Letter to the Past

Would you want to live a life determined by others?

Allow me to ask you this question.
I think you will clearly answer “no”. Seems reasonable to me from a person from your time:
“Why should I let others determine my life? After all, it's MY life and my ancestors fought for this self-determination for centuries!” you'll probably say.

You know, I come from a time when people looked at things like that very differently. I'm not talking about the past, but about the distant future.

Imagine someone gives you a plan that predetermines your whole life; I'm talking about things like your profession, where you live and even your future spouse. You can't choose all these things through this plan, but if you follow it, you and all your fellow human beings, your friends and family, will be allowed to live the best life possible with minimal suffering. It would be a life without regrets.

Why without regrets? Well, you are born free and are allowed to make decisions for yourself, but every decision comes with a consequence for which you alone are responsible. And the consequence of a wrong decision, if you take the wrong path, usually ends in regret. But you cannot regret something that you never decided; something that others imposed on you. A path in life that you are not responsible for.

Would you take the path and follow the perfect plan?

I suppose this idea would sound strange to you because you couldn't imagine that such a life plan could even exist. Who created this plan and how does the person know what's best for all of us?

The answer is that it's not a person and that this being can generate such plans through an unimaginable amount of data with incredible precision.

Giftear.

At some point between your lifetime and mine, your descendants, or my ancestors, developed an artificial intelligence which can make choices that humans can no longer work out. In the space age, political problems have become so complex that just one wrong decision can have serious consequences. I'm talking about potential wars that could end all life in the universe.

That's why Giftear was originally developed to resolve political conflicts and make the fairest and most sustainable decisions possible. Trust in artificial intelligence later developed into dependency, as it was much more convenient to leave decisions to the omniscient A.I.. And what you don't decide yourself, you don't have to regret in the end.

In the meantime, Giftear has become an integral part of all areas of our lives. Giftear has made many decisions in my life, such as these ones:

I work as an investigator in the police force because my father was an investigator himself and that makes me a suitable successor. If there was a shortage of skilled workers in another area, Giftear might have assigned me a different job in that sector.

I live in the Sun District, as there are a couple of vacant apartments there, which means that congested areas are spread evenly across the city.

My recreational sport is gymnastics because body scans combined with Giftear's analysis have determined that I can develop my true physical potential in this sport.

In other words, this A.I. knows how to realize our full potential in life. At the same time, wealth and quality of life are evenly distributed to ensure social (and probably global) peace:
There are no companies or politicians who set the highest possible profit as their goal and are willing to exploit or even endanger others to achieve it.

Nevertheless, my interest in your time may not want to diminish.
In history lessons, it is propagated that the people of the early 21st century were selfish and that their excessive individualism was detrimental to justice and peace.
And yet I am writing this letter to the past. To you.

I would love to have a taste of your freedom...

Because I'm getting married soon.
I never decided that, Giftear did. I don't know my husband personally yet, but according to the almighty algorithm, he's my perfect match. The partner for life, you could say. I will meet him for the first time in a few days.
Others look forward to this day with joy - but not me.

I don't want to.
I'm scared.

I've spoken quite positively about our world up to now, but the truth is that this life has never brought me fulfillment.
I am disappointed in this society; once the facade of this supposedly perfect world began to crumble and now I am sitting in the shards of a supposed utopia.

Kind regards

Vivianne Vernelle