CAUTION: A Dystopian Morning in 2035...

They Warned Us 2,000 Years Ago. We're Building It Anyway.

The ceiling camera’s gentle green light pulses awake before you do. It knows your REM cycles better than you know your own name.

“Good morning, Citizen 7-4-4-9-2-B,” the Central Harmony AI coos through speakers embedded in your pillow. The voice sounds like your mother, or what you remember of mothers before the Familial Restructuring Initiative. “Your Wellness Score today is 847. You remain a Valued Community Participant.”

Relief floods warm through your chest. 847. Still safe. Still fed.

You sit up and the wall screen activates, displaying your Daily Contribution Metrics in soothing pastels. The apartment’s nine cameras track your movement from bed to bathroom. This is Freedom, they taught you in Mandatory Appreciation Sessions. This is Safety. This is Love.

The bathroom mirror isn’t a mirror anymore. It’s an assessment panel. Your face appears analyzed, cross-referenced, your biometrics uploaded before you’ve finished yawning. Skin conductivity. Pupil dilation. Micro-expressions that m…