Multinational Tech Giants Team Up With Icelandic Government In World-Changing Garden of Eden Project - July 5th, 2030
Multinational Tech Giants Team Up With Icelandic Government In World-Changing Garden of Eden Project
July 5th, 2030 Global News Network Inc.
By Gillian DeMarco Editor Paul Cesaro
Imagine a future where poverty is a forgotten memory, where money is obsolete and machines service all our needs. Sounds like something out of Star Trek? We may be getting there.
Today, Gabriella Romero, Chair of the Eden Directorate, a consortium of the world's leading tech giants, has made a surprise announcement with the Icelandic Prime Minister, Joanna Sigurdottir: Iceland will be the world's first sovereign nation to take part in the Directorate's Garden of Eden Project (abbreviated GEP).
For those who are unfamiliar with the GEP, it is the blueprint for a futuristic society proposed by the Directorate. The main goals of the GEP are to 1) solve the mass unemployment crisis sweeping across the world due to the rise of automation, and 2) to ensure that the world's peoples have access to at least the basics of living. Proponents of the GEP hope that it will one day lead to a post-scarcity paradise in which machines and AI would liberate humankind from the chains of wage-slavery, thus freeing everyone to pursue their aspirations. GEP proponents believe that this will usher in a golden age of rapid scientific and technological breakthrough, which would lead to further improvements in quality of life around the globe.
So what exactly would all of this mean for Iceland?
Several members of the Directorate, including the Icelandic commercial fishing giant, Nord Atlantica, have voluntarily agreed to set aside thirty percent of their net profit to fund the experimental Garden of Eden Project. A committee appointed by the Directorate will use these funds to import goods from around the world into Iceland. Global e-commerce retail giant, Alizon, will lend its advanced AI-driven distribution network to help handle the logistics of distributing the goods directly to the Icelandic people. This massive undertaking will occur at no expense to the Icelandic government or the Icelandic people as the project will be funded entirely by the members of the Directorate.
Eventually, the Icelandic government will phase out circulation of the krona, the Icelandic currency. In its stead, a 'token' system will be instituted. Citizens can use their tokens to purchase luxury items not provided as part of their standard living package. Tokens can be earned by doing work or they can be granted as rewards for those who contribute to the scientific and cultural progress of the human species.
Many have wondered what would be included in the standard living package. Chairperson Gabriella Romero has provide a detailed list, which can be found here (link). In short, each and every Icelandic citizen would be entitled to a generous and varied meal plan. Every day of the week, they would have something new to eat, from pizza to sushi. For picky eaters, they can select from a menu and formulate their own meal plans. Everyday household items such as detergent, soap, toothpaste, and toilet paper will be provided as well. Twice a year, citizens will be able to pick out a new set of clothes, and they'll be able to choose from a wide a selection of the hottest designer brands.
Perhaps the most interesting item on this list is that each and every citizen will receive a top-of-the-line personal computer complete with a QuantumSoft Hologlass VR headset. Gabriella has hinted that Icelandic citizens will be among the first to experience a secret and wondrous world that the Directorate has been building for the past several years. This has VR gamers all around the world salivating at the thought of what the Directorate has in store for them.
Many may be wondering why the members of the Directorate would willingly agree to fund such a project. This is Gabriella's answer:
“Given the rapid rise of AI and automation over the past quarter century, it is becoming increasingly difficult for humans workers to compete with their machine counterparts. As such, though mass automation has vastly increased the collective wealth of our species, the overwhelming majority of this wealth has accrued to only a fraction of a fraction of a percent of the human population. To these lucky few, it is our moral duty to ensure that the rest of humanity is not left behind in the dust. We invented machines to serve humankind, not to replace us. Therefore, the tremendous wealth produced by our machines must be given over to the people. If we do not do this, we will face a crisis of the likes that history has never seen before; thus, it is in all our best interests to move forward – together – to a glorious and prosperous future.”
The above is a work of fiction. Any similarities to persons, places or events are entirely coincidental.
And in case you're wondering what this is all about, I'm providing the backstory to my novel, Red Eden: Homeworld Bound, through a series of propaganda news articles. If the backstory has you intrigued, please support me by clicking here and purchasing my novel on Amazon.com.
Cheers!
Michael E. Vigil