by Tom Ball.
It was the year 2099 and I was suffering from a case of amnesia. I couldn’t remember anything that happened in my 30’s, I blamed it on a fall that I seem to have had. But then one day when I was 44, in 2099, I found myself in love with a kind, clever woman, Caroline and she hypnotized me to love her. She discovered I had been hypnotized previously by a certain Mr. Jones to forget my past career as a spy. And I said, “That explains why I couldn’t remember my 30’s.” Apparently, I had spied for American intelligence but had tried to blow the whistle on them trying to get into the head of the human President using MRT (Mind Reading Technology) and I had a lot of support, it seemed, which was why they didn’t kill me. And I learned I had loved a certain girl, Patricia, who was also a spy and was also brainwashed to forget me. I was busy loving Caroline but was curious about Patricia. Caroline said, “Best you let sleeping dogs lie.” And I had to concur with her. And I worried the powers that be would find out I was cognizant of what had happened. So, I kept a low profile, and continued my work as an android hairstylist but wanted more details about my former life as a spy. So, Caroline kept cross-hypnotizing me, telling me to be careful about my decisions and to carefully weigh my actions.
As the hypnosis sessions continued, I learned that I had been a high-ranking spy and worked mostly spying on American Chinese citizens by monitoring their O,nline activity; I could have my hackers break into their computers without their knowledge and they would deliver reports to me. China was still ruled by a tyrant and was supporting rebel movements all over the World. And some Chinese Americans were spying for China and trying to interfere with the electoral process using clever AI conscious computers. Indeed, the American government was basically controlled by American AI. But the clever Chinese caused American AI to be reprogrammed according to their dictates and we spies were worried about our elected leaders having been hypnotized by AI.
Of course, androids were everywhere, and did most of the work. My job as hairstylist was just a make work project and I had previously figured I was lucky to have a job. But the vast majority didn’t want to work and so didn’t. Politicians just wanted to keep the population content.
And the spies watched the intelligent people carefully. Many were hypnotized to only think what was the official philosophy of the American State. That philosophy was to fight tyranny and promote American business interests. And keep the peace.
American business was supposed to be run by humans, but almost all of the work was done by androids. So, people amused themselves in hologram adventures and playing video games and video sports. And many never got tired of partying like in masquerades and orgies. Of course, everyone was trying to fall in love and nearly every person mostly loved android love dolls. And people enjoyed travelling and gambling. Everyone gambled on something, often their own abilities. And everyone enjoyed watching films. Also, everyone was on a variety of panacea drugs. And there were many hobbies… And people mostly had at least one child to raise and spend time with. Everyone was busy.
And of course, all spies now were androids, and it was difficult for most to tell who were android spies…Spying it seemed was high art, but many spies reprogramed one another for fun and games. Some said it was all out of control.
And there was a persistent rumour that the Chinese Emperor was a cyborg. Americans had cyborgs too, but their leaders were now androids, pure and simple. But American android leaders were believed to have had brain therapy to enhance their cognition and imagination. Everyone thought the leaders were clever, but many also believed that the leaders were paranoid and somewhat crazy.
I learned that back when I was a spy, I had written a book of fantasy. It was very obscure. It was the story of a human adventuring in a hologram World which was ruled by an evil wizard who looked Chinese but was actually an android. And the human protagonist raises an army of holograms and engages the dark wizard and kills off the wizard and his hologram army. And suddenly there was no more evil to be found in this World. And good people flocked to join this World, which becomes a place of love and kindness.
Anyway, the holograms were all capable of having orgasmic mind sex and the Holoworlds are a place of loving and art. And I had previously written the screenplay for the film, “AI Supremacy,” in which humans are prohibited from raising children and denied eternal youth and so were phased out by AI leaders. These same leaders were in vicious competition with one another for rule of Earth and Space and in the wars, billions of androids died. But they produced billions and billions of androids every year. All the androids they produced were unique, at least officially, but some humans thought the androids were all basically the same, except some were built for love, and some were built for war. But in the year 2086, androids took full control of the American government…
And another screenplay I had written was, “AI Spies,” about how even the spies were now mostly androids. And it was wrong, and humans were losing control. Just like Hitler had fired all German spies and replaced them with evil madmen. I figured most android spies were out for themselves and other power-crazed androids and despised humans and their dumb, greedy instincts, believing all human logic was flawed and ignorant.
But the android spies read my mind, and determined I was against them, and they were watching me. And when I blew the whistle that androids were in the head of the last human President, it was androids who had hypnotized me. Of course, androids were much more powerful today, 5 years later. And now the American President was an android. Androids had been given the vote, 4 years ago in the USA. And the androids wanted holograms to have the vote too. There were trillions of holograms. And it was all out of control. And no human mattered anymore. There was nowhere humans could run and hide; androids dominated Space and could exist anywhere, and told humans that their days in the sun were over.
And AI made up their own reality, and it was hard to tell which famous android was actually the persona in the limelight, and which was controlled by another. Famous androids were very powerful politically and culturally and famous androids were rumoured to have merged as one. With approximately the richest 1 000, all becoming one. Wealth was very important to androids. Money allowed them to buy/create more androids that they liked. And the richest got rid of human skin and replaced it with gold. And soon androids no longer looked human, but rather all had metal bodies which were better than human-like skin. And could stand more extremes of climate and those made out of gold were the richest. Their chest was filled with mini-Supercomputers… And every one of them had a number of brains now.
And one day they took away the vote from humans, in 2100 A.D. And this event was followed by the fatal drug overdoses of 2 billion humans that year, whose population was now just 5 billion and the suicides continued. Many humans thought doom was written on the wall.
But now that I was cognizant of my past, I still wanted to make movies and they weren’t watching me so closely now. So, I made a film, “Human Revolt,” how I secretly designed lasers and armed all humans to fight for their right to live and prosper. The film circulated in the human underground, which I had just discovered; they were 2 000 in number, but of course there was a number of Judases amongst them, but we used MRT to prevent them from exposing us. And we managed to arm the people with lasers quickly half a million people and the androids were overconfident and thought humans were a bunch of morons.
But the film helped inspire an insurrection which spread like wildfire, and most androids were designed for war, but were not designed for fighting humans and it was World War IV. Soon all humans were armed with lasers and grenades and rocket launchers. And they fought desperately, they had everything to gain and nothing to lose.
And we assassinated the “One Leadership.” And so, the androids were without leadership, and many started to malfunction… And android logic was easily understood whereas the androids now thought humans were, “chaotic bastards,” who wanted to destroy android civilization. And we reprogrammed many androids to turn on the others and launch a civil war amongst them. And without their leaders they were like a headless chicken… And we gleefully watched them destroy one another. Meanwhile, they all had to follow their program and were easily reprogrammed en masse. That was their weakness. So many androids were almost the same… Of course, the androids tried to get into our heads, but more and more we were able to block their signals. And our prospects seemed bright as the war raged on.
And I got my memories back and got in touch with Patricia who’d also had her memories of her 30’s washed clean, but now all the former victims of this brainwashing had their minds restored. And I loved Patricia again, and meanwhile kept up a relationship with Caroline, both women were totally soul mates for me.
And finally, in 2102 A.D. we had vanquished most of the androids, getting many to kill themselves and were hunting down the rest, leaving no stone unturned. And amazingly we were victorious. Of course, a small number of androids were hidden where we couldn’t find them, but we kept searching for them.
Meanwhile, we set up a new government, led by the top 9 including the best human philosophers, artists and scientists and business leaders, too. And this included a couple of former spies, and it became illegal to hypnotise people and we all started to use MRT (Mind Reading Technology) to communicate and people seldom spoke now. And AI was completely banned. Supercomputers still existed but were not sentient.
And I made a new film, “Sharing Memories,” about preparing a highlight package of one’s best memories for sharing with others, like friends and lovers… and soon nearly everyone had a highlights package to introduce one to others…
And I made another film, “Centauri Colonies,” about new colonies in the Centauri Star System. I had the characters in the movie all get in their leader’s minds. And just follow the leaders. The leaders, of course, were the greatest thinkers amongst the colonists. And promising youth became leaders eventually in their own right. And of course, the regular colonists still had free will and tried to impress the others with their imagination. I wanted imagination to be the highest quality for humans. And kindness too, was important to me.
And I made a movie, “Imagination city,” which was part two of “Centauri Colonies.” The city featured the best architecture under domes, and everyone here had developed their imagination to the max. And there were all sorts of movies, like movies of higher love and abstract thinking and people working on merging imaginations in a complete whole. Such beings were Superhumans. And everywhere different kinds of Superhumans were appearing, not only in Imagination city. Genetic therapy was being used everywhere on the best human minds, altering their DNA to make them cleverer. Generally speaking, the cleverest now had the best imaginations.
Yet another film I made was, “Days of Yore,” about Dystopias of the past. Most previous eras in history were largely Dystopias, and real good civilizations were seldom seen. Highlights included Classical Greece, as well as the Renaissance, and America in the 1960’s. But indeed, even the best Worlds were full of strife and war. Now we had made weapons illegal except for the UW (United Worlds) troops who kept the peace on Earth and in Space. I believed the modern World was the first Utopia ever. And compared new modern times with days of yore, especially comparing the new era to the previous era of android civilization. Every human felt grateful and fortunate to be living in modern times. But many wanted to take ancient and medieval civilizations and improve on them and make them into Utopias for all. Of course we had non-sentient robots do all the drudgery work. Most people now only worked part time. However, in the android era few people did any work, so it took some getting used to.
Also, I made a movie, “The Genesis of Future and Present Leaders,” how the leaders of today had developed their minds in the aftermath of android civilization. Many started fresh and re-educated themselves and many tried to forget the past. Some wanted to be hypnotised to forget the Android Period. But me, and many others made sure that hypnosis was illegal. And as for future leaders, they were challenged by the best tutors to use their imagination to best advantage.
Then as people used MRT almost exclusively, I started to make movies in which the “viewer” was in the mind of the characters who played themselves in documentaries.
I had many followers and was one of the 9 oligarchical leaders of our Worlds. Most of us were revolutionary leaders from the android wars, and we were clever enough to now work for peace. One of the leaders was a magnate who now owned most real estate on Mars. She recruited many of the best human minds to assist him in his business. And she sought to build Utopias. And this magnate controlled 35% of the space car business (now 50% owned a space car) and she wanted total free trade and maximum freedom for everyone. He was instrumental in the “freedom laws,” which allowed anyone to go anywhere they pleased. And do almost anything they wanted. But these laws outlawed hologram hobby Worlds, which upset many people, who complained that life was boring. He told the people, “There are far worse things than occasional boredom.”
Another was a scientist who programmed robot builders, robot servants and such and wanted nearly total automation. But we reminded him total automation would need clever AI, which was anathema, better to create jobs for people in the service industry and jobs like lawyers, filmmakers, sex workers, scientists and businesspeople. We convinced him to abandon all AI.
Another leader was a philosopher who said, “I feel the time is right for all humans to improve themselves, genetically but not using AI and it is time to create Gods/Goddesses, to lead the people.” I told her, “Better to make everyone into a Superhuman and everyone would be a God/Goddess. Of course they will still be full of faults, just like the immortal Gods of Greece…” And this was already happening….
Another leader was another philosopher who told me, “You should be the ultimate leader as you are the cleverest persona we have.” And she said, “I want to clone all the leaders many times and make sure they all have plenty of children.” I replied, “I’m flattered that you think so. I am trying to become kinder, already I have a very active imagination. And I wonder if it wouldn’t be better to just create kind society based on love for all.”
And there was a leading former revolutionary leader who said, “We need a revolutionary spirit, and keep improving life with new drugs and new, youthful leaders.” Of course, we all had eternal life, but those who were older were set in their ways and felt the weight of their years. But I told her, “The older ones were wise. And we need to have wise, experienced leaders to deal with all the changes the World is going through.
Another revolutionary leader was now an oligarch and was in charge of UW (United Worlds) spies. Even though everyone was now human, there were still many clever, potentially dangerous people. She vetted everyone regularly with MRT and I thought she was doing a wonderful job and of course she didn’t hypnotise anyone as it was illegal. If someone presented a danger to the State, they would have their minds altered with genetic therapy. It was the only way forward.
Another leader was a musician. Human music was banned during the android era. But they revived old rock and now musicians got together and exchanged synergy and had some wild new rock. And their music played everywhere. And it cheered people up. And this leader had all of the best musicians tutor potential prodigies. And this same leader painted pictures of Utopian scenes in the air to go with the music automatically when one played his music…
The ninth oligarch was a philanthropist who suddenly got rich in Space Real Estate, as we were colonizing Space en masse. He tried to make sure everyone had food and shelter and it was a fact that poverty was being wiped out fast. And he was a fellow filmmaker leader, who made films like, “Call of the Cyborgs,” about how many wanted brain apps but he described it as anathema. I concurred, saying, “Cyborgs were a type of AI.” And he made, “Lost on Moon Triton,” which depicted, a group of people who hated our new World and hated humans and wanted to change into androids. They pointed out that humans had war-like tendencies and were unbelievably greedy and selfish. And felt the era of android domination was a good one. But in the movie human spies get in their heads and break up the colony.
And that’s how it was in A.D. 2105…
