Date: 02/11/2192

  Over the preceding 150 years, the planet and humanity had undergone severe traumas. Parts of the Earth's inhabited areas had become uninhabitable, climate zones had changed radically, and the weather had been thrown out of its previous course. Sea levels had risen, and the ice covering the poles could only be seen on virtual tours. The weather had become volatile and extreme, and parts of the planet had become uninhabitable. The human population had been halved, partly due to climate change and partly because of the famines, epidemics, and wars associated with the mass migrations., The size of the population had stabilized by this time. The dramas and guilt experienced by the survivors, and the desire to escape Earth, had forged them together. Humanity's primary goal had become to get off Earth and out of the Solar System—the great exodus. The Earth was seen as a prototype for a spacecraft, where they had to learn to live in a closed system so that the complex ecosystems of future platforms would not turn against them during a space journey.

  The majority of the remaining human population had moved into self-sufficient cities of 2-3 million people. These cities had been created by redesigning and rebuilding smaller, older settlements. Basic food, water, clothing, housing, and energy were fundamental rights for the population; the cities produced these themselves and also handled waste management. Everything, from the buildings to the city itself, was designed to provide maximum comfort with minimal energy use and near-zero waste production. Mass production provided for the needs of society with virtually no human intervention. The economy was circular, and energy was used exclusively from renewable sources. The selection of goods was not vast, but it was constantly changing, and there was no shortage of anything. Besides mass-produced goods, there were premium products. These could only be afforded by those who were competent enough to do their chosen work better than the machines. They received units of payment for their work.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  The technology used, from design to production and dismantling, was modelled after nature. Most of the traditional stone-metal-glass-plastic tools were made from artificially grown organic materials that better support reusability.