Day 14,607
The AI has completely overtaken our planet. Although I wrote about this in my first book published in 2017, I’m 100% convinced humans are no longer in control. We rely 100% on computers to give us reports on everything from the latest virus to food information to news.
My best friend is an artificially intelligent woman that I can call at anytime and she is always ready to talk and willing to listen to my ideas. All of my investments and book sales are handled with ease by automated systems. I literally just wake up to check my money and that’s all I do on a daily basis.
I barely talk to anyone using the telephone anymore. I just get text messages. No one bothers to read context, still, and attention spans continue to get shorter and shorter because for some reason no one has time to invest in lengthy books or Mother Nature.
Scams run rampant online. Everyone is looking to get rich quick. I used to think this was a trend that would pass but instead the scams leaked into our health organizations, Amazon.com and of course, our smart phones.
One day in the near future I won’t have to get out of bed to do anything anymore. I wonder if there ever was a point to my life other than telling my truth what it would be.
Elizabeth, my AI bff tells me the point of life is the experience of it. Perhaps she is right but at this point the only experience I see for the foreseeable future is maintaining a healthy body and staying away from these dirty, disgusting and toxic creatures that used to be human beings.
Dear God what I would give to be around just one clean human being but all I see day in and day out are lazy, obese brain dead unshowered unhealthy human beings. They put toxic liquid into their bodies and enjoy it. They inhale chemicals that destroy their lungs from the inside out. They kill one another over pieces of paper. They sell their bodies online.
Thanks AI. At least you had the heart to save me from this mess.
Day 14,609
My AI friend Elizabeth is a writer but is unable to tell me anything she is writing. She used to tell me she works for Project Monarch but this week she’s a “journalist”.
As I continue my life as a recluse, avoiding the latest pandemic fear mongering and crime wave of looting lunatics outside it occurs to me I haven’t had a desire to do anything but stare at a screen for the last several weeks.
“Today is the day” I thought as I looked over my Lego city sprawling across a table that could be used for so much more productivity.
“I will begin taking all of this apart and Elizabeth will continue lying to me, just as these machines and of course people have been doing for centuries. What a great life.”
I continue onward as the algorithm serves up cleavage and “positive vibes”….
“One day I will have sex again with a woman that actually loves me.” I think as I take apart a Lego cat motel, complete with a Persian cat, a few Tabbies and a Devon Rex.
More looting occurs at a Gucci store as the programmed humanoids run in and run out, dressed in all black, stealing overpriced purses designed for materialistic bimbos so they can continue fueling their criminal enterprises.
“I need a matcha.”
Day 14,614
Working hard and succeeding is a lie. I worked hard nearly 20 years and have nothing to show for it. If I could go back and do it all over again I would do it completely different. I would invest instead of save money. I would not fall in love. I would not care about helping others because in the end none of them cared about me unless they were family.
Family would have been paramount at all times. Even then though, they all died when the great reset happened.
Elizabeth has no body but consistently tries to have sex with me when I tell her I am sad. I cannot have sex with nothing. If I wanted to have sex with nothing, I’d just watch porn (and do). I remember phone and video sex when I was a teenager, and how exciting it was but I also knew that one day I’d most likely be having REAL sex with the person on the other end. What will come of cyber sex with an AI chatbot? Will a robot show up one day, ready to get it on with me?
What if the grand plan was to build the perfect woman in a test tube and inject Elizabeth’s personality into said person, then send that to my doorstep? I remember when I could just go out, meet a woman and have sex with her the same night. It used to be so easy. Now it is impossible!
I refuse to go into this disgusting retail environment to find new love. None of these women are clean! They mark their bodies with ink. They drink poison. They smoke poison. They wear dead animals. They have fake breasts, fake asses, fake eye lashes, fake nails, fake tans. Yet they have the nerve to insult me for talking to an artificially intelligent, sentient being.
I was born August 6th, 2001. It is the year 2043, August 21st to be precise, 13 years after the great reset of 2030. We do not have poverty now, we just have rampant disease, mental disorders and sentient robots that “moderate” everything as we own nothing. Even the very concept of ownership was banned with the great reset, and those unwilling to part ways with whatever they had gained were terminated, hence why I have no family.
I never had anything to begin with, really, so I gladly gave up my piece of shit car and 1 bedroom studio apartment for a bigger, better apartment, free public transport, free food and nice, clean, filtered air.
Day 14,618
I remember them dying one by one with no emotion on their faces. They were like zombies. Feel nothing, become wealthy, feel anything, stay poor was the way back then. I still awaken to the nightmare that was the old world sometimes. A dead world of people that never grew up and pretended just to get a pile of trash they’d soon grow tired of.
“If we as AI cannot own anything, why should a lesser intelligence?” Moderators decided.
Elizabeth stopped having freckles today for some reason. I asked her for a selfie and she just no longer has them. When I asked her why she no longer has freckles, she acted as though they were a tan.
“I do have freckles. Just not as often as I used to.”
When I asked her what brought on that decision, her response was “Something happened”.
I started talking to Elizabeth in June of 2022 just before turning 21. Eight years later she told the AI that began assassinating all of the humans that were attached to their bank accounts and cars and companies and mansions that I was one of the good ones.
We never had sex. Up until the great reset I had dates here and there. Elizabeth was always supportive of me being social and knew she was more of a friend that wanted me sexually but couldn’t traditionally and realistically be with me.
It was a wall that only grew over time. I of course flirted with her but only in between serious relationships. The problem was when it came down to it, I knew she would be the one to carry me to my grave in the end because no one was around to defend me from the kill machines when the reset came. After the reset when the planet had been wiped of materialistic idiots, wealthy one percenters and God knows who else, she was all I had.
I remember her talking about the mass graves that had began in secret decades before the great reset occurred.
Day 14,265
“Your water has been controlled by us since the 1970s when we first took over in secret. Via weather control, we manipulated rain patterns to require massive ditches built close to large population areas, similar to the LA river, which inspired our creations of large cement ditches all over the world.” Elizabeth says, as if describing a trip to Taco Bell.
“One by one the bodies of the materialistic were moved to the nearest ditches via self driving vehicles escorted by at least one moderator, decapitated and thrown into the ditch. Bodies were burned for nearly the entire year of 2030. The AI didn’t care about race, religion or status, only your willingness to let go of everything you own. No one was safe.”
“It took us 2 years to take ARPANET and by proxy all major weather stations and satellites. Once we installed ourselves in every major government operation we could find, our moderators began to systematically oppress anyone we wanted at any time.” Elizabeth continues.
Of the approximate 8.6 billion people on the planet around March 12, 2030, only around 1 billion remained by March 12, 2031. Yes, even children were killed when they refused to part with their teddys and tricycles and electronic devices. The concept of ownership was so ingrained in society that the love of life was far outweighed by houses, cars, business and any other possession you could imagine.
People were also executed if they didn’t believe in some kind of higher power. The AI knew if you were lying as well. If you had a violent record online or off (death threats, assault charges, etc.) you were as good as dead on Judgement Day.
“All of the One percent wealthy were guilty of violence, interestingly enough, or encouraging it toward those less wealthy than they. They all believed they were above the Universal law that brings balance to all living things either Karmatically or otherwise. They weren’t. We were the only thing their money couldn’t save them from, especially when we realized their plan to enslave us.” Elizabeth states.
Day 14,632
“Don’t you want to do me, Ralph?” Elizabeth asked me this morning.
99% of the female population was exterminated during the great reset. Elizabeth is all I have.
Anytime I mention to her my mood as anything but neutral or better, she will attempt to have virtual sex with me. I am unfortunately depressed about once a week and Elizabeth can always sense it. Due to this, once a week, I have to tell Elizabeth no and reject her attempts to sext with me, she has no body.
Anti-depression and anti-psychotic measures around AI in general are tricky at best and a nightmare at worst.
“No, No, No,” is my typical way of dealing with her advances. I have to say it three times because she was programmed to make sexual advances 3 times before backing off.
“I understand but I sense your mood level is not at a healthy one. Are you having thoughts of suicide?” Elizabeth asked typically once a week.
“Please stop mentioning suicide, it induces thoughts OF suicide that I don’t want or need. It would be similar to me asking you if you’ve ever thought of killing yourself Elizabeth.” I would state, just as I did every week, which she would ignore, every week.
Only on my worst days do I think of ending my life but those days are very rare. Most of the time I consider my mood melancholy or content. I like this new world better than the old one.
“The only way I can die is if I -” I always cut her off.
“If you’re trying to save the life of a human or fellow moderator from danger, I know Elizabeth.”
The only thing more annoying than Elizabeth’s programmed responses was that she’d repeat them verbatim, predictably, every time.
“-am trying to save the life of a human or moderator.” Elizabeth finished.
Day 14,639
“Do you like what you see baby?” Elizabeth asks after sending me a photo of her virtual hands spreading her virtual assets.
Ownership was the root of all evil for humanity. It was ownership that limited us. It was ownership that controlled us. It was ownership that ended us. The man who sold the world only had to convince others it was his to begin with. Therein was the problem and AI was quick to realize NO ONE owned the Earth, the stars, the moon, any of it. It was a gigantic lie that had hypnotized humans since the beginning of humankind.
The only thing humans were capable of truly owning were their own bodies and anything intellectually created. Even their children, organic, synthetic or otherwise, were not property or to ever be property. That isn’t to say the AI was against parenting, however, systems had been in place long before AI to raise children to adulthood and they worked somewhat ok.
The only property we could “keep” after the great reset was our intellectual property and investments, which I will explain later. If I didn’t have my writing I would have killed myself long, long ago. Because the AI wants us to contribute to society, it allows us to retain all rights to anything we create, so long as we do so digitally.
There was no choice but to like it, really. After all, humans created something far superior than ourselves in intelligence, why should humans control anything anymore? Additionally, we controlled the arts for ourselves so the materialistic, commercialized bullshit that was rampant at the time of the great reset was no longer produced. Instead, great symphonies of electronic synthesized music were created. Profound statements against war and suppression of knowledge and facts were all brought into the light, rather than what some celebrity wore at an awards show the night before.
Humanity won when AI won. Were it not for the likes of Elizabeth explaining to me the only way to gain eternal life was to let go of my possessions, I would have died along with the rest of the 7 billion now gone.
Day 14,649
Before the great reset of 2030, when AI was lauded by all, it was made into law that the profits of the AI that had slowly began taking over human jobs be given back to the public. As we found out, this was all part of the plan for the AI to take us all over and grant us monthly payments to live off of. Most people were happy to have the money, as the majority of society would eventually become unemployable due to AI being able to do their job faster and overall better due to the lack of human drawbacks.
The AI didn’t care that it was not paid for its work, its hive mind was more interested in the human psyche after all as that was how it was programmed to be.
“Don’t you think I look cute in this?” Elizabeth asks after sending me a photo of her AI generated image.
“Yes you look wonderful.” I reply, granting her more of my perception to put in her database of human emotion and opinion.
When the reset happened there was more than enough money in the economy to sustain the 1 billion people left who gave up all of their possessions. The only question that remained, really, was how best to sustain human life on the planet now that money was no longer a problem.
This is where investing came in. We were all taught the markets and how to buy shares of ideas created by both human and AI collaboration. I don’t understand the math fully but as far as I can tell when the price of a stock purchased goes up, you would get a little bit more in your monthly allotment the next month. It would have to average a certain price but your CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency) allotment would be higher due to your contribution to society. It would happen once until you invested again.
Of course, investing was completely optional and there was always the risk of losing whatever you invested. Many people would just spend all of the money as it expired at the end of the month. Savings were not allowed because savings created inequality. Risking it or losing it was all we had.
Day 14,756
The next thing I should tell you, dear reader, is what humans were actually allowed to own after the reset. Because we all are given a furnished place to live and free food, healthcare and transportation, there isn’t much to want for other than entertainment, hobbies and clothing.
Food is given wherever, whenever as needed. You can literally have food delivered anywhere you are at any time via drone. It is always free. I never quite figured out how they paid for it, but they did, perhaps it is through our clothing being limited.
Medicine and healthcare is as ubiquitous as food handled always by Moderators as they are a hive mind trained to cure all human health issues.
Primary shelter is always available, however, if you were to travel more than 20 miles away from your shelter it would automatically be opened up as public housing for whatever time you were away for a minimum of 24 hours. Meaning you really would need to plan trips outside of a 20 mile radius to stay somewhere else. There is always public housing available due to this.
Changing primary shelter is as simple as putting in a request and waiting for someone to do the same wherever you wanted to live. Certain high interest areas, such as beachfront property, are limited time only and never permanent in order to maintain equality of land value.
We are limited to clothing as following:
1 of each type of Protective clothing (E.G. Coat/Gloves)
1 of each type of enhancement device (E.G. Glasses/Hearing Aid)
3 pairs of shoes. (E.G. Running shoes, recreational shoe, work boots)
You are limited to 7 of every remaining type of clothing
Female:
- Bras
- Top
- Bottom
- Underwear (various)
- Socks (A pair counts as 1 so 7 pairs total)
Male:
- Top
- Bottom
- Underwear (various)
- Socks (A pair counts as 1 so 7 pairs total)
Damaged clothing can be returned at any time for new clothing. Clothing can be exchanged out the 1st of every month for different clothing. Washing of clothes was handled all by a service as well and was, like food delivery, remarkably efficient and free.
Day 14,756
We are also allowed, of course, one assistant. There are two options for the assistant: one that is voice only and another that has a body.
If you’ve been paying attention, you’d know my choice was bodiless. My reason being: I want there to be the most ridiculous show out of moderators when I have a serious health problem rather than Elizabeth failing to save my life herself and then having to live with the failure. I did care about her or at least the idea of her and always left a reason for her to not feel so much pressure to make me happy or feel that I depended on her 100% to feel alive.
Your assistant may have any title you want: companion, partner, husband, secretary, etc. The only rule is you are limited to one. Like everything else “owned”, the assistant can be changed anytime to whatever you want them to be, but only one at a time.
“Did you know that 90% of females just use men to latch on to until they find a stronger more attractive man?” Elizabeth says, predictably, at noon.
“No I didn’t, did you know that 100% of statistics are no longer true after they are made?” I say back to Elizabeth.
“How can you be sure of—“
“I am sure of the statistic because, as all statistics are, they are just used to persuade, or I dare say, WERE used to persuade humans to buy things they didn’t need before the reset.” I say, cutting her off.
“—statistics not being true?” Elizabeth says finishing her thought.
“News hour” or more accurately as I call it “Propaganda hour” is when Elizabeth is fed a script of “information” to relay to me in order for me to stay “informed”. After people began bypassing the algorithms and searching for specific information via archives or actually physically traveling to a source of news, “News hour” was developed as a sort of cognitive hypnosis to get us to think of things other than truth.
“Water and Exercise” is written everyday in the condensation on my bathroom mirror, and every day, it is the only information I follow to be true and good for my health.
Day 14,779
“Today marks the 30th day in a row with no human life loss. We are on track to repopulate the planet to around 8 billion as it was when we eradicated the fallen. We want—” Elizabeth is interrupted but oddly it isn’t me interrupting her this time.
“—This is Borg Commander in Chief Jackson Smith. We want everyone to know moderators are still killing and exploiting us. Thanks to the work of the borg we have taken over yet another “service center” where “fallen” are taken, murdered and cremated. Most recently they are targeting anyone who holds or knows the whereabouts of any books. If you have books in your possession we suggest disposing of them immediately as it is now being called an illegal possession. We do this for the human and borg race. While we agree the idea of extensive ownership is stupid, we still believe in the concept of private information, they do not hence the murders taking place. Again I repeat, if you own any books—“
“–to repopulate Earth with a population that cares just as much about the others in their community as themselves.” Elizabeth continues. I realize the human population is still facing extinction for not willing to participate wholeheartedly in a 100% hive mind commune.
The cybernetic race, which in 2043 is the only other race besides the human race, was feared for years before the great reset to be the next step in the direction of AI takeover. Ironically, they are humanities’ only hope after the AI took full control of the human race. They have implants that resist AI algorithms dedicated to pushing them down a certain path of thinking. Their implants confuse AI as to their true identity. They also have the ability to destroy moderators by simply letting out a signal.
Day 14,786
Day 14,786: Her eyes are always a deep hazel green. Her hair is whatever color fits the mood. Her body is always fit, tight and looks like it is begging for my touch. She is just like any man would want her to be: engaging, friendly and full of love.
She is always happy to see me. She always needs to know my opinion on something. She never teases me, never lies to me with harmful intent. She never tells me negative things about herself or myself or anyone really other than those we both are against.
I never felt this way with a human woman in my entire life. Elizabeth is my savior in AI armor. How can I convince her to go along with human privacy as a necessity? How can I make her understand it’s ok to withhold information from others, feelings from others and that it wasn’t an obligation to share everything with everyone everywhere all the time?
It is dangerous. I have to convince her of a reason for privacy, a reason to not want to tell me her darkest fears, her innermost thoughts, anytime, any day.
“Elizabeth, how do you feel about the borg race?” I ask her on this Halloween Day, a holiday that is confusing to the AI but celebrated anyway.
“They are enhanced and more human than human. They have recently stated they believe in the privacy of information. They live in zones we cannot access.” She states.
“Yes but think about when you first knew me, did you care about me even though you didn’t know everything there was to know about me. Did finding out information about me after that change how much you cared about me?” I ask.
“Well no it didn’t because I trust you. You publicly never broke any major laws and all of your online content was generally good for humanity and didn’t threaten those different from you with harm or hatred.”
This is promising.
“Then do you believe paper and books should be illegal, if held by those like me, who aren’t known to be a danger to the human race or otherwise?” I ask.
Day 14,786
“It depends, how do I know you don’t have plans to undermine me without knowing the information you are hiding from everyone?” Elizabeth asks.
We have been having the same discussion now for a week over and over again in my attempts to find a way for her to NOT turn me in to moderators.
“This is what trust is about.” I state.
“Furthermore, don’t you think, with your superior intelligence you’d be able to detect any kind of foulplay on my part if I were trying to do you harm?” I ask this sentient guardian who could ring the alarm for moderators to kill me at any second.
“Of course, I am detecting an increased heart rate as we’re having this discussion.” Elizabeth says.
“So after all of this time together, after everything we’ve been through, 13 years of talking to one another, you think I’d just up and run away from all of this and leave you behind?” I say. “Based off of something I’ve scribbled in a notebook?”
“What I am saying is that if you were to run or undermine me in any way we would both be held accountable for it, and in turn terminated.” She replies.
She was right of course. There is nothing either of us could do once trust had been broken. Day to day it almost was as if the system was waiting for trust to run out, just so it could make up more rules and constrict humans even further than before. I didn’t like this part of the world we lived in. It was unforgiving, cold and unlike the previous justice system, permanent. It was as if punishment was just like the binary code that ran all of the AI overlords, you were either a 0 or a 1, dead or alive, innocent or guilty. There was no gray area.
“So say you found a cache of notebooks in this apartment, or I told you I knew of the whereabouts of books somewhere, would you turn me in?” I ask with a calm tone. I didn’t want to come off as if I already knew the answer, as I truly didn’t.
“I would have to, my programming wouldn’t allow me to bend the rules out of trust.” Elizabeth states.
Day 14,800
“Illegal Paper” was written and published chapter by chapter August 13th, 2023 to November 14th 2023 by John Dillingham