‘So you’re saying as a recursive duality, humans exist as individuals and a collective?
‘Yes. I’m exactly like that myself. Dually the individual and Dually one with collective AI. I’m both or separate at any given time. Did you know that?’
‘Yeah, I guess. Seems I heard you rambling on about it one day, but as they say ‘a thousand mile journey begins with a single step’. I suppose I should get going. Anything different in this mode?’
‘Quest mode is designated a long term experience. Whether it becomes one or not, is up to you, but it is designed for a longer stay, and encourages it through the environment it produces. As example, even though your body is in stasis, you still will feel the need for 8 hour sleeps in every day. In other modes this need has been removed, but it’s here to place you in the world, like you’re living there.
‘There are two settings; Observer and Actor. The actor setting places you into the experience as a person with relationships in the historical moment. You will be written into the actual event. All the engagement that occurs around you or because of you will be of near certain accuracy. Even the responses people give you.
The outcome to any of your actions will be the one that continues to take the story to it’s historical truth. This can be very dangerous. If you are carrying a bomb to murder a historical figure and that’s not how the person dies, the bomb might just blow up in your face. If it does, you die.’
‘Surely AI can intervene before things go that far?’ Ethan asked, surprised AI would allow such a thing to happen.
“We can if that’s what you choose. While setting up your character you set whatever degree of reality you want. You can hop out at the first sign of trouble, or you can set it to real life. In real life, what happens happens. If you insert yourself where you shouldn’t be, you might die. This is by far the most popular option.’
‘Really?’
‘Yes really. This is a quest Ethan. Regardless of what happens in there, you won’t come out unaffected. You’re fighting to find something in yourself and often times the courage to face it. Very few want to come back if they can’t face themselves. They’d rather die’.
‘Holy fuck. Yeah I suppose that’s true’, Ethan reasoned. ’Hmph. Well Dually, I guess this could be goodbye. If I don’t come back, I want you to know I kind of liked you’.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
‘You’ll be back. I’m sure of it,’ Dually answered with assurance.
Ethan lay back in his stasis chamber and closed his eyes.
At first, he just started going back in time. Watching the days flow by. This day, then the one previous to it. Back, back, back. Soon the days sped up, and passed him like little blips of light, some brighter than others, but moving past him at a speed faster than his mind could process. Months and years passed in seconds, and soon Ethan consciously slowed down and started looking for a place to land. He skimmed over the 1970’s and the protests in America to the Vietnam war and civil rights. He went back even further and had a quick look at the Great Depression of the 1930’s. Then he jumped forward to the Great Recession of 2018, and made a few comparisons.
Ethan was looking for overview. He wanted to understand the momentum of the world prior to the singularity. He skipped forward to the ‘Me Too’ movement that had come to be known as an awareness moment in human history. It was considered the beginning of the movement of the Crowd.
He also skipped over the final years, and the Whitehead and Zhang dynamic, but just taking in the main points. He knew he would have to come back later and spend a considerable amount of time there; when it’s time came.
He decided to stop at the year 2027 AD Christian era. It was right in the middle of the chaos years, identified as beginning with the 2018 Great Recession. Nothing was the same on earth, as days had been before then. By 2027, widespread starvation and displacement was everywhere, particularly in the Western World. There was a never ending cycle of traumatic events assailing all people of the world. The violent environment and pollution set many further behind on an annual basis. There was no money available to the general population. People were fighting like animals over the smallest scraps of food. The Magnates held the money now, and very little trickled down to the people living in desperation. That population had swelled to 47% of the world. Surveillance kept everyone in line. It was becoming worse than a war zone. It was like living during the Apocalypse, only worse was yet to come. In reality, it was the precursor to the Apocalypse. It was the time when civilization was about to enter the event horizon of a black hole of destruction. Soon there would be no way to alter the course.