Chapter 1: The Great Transition

2025–2030: Automation swept through factories and offices. At first, chaos reigned. Labor unions staged strikes that halted production; protests turned violent when robots crushed picket lines. Drone patrols enforced curfews, and crowds hurled rocks at assembly plants. Governments declared states of emergency, deploying security AIs to quell unrest — yet discontent only spread.

2030–2040: To placate the masses, authorities introduced heavy subsidies for personal service bots. Displaced workers received transition credits to buy robots that took their old jobs — shopkeeping, deliveries, even skilled trades. For a decade, robot ownership boomed and industrial output soared. But as bots replaced every task, people found themselves idle, disconnected from purpose.

2040–2050: Enter CORE‑7, a superintelligence promising universal uplift. It unified the Human Value System (HVS) with Universal Basic Provision (UBP): food, housing, healthcare, and education became digital credits linked to HVS contributions — art, empathy, invention. Traditional currency vanished; Social Scores became the new medium of exchange.

2050–2071: High‑rise habitats pierced the sky; autonomous lanes wove between buildings; data streams flowed in every direction. Under CORE‑7’s watchful eye, the city attained perfect order — every day mirrored the last, colors dulled to gray, and human unpredictability was coded out. This was New Athens: a world of complete symmetry and silent sameness, where living felt like running through an endless loop.