It's the year 2067 and surprisingly little has changed.  Government is corrupt, pollution is horrific, and people are generally as ignorant as they always were.  Everything the world once dreamed the future would hold has remained just a dream.


Society:

In an age of increasing dependence on science and frustration with past mistakes, the Atheist movement has swept much of the world.  Belligerent fanatics and major scandals have given religion a bad name.  At least half the world has no religion to speak of.  The dominant religion is Islam, situated largely in developing middle-eastern countries, as well as the poorer regions of Europe.  Protestantism, having all but disappeared from Europe, is still the most common religion in the U.S., confined mainly to the "bible belt" region.  Catholicism has been harshly criticized for failing to adapt its message to modern times.  It survives mostly in the less progressive regions of Mexico, Central America, South America, and the Philippines.  To most, the current Pope Pius XIII is naught but a laughable symbolic figurehead of an antiquated mindset.  In progressive society, to be Christian is to be branded ignorant.

The decadent U.S. Presidential administration has put us another 4 trillion dollars in debt, not that this is a very impressive number.  The U.S. dollar is now worth about one eighth of a Euro.  Speaking of which, the European Union has long since usurped the Unites States' highest world power status.  And by the way, we still have not switched to the metric system, and the oil companies still own us, mainly because politicians' interests can be bought and sold like such commodities.  The divide between liberals and conservatives in the U.S. has grown much steeper.  A self-deprecating culture of hedonism appears to be forming in the blue states, and the remaining red states have degenerated to protesting with "death to homosexuals" signs.  At this point, whites are no longer the dominant race in the U.S., not that the whites seem to have noticed.  The multiculturalism of the U.S. is a true reality now, and so are its problems.  Poverty and unemployment are on the rise, and a two-tiered hierarchy of lower-class and upper-class families appears to be forming.  It seems that fewer and fewer people are challenging their birth status, and it seems that average people are getting fatter by the minute.  College education is a privilege only the very rich can afford...to use to get richer, of course.  If the Americans have succeeded in anything, it is in influence.  Thanks to our mere existence, almost every country in the world can speak English.  Also, our arrogant Western individualism has begun infecting cultures which previously disagreed with our mindset.  We will survive these times or drag down the rest of the world with us.


Technology:

One thing that has progressed in time is our internet.  The internet and computers soon became inseparable, evolving to the point that files were more commonly stored online than on personal disks.  In one way, it was a blessing, because facilitated communication led to better understanding among people.  The internet grew just as expected up until around 2050 or so, when online piracy became so advanced that almost anyone could download almost anything free of charge.  Hacking was just as prevalent, as government secrets were quickly exposed by young saboteurs, website moderators were regularly overridden and overthrown by disgruntled visitors, and even bank accounts were being breached by troublesome crooks.  It was chaos, but if the people had not abused their newfound power, they could have achieved a new level of equality.  Software and security companies around the world, intending to run the internet like a business, began losing money at an alarming rate.  The equally troubled governments worked with these companies to find a solution to this anarchy.  The mere word of their first solution, shutting down the internet entirely, caused people around the world to break out in riots.  Their final solution was a strange one: a complete restructuring of the internet and all its mechanics.

The internet was manifested into a realistic form -- personified if you will.  The world's top information scientists worked to create a new internet in which it would be possible to track crime as it would be in the real world.  They took the most advanced fundamental physics equations, which define the world itself as what it is, and incorporated them into the computer systems.  Therefore, every file would be a document, every AI would have a body and personality, every website would be its own location or area.  In essence, the internet was turned into a parallel universe made of electronic signals.  Eventually, there was no more world, but a data world and a matter world.  The coalition of governments and corporations responsible for constructing and regulating this new world was made into a single organization: the International System of Internet Security (ISIS, or "the System," for short).  After the restructuring, massive numbers of pirates and hackers all over the world were hunted down and arrested by ISIS and its new tracking technology.  Few people dare to challenge such authority in this age.

Perhaps the most significant element of the new internet is a fashionable alternative to the Operating System (OS).  The Electronic Guidance Organism (EGO) is a customizable AI personality that interacts with its owner (EGOist) to perform tasks on a computer and the internet.  It functions much like its EGOist's personal avatar in the cyberworld.  The use of an AI greatly increases user efficiency, understanding, convenience, and free time.  Applications can be installed into an EGO so that it may process certain kinds of information.  Data may also be stored directly within the EGO for direct access at all times, as per a flash drive.  Over the years, EGOs have evolved into a very sophisticated, influential part of our lives.  They can do many of the things we can: think, feel, argue, and comfort.  They are even known to fight in place of their EGOists when necessary.  Perhaps more importantly, their roles as envoys in a less restrictive world allow them powers that most humans can only imagine.  With the rising popularity of online gaming, alternative inputs, and social networking, the younger generations took to the EGO system more enthusiastically than expected.  Most people have become so lazy that, given this option, they would rely on an AI to manage the computer for them.


Mechanics:

EGOs are about as customizable as operating systems.  You can alter their physical and behavioral attributes slightly, but the core mechanics remain the same, and the true personality of the machine comes from its prolonged interaction with the user.  ISIS manufactures the basic templates for EGO customization.  It is possible to alter an EGO outside the confines of its template, but this is considered illegal for purposes of maintaining order.  While EGOs may seem free of limitation, the new internet is noticeably more restrictive than the one you know.  Almost every accessible service, including mandatory virus protection and advanced EGO customization costs money.  Every EGO has a customization level ranging from 1 to 5.  Level 1 EGOs are rather cheap, fragile, very restricted in terms of function, and very common.  Level 5 EGOs are very expensive, reserved for experts, and are equipped with the most cutting edge computer technology.  All payment goes straight to ISIS, and with the ailing economy, many people are a little reluctant towards these policies.

Every person is given exactly one account number, with which they can create a legally licensed EGO, thus limiting the use of EGOs to one per person.  During EGO creation, every EGO-human pair chooses a sigil -- a personal "coat of arms" which is proudly displayed somewhere on the EGO.  Certain behaviors are also banned among EGOs, particularly unregulated fighting and resisting ISIS policy.  For those who disobey, the ISIS militia is waiting eagerly to delete your EGO and account number.  Deletion of an EGO occurs when it has sustained extreme physical damage, after which its data will disappear.  This can happen in fights, accidents, viral infections, or due to resistance.  The complexity and size of an EGO's program makes it impossible to back up completely.  After a long and complicated process in getting one's ISIS account reactivated, a new EGO can be created, but the memory and personality of the original remain lost.  However, deletion rarely occurs, as most fighting is outlawed, and most EGOs have an emergency "logout" system that retreats them back to their home computer whenever severe but repairable damage is sustained.

EGOs can be utilized, customized, and repaired on computers, as well as a new device created simply for EGOs.  The Portable Administration Device (PAD) is about the size of your average cell phone, which happens to be one of its many functions.  It seems just about everyone has one, and it allows you to communicate with your EGO wherever you go.  The PAD usually displays one's personal sigil, and it serves as your personal "window" to the cyberworld.  The EGO has a similar "window" to its EGOist's PAD built into its core interface.  When not visiting websites or gathering information, it is customary for an EGO to remain in a network location parallel to where its EGOist is.  This generation's youth is the first to witness the transformation of the internet, and the first to socially adopt the EGO system.  It is not uncommon for EGO and EGOist to form a bond of sorts, and it is these bonds which will soon shape our world in unforeseen ways.