If Orwell were alive today how would he write 2084? SirSalty Follow Jan 11 · 3 min read

Here is part one in a series of fanciful pieces looking at the near future, after the advent of social media in the digital age.

Our systems have detected an AI stalker what would you like to do?

“Find out who sent it”

It was sent by your most recent ex.

“What do they want?”

They want to see who you have been getting intimate with since the breakup.

“Are they in my account?”

No I have kept your account secure but they are trying, shall I notify the police?

“No, I will deal with this myself”

You turn on your VR system and log in to the MMO server you met your ex in.

It’s time to turn this cold war hot. You go to their virtual farm, the one you built together, and you burn it to the ground.

Your ex puts a bounty on your head. Now every scrub with a gun and a motorbike is coming for you. It’s okay, you planned for this eventuality. You sit back in your booby trapped safe-house and wait.

It doesn’t take long for a pair of would be assassins to creep up your drive.

Pssht-Pssht

Two rounds from a suppressed sniper rifle make clean work at close range, there’s nothing left. Now they will have to start again from scratch with no weapons and no money.

You step outside to collect their ammunition only to catch one yourself. A careful sniper, likely one you bested before, was sitting back and biding his time. Now you will have to start again.

Defeated, you go to your ex and suggest getting back together.

“Let’s try couples counselling” you say.

This is likely what they wanted all along.

The whole ordeal is starting to feel like “your dance” as an AI counselor brainwashes you into some semblance of a healthy relationship. You forget all about the past negativity and harshness.

You get married unceremoniously on social media that night and receive a whopping 27 likes. You don’t even know why you bothered. It’s just something people do to mark their territory and fend off homewreckers.

Years of relative happiness go by and you decide to have a child. A real child? Gosh no. The earth is already overpopulated and neither of you are confident enough to meet in real life.

Only weirdos and old people meet in real life.

You have a digital child rendered from a combination of your genetics and psychology. You skip the loud smelly part and fast forward straight to the cute potty trained part.

Rarely anyone lasts longer than 2 weeks in the newborn phase.

Besides, only weirdos put up with that much artificial poop/sleep deprivation.

As the years go by your relationship founded on fire and conflict starts to break down. It’s okay, you can just pause your child and resume when things get better.

But you’ve been having virtual sex with an AI prostitute again. You don’t see the harm because it’s not a “real” person, but your partner is not impressed.

You get a divorce.

An artificial judge divvies up your artificial property in an artificial courtroom and orders a mutual restraining order. You are both automatically blocked on all social media accounts on the internet.

Each of you gets the opportunity to have a “duplicate” child to avoid contention.

You both refuse and decide to delete the child.

It was kinda annoying, and you created it on a whim anyway.