Worldbuilding Collaboration #1

We have outlined the parameters of a future world as a catalyst to develop creative works. Ultimately, all Reactors projects based on The Worldbuilding Collaboration #1 can be presented as a collection, a bridge to collaboration.

2059 USA

# Brain Chip Act of 2028 – People convicted of crimes receive a brain chip and a retinal camera to monitor their behavior. This is required by law. Their data can be monitored, stored, harvested, or sold. Only poorer law-abiding citizens agree to receive brain chips/retinal cameras as they get paid to do so by marketing firms. This increases the wealth gap as only poorer people and ex-cons are subject to focused marketing at this level. There are confirmed cases of brain chips being hacked.

# Social media has grown even more out of control. In this post 6/7 era, a high percentage of people like to imitate what they see online in real time. There are scores of live feeds that people follow and imitate. (At least 50 percent of the population is somehow involved.) (This might be considered the flash-mobbing of society.) Traditional media is almost gone.

# There was never an apocalypse. A series of revolutionary actions, but society has not fallen.

# Human cloning was just legalized in 2055, so there are many children with identical DNA to beloved historical figures and family of the wealthy. 4-year-old King Tut and 5-year-old Karl Marx are best friends in a pre-school in Cleveland.

# Hip hop has entered the prestige/academic class of classical and jazz.  It plays in public spaces the way Muzak did in the 70s and 80s. Degrees are offered in hip hop history and performance at most universities and standard repertoire hip hop is performed in opera

houses and concert halls to wealthy connoisseurs. (We are absolutely on this path already.)

# Decentralized Church – Traditional organized religions have fallen out of favor after a series of viral social media mini-documentaries expose the dark side of each major religion (social media is more powerful than any tradition.)  They still exist but have become ineffectual. Young people, interested mostly in tech, and trendy solutions to their problems drift towards ChurchTv.

# ChurchTv is a religion that is an AI analysis of the primary human traits most needed under current social conditions. The AI, built upon the most humanist aspects of traditional religions, is largely unmonitored by programmers. There is no foundational text, only an AI that assesses which traits are most needed for a healthy society.  High Clerics are chosen through an analysis of their brain chips. Whichever person fits the current profile of the church best becomes the cleric.  The cleric does not deliver sermons. They are, however, watched via live video feed 24/7.  The church revolves around social media talking heads interpreting the actions and words of the cleric, and the masses imitating the cleric.

# Vertical farming and the end of suburban sprawl have given hope for the environment. Controlled vertical farming allows people in every urban center to have access to any veg, fruit, grain they desire.

# Combustion engines are gone. All vehicles are electric. E-bikes and E-Surreys (4-person bike) have taken over as most people in the U.S. live in urban centers.

# Suburbanites were offered cash settlements in the early 2030s to move into the city allowing nature to reclaim subdivisions.  Most people appreciate the expansion of nature preserves, but there is push back from residents unwilling to take the settlement. 95% of suburbanites accepted cash for their homes. 

# Anti-tech movements begin to prioritize anything claimed by tech. Acoustic music is booming as a mode of resistance.  Poetry readings, live theater, in-person lectures and discussion groups are embraced by anti-tech.

# Many of the anti-tech are “Robo-Rejects” who were replaced by automation and have been unable to find work.

# There is no grand plan to redistribute wealth as automation spreads.