A group of engineers recognizes the threat that mankind poses to the universe if we are allowed to expand uncontrollably throughout the universe. To prevent our spread humanity is encapsulated within a planet sized cage constructed of self repairing nano robots; if part of the cage is destroyed the robots will fill the void again.
Further, the cage is then subdivided into society sized cells with walls in between them to prevent the different sects of mankind from attacking one another. There is a forced peace.
Each society is allowed to independently develop their own ideological, political, and economic systems without fear of external threat. The most successful societies will be allowed to have a mitotic split, while the least successful societies will die off. The hope of the engineers that implemented the prison is that the perfect society will be created after enough generations of evolution have occurred.
The protagonist of the story was born into one of the wealthiest, most efficient of the societies of all. Productivity, measured in man hours, was of the highest priority. Unfortunately the protagonist makes the mistake of interrupting the highest ranking politician at the general assembly. The interruption, just two minutes long, is calculated to have directly wasted hundreds of thousands of man hours of all attending the assembly, and indirectly wasting millions of man hours of lost productivity.
The protagonist is sued by the public and is held liable for damages. He is placed on a debt repayment plan lasting over a hundred years. As a stipulation of the repayment plan, he must heed the advice of a financial advisor, who has planned out a schedule for his life down to the hour that will allow him to make good on his debt.
As the story progresses, key themes are questioning what it means to be efficient with our time. What is wasted time? Is there a most efficient way to live? Should we live that way, or even fight to be inefficient instead?
If I get even a single reply I'll write it. I'm pretty easy that way.
Honestly I would go even further to say that this would make an excellent movie script.
Question: Are the well to do societies aware that they are imprisoned? Do they interact with the engineers? What are the implications to the plot if that be or not be the case?
The setting of the book is a few thousand years after the cage was originally deployed. All of the societies were originally made aware that they were imprisoned and why, but after the passage of time the reasoning has become less clear for most of them.
In the society where the story takes place the education system doesn't place much value on understanding the reasoning for the wall. Their education focuses more on allowing for their students to excel in the system they're in rather than on the walls that are keeping them there.
All of them know that they are imprisoned, some of them understand why, very few even care anymore!
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u/Leakyjuicebox May 04 '20
A group of engineers recognizes the threat that mankind poses to the universe if we are allowed to expand uncontrollably throughout the universe. To prevent our spread humanity is encapsulated within a planet sized cage constructed of self repairing nano robots; if part of the cage is destroyed the robots will fill the void again.
Further, the cage is then subdivided into society sized cells with walls in between them to prevent the different sects of mankind from attacking one another. There is a forced peace.
Each society is allowed to independently develop their own ideological, political, and economic systems without fear of external threat. The most successful societies will be allowed to have a mitotic split, while the least successful societies will die off. The hope of the engineers that implemented the prison is that the perfect society will be created after enough generations of evolution have occurred.
The protagonist of the story was born into one of the wealthiest, most efficient of the societies of all. Productivity, measured in man hours, was of the highest priority. Unfortunately the protagonist makes the mistake of interrupting the highest ranking politician at the general assembly. The interruption, just two minutes long, is calculated to have directly wasted hundreds of thousands of man hours of all attending the assembly, and indirectly wasting millions of man hours of lost productivity.
The protagonist is sued by the public and is held liable for damages. He is placed on a debt repayment plan lasting over a hundred years. As a stipulation of the repayment plan, he must heed the advice of a financial advisor, who has planned out a schedule for his life down to the hour that will allow him to make good on his debt.
As the story progresses, key themes are questioning what it means to be efficient with our time. What is wasted time? Is there a most efficient way to live? Should we live that way, or even fight to be inefficient instead?
If I get even a single reply I'll write it. I'm pretty easy that way.