AI fuelled post-work world had been tough to navigate in the transition era. Coming back to today, in 2050, I am grateful for having received the right breaks to be able to enjoy today's successes in the Xanonet era. One stark difference is that there are no doomsday scenarios with Xanonet, like they were being predicted in the AI era. I guess we all evolved to realize the diverse and stratified reality of co-existence as the way forward for man and machine.
