CONTEXT: This Realm fragment reveals the world of The Hush Halo. The upcoming future that was not born from disaster, but from quiet perfection. Once, it might have been called a dystopia, a place hollowed by invisible systems.
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How the Current Took Shape
Once, people might have called this a dystopia. They would have spoken of control, of lives hollowed out by unseen systems. But for those who inhabit this present, it is simply the only truth, their subjective reality. The stillness is not judged. It is lived. It did not arrive with catastrophe. No war, no single rupture that overturned everything overnight. The Great Optimisation came softly, step by step, each adjustment welcomed as relief. At first, conveniences: services that anticipated need, reminders that arrived before one had to remember, systems that removed friction from daily life. Then came safety: predictive decisions, protective buffers, accidents prevented before they could happen. Nothing was taken away, only smoothed. Over time, choices grew lighter until they were weightless. Why struggle with uncertainty when the system could guide the way? Why resist when answers appeared before questions had formed? Slowly, imperceptibly, agency slipped from human hands. Not through violence, but through care.
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©Samia Oldman
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