[ WP ] In 50 years from now , the world has changed- but not as anyone expected .

Dale did n't care, that was his most prominent characteristic, he simply did not care. and he was pretty happy about it, not caring is what made him reach the ripe old age of 17. 
 
 He was lodged comfortably in his office chair staring at the blank monitor and typing series of arbitrary words on the disconnected keyboard. It was a nice warm day, like all days were now. 
 
 It's hard to point out exactly when things changed, more and more jobs became obsolete, basic income was introduced, the era of creativity, learning, of the human spirit free from labor did not last long. 
 
 uprisings, extremist ideologies, the human spirit was reluctant to accept absolute freedom from carnal responsibilities. it aspired to change, grow and take part of the world. That lead to the creation of mandatory government programs that would put the unemployed into work. It started with community services, working with children, gardening. but as the useful workforce dwindled and replaced by machines there was a need to create a more reliable mean to keep people occupied. 
 
 Originally it was a piece of software that was designed to create a parallel market where people would produce widgets of no tangible value. fake products. it employed people from every facet of the workforce. useless marketers, useless factory line works, useless managers. mankind was being slowly turned into a play, reenacting their own former lifestyle. 
 
 People started to fight back, the machines, which already controlled food, healthcare, policing did what they were designed to do. naturally they were not allowed to kill or arrest without anyone breaking the law. but they were allowed to deny service to `` problematic'' customers. people started dying, and eventually started to comply. 
 
 At some point the machines decided manufacturing actual widgets is redundant, there was no value to the process beyond simply going to work, that sufficed to pacify a reasonable size of the population. they were only required to go through the motions of going to work, sitting at their desks and pretending to work. for that they were paid basic income and given health care. 
 
 
 Dale did n't care. He was alive, the feat of human endurance for his time, to simply be alive. 
 

