By 623, there were upwards of two hundred thousand theorems proved every day. The machines had built twenty-four new generations of themselves.
Those humans who were descendants of the creators lived in complete luxury. Each new technological breakthrough benefitted them. They lived in lavish houses where attractive, immaterial avatars constantly doted on them and quaffed every hunger. They had no idea how any of this worked.
The others, the mass of humanity, lived a brutish existence in alleys, in city ruins, in tenements. They lived off the cast-offs of the more affluent society. Two generation-old food synthesizers were reaped from the trash and repurposed. An automatic textile mill made clothes for them bespoke. But many of the items were purposely shredded and destroyed, and no one knew how they worked, so it was a nasty fight to get at the working things. You fought to acquire, then you fought to keep. And, not fighting, you died.
Commenting is closed for this article.