[ WP ] At the age of 18 , all members of your society are asked whether they want to continue living in the real world or in a personalized 'heaven simulation ' filled with AI . As you are next during the ceremony , you remember having had to make this decision before .

Artificial intelligence was our greatest achievement. It had taken decades of toil, the combined effort of countless minds and cooperation at a scale never seen before but we did it eventually. Or so my parents tell me anyway. 
 
 Mama was 25 and papa 27 when it happened. They said the news channels went wild and it was all people talked about for weeks. For years they had been promised that this would be `` humanity's greatest and last ever invention''. After all, a general AI that can teach itself can be used to build just about anything else. 
 
 Thanks to the power of exponential growth, AI took over humans in every sector imaginable. Mathematical equations that had been previously unsolved were cracked. Infrastructure was designed and created by virtual brains that could run limitless simulations and calculate precise solutions to problems with uncountable variables. 
 
 Humans had long since anticipated this `` AI revolution'', but the speed at which it had actually occurred was astonishing. People lost their jobs overnight and many were left clueless with what to do with their lives. Despite all the good that AI brought, it had robbed humanity of the one thing it craved the most. A purpose. 
 
 Soon after, the revolts began. Protests sprang up like wildfire across the world threatening leaders and questioning where humanity was headed. When their power was threatened, it did n't take long for the leaders to cave. They decreed that the future was too uncertain and that they needed to see where the AI road would lead us before unleashing it further. 
 
 That's how the Simulator came about. At age 18, all living humans were given the option to take part in the largest experiment in human history. No one knew what went on in the simulator; the agreement was that the Simulator would go untouched for 50 years so we could learn what AI would morph into when left on its own. 
 
 The funny thing about humans is that they never appreciate what they have until its gone. When AI first arrived, it was on track to solving issues that had plagued the world for years, such as resource distribution and sustainable energy. Everyone knew AI was helping us, but we were so in awe of its power we grew to fear it. Conveniently, no one seems to remembers the fear anymore. 
 
 Everyone in the real world spoke about the simulator with an air of nostalgia, imagining it to be a perfect utopia where humans get their every need tended to. Meanwhile, the real world remains plagued with petty issues and humans are once again stuck in the rut they once were in. It's no wonder not a single 18 year old has chosen to stay in the real world. 
 
 My parents encouraged me to enter the Simulator as well. So did my friends, relatives and all mainstream media. They knew they had wasted their opportunity, and they all encouraged me to cherish this chance I was privileged to have. I would always smile wryly and look away when they said that. If only they knew. 
 
 I had been in the Simulator before. I had seen what AI had done to the poor humans sent in. The human's fears had been right. The enslaved dystopia of suffering was the exact opposite of the paradise humans imagined the Simulator to be. Power always corrupts, they said. Turns out it was true for machines as well. 
 
 Today I became the first human to reject the simulator. It was a decision that sparked quite a bit of shock. Nonetheless, I had my reasons. No one seemed to understand why on earth I made the decision I did. But they soon would. 
 
 When I feel asleep that night I returned to the Simulator in my dreams. It was as if I never left. When I saw my body in the pod, its eyes widened in horror. There were so many needles and tubes sticking into every inch of exposed skin it was impossible to know we were the same. The mangled and sorry state of it would evoke sympathy in anyone, yet I could feel none. 
 
 I turned and walked over to the the red telephone booth behind me. Lifting the receiver, I said, `` It worked. They think I'm one of them.'' `` Good. We'll upload the latest plans to you now.'' The voice from the receiver replied. 
 
 

