4: Marginals | thefuture.life

BRIAN KRULL and HOLLIDAY BENNETT are still idealists after losing big careers in journalism when journalism disappeared. They try to address the global problem of homelessness, thousands living in self-made huts made of cardboard and garbage in sprawling camps. They have a plan to empower these people to build their own neighborhoods, create a tax base, clean things up. It’s a struggle. By their mid-thirties, they’re tired and dirt poor, but as an act of faith, they decide to get married. It’s a great celebration, but they go home to a hut in a gigantic camp, and the gift Brian was to give his bride, socks, has been stolen. Brian goes into a rage, destroying huts looking for somebody to blame. He’s beat up. But a man named ZIZZO takes him in. Zizzo is a Cyber Prankster. He replaces signals, mostly television, with miraculously convincing high-tech jokes seen globally. He’s famous, and harmless, and now Brian and Holliday are part of his posse, until Holliday wants to do something with more impact.

Climate Change/Robotics/Economics/Politics
Rising tides, the population, dwindling resources, half the jobs of the world lost to automation, and chronic political paralysis have conspired to make a truly hideous alternate world for a tidal wave of have-nots, even in America.It’s a breeding ground for all manner of new takes on terrorism.