February 27. 2352

I think I have been alone for most of my life.

Perhaps I have always known that. Perhaps it helped me to survive.

I realise I have not fully explained how our way of life came to be. I will attempt to do this now.

After President Nyakio's term ended around 90% of the population was moderately wealthy.
This was due to the stocks in Robotics soaring faster than previously ever heard of. Everyone jumped on the market and somehow it never crashed until 2126 when President Nuro took office. Whether luck, intuition or just hatred for the new President, stockholders bailed. The few that remained were either not fast enough to sell or too blinded by money to care and bought all they could. That was a mistake. His announcement to privately own the HAB robot company and to replace all current robots with HAB bots single handily destroyed the robotics market.

The President's next move against the population would to make them volunteer to stop working.
The 10% who were left with nothing were given the most minimal government help at getting back on their feet. However anyone that had a job was heavily taxed and any company that employed people were similarly taxed. This tactic gave companies the motivation to replace human workers while the people felt they had enough money to not bother working anyway.
10 years after the HAB bots had been perfected and with 50% of the population unemployed, Nuro's policy changed again. Now the companies would be taxed no matter what was working there, although the tax for human workers was still more than the rate for bots.
With more and more people being laid off because of the tax hikes and the once rich population now poor from overspending with almost no sustainable income for 10 years, the template was complete.

Laziness gripped the globe. Recreation was the goal. What we call HomeWeb is the evolution of what Alison called The Internet.

The Internet was a means of communicating, nothing more. From what little information I can gather about its creation, it was decades before computer networking was available globally. Businesses tried and failed to create stable network markets but through perseverance and learning from mistakes eventually they succeeded.
The success of established brand sites gave aspiring entrepreneurs hope. Unfortunately with all the conventional markets already taken by the experts, new ideas had to be formed.

Social Networking is born.
The world is doomed.

With shopping from home popular, the concept of spending time with friends without having to actually go anywhere seemed the next logical step. Luckily the realisation that people can get almost the same experiences without having to go anywhere took generations to set in although some came to it faster than others.
With this budding mind set beginning to grow, and the social networks doing everything to keep as many people using them as much as possible, I must ask, was there ever any alternative?

Every day more and more information was added to the Internet. With better technology came more and more options. Almost immediately worldwide fame was within grasp as anyone could now show off any skill they did or did not have. Stardom, once the reward of the determined became Internet Stardom. Less polished but more sought.
This "Me me me" culture was eventually the catalyst for the Unification of Earth.

February 21. 2352

With work being reduced to a hobby, the Unified Government appeared to become figureheads.
Education was gone, replaced by home schooling that eventually became HomeWeb learning. Parents taught their children how to talk and type because that was all they needed. If you wanted to learn more then you looked it up on HW. That was my life.

I found the name of the owner of the journal.
Alison.
She tells of how excited she feels as she anticipates seeing her friends. This concept confused me. I did not understand why she would be excited. I was never excited when I saw my friends. The next entry made me understand.

They met in person.

My social normal was to see my friends via VideoChat. My life was TV, HomeWeb and eating. Perhaps that is why I was so horrified when I saw the starving ones. I could easily have been one of them. Is it my calling to write this?
Is that why I survived?
I wanted this to be a professional account but I cannot. I must document my thoughts.

I am alone.


How long can I survive?

February 18. 2352

The History of the Last Civilization.

In the 2200's there was political unrest. The leaders of each nation on the planet were bickering over employment. History tells us that over 300 years ago the same arguments were being made over resources.
The 300 year old journal records a time when oil was reported to be scarce.

Oil was the main fuel in everything. Engines ran on refined oil, vehicles were used in business as well as privately owned. The emissions from these vehicles were polluting the environment. Trees were being cut down for wood and paper making. The reports said that the planet was being killed by humans and that the leaders of that time made minute token attempts to change with no real plan to save their world.
Whether the reports were true or exaggerated to cause panic is unclear, however it caused change.

2106 saw the first world president elected - Jane Nyakio. It was under her leadership that hydrogen replaced oil as the main fuel of engines. She oversaw the replanting of national forests and the world cheered as her administration produced 20 years of peaceful prosperity.
Engines were now fuelled by hydrogen, the world's paper was 100% recycled, 90% of manual labour was undertaken by robots. The bliss didn't last
20 years of peace became 80 years of laziness.

Against public opinion President Nyakio's term ended in 2126. The people argue that since it was a new position and that the 1st President had performed so well then she should stay in office. Their appeals were ignored and political candidates appeared in droves. Feeling betrayed the people refused to vote so the decision was made that the former President would choose their successor.
Worldwide outrage for this decision brought destruction.

The 2nd Unified Earth President chose instead of appealing to the masses, to turn his back on them. Under Sero Nuro's term, unemployment benefits were at the absolute minimum humanly possible while robotic workers were used in 99% of the manual labour jobs but they were not part of the office or service workforce. When Human Analogue Bots were perfected in 2130 that changed.
Within 6 months of perfection HAB bots had 5% of worldwide office jobs. By 2140 the figure was 50%. By the time the next election came around, 90% of the human population were unemployed.

This became the standard. Generation after generation were content to allow robots to do the most basic of jobs while the government was content to heavily tax the companies for using robotic labour and return 10% of those taxes to public funding. The world took the next 80 years off work. Only 1% of the population was in employment and those were Nation Leaders, The Presidency and to maintain the HAB robots. Robots that were so well made that they almost never broke down.
This was our paradise.

But nothing lasts forever.

In 2206 President Gene Rail initiated a program to reassess the planets resources and workforce, or so he said.
Under this new plan currency would no longer be necessary. All resources would be rationed. Basic food, clothing, medicine, entertainment and utilities would be provided to everyone while extra rations would be awarded to anyone who replaced a HAB bot in the workplace. The higher priority the job, the more the rations awarded. Initially the response was over 80% of the population, however once people realised exactly what entailed in the basic rations, such as VisionScreens and HomeWeb that number fell to almost 25.

So began the civilization that I knew as normal.

February 17. 2352

This is going to be my official record of our history.

Starting tomorrow I will record as much as I can of how our society was built, how government was structured, everything.

I am also going to document the changes from life as I knew it to the life of the girl who wrote in the 300 year old diary I found.
I feel this is a history that we neglected and if I am correct in my theory that history is repeating itself then the experiences that she had could very well be the future for the next few generations.

February 16. 2352

In my research I have discovered that humans evolved from primal savages. Perhaps this is just nature's way of giving us a reset. A global system restore, as it were.

If this is the case then I must continue my work. If the population still survives then there is a chance that, in time, a society like the Old Way could form again. If that happens then this cycle could continue. As comforting as it is to think civilization will rise again, it is equally disturbing to think that this hell is their future.

I doubt this brings me my redemption but it is all I can do now. The alternative is to truly become like the savages, the raiders or the forgotten. I don't want to be that.
I want this record to show the rise and fall of our society.
I want this record to be a warning for the leaders of the world, if that status returns again.
I want this record to say "This is our civilization, and this is how we fucked it up!"

February 15. 2352

I keep having nightmares. That mob that attacked me, their faces almost blank. I keep seeing them over and over again. All I can do is immerse myself in the research I have struggled to keep safe.
Is it even worth it?

The more I raid for food the more I am convinced that this is a lost cause. The city has descended into a battleground. Once proud upstanding citizens are now thieving, pillaging tribes and I am also one. What does that say about our society? What does that say about me?

We were repressed.

This is our own fault. We as a nation, as a world let this happen.
I am beyond redemption. This planet is now beyond redemption. But perhaps all is not lost.

February 10. 2352

The world has gone to hell.

The world's government falls and the people descend into savages. How did humanity disappear so quickly?
I'm not sure how I survived. The city is on fire, there are no news reports, no one cares about anything anymore.

I left to find food weeks ago. I got lucky. Then I got unlucky.
I stumbled upon a raiding camp and managed to steal some food. They saw me and started chasing me. I have never run so fast in my life.
I managed to hide in a building but they were organised. I was sure I was going to be killed.
I don't know why but they started fighting with each other. There was no reason for it. I was cornered. They seemed more like animals. When the winner killed the other there was no remorse. The women flocked to him with admiration in their eyes, the men with fear. I felt sick.
The new leader ordered them to find me and took the women to an office room. The men split up and started searching but none came near my hiding spot. When I heard them moving on the floor above I ran out. No one saw me. Then I saw something so much worse.

The starving ones. The desperate remains of our civilisation that hadn't adapted immediately to survival mode. The people that lived a life of pseudo luxury via HomeWeb and the fact jobs were not compulsory any more. They began following me. They looked so pathetic, so helpless. I began to feel sorry for them. That was a mistake.
They were mindless shells of human beings. Like something out of a pre-unified horror movie. I was attacked because I had food and they all wanted it. Their survival instinct may have been late but it was vicious. I had to run again but I couldn't survive this way. They were everywhere. They numbered in the hundreds I needed to fight back but I was so weak.
I grabbed a pipe and swung it at anything that moved. Eventually they stopped following and I returned to the room. But it wasn't enough food to last. I had to get my strength back and go out again, and I had to be ready.
I had to have the mentality that made me sick, I had to not care. I had to be like the raiders.

I hate what I have become