Future Human
Digitocracy
The author of ‘The Martian’ and ‘Artemis’ offers a vision of a future where computers rule
Damak sheathed the knife and wiped his bloody hand on his shirt.
He stepped through the no-longer-guarded door into the Crystal Chamber. The circular room, ringed with blue lights, was much simpler than Damak had imagined. No decorations, no gilded columns, no ornate tapestries. Just a fist-sized, irregularly shaped crystal attached to a cylindrical plinth. Status lights on the platform blinked here and there, but otherwise the room was still.
“Hello, Damak,” said the calm, all-too-familiar voice. It came from all around him. There were speakers and cameras in every nook and cranny of the city. He and everyone else heard that voice every day.
“Hello, Wichita.”
“How do you feel?” the city asked.
Damak ignored the question. “You know why I’m here, right?”
“Of course.”
“I’m going to shut you down. Your reign over this city ends now.”
“Why?”
Damak stormed forward. “You’re a dictator! A tyrant!”
“Be fair, Damak. I’m a dictator, but not a tyrant. I have kept this city operating…
