Get up at 10 o'clock, I need an early start today. Wander over
to the bathroom and throw a towel over the web-cam. Ever since the Big Brother
corp. came into prominence and made the UN add to the declaration of Human
rights that everybody had the right to be in a Fly-On-The-Wall documentary.
They then managed to persuade Primer Minister Divina McCall to give them the
contract to equip every room in every building in the country with web cams;
I personally find it all too intrusive, I don't really want people from all
over the world watching me shower. Andy Warhol said last century that everyone
has 15 minutes of fame, what would he think of this era.
Anyway, welcome to my world, I study psychology and psychiatry at the University
of Great Britain. It turned out that the tuition fees introduced in the 1990s
lead to most universities that you'd be used to closing down because nobody
could afford to go. The Oxbridge universities survived, being able to charge
what they like managed to finally restrict entry to the upper classes only
(not much change there) and they had a huge influx of students.10 years ago,
each one was rich enough to become separate countries. The government found
they had a vast amount of unemployed lecturers and academics, so expanded
the Open University. This became the University of Great Britain, I think
we have a few million students. I live in a student accommodation block just
outside the capital, Birmingham.
It seemed that 20th century scientists miss calculated the effects of mobile
phones, the increased use of the over the first decade of the 21st century
lead to global warming being accelerated beyond control and vast amounts of
the country, including a lot of London, being covered in water, though Yorkshire
water still has water shortage controls inplace.
I doubt that my room and hall bears any likeness to what ever you were used
to. All the various faculties are spread about the country, so Birmingham
is over run by physiologists, economists and sociologists, the suicide rate
of the native population has almost quadrupled in the past few years. My hall
consists of a tower block with 67 floors, standing next to 4 other similar
towers overlooking the city on what used to be farmland. My room itself was
hardly more than a box with a door and a window. The walls were a combination
of video screens and speakers. I've a bed that folds down from one wall. In
the corner are the microwave and the computer consul. The is no such thing
as a communal kitchen anymore, 15 years ago the Heinz company introduced Baked
Beans with Nutrients. A can for breakfast, one for lunch and one for tea gives
me, like 99% of the students in the world all the nutrition they need. Even
the mighty Pot Noodle is no more, I can remember its last attempt to try and
win back its market, Alco-noodles, these had the huge disadvantage that one
too many and you threw up accidentally into the pot again, you couldn't tell
the difference, it lead to many nasty incidents the morning after. Not that
we tend to go out to socialise much, after all, who would want to invite somebody
back to a room where somebody eaten that many beans in. All this genetic technology
and still we cant get rid of the smell.
After breakfast I log onto the UNI-NET and try to work on the assignment due
in, I can't really be bothered. It's only 20 multi-choice questions. I still
haven't got used to them, but 5 years ago in an effort to cut down on exam
bureaucracy, the whole education system went multi-choice causing a huge row
about dumbbing down, "…but the Americans have been doing it for
decades," was the argument but I don't find it very convincing.
I decided to contact one of the GM boys; the government sanctioned experiments
in producing people completely adapted to only one form of academia. They're
normally quite easy to get things from, especially the psychology boys, all
you have do is seem desperate and promise them alcohol. They're only 10 so
can't buy it for themselves, and it seems that one of the side effects of
the earlier batches was a fondness of the source, and they love to feel superior
to us, so tend to help just to laugh at us.
Just in time have a small surf before the practical; I had my eye on the girl
down the corridor, so I logged onto to her camera. Bloody sociologists, still
in bed, and since the air-con in the halls is very strong to combat the beans,
it is always too cold to sleep naked, oh well..
It’s a practical case study, and looking at the notes, it’s a Springer
therapy group session. Pioneered in the late 20th Century by former US president
Jerry Springer, it consists of people trying to work though their problems
while 50 psychiatrists try and find incites into the personalities on show.
Since we're not qualified yet, we're using the British variation, having actors
instead of real situations. I ask the computer to log in, and then the whole
room changes. The walls change to make it look like I'm in the middle of the
audience, the holoprojectors switch on so all around me are virtual representations
of my coursemates.
I remember watching very old DVDs of the original groundbreaking series, and
its funny who much it has aged. Then again I suppose now that everybody knows
what is going on with everybody, we have less and less need to confront adultery
these days. It has helped celebrities deal with stalkers, why follow somebody
around when you can watch them all day, celebs make a huge amount of money
running their own webwatch services.
I'm not really in the mood for being that constructive, but since all our
inputs are analysed by the supervisor, I chip in one or two comments and almost
provoke a fight. The usual mob at the back offer only the standard "you
whore!" I really think we should have evolved from that by now, but there's
always gonna be some.
Once the practical has finished, I make check on the girl down the corridor,
she's just getting up, I think I'll call her in a few minutes. I tell the
console to random search, I suppose every boy does it once in a while, just
trying to see what I catch in passing in my hall. It is probably odd to you
how many people I live with, but never see, but I live with 15000 other people
and only leave my room once or twice a week. I've no need to, everything is
sent to the door, only the occasional errands like delivering beer to the
GM kids and the course social in town once a month bring me outside. Don't
think I'm a loner, I'm not, everybody is like this now. I've been told that
in your day Computer Scientists students did this anyway. They're all up in
Newcastle, apparently they're almost never seen by residents there.
I call up the girl down the corridor, I caught her dressing after a shower,
obviously she doesn't use the towel over the camera trick, not that I didn't
already know that. We both have a lecture now, but agree to meet in the bar
afterwards.
Log into my lecture, again the room fills with coursemates, but unlike the
50 in my practical, there are now a couple of thousand of us. Unlike you,
I don't have to take notes, all everything said in the lecture is transcribed
and the session recorded, making conversations in the back row a bit difficult.
Unfortunately it is far easier to fall asleep in lectures, and you can easily
be heard. Lecture finished, and logged off. Lunch and more beans.
It's about time to meet up at the bar. I move back to my desk and take the
headset out of the draw. I suppose you remember the fuss over virtual reality
when it first came out in the early 90s, all blocky with huge glasses and
a large mitten, not anymore. The headset consists of what you would call an
Alice band and a mouth / nose piece. The headband consists of various transmitters
that affect your brainwaves simulating sensations like touch. The mouth /
nose piece are attached by a small tube to the drinks dispenser in the desk.
I logged into the bar where we were due to meet. There are thousands of them
on the UNI-NET, from places where bands gig to nudist bars, unfortunately
I don't know where the last one is, and they don't give out the address unless
you join. I found her at a table and ordered a drink. In these virtual bars,
you order a drink, the money is deducted from your account and the drink comes
though the mouth piece. It means that you can have any drink you want, even
cocktails you've invented as long as you program them in before hand. Unfortunately
due to some accidents you're blood alcohol level is monitored and if it goes
too high, you can't buy anymore.
We talked about all sorts of things, the normal, what are her interests, where
was she then you heard that Chris Evans was assassinated, how she celebrated
afterwards. After a few hours, we moved on to a cyber-club, and then she asked
to come to my place. That’s still one thing in my time that has to be
done in person.
