Entry 89
October 13, 4046
11:38 P.M.
As I look down from the tall skyscraper, the city is illuminated by red night lights, the sound of cars and the loud clanging of people walking their metal dogs fill the crowded streets. It’s hard to be faced by the reality that real dogs were banned by the government because they were too "loud" and had "unpredictable behavior". Instead, the government gave robot dogs that you can request in the office of technology, provided you had a dog that they took from you. They look nothing like the real dogs you see online, by the way. The real dogs? They were taken away for "research"; even my childhood dog Lucy was taken away when I was eight for "guide dog training sessions”. It turns out they would grab dogs from every household, analyze them, and use the data to replicate the now famous robot dogs and dispose of the real dogs soon after. They wanted to get rid of the problem with the overpopulation of strays and dogs in general.
I've never understood the logic and reasoning behind why the world has turned this way; there are no flying cars, but there's a pair of shoes you can wear that act like Iron Man's suit, but they randomly explode at you; two of my friends lost their legs from the tibia upwards; they expressed their sorrow to me, and how they had to spend ridiculous amounts of money to get smart prosthetics. Smart prosthetics are prosthetics that can be controlled by the user's mind and function similarly to a normal leg. The only minor issue with them is that they make small creaking noises when not lubricated.
Many animals that I read about in books as a child have become extinct or have been exploited by humans. I never went to a real animal zoo – now, they have zoos that replicate animals. Live projections of them exist that humans can interact with and are coded to please humans when touched. Though you won't really feel anything but the air, it still feels immersive for those who haven't seen real animals like myself. They also have a VR version of the Sahara Desert and the Arctic, where you can see lions and polar bears, both of which no longer exist. The Arctic melted several years ago, and the city is now known for its oil refinery. My parents wailed and protested about things they couldn't change. They even forced me to go with them; my parents died in vain because they believed that they and the others who protested alongside them could stop the coming era of technology – how absurd and futile.
I never truly learned to love my parents because they always pushed their ideas on me and urged me to learn about the then-near-non-existent environment. When I was 20, the Science and Technology of Atmospheric Protection (STAP) research team solved the problem of the ozone hole – which was quite large at the time – by developing this type of structure that behaved like the ozone layer, one that had to be replaced every 13 years. But of course, by the time this was completed, most of the earth had already been affected by climate change.
The articles I read about humans being on the verge of extinction due to pollution are laughable now that there are millions of better alternatives to the plastics previously used, and many plastics products, such as diapers and tampons, are now fully biodegradable, which is one of the few positives that my time has. Pollution has decreased as a result of many emerging scientists and researchers devising clever ways to use the then-endless pile of plastic. Plastic pollution would be the least of everyone's concerns about the planet's eventual downfall.
All of the oceans are now man-made; none occur naturally, and there are no animals in the ocean – all of the seafood we eat is produced and bred in factories; they still taste fine to me. I read about fathers and sons going to lakes and starting to fish. You can still do that now; just make a reservation and they'll place AI fish in the pond for you and your father to enjoy the same thrill as fishing. The same is true for hunting deer, alligators, foxes, and rabbits. Extinct due to trophy hunting, they now have their own AI fields where you can hunt them though! What a blast!
Another advantage of this place is that crime has decreased; when you are born, a camera is installed that changes as you grow older; that camera records everything you do and you can't remove it unless you blind yourself; people have come to accept this knowing that the government doesn't care what you're doing as long as you're not committing a crime. Everyone had to have these cameras installed; they ranged from $150 to $350 at most, and they were even cheaper if you got them in a sketchy alley. Why would anyone go so far as to potentially blind themselves?
Everyone was given ten years to install these cameras. Otherwise, the government would issue an arrest warrant or place you on the wanted list. The only options are to flee or have them installed; if you get caught, they'll kill you, harvest your organs, and use your body for research. The people were afraid of committing any crimes and instead lived a life full of anxiety, fearful that what they were doing was wrong in the eyes of the authorities.
Of course, even with all of these rules in place, if you're wealthy enough, you can simply ignore them and pay the government whatever amount they demanded. However, it’s worthy to note that many of the wealthy simply comply because, in reality, the richest are the stingiest, so as long as they don't see anything that causes them to lose money, they'll do it.
You would think that with the advances in technology that have already been made in comparison to the past, healthcare would be relatively cheaper; however, this is not the case; in fact, it has become even more expensive. Profit over life, profit over health, and profit over everything. The world still revolves around money, people still fight over it, and many people are filled to the brim with greed. To keep up with all of the advancements, the government—or rather, the world—takes advantage of the sick, disabled, and the weak. They see them as a way to make more money, and that is the simple reality of it.
Aside from technology, suicide rates have risen because many people feel too plagued and constrained to live in a place where literally everyone and anyone can see what you're doing. They feel like their privacy is nonexistent, but they were the ones who signed the forms agreeing to the government being able to see everything that transpired within their lifetimes.
As I ponder about what this world has turned into and read different stories on how wonderful the earth once was, I can’t help but also think how this earth is the only place I can live in. This was the planet where I was born, raised, and grew into loving.
I keep writing in this notebook despite the fact that no one will ever read it. I'm now a fully-fledged adult; my parents died quietly four years ago, but nothing changed as much after their passing. I left them when I turned 18 and went to study in the city where I am now. Given how expensive living expenses are right now, my job pays well. Many people also chose not to have children due to the high cost of raising them. You have to pay for their registration and the installation of cameras and chips even before they are born, and it would all be for naught if those children chose to kill themselves in the end.
I wondered if anything would be different in my life. I wake up, shower, go to work, stand on the same ledge that I am on and write in my diary, consider jumping off of it but decide not to. Why? I'm not sure what it is, maybe it's the robot pets I keep, maybe it's my passion for my job, or maybe I'm just hoping for a break in this boring repetitive cycle.
Maybe finding a lover would bring some color into my life, but I'm past the age when women were considered "good," I'm already 37, and no one wants an old woman like me. Looking back, I never liked men, and I never tried dating women either. When I did try dating, it was only because they asked me out and I was going with the flow. I never felt anything like "love" or the desire to commit to one person and spend the rest of my life with them. Maybe I'm destined to spend the rest of my days alone, and I've come to accept that.
There's no point in ruminating and dwelling on what has passed its prime. The only thing left for me to do is live until I die. Though living an aimless and meaningless life may be unbearable for some, I have found comfort in going through my days with no thrills or excitement. In some ways, knowing what would happen the next day is reassuring, but the lack of unpredictability in my life pushes me to hope for something exciting, something different, something that will change the course of my entire life or the way I lived it. For example, when I cross the street towards the building where I work, I hope that a speeding car hits me, paralyzing me from the waist down, or that on busy days at work when I get home late, someone with a grudge against me stabs me right in the chest as I walk through the city's dark alleys. Though wishing for some sort of ugly disruption in my life is not something I want to happen, it is something I imagine would happen given the right circumstances.
Writing in this diary as my thoughts flow is quite relaxing: it's the only part of my day where I feel free to be myself. Putting on business smiles in the office and having to bow your head to your angry superiors is taxing. I am free to write whatever I want, to reflect on the past, to feel the present as I write, and to consider the future and what to write next. Who knows, maybe this diary of mine will end up in some dingy thrift store for someone to read and go viral on the Internet, though I doubt the world will still exist by the time I die.
Though the Earth appears to be fine, this is only a temporary solution to comfort the world's citizens, and some choose to ignore the impending doom that awaits us. I honestly believe that governments, world leaders, and others go too far in order to keep people under "control." Installing all of these devices right after birth would have seemed outrageous in the past, but now everyone accepts it as normal. None of the aforementioned "advancements" would raise an eyebrow, which scares me.
How far will this world develop? How far will it fall into this deep spiral of "advancements" and the greed of those in power? I keep asking myself these questions, knowing the answer: it won't stop, it'll never stop, it's already started, progress has been made, and irreversible actions have been taken. There is no turning back now. There is absolutely nothing that can be done. All of this pointless writing is totally useless!
How hilarious would it be if someone read my entire diary and thought I was actually concerned about the earth? They'd think I'd gone insane in the middle of writing, but I'm not crazy, at least not as crazy as others, I believe.
-Danya Kowalski
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