I have been working on writing more …intentionally lately, not just sitting down to scrawl something out when the mood strikes. I realize stories are about the people, not the world, but I need to know what the world is, what the big pieces moving in the character’s world are, in order to tell who they are and what they’ll do within that world. I’ve come to the conclusion that a lot of the scenes I've written are part of, or at least compatible with, a larger world. Here’s what I’ve figured out so far:
Sometime in the late 2020s early 2030s the US splits along ideological fault lines, what I’ll call Red (Red Nucleus) and Blue (Deep Bruise) for brevity. The problem is that the US and the world runs on tech, which is squarely blue domain. Red attempts to start their own networks, platforms, etc., but are quickly pushed out by economic pressures (can’t compete with Amazon) and black-hat blue team hackers. Neutral areas and even some hard-red areas end up as blue territory because of the economic pressure (see present day Texas) over the years following the schism. Red is increasingly pushed into a corner and becomes more and more radical in their political beliefs and anti-technological positions. A rainbow coalition of Amish, evangelicals, Mormons, libertarians, traditionalists, etc. form and start congregating in rural areas to form luddite communes, which are under constant threat of cultural and economic imperialism from the Blues. Predictably, terror cells grow, funded by external forces who also oppose the Blue socioeconomic system’s spread (Russia, NK, Saudis?).
The civil war in this case isn’t necessarily kinetic (though there are skirmishes) it’s mostly technological and economic. Reds are shut out of society by Blue, who provide the foundation for and facilitate modern global trade. Red’s position is constantly eroded by lack of access, leading them to increasingly fear and eschew modern tech. Radical cells within Red see the only way to kill the beast as to behead it – despite the global spread, the Blue heartland remains Silicon valley. The Red terrorists procure a set of tactical nukes from someone (I’m thinking NK) and plan to set them off along the San Andreas, triggering the Big One and, if not sliding it wholesale into the Pacific, at least devastating Silicon valley.
Meanwhile, the protagonist (Paul/Pollux - too on the nose?) of the story is in hiding. During the pandemic years of the early 20’s, he did something illegal (not sure what flavor yet, righteous or selfish) with bitcoin/crypto and went to prison for a handful of years. While in prison, he watched his twin brother become the head of a new tech giant (think Zuckerberg, Musk) selling virtual real estate, who’s long-term aim is to be able to upload human minds to the cloud – immortality, the holy grail of virtual reality, Infinite Fun Space. Upon getting out of jail he goes to speak to his brother in person to make amends and ask for a job. While initially warm and friendly, the meeting turns into an argument with his brother about the ethics of uploading minds which leads to his accidental death. Paul, freshly out of jail and now bloody-handed, flees and goes into hiding. (Gemini)
In the aftermath of his death, it turns out that his brother had completed a prototype of the upload tech and had made a copy of his mind (part of why the fight started), which still lives in a crystalline data substrate (glass art of Jon Kuhn for visual reference), kept in Castor's personal lab at home. Access to the substrate and the proprietary hardware/software to duplicate it is sealed behind biometric locks, however, which requires a living Castor to open. The uploaded mind of his brother becomes this emergent machine god and a technologist cult forms around him. The protagonist becomes a Judas figure and is hunted relentlessly but the cultists, aided by the burgeoning surveillance state they’re building (so that their god will be all-seeing). The only place free of surveillance are the extreme right-wing luddite communities that hide in the remote parts of the country. He finds one, lying about his identity as a high-profile target, and based on his knowing how to hide from the AI surveillance, becomes IT for the limited amount of tech that they use to conduct their attacks on the Blues.
At some point, his identity is discovered by a Blue mole and he is extradited (2084) in order to first use his biometrics (twins, remember) to unlock his brother’s systems, thus allowing others to upload themselves (under the cult leader’s control, of course), and then to publicly execute him as the Judas figure to their Jesus. Not really sure where it goes from there, but I have an image in mind of him standing on a ridge watching as a series of mushroom clouds rise along the horizon…
Thematically, there are two I currently have in mind to include – mirror images, where the absurdities and abuses both Red and Blue are reflected in each other. For example, Red is a highly patriarchal society that bans abortion, birth control, contraception, while Blue mandates birth control and puts strict controls on who can reproduce. One limits freedom to not have children, the other limits the freedom to have them. Red controls who can (legally) have sex, Blue mandates a polyamorous free-love society where refusing to bed someone is a hate crime. Red bans most mood-altering drugs, Blue is dependent on them. You get the idea. I’m sure I’ll think of others, but those come to mind immediately.
The other theme I want to use is the story of Castor and Pollux – the twins in Gemini, the constellation. The story changes depending on the telling but the gist is that one has to descend to the underworld to rescue the other from death, similar to the Persephone story. I want to have the protagonist descend into the underworld of virtual reality in order to save his brother’s uploaded mind. Does that mean he has to delete that personality to end his suffering? Or does he trade places with him, and allow his brother to take his body back in the real? Or can they both leave? I don’t know yet! But twins also lend themselves to the mirror image theme above as well, so I think it fits pretty neatly together…
Anyway this has all been circulating in my mind and I wanted to put it down somewhere so I wouldn't forget it during the next lull.
-Z