In a world where the AI systems have taken over and all humans get a stipend or pension from the government, the humans wonder how to pass their free time. Leisure time has become the norm because nobody (human being at least) ever has to work. The humans are confused and uncertain, they don’t know what to do. Parents who could never be around their children much due to busy schedules are now faced with the daunting task of spending all their time with their progeny who apart from being related by blood, are utter stagers. Teenagers who have lived and grown without being subjected to the watchful eye of parents now wrack their brains in order to hold meaningful conversation with parents who are strangers to them. Married couples who get to be around each other now question why they ever got married in the first place.
The humans have lost their sense of purpose, they no longer know what to do with all this free time. They lack a sense of purpose and direction. Family get togethers and brunches with friends have become increasingly banal. Not only is it difficult to spend time with others, it is also impossible to spend time with oneself.
Nobody appreciates the arts, culture or travelling as before; it's the only way to spend time now and it is all the humans can do to keep themselves occupied. As such, the humans have begun to take it, and themselves and others for granted.
In the midst of all these humans desperately searching for a task or activity to engage them long enough, it falls squarely on the AI systems to manage the economic state. And this they do very well. The market is booming, there are no discrepancies anywhere. On the surface this is an idyllic world, except for an obnoxious somebody complaining that the AI chef is unable to make the soup he is drinking taste as good as the one his father makes.
Children study in schools are being taught by AI teachers, they are never pat on their back for doing a good job, but neither are they overlooked in favour of a brighter pupil. The same happens in institutions of higher education. Moreover, now everybody is inducted to educational institutions based solely on merit, the AI does not care who your father is…
Why do schools and universities still exist if the children they cater to are never going to join the workforce? Knowledge for knowledge’s sake of course. Never have their been quite so many applicants for seats in universities now. Every other person is also an artist now. Some of them write, draw, sketch, sing, dance, cook; there’s an art form for everybody although all of this remains contained to just the “artist” and those close in proximity to them.
In this idyllic world, there are still elements of chaos. Those renegade elements who refuse to accept that they have been put out of work. They work and publish on the sly and the AI police force function primarily to get these unsavoury citizens away from the rest of the population.
Humans now have all the free time they could ever want and the money to allow their dreams to be actualised. But dreams don’t seem quite as appealing as they once did and neither does Disneyland. Nothing seems to matter quite as much as it once did and there isn’t much the once dominant humans can do about it.
Much like the literary device of ‘Deus ex Machina’ which is sometimes used in stories and novels to bring about an easy conclusion to the conflict or plot that nobody truly enjoys, AI in this kind of world would function in much the same way. Humans do not need machines to simplify or make our lives easier; AI would instead make for a disappointing conclusion in the story of humanity.
by Simone Prabhu
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