The Grid
These are excerpts from one of the last known physical journals. A journal was a small book with blank pages that a user used for items like lists, meeting notations, sketches, ideas, and so on. Most physical items have no use in The Grid, but there are eccentric individuals who live outside of The Grid and collect relics such as this notebook.
JANUARY 2029
Today is my birthday and I am giving myself the gift of freedom. By the end of the month we have been instructed to make the upgrade from the Metaverse to The Grid. If we don’t, there will be stiff fines and penalties. There is no opting out.
My bag is packed. I gave myself one small backpack. Nothing suspect, nothing to draw any attention to myself like books or anything illegal like that. The only dangerous item is this book I’m writing in right now. A few weeks ago I bought a small device and carved out the insides. I lined it with lychee membrane which is impenetrable by x-rays.
I’ve got five planes to get me down to Costa Rica. This was by design. I didn’t want to fly direct. They don’t even consider it spying on us anymore. It is simply how things are done. They have access to every transaction and movement of ours. We not only accept it, but voluntarily provide our information. Even though I’ll be taking five planes, they’ll still be able to track me. I don’t care though, as long as I make it there. The five planes are just to temporarily confuse the algorithm. If I make it to the beach, I can deal with the rest.
MARCH 2029
The Grid was the next logical evolution of the Metaverse. The internet has always been a curious place - it is simultaneously represents both the most incredible amount of freedom and the most cynical type of control. We had a moment in between these two iterations where we could have gone more in the direction of the internet representing freedom. Unfortunately, the company that built the Metaverse had already established the rules. And since they made the rules, they could break them and continually change the goal posts.
You could still unplug from the Metaverse. It was the alternate reality where you did everything - worked, socialized, etc. - but at the end of the day, you still had that ability to remove yourself from it. However illusionary that control might have been.
The Grid was the obvious next step. There would be no unplugging. There would be no ability to remove yourself from the system. The system was rigged because if you tried to leave, you died. Fusion Technology brought together flesh and nearly invisible nanowaves. When you plugged in, you now relieved on the The Grid to live.
Some tried to leave and they perished. But it didn’t take long for people to comply. There aren’t many of us left. Those who didn’t plug in and who live off The Grid.
AUGUST 2029
My plan was to leave a few weeks before The Plug-in. When I thought about the one place where I felt most at peace, it was on a beach in Costa Rica. It’s funny because I generally don’t like the beach or the ocean. But, there was something about that place, like I had been there before. There’s nothing more specific than that, it just felt right.
I left Toronto and drove over the border at Niagara Falls. From there I took a plane to New York, stayed a few days. Then over to Portland, Oregon for the hell of it. I didn’t stay there, but went directly to San Francisco, and straight across the country to Miami. And finally into San Jose, Costa Rica. I commissioned a small van to drive me the five hours to the beach.
This wasn’t just a beach, but a compound. There were a few cabins on the property that were rented out, but they were bare bones. Plus, the couple that owned it were definitely running from something themselves. When I arrived I could already tell they made some adjustments to keep people out. And they weren’t renting cabins anymore. However, after some convincing, they let me stay for a few days.
I’ve been living there ever since.
NOVEMBER 2029
Our world closed in on the five of us, but we were okay with it. In addition to the original couple that owned the property, two other Unplugs found their way to our front gates. Luckily, the owners had long been self-sufficient - growing their own food and providing for themselves. They saw The Grid coming before any of us.
We sustained ourselves and we waited. Waited to be found out. Waited for the world to impart itself on our home, to force us to do whatever it was that they wanted to extract from us. We had a plan for that, the plan was simple, and we could do it at anytime.
Until then, we just tended to our garden, literally and metaphorically. Sometimes we had giant feasts and laughed together at the owners long outside dining room table. Sometimes we didn’t speak or interact for several days.
We waited and continue to wait.
JANUARY 2030
The Plan will come in to play soon, we can feel it. It’s in the air. You can smell it getting closer. Like I said, when they come for us, we will not fight. We stopped killing things a long time ago, even just for food. We’ll just meet at the beach and we’ll walk into the ocean, give ourselves over to the ocean, and let it take us where we need to be.
And then we will be truly free.