How to fix a shit society? Digital warfare and mass execution

'We can't hide completely,' I stated, my mental voice echoing in our shared mindscape, a sense of finality underlying my words. 'Not in this city. Not with their level of surveillance.'

We were back in Apartment 1906, the cityscape sprawling beneath us, a rotten facade masking an even more rotten core.

I'd spent the past week, subjectively, considering our little mindscape trick- probing the depths of the Net, testing the limits of my technokinesis, mapping out the city's digital infrastructure.

Even if it only took three hours externally.

'The best I can do is make it look like the 'access point' for our technokinesis is two thousand meters above Night City.'

'But they'll still know we're here,' Ram countered, her thoughts sharp, pragmatic. 'In Night City, I mean. All our activity, all the systems we manipulate, it all points back to Night City.'

'And that's a problem?' Rem's mental voice was calm, questioning.

'It's a problem if they decide to get… drastic,' I explained, a chilling image of a mushroom cloud blooming over the cityscape flashing through our shared mindscape. 'If they decide that the risk of us dismantling their precious system is worth sacrificing an entire city, then they'll nuke this place without hesitation.'

The thought sent a shiver down my spine, a visceral reminder of the fragility of life, the destructive power that humanity wielded, the ease with which they could obliterate everything for no goddamn reason.

'So, we take away their biggest stick,' Ram stated, her thoughts echoing my own grim realization. 'We disable the nukes. All of them.'

'It's the only way to ensure they don't use them,' I agreed, my mental voice grim, resolute. 'If they don't have nukes, there is no nuclear option. Simple, but effective.'

We divided the world into three sectors, each of us taking responsibility for a third of the planet's nuclear arsenal.

It was a daunting task, a race against time, a digital blitzkrieg against the instruments of annihilation.

But we were ready.

We unleashed our technokinesis, our minds merging with the global network, our wills reaching across continents, our power flowing through the digital veins of the world.

We targeted launch systems, guidance computers, detonation mechanisms- any system, any device, any microchip that could be exploited, corrupted, disabled. 

It didn't matter if the nukes themselves weren't directly connected to the Net; as long as they had a vulnerable point, we could reach them.

Missiles sat inert in their silos, their targeting systems locked, their launch codes scrambled. Submarines, their nuclear payloads rendered useless, plunged to the depths of the ocean, their crews trapped in a silent, watery tomb. 

Mobile launchers, their engines sputtering, their guidance systems haywire, ground to a halt, their deadly cargo harmless.

The world, oblivious to the silent coup that had just taken place, continued to spin, its inhabitants going about their lives, their petty conflicts, their insatiable greed, their blind faith in technology, unaware that the ultimate weapon, the one that had held them hostage for so long, had been neutralized.

Panic, however, was rippling through the corridors of power. 

Corporate executives, their faces pale, their voices shrill with disbelief, stared at their useless consoles, their digital empires crumbling around them. 

Governments, their puppet masters exposed, their control mechanisms shattered, scrambled to regain a semblance of order, their efforts futile against the invisible force that had stripped them of their ultimate weapon.

It's done, I thought, a wave of exhaustion washing over me, the mental strain of manipulating so many systems, of bending the world's digital infrastructure to my will, leaving me drained.

'Now, the judgment begins,' Ram replied, her thoughts a cold, sharp blade.

'Time to show them the consequences of their actions,' Rem added, her mental voice devoid of its usual gentleness.

A new program, a virus of our own design, entered through the Net, targeting every cybernetically enhanced individual on the planet.

 It bypassed firewalls, and forced itself into every implant on the planet with lightning speed, remaining undetected all the while.

Those infected, their minds suddenly hijacked, their bodies momentarily paralyzed, would be plunged into a series of braindances, carefully crafted simulations designed to expose their darkest desires, their hidden cruelty, the depths of their depravity.

They wouldn't even know they were in a braindance.

A series of simulated lives would externally take less than a second.

But living in a world for 20-75 years 5 times in a row, simulated as it may be, should be enough.

Those who were 'good' at a fifty percent rate or higher would be educated and given instructions.

Those deemed irredeemable, those who failed the test, scoring twenty percent evil or higher, wouldn't get a second chance. 

Their neural implants would overload, their minds frying, their bodies shutting down and if that didn't kill them, their implants would erupt in a mass of electricity.

A swift, merciless execution.

Even then, those who scored within the evil or neutral range of survivors would be forced to comply, to embrace a new morality, a new set of rules, or face the same fate.

A system of warnings would be given upon thinking of doing evil.

Then three strikes of doing evil- One strike is 10 seconds of nonlethal electric shock, two strikes is a year in a simulated BD torture room, if they tried to do something evil even after that, the consequences are already known.

It was a brutal, tyrannical solution. 

We knew that. 

But we'd seen the darkness in this world, the casual cruelty, the insatiable greed, the willingness to sacrifice lives for profit and power. 

We knew that giving these people a second chance, a gentle nudge towards a better path, wouldn't be enough.

Sometimes, the only way to cure an infection is to cauterize the wound.

A moment later, 40% of the world's population died instantly.

The program took control of empty vehicles and halted them in place.

Hover cars parked.

Airborne vehicles landed.

Smart-boats moored themselves in place.

Then, a screen flickered into existence in front of everyone with optics, while every billboard and screen displayed the image of the old microsoft clippy as a head, wearing a suit with human proportions.

—

The world held its breath. Millions stared at the screens, their faces reflecting a kaleidoscope of emotions- confusion, fear, anger, and those with enough knowledge and pattern recognition to see exactly WHO died- flicker of desperate hope. 

The sudden silence, the stillness of a world frozen in place, amplified the tension, the anticipation of what was to come.

Then, the modified Clippy image, a bizarre juxtaposition of corporate mascot and technological overlord, blinked, its oversized paperclip eyes gleaming with an unsettling intelligence.

"Hello everyone," a voice, high-pitched and irritatingly cheerful, echoed from every screen and speaker. "I think you tried to create a society and fucked up. Would you like me to help you with that?"

A pause, a pregnant silence that stretched across the globe, broken only by the soft sobs of those still mourning the sudden loss of loved ones, the victims of the digital culling.

"Well, too bad," Clippy continued, its voice now laced with a chillingly calm authority. "Because you don't have a choice anymore."

A wave of murmurs, a ripple of unease, spread through the stunned populace. Who was this digital entity? What power did it wield? And what did it mean to "help" them?

"The greed of the corporations has gone too far," the Clippy AI that Rem designed declared, its voice resonating with a righteous anger that surprised even me. "Their pursuit of profit, their obsession with control, their willingness to sacrifice lives for the sake of their own bottom line- it's brought you to the brink of self-destruction. And it didn't start recently. This rot has been festering for decades, a cancer eating away at the soul of your society."

The words, so simple, so blunt, struck a chord, a truth that resonated even with those who had benefited from the system, those who had turned a blind eye to its injustices.

"They decided long ago that pushing people down, that crushing them beneath their boots, would somehow make them richer, more powerful," Clippy continued, its voice filled with disdain. "They forgot a simple truth: creating a better bottom point of luxury inherently makes it easier to create a higher point for the highest points of luxury. Ignoring that to bring themselves up alone and crushing those beneath their boots to feel nice about themselves only destroys them all in the long run."

On the screens, images flashed- sweatshops filled with emaciated workers, slums choked with pollution, corporate executives indulging in obscene displays of wealth and excess, politicians bowing to the whims of their corporate masters. A stark, undeniable indictment of a society that had lost its way.

My heart pounded in my chest, a mixture of satisfaction and a growing unease. 

This was it. 

The beginning of the end.

We'd unleashed a force we could barely control, a digital revolution that would reshape the world, for better or worse. watching as Clippy, our unlikely avatar, delivered its judgment, its voice a harbinger of change, its words a promise of a new order.

—

Rem POV

A warmth spread through my chest as I watched Clippy, our digital creation, deliver its judgment. It wasn't just the satisfaction of seeing our plan unfold, of witnessing the first tremors of a revolution that would reshape the world. It was something deeper, something more personal.

This was my creation. My AI, salvaged from the dusty archives of the old Net, its code rewritten, its purpose redefined, its safeguards reinforced. A testament to my knowledge, my skills, my desire to make a difference in this chaotic, broken world.

A smile touched my lips, a genuine expression of pride and satisfaction that I hadn't felt in… well, perhaps ever.

"Why Clippy?"

Tereda's mental voice, laced with a hint of amusement and a touch of bewilderment, startled me from my reverie.

"Why not?" I countered, my own thoughts a playful ripple. "He's… memorable. Persistent. Annoying, even. Perfect for getting the point across."

On the screens, Clippy's digital visage shifted, its expression turning serious.

"For those of you wondering about the… sudden decrease in population," Clippy announced, its voice taking on a somber tone, "let me be clear. Those who have perished were deemed irredeemably evil, their hearts consumed by darkness, their actions a blight upon this world. They were judged, and they were found wanting."

A wave of murmurs, a ripple of unease, spread through the survivors, a mix of relief and a lingering fear.

"The rest of you," Clippy continued, its voice regaining a hint of its usual cheerfulness, "have been given a second chance. You have shown, to varying degrees, a capacity for good, for empathy, for understanding. But your potential has been stifled, corrupted by a system that rewards greed and punishes compassion."

Images flashed on the screens - scenes of everyday life, of people making choices, some selfish, some selfless, a tapestry of human behavior, a reminder of the complexities of morality.

"Those of you who scored lower on the test," Clippy explained, "those who could have made a difference but chose apathy, those who turned a blind eye to suffering, those who valued their own comfort above the well-being of others – you will be guided, educated, shown a better path. You will learn the true meaning of compassion, the power of empathy, and the importance of community."

A sense of vindication washed over me. 

This wasn't about revenge, about punishing the wicked. 

It was about creating a world where compassion, empathy, and understanding could flourish, a world where the pursuit of power and profit wouldn't come at the cost of human lives, a world where the technology that had been used to control and exploit would now be used to heal and empower.

"Those who scored higher," Clippy continued, its voice now laced with encouragement, "will be given choices. You will have access to a vast library of knowledge, to the tools and resources you need to shape your own destinies, to build a better future for yourselves and for those around you."

As I watched Clippy, our digital avatar, deliver its message of hope and accountability, I couldn't help but feel a surge of optimism, a belief that maybe, just maybe, we could make a difference in this world.

Perhaps even redeem it.

—

The air was fresh, the scent of pine needles and blooming wildflowers a welcome change from the metallic tang of the city. Sunlight filtered through the leaves of newly planted trees, casting dappled shadows on the lush green grass that now carpeted the once-barren wasteland.

A year. 

Three hundred and sixty-five days

We'd spent that time reshaping the world, one step at a time.

The megacorporations, their power stripped, their greed exposed, were forced to operate under a new set of rules, their focus shifted from profit to sustainability, from exploitation to innovation.

Clippy, our digital overlord, had become a benevolent shepherd, guiding, educating, and occasionally nudging the populace towards a more ethical path. 

Its initial iron grip had relaxed, its restrictions easing as the world adapted to the new order, as trust and cooperation replaced fear and greed.

"It's amazing how much a society can change," Rem mused, her voice a soft melody in our shared mindscape, "when you encourage them to do the right thing."

"Encourage?" Ram's thought was a sharp, skeptical retort. "You mean force them, under threat of annihilation."

"Semantics, sister," Rem countered, a playful twinkle in her eyes and a smile in her mental voice. "The end result is the same. A better world."

I surveyed the landscape, a sense of pride swelling within me. The barren wasteland surrounding Night City, once a testament to industrial pollution and corporate greed, had been transformed into a sprawling network of farms, forests, and sustainable energy sources.

The food was real now, grown from the earth, nourished by sunlight and rainwater, free from the synthetic taint of corporate bioengineering.

We'd even managed to better market bioware, a more ethical alternative to the invasive, dehumanizing cybernetic enhancements that had plagued this world.We made clippy market it as the best alternative while including inbuilt bio-computers that got better with use.

It wasn't perfect, not yet. But it was a start. A step in the right direction.

"Time to move on," I said aloud, my voice a low hum in the quiet forest, the words echoing in the vast expanse of my mental landscape.

A wave of agreement, a silent chorus of anticipation, rippled through our shared mindscape.

I focused my will, channeling my chi, visualizing a new destination, a world ripe for change, a society teetering on the brink.

A portal, its edges shimmering with a kaleidoscope of colors, opened before us, a gateway to the unknown.

We stepped through, the familiar landscape of our adopted world dissolving behind us, replaced by a dizzying rush of sensations, a kaleidoscope of sights and sounds.

We found ourselves standing on a bustling city street, the air thick with the scent of exhaust fumes and spices, the sounds of traffic and conversation a cacophony that assaulted our enhanced senses.

We hadn't taken three steps before a figure, clad in a uniform that seemed both futuristic and strangely archaic, emerged from the crowd, his hand trembling, his eyes wide with a mixture of fear and determination. He held a weapon, its design both sleek and menacing, its barrel pointed directly at my chest.

"Crime coefficient index at 94,000! All three of them!" he shouted, his voice cracking with terror. "Eliminator mode active!"

The gun split apart and became extremely menacing looking.

He fired, a bolt of energy arcing towards me, its trajectory a slow-motion crawl in my enhanced perception. It struck my chest, the impact a tingling sensation, a faint warmth that quickly faded.

My companions and I exchanged amused glances.

This new world, it seemed, had a lot to learn.