Dictatorship 4.0: How the digital revolution threatens our freedom - and what our alternatives are

by Dirk Helbing (ETH Zurich/TU Delft)

Finally, it has become obvious that mass surveillance applies not only to terrorists, but to everyone! As Wikileaks recently revealed, more than $100 billion was spent by the CIA alone to hack our computers, smartphones, smart TVs, and even smart cars, and to tap our data on a regular basis. This equates to more than $1 billion per terrorist!

In today’s surveillance capitalism, we are the product. All of our clicks in the Internet are being recorded and evaluated. About each of us, more data have been collected than secret services of totalitarian states have ever had in the past. Meanwhile, some information systems know us better than our parents, friends and partners - or even ourselves!

What is this data collection all about? It is done in order to learn about our preferences and weaknesses and make us all manipulable. Personalized information can influence our attention, our emotions, opinions, decision-making and behavior. It is easier than ever to motivate us to purchase certain products or manipulate our voting behavior in democratic elections. If you want to find more detailed information about all this, the relevant keywords are "Neuromarketing", "Persuasive Computing", "Social Computing", and "Big Nudging".

These technologies are increasingly threatening our democracy and domestic peace. Social bots – robotic bloggers - bias public opinion in a much more powerful way than propaganda and censorship in the past. We have ended up in a post-fact society, in which fake news is increasingly difficult to distinguish from the truth. If you and I click the same link, we may see different content. While this is well known for booking platforms, personalized content is also spreading in news portals in the Internet. It is even possible to manipulate Youtube videos in real time: both facial expressions and what is being said can be changed without the observer noticing. So we can’t anymore rely on digital content. Remember, for example, Michael Jackson's "Slave to the Rhythm" video – it was produced after his death!

But that's not all. Each one of us has a digital double. This is a kind of blackbox, which is fed with our personal data. This data has usually been tapped without our knowledge and, thanks to machine learning, the resulting double behaves similar to us. What is the intended purpose of such digital doubles? World simulations such as "Sentient World" can simulate global war games on computers. But your digital double could also be used to identify the best ways to trick you into buying a particular product, downloading a Trojan onto your PC to make it hackable, or to hate particular colleagues, neighbors, or fellow human beings. In addition, one could find out who would protest if democracy or the freedom of press were abolished, and these people could be incarcerated proactively “for the sake of public security” - the keyword here is "predictive policing".

Since the "Arab Spring", such technologies have increasingly been used to destabilize states or to stabilize autocratic regimes. Since then, they have been continuously improved. Now, such cyber weapons are also applied to the own citizens. These technologies are suited to replace democracy – which many IT visionaries have called an "outdated technology" - with a data-driven "benevolent dictatorship". All what is needed for this is a big disaster or crisis fueling a public outcry for "more security". Then, the technological instruments of the "brave new world" might be fully used. Read the book "iGod" by Willemijn Dicke to understand how this could end. It’s an urgent warning, a final wake-up call!

In the event of a crisis, the Chinese "Citizen Score" would probably be applied, too. The Citizen Score boils all of your data down to a single number (which by the way encompasses your health data, which can continuously be monitored and evaluated by your smartphone). This number comprises all of your activities and your social network as well. You repaid your loan with a delay? Minus points! You read critical news about your government? Minus points! You have the “wrong” friends? Minus points! In any case, the resulting Citizen Score would determine your interest rates, the jobs offered to you, and travel visa for other countries - at least in China.

A similar system exists in the UK, where the Citizen Score is called "Karma Police". It also evaluates the videos you watch on the Internet and the radio programs you hear. Don’t believe such scoring systems do not exist everywhere by now! What is their purpose, you might ask? The Citizen Score would serve to decide who will get access to what kinds of resources, when they get scarce! Such scarcity may also be artificially produced, for example, to reach the goal of reducing global CO2 emissions and mitigate climate change. It is said that a related resolution of the UN General Assembly will be adopted on September 23, 2017. 

As a result, the Citizen Score would lead to a neo-feudal society. You can imagine who is most enthusiastic about the prospect of this system and who has brought it to life… If you have a high score, you will get everything you desire, no matter how bad the situation in the rest of the world are. The people who commissioned the system would certainly be among this tiny elite. For the rest of us, it would depend on our Citizen Score whether we could still have a car, obtain certain medicine, or eat meat regularly. In order to get plus rather than minus points, many would not question the instructions through their smart devices – they would just follow them. Thus, people may soon be turned from citizens into subordinates again. 

This sounds like a terribly dystopian science fiction - but unfortunately it is not! The technologies described above are available and ready for use. You might wonder why all this has been developed? The answer is that our economy is not sustainable! The world consumes 1.5 times the resources that are renewable. A typical European country consumes 3.5 times as much, and the USA 4.5 times as much. In order to avoid serious crises and disasters, humanity must quickly reduce this factor to one. The Citizen Score might help to get in this direction, but we would then live in a digital command economy with digital food stamps - a more totalitarian world than ever! For the most part, this would not be a life worth living anymore - we would simply struggle for survival. 

There are much better ways to create a sustainable world by 2030! So far, however, these alternatives have been blocked by people with vested interests who care more about power and wealth than about our future. Here are some options: First of all, we could regularly organize City Olympics, where cities around the world would regularly compete for the best environmental-friendly, energy-efficient, resource-saving and crisis-proof solutions. There would be different fields of competition, as well as various "weight classes" (small and large cities, for example). 

This competition would involve science, but also business, politics and the media. In particular, mobilizing the people to use resources more efficiently and to buy more environmentally-friendly products and technologies would be important. Information about the best technologies, organizational principles and mobilization strategies could then be exchanged between the cities every other year. This strategy implies a combination of competition and cooperation between cities. Moreover, if the resulting innovations were made available for free in the spirit of "Open Innovation", the solutions could be further developed by everyone. This would lead to a fast and widespread adoption of the best solutions. 

Second, the financial and monetary system, which has been in crisis for years, should be replaced with a socio-ecological “finance system 4.0+”. This would work as follows: Using the sensors of the Internet of Things, which are also in our smartphones, we could measure the impact of our actions on the environment and other people. This would enable us to quantify "negative externalities" such as noise, CO2, and all sorts of waste. Similarly, "positive externalities" such as cooperation, education, health, and the recycling of resources could also be measured. Using Blockchain technology – similar to the one behind the digital currency "Bitcoin" - different externalities could then be assigned a price or value. This would lead to a multi-dimensional incentive or financial system, which would be good for the real-time control of complex systems. 

With suitable incentives, the financial system could be aligned with social values ​​and environmental requirements. In this way, new market forces could be unleashed, which would bring about a circular and sharing economy. This could provide a high quality of life for more people with fewer resources. It would also benefit companies, citizens and the state alike.

Third, so-called “market-conform democracy”, which has obviously not solved the world’s problems and has weakened our democracy, could be replaced by "democratic capitalism". This would reinvent the way money is being created. Instead of feeding billions of fresh Euros into the system from the top, as it is the case with "quantitative easing", an "investment premium" would be transferred to a special bank account of each citizen. However, this money could not be used for yourself or saved. It would have to be invested in good ideas, projects and commitments of others, such that you could support whatever you consider important and right. This would be like "crowdfunding for all", or an economic “right to vote” for investments that affect yourself. If such an approach were combined with Open Data and Open Innovation, it would drive rapid and pluralistic innovation, which would lead to much faster and more flexible solutions of humanity's problems. 

These are just some of the untapped opportunities we have. An upgrade of democracy to boost “collective intelligence” and coordination by means of digital platforms would also be possible. All of these proposals are perfectly compatible with the fundamental values ​​of our society. Democracy and capitalism - so far the two most successful forms of organization in human history - could be “happily married” with each other and digitally upgraded. In this way, we could tackle the problems of the future more successfully - and reach the next level of our economic, social, political and cultural system. A new chapter of the history is about to begin. It's now up to us to write it! 

For further information, please visit the FuturICT youtube channel and blog. This video gives a good overview. Sources and documents can be found here:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/316989750_The_Dream_to_Control_the_World_-_and_Why_it_is_Failing

Dirk Helbing is Professor of Computational Social Science at ETH Zurich and also affiliated to its Computer Science Department. He received an honorary PhD at TU Delft, where he coordinates the PhD school “Engineering Social Technologies for a Responsible Digital Future”. Helbing is also member of the German Academy of Sciences “Leopoldina” and serves in various committees related to the digital society.

Citizen Score

by Dirk Helbing (ETH Zurich/TU Delft)

Chapter 3: Citizen Score 

of the forthcoming book THE GOLDEN AGE – How to Build a Better Digital Society

Previous chapter:CLICK Chapter 1
Previous chapter:CLICK Chapter 2 

 
If we extrapolate the growth of inequality in the world and consider the growth of debt over time, it is not so far-fetched to assume that, one day, the great majority of the wealth of the world would be in the hands of just a few people, or even just one person. Poverty is not just a problem of developing countries. We also have more than 45 million people living on food stamps in the USA.

Hence, one day, the exchange of goods based on buying and selling in a common, open market place would not work any longer. According to the OECD, the World Economic Forum, and the International Monetary Funds, the degree of inequality is strangling the economic development already now. You may wonder how people would buy goods and services in the future.

The following is a possible approach. Suppose all people had an electronic identity under which all sorts of data about people is being stored. Furthermore, assume that all people would be characterized by a number, which would determine its rank in society, based on criteria determined by those who govern the world. Let us call this number the Citizen Score. Than this score could be used to decide rights of access to a certain service or good. Assume that there are Mercedes cars for 20 million people in the world. Then, among all people interested in such a car, those people who have the highest ranks would get this car. The same thing would apply to anything else.

In such a system, money would not be needed anymore. Your reputation or name would by the good or service of your liking – if your rank is just high enough. You would just have to present the identity chip, a tiny little thing in your forehand, and that would be it! No money bills, no coins, no credit cards. You would just have to present your identity chip. This sounds quite comfortable – as long as you would be entitled to get the good or service you are up to. If you are not, then there would be no chance whatsoever to get access to this good or service. There would not be any money to buy it for you.

Currently, of course, many of us are enjoying a life that offers many of us more than we actually need. In our consumer societies, there is quite a bit of luxury, and the number of people who lack food or shelter seem to be relatively small in industrialized societies. However, this would not hold forever. If the Limit to Growth study, Global 2000, and other simulation studies about the world’s future in face of dwindling resources are right, we would soon run into all kinds of possible resource shortages. In fact, these models predict serious economic collapse for the very near future, and a drastic reduction of the world population from 2030 onwards.

In such a world, many of the resources that most people in industrialized societies are enjoying today would become a luxury, which would be restricted to a small societal elite. This could include the use of water and electricity, the availability of medicine, the availability of meat, the right to use a car, and many more things. In such a society, people would struggle to improve their Citizen Score to obtain slightly better living conditions. They would desperately try to fulfil the expectations of those who rule the world by determining the way the Citizen Score works.

Therefore, the Citizen Score is a governance system, not just a payment system. It would define a perfectly hierarchical system, in other words, a new kind of data-driven feudalism. If your Citizen Score is high enough, you will get “everything for free”. If it is low, you will have to be lucky to get certain products or services at all – even those that may be needed to survive. For example, if the number of available immunization shots in case of a global pandemic are small, your Citizen Score could easily decide over your life or death. The ethical issues of such a system have recently been discussed in the science fiction novel “iGod” by Willemijn Dicke.

The Citizen Score is also intended to decide about the jobs one could get and the countries one might visit. In other words, the Citizen Score system would influence all spheres of life. Particularly, when resources get short, the Citizen Score is a tool that can be used to reduce consumption by any amount needed or wanted. Such resource shortages could also be artificially introduced. For example, the world has recently faced surprising shortages of certain kinds of medicines, which were previously available in sufficient amounts. So, what kind of data would decide about your future fate?

Pretty much any kind of data. Your consumption habits. Your behaviour. Your interests and reading patterns. For example, if you read articles that are critical of government policies, this would generate minus points. If you would make negative comments on social media platforms, this would be even worse. So, any kind of public dissent would be punished. Your health conditions and whether you are doing something for your fitness would be considered as well. Furthermore, your eating habits might also be considered. Excess consumption of fat, sugar or meet might be negatively rated. Above all, it is not just your own behaviour that matters, but also the behaviour of your friends, family, neighbours or colleagues. So, if you meet people with a low Citizen Score, it would reduce your score as well.

If you think this dystopian nightmare could not happen to Western democracies, you must be warned. One of the revelations of Edward Snowden on mass surveillance concerned a similar system in Great Britain, called “Karma Police”. This system also considers the videos you watch on the Internet, and even the radio programs and songs you are listening to. Moreover, WikiLeaks’s recent Vault 7 revelations have shown that the CIA has been hacking basically all our electronic devices, from smartphones to smart TVs, and all services from Skype to WhatsApp.

It is also known that online newspapers report your reading habits to about 10 companies collecting data about you, and that all the links you have clicked in the past years are evaluated by more than 40 authorities in the United Kingdom, even if you deleted them. It would be highly naïve to assume that this data is just being used to determine criminals and terrorists. It is highly likely that the personal data collected about us – mostly without our knowledge – is being used to determine Citizen Scores, to produce digital doubles of use for the purpose of computer simulation, to target us for particular products and services, and to manipulate our attention, opinions, emotions, decisions and behaviours with personalized information (Big Nudging).

Besides mass surveillance, behavioural manipulation by Big Nudging, and Citizen Scores, there is a further tool that we need to get concerned about: predictive policing. What is currently being used to prevent or reduce terrorism, crime, and drug consumption, can be easily extended to minorities, intellectuals and dissidents. Suppose the government would plan to implement a new policy that people may not agree with. Then, it would be possible to determine likely opponents beforehand and to lock them away in order to avoid public resistance.

It is clear that all the measures taken together are perfect tools to run an autocratic or even totalitarian society. Once they exist, it is very likely that they would be misused sooner or later. Do we have sufficient awareness and safeguards against such misuse – against the creation of a data-driven dictatorship or technological totalitarism? Unfortunately, doubts are in place. This is the more concerning, as the technology to run a data-driven dictatorship are already in place – and it is hard to believe that such a dictatorship would be “benevolent”, as some people seem to suggest. It is time to wake up and build another kind of digital society! How could it look like?

For more, CLICK "The dream to control the world and why it is failing"

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iGod, Chapter 6: Amazing Plants

The long strokes of Splinter’s tongue made a rhythmic, sopping sound. It was perfectly content, licking the bloodstains on its forelegs. ‘You evil murderer’, said Lex when he pulled his dog to his laboratory table. Lex had done a search for mammals with a similar shape as Splinter’s prey, but so far he had not found a match. No single animal, other than human babies perhaps, had the unusually large size of the head compared to the rest of the body and other than bats, he found no mammals with wings.

Other chapters:

• Chapter 1
• Chapter 2
• Chapter 3
• Chapter 4
• Chapter 5 
• Chapter 6

A new set of clothes laid on his ClothingHelp, slightly smarter than usual with a freshly ironed shirt and tight trousers. His ClothingHelp, being synchronized with his diary, was usually right in its choice, but now Lex felt this outfit was a bit too over-dressed. After all, it was just a dinner with his neighbor, no big deal. He did not want Diana to think that he expected anything more. On the other hand it could also be impolite to be underdressed in his jeans and eternal T-shirt. ‘Okay, I follow your advice’, Lex spoke out loud in his empty apartment.

He still had time before seven. He quickly zoomed in on ‘Breaking News’. In the city of New Delhi, half of the inhabitants of a home for elderly people had died a mysterious death. So far the Inspection had not found a virus or bacteria or any other obvious cause of their death. It was a conundrum how 156 people could have died within 12 hours, and how 164 clients did not have any health problems at all. The city had appointed a commission to investigate this mystery. More news would follow later.

Then Lex checked a job vacancy. Although he was utterly chanceless with his profile (healthy, young, trained graduated biologist) he still needed to do a minimum of one application per six weeks in order to keep his BaseSalary at this level. Last week, he had made a short video. So far he had not received a rejection and he started to hope that his application might even been considered for this job. He sent a message to the Human Resource officer to ask about the follow-up procedure. The OpportunityBot answered that his application was not known. ‘But I uploaded my video on Thursday, at 3 pm!’ He sent the activity log as proof. ‘I am sorry to hear that. We have not, I repeat NOT received your video.’ ‘I can resend my video’, Lex said. ‘Application date is closed. Sorry for any inconvenience. Good luck next time’, the OpportunityBot concluded the session.

‘Damn!’ Lex yelled and he pushed a chair against the table and he breathed heavily.

He was completely sure that he sent his video – a kid could perform this task blindfolded. How could it be that they had not received his application? He looked up the contact details of the university ombudsman, but when he started to state his formal complaint, he already knew he would never win his argument against a bot and he quit this screen, too.

Lex switched the projection off. He removed old leaves from his plants and cleaned the glass tubes that he had used to fill them with bacteria and plant material. The contact with the plants immediately eased his mind and he started to breathe normally again.

In the experiment that was interrupted by the power outage, Lex had taken material from the Forsythia to transfer the bright yellow color to the bacteria. He had done similar tests in the university laboratory, a couple of years ago. Due to the power failure the experiment could not proceed. During the simple task of cleaning the tools, Lex suddenly shouted, softly but enthusiastically: ‘Yes!’ and even made a miniscule jump in the air. ‘Yes, yes, yes!’

It occurred to Lex that the combination of bacteria and plants might actually be a way out to the immobility of plant communication. In his quest for speed, he had looked for possibilities to transport the plants. He thought about plant pots on wheels, pushed by robots or transported by drones – that kind of solutions. This was the wrong route! The answer had been in his hands all the time. Why did he see it only now! He rubbed his hands and paced around his laboratory table.

Man, he was thrilled! This intellectual excitement was better than having sex, or consuming drugs! It was rare, but he has had a handful of such insightful moments before. It was like he had opened a door he had previously overlooked, and suddenly he could see ten or twenty new doors behind that door. These doors had been there behind the closed door all along, but he had not been able to see them before. Now that this one was open, there were many new possibilities waiting for him! Splinter joined Lex in his delight and toddled in small circles around Lex’ feet, looking upwards to his boss with his head askew, with the same posture when he received his meals.

Bacteria cover tiny distances when they move by themselves. However, if their travel is airborne, or in water or with the help of animals, for example on the skin of the hands of people, they can travel huge distances. If these bacteria could then start or stop the plant communication… Lex wanted to dictate his theory to his SmartHouseProgram like he usually did, but suddenly he remembered the ‘no device’ imperative that Seldon had introduced. He took his tablet and scribbled down his assumptions, logical links and conclusions. However, he decided to add also meaningless formulas and notes in between to obfuscate his true interests. Incidentally he asked his SmartHouseProgram to project a scientific publication or to import a hologram of parts of a molecule, but he made sure that he also asked for publications and DNA structures and genomes that were totally off-topic. He looked up articles and he went through unpublished reports of experiments. The whole exercise was sheer happiness. Oh man, Seldon would be so amazed tomorrow! Now he only had to dive into the issue how…

‘Hi neighbor, you are welcome…’ a message on his personal device from Diana. It was half past 7 already.

Oh my dear, how could I miss my appointment! ‘On my way! Well, almost!’

He went up the stairs to Diana’s apartment. She lived on the seventh floor.

‘Thanks for texting me. I was in the middle of something.’

‘19.35 is still seven-ish – I would say’, Diana helped him with the greeting. Lex was happy that he had changed his clothes to smart casual, since his neighbor was also dressed to the occasion, in a sporty though smart grey dress. Her makeup was light, used with the intention that it was all-natural, much to his approval. He could now admit to himself that he had feared he would meet the sexless office-Diana.

‘Should I remove my shoes?’ Lex asked since he had noticed she walked bare feet.

‘Whatever feels good to you.’

This was not a very specific instruction. After an instance of doubt, Lex decided to take off his shoes. Diana invited him to her kitchen table. Her apartment was slightly smaller than his. She had those typical things that were supposed to make homes cozy: projections of landscapes, a rug and curtains. She had even set the table, with two proper plates, cutlery and two fancy glasses. Since he had left his parent’s home, he had never dined like this.

It occurred to Lex that he should have brought something for dinner, like flowers or alcohol or chocolate. ‘Too little too late,’ his internal headmaster reprimanded him.

‘So I wanted to order an alcohol dispenser, but I did not know what would blend in best with the meal – what do you recommend? Then I order it right away’, Lex bluffed.

‘You mean you forgot to buy me something? Don’t worry. It is good enough you are here’, Diana laughed. She took an alcohol dispenser from her kitchen sink and waited for instructions how he liked his alcohol best. He did not dare to order the way he usually consumed alcohol: the highest percentage possible in the taste of gin or whiskey. He did not drink alcohol on a daily base, but if he did so, he was a result-drinker. Now he chose a modest permillage in the taste of wine.

‘How is your drone doing?’ Lex asked.

‘It is perfect now, thanks. You did an excellent job. For a biologist, you are pretty handy with drones, aren’t you?’

‘I am even better with plants.’

Diana hummed and poured two glasses with wine-tasting alcohol.

‘I saw you are a lawyer, or prosecutor, I forgot, sorry. I am not familiar with these labels in your field – for you it is worlds apart probably.’

Lex and Diana toasted with their glasses.

‘I once were, first a lawyer and then a prosecutor, indeed. These services have been fully robotized. Now I am working in a home for the elderly.’ She said it blank, without expression. Lex found it hard to read Diana’s face. ‘And what kind of work do you do?’

‘Paid or unpaid?’ Lex asked.

‘Work is no longer defined by payment, I would say. I did not ask who your boss is, did I?’ Diana laughed.

‘The easy answer is I work with plants.’

‘Ok. And you want me to ask what the difficult answer is?’

‘Hmm, not really. I like this dispenser Blend. Is it a BordeauxBlend? If I am not mistaken, I taste scents and flavors of cassis, blackberry, dark cherry, vanilla, black cherry, coffee bean, spice and even some licorice’, said Lex.

 ‘Did you learn the wine guide by heart or is it your way of conversation on a first date?’

Lex did not know what to answer and he filled the silence with another gulp of his wine.

‘This is a good time to serve dinner, I guess.’ Diana went to her sink and the plates were nicely presented, with five different compartments for the macro- and micronutrients.

He was very happy to see that she poured more drinks for them. Lex tried to make eye contact, but Diana avoided his gaze.

‘So now I would like to order some alcohol for the after party.’

‘In case there will be an after party.’

Lex ordered an alcohol dispenser in single malt quality, to be delivered within the hour.

‘Plants,’ Diana reminded him of the initial conversation.

‘Yes, I do experiments with plants. I am still not entirely sure whether my plant experiments qualify as dinner subject.’

‘Check it out.’

‘What I currently do is to transpose qualities of plants, let’s say illumination, color, fragrance, on to bacteria. So far I have failed unnecessarily and grandiosely, thanks to EnergyAmsterdam’s power outages.’ Lex took a bite of his food. It tasted even worse than the meals he prepared himself.

‘Okay – this transfer of certain traits of plants and flowers to bacteria has been done before. What is your interest in all this?’

‘The real reason is that I just like to putter around in my home laboratory and solve problems that I invented in the first place. I once read a book on career choices. In that book, two types of people were described. The first one likes to be a dancer. This kind of person has a clear-cut image of what ‘being a dancer’ entails and dreams of being a famous dancer, one day. The other type does not mind about the image of being a dancer, she just loves the actual act of dancing. She dances every day, before an audience or without anyone. I am more of the second type. I am a biologist, currently without a regular employment.’

Diana was somewhat disappointed.

Lex did not dear to mention that the reason behind his experiments was to develop an alternative communication system – afraid that her SmartHouseProgram would pick up more of the conversation than desirable. Lex described some of the successful transmissions of plant characteristics to bacteria he had already realized. She had listened carefully and asked several questions, no single stupid one. Diana poured another round of wine for both of them.

‘And why do I think that there is more to it than just tinkering with your tubes and infrared heating beam?’

She looked at him, and now he saw her grey-blue eyes. He felt pinpricks in the tips of his fingers.

‘Fair question but really, I am afraid I will not know when to stop the nerdy nitty gritty once I have started. Please, now it is your turn.’

‘To tell what?’

‘Well, anything.’

Lex tried to think of suitable questions and topics. There was a short silence.

‘How is your work?’ Lex attempted to reboot the conversation.

‘I have a double degree in psychology and law. I used to prosecute international political villains in the International Court of Justice in The Hague. I worked with the brightest people. And now, I am reduced to a pair of hands, washing and feeding the elderly who are fading away. So, what do you want me to say about my current job?’ Diana laughed shrilly and Lex felt she was even a bit hostile towards him.

At that moment he received a message that the delivery drone would soon reach the apartment.

‘Excuse me for a moment, I have to collect my order.’ Lex went down the stairs in his socks, slipped on the smooth steps, fell, and hurt himself. He returned with empty hands and looked desolate. In the meantime, Diana had cleaned up the dinner table.

‘The dispenser was delivered directly to my apartment window. I paid for it.’ Diana said. Lex felt bad. ‘How much do I owe you?’

‘Nothing.’

‘Shall we have a drink?’ Lex pointed at the parcel..

‘Sorry, I have a maddening headache. I hoped it would go away after a few pills, but it still plows my skull. I guess I should have cancelled this dinner. I am sorry’, Diana said.

She pushed him gently to the doorstep. ‘We can have a drink of the single malt another time.’

‘Ok. Get well soon’, Lex said somewhat dazed.

When Lex came home it was not even eight o’clock. Undoubtedly, this was his quickest and probably worst date ever. He waited for Splinter to come up to him, but his dog ignored him, too. He took one of his own tumblers and poured himself a single malt from his own dispenser, sitting at the laboratory table. He filled the glass up to the edge. Only then he realized he had forgotten, in all the consternation, to feed his dog.

‘Come here boy’, and he filled Splinter’s manger.

Of all unresolved puzzles, the irrational behavior of his neighbor was the most annoying. Why did she invite him first and then send him away like a schoolboy? Did he say anything wrong? Did he smell? He sniffed his armpits. Or perhaps she really suffered from a headache.

He had no lust to engage in something and decided to consume the news. First the rates of the currencies, shares, and raw materials were shown. The price of water per gallon showed a remarkably steep increase, which was good news for water-exporting countries like the Netherlands or Sweden. Then the program reported. Probably 62 passengers, the pilot, co-pilot and 2 stewards were killed, this 6^th of April. The exact number had yet to be confirmed. No terrorist organization had claimed this crash, but a terrorist attack was likely, they said. The negotiations for the Global Summit on Energy for the 21^st century were just ahead. The main issue was the trade and registration of CO2 emissions in the fight against climate change. It seemed to Lex that the opponents of the new carbon tax largely outnumbered the politicians, who wanted to push it through.

Lex tried to find an overview of the terrorist attacks in the past 40 years, but that was not available. He looked up the facts and figures from different sources, combined the data in one longitudinal overview. The assaults had increased steeply, just like he had expected. In fact the number of incidents had quadrupled in the last year. Looking at the number of victims, there was even a factor of 10.

He ordered the SmartHouseProgram to close the news and to open MultiLayer. Judged by the meager results, the wines and whiskey started to kick in.

Other chapters:

• Chapter 1
• Chapter 2
• Chapter 3
• Chapter 4
• Chapter 5 
• Chapter 6

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Novel by Willemijn Dick, inspired and introduced by Dirk Helbing
License: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND)