Useful Dystopiots: The Absurd Arena Live Discussion Board

Live chat at 12pm EST with Katie and Wilson in the Substack app chat!

Click here to join the live discussion board with Katie and Wilson in the Substack app chat

Hey Useful Idiots,

As we progress more and more into technological utopia, with AI growing to understand our every need and government sifting information to tell us what we should know, as phones eliminate unnecessary interaction and our homes become absolute cells we never need to leave, I sometimes wonder: what if our utopia isn’t as perfect as it seems?

But then I stare back into the endless abyss my iPhone allows me to get sucked into and the thoughts, both positive and negative, slip comfortably away into numbness.

I’ve been reading dystopian short stories lately and, somehow even dating back to 1909, they all seem to perfectly predict today’s insane dystopia. How they knew, even before screens and robots and cars and planes existed, so clearly where our governments and technology would lead us, I don’t understand. But they proved it’s possible, and if they can do it, so can the Useful Idiots.

Today we’re writing a futuristic scifi novel. What elements of dystopia do you predict humans will live to see? What new forms of technological and psychological control will the government have in 100 years? What’s something that will seem normal to future humans that we can’t even comprehend today, like AI and screens and spaceships to the people of 1909?

Join Katie and Wilson at 12pm est to share your favorite dystopian short stories and novels, and then let’s predict our own dystopic future. The more control, the better.