By Kwadwo Bouamah (2078)
Only a few people know the real origin of Development or Dev as it is called. Going by conspiracy theories, it was created by the same infamous hackers behind the dark web invasion. All indications from existing publications and recovered articles however show it was created by the Ethiopian genius, Tariku Negasi. It was Negasi who created the first digital 3D world, mapped out to match Earth. I don’t know all the details in-between but they are all properly chronicled in the ORIGIN. What I know about Dev is that it is now managed by the Union of Governments we call ‘The System’, and we are fine with that.
Tariku Negasi is everything the world celebrates; A young African kid who created a global solution to save humanity. Unlike what we had in the movies, the West did not save the world; Africa did. To some people, Negasi is the modern-day superhero but to others, most notably Pastor Joshua Aremu[1], Negasi is the Anti-Christ. Whatever he turns out to be, I choose to celebrate his contribution to the world.
In the early 2000s, the world had already set the stage for Negasi. There were RPG Strategy games where humans controlled characters that interacted online in real-time. Negasi simply adapted the Unreal gaming engine and integrated his 3D world. I think it was the pandemic that gave his work real meaning. The news stories all point to about 3 years of a global pandemic. At that time, it took them quite a while to create vaccines, so there was a global lockdown. Somehow economies needed to thrive, so almost everyone jumped on Development 1.0[2] to continue social interactions like they would on a normal day. The only difference was that they needed uRetina[3].
Negasi pitched Dev as the future, for a more interwoven and sustainable global community. That’s the Dev I grew up to meet. We all accepted it, but Negasi was always on to the next thing. So while regular Billionaires were thinking of jetting out to space, Negasi was creating the next destination for the entire world – Development 2.0[4]. This is where the conspiracy theories started.
I experienced life before the Wave of Desertion[5], so I can tell you all the problems we had with the old world and the initial promise of Dev. At that time, we had hunger; wars; genocides; pandemics; terrorism; human rights violations; unemployment; overpopulation; lack of basic amenities, a huge racial gap, a wealth gap, a gender gap and all types of problems you could imagine. So when Negasi and The System announced a parallel Universe of Existence (UoE)[6], we had mixed feelings.
Dev 2.0 promised to be the end of most human problems but we just couldn’t imagine leaving our physical bodies and existing in an entirely digital world. I guess the biggest breakthrough of the old world was not the internet. It was the Mass Decompactor[7] that made it possible to visit Dev 2.0. It enabled mass-to-energy conversion. It changed everything; being able to convert mass to energy and digital signals that could be transmitted digitally was a window of opportunity for businesses and convenience for consumers. It made things like teleportation and digital courier and haulage services a reality.
I can’t write about these things and the new world without giving credit to some of the leaders of the old world like Mrs Scotland, Trudeau, Nana Kuti, Malema, and Robert Dembe of Uganda. These were the frontrunners in the race to bring a united, equal and fair government in the world – a redesigned group of nations after the dissolution of the United Nations. They proposed all that has been implemented, stating that for the world’s resources to be utilised efficiently, the exploration, allocation and distribution had to be planned from one table. It was at the UN General Assembly in 2048 that Nana famously said
“The world cannot continue to pretend. The United Nations has failed to unite the nations! Unity is not a word, it is a decision to share; to own each other’s burdens and seek solutions that benefit all.”
That statement brought the end to the UN and initiated the Union of Governments – ‘The System’ – and many years later, the adoption of ‘Development’ as a parallel UoE.
That was the beginning of the exodus to Dev, a world that doesn’t know unemployment, power failure, hunger, crime, corruption, tribal and religious differences, national borders, race, gender and all the other lines we used to divide ourselves in the old world.
When the idea of a universal government arose, countries like mine were sceptical. We felt the agenda of the more powerful countries would become the order of the day. We imagined a wider gap in terms of economic and military status. I was one of those who refused to believe this could be the way out. But Dev has resolved all those fears. What it offers is the closest thing to equality, equity and fairness that humanity has ever experienced. It is paradise. Negasi has a Livestream on Network 2.0 that allows us to see what’s happening on Dev in real-time. My father keeps calling it ‘The Truman Show’. He claims there was a movie that predicted this day, the only difference is that in the movie, people outside the show controlled everything. If this is a show, like my Dad believes, it must be an exciting never-ending adventure. On Dev 2.0 they have places where people can chase their passions – music, faith, art, storytelling etc. It’s the Utopian dream. There’s no discrimination because everyone is equal. There’s no basis for unfair treatment as there are no races, nationalities, genders, etc. We are all fluid – our only difference being our consciousness. However, we can assume any appearance or disposition we choose; one day the form of a man, the next, that of an eagle and some even as objects. We no longer have to ‘identify as’ when we can simply be and be accepted as whatever we choose. As for crime, it’s a thing of the past because everyone can have anything they want and everything can be traced in a few seconds.
But Dev has its own challenges; someone has to play God. Someone has to protect the data from being corrupted or lost. Someone has to monitor the entire system. I imagine there would be a lot of people trying to hack the System and change everything. Thanks to our progress with Blockchain technology and the unimaginable progress of Artificial intelligence, Negasi has designed a self-aware mainframe that learns faster than any individual and can maintain the integrity of the System without interference. But that doesn’t end the rumour-mongering of conspiracy theorists and Earth enthusiasts. There’s still the debate around who designed the rules for the initial Artificial Intelligence – the prompt that describes what to do and when? For instance, people on Dev are still inherently human; who maintains law and order for them? Opposition groups believe there has to be someone outside the system that keeps the balance. Also, there are questions surrounding the actual location of the servers that Dev runs on. I may not be a tech genius but I know the system has to be powered one way or the other with either a battery or electricity, or maybe I’m way behind technology. I’m just a journalist, you wouldn’t blame me. I strongly believe there’s something on earth that keeps it running but for now, they call all my theories ‘theories of that age’.
Despite these unresolved mysteries, the System runs quite transparently and there has been peace for a few years. I honestly appreciate all the things taking place in Dev. I can’t imagine that I am denying myself this serenity and freedom. As exciting as it seems, I still think I would feel less human if I had to be in Dev; I may be wrong.
Some people have remained in the old world. Those who have just joined keep us updated. Honestly, it’s not because they don’t have a way to find out what is happening on Earth. The fact is that people that believe they are in better societies don’t concern themselves with societies they believe are below theirs. I experienced this growing up. I lived briefly in Lagos, Nigeria, and we barely knew the names of the other states in the country, let alone details of other African countries. However, we took strange and misplaced pride in knowing locations in Europe and America. It’s a human thing and they’re still human on Dev, or so I believe.
From what we’ve seen, it’s clear that the only thing the movies got right about Earth’s future was the picture of Dystopia; our not-so-new reality. Some people are still here living their regular problem-filled lives. It shouldn’t be me. Being the curious mind that I am, I have done an extensive research on Dev 2.0. It has taken me about for 3 months to decide and I don’t think I can make up my mind. Dev is paradise! It is man’s best idea since the internet. Here on Earth, people say Dev is a world without humanity but I guess they’re mistaking humanity for human bodies.
Devians have taken their humanity and left the baggage behind. The very things that divide us; tribes, nationalities, genders and all. Earth people, we focus on these things till we’re blinded to real humanity. Ironically, it is the world without ‘human beings’ that brings out the best of our humanity.
Whether you agree with the vision of Dev or not, you can’t deny that it is a brilliant solution at the moment. At first, I also called it imperfect, flawed and synthetic but all I see at the moment is perfection and the future.
Imagine the end of education and experience; All the years we spend trying to acquire knowledge. There you can just have any stack you desire installed. You can have the knowledge you desire. We can use and express our knowledge in ways that reflects our different personalities and add colour to the world.
When the campaign began and I heard the lyrics of the theme song ‘Imagine’ by John Lennon, I was blown away. It made me understand that people had seen the future. People wrote about it but didn’t fully know what it was meant to be. Just like in the Bible, people predicted the Messiah but expected a physical King, not a carpenter’s son. It’s the same way people had spoken about a perfect world in the future, where we are nothing but energy finding whatever expression we choose. I can confidently say it’s Dev – the city of light and love. My friend, the Wndrr’ was right; allow yourself to be driven by energy and you’ll be attracted to purpose. Development is a world that calls all humanity to a place of peace and happiness. It is a perfect man-made haven for no man!
Footnote:
[1] Joshua Aremu is a Nigerian Pastor. He was the leader of ‘New Life Assembly’. He came to the fore as Negasi’s opponent in the Great Debate.
[2] Development 1.0 is the first virtual universe created by Tariku Negasi. This universe required a VR gear called uRetina to access it and experience the virtual world.
[3] uRetina – A VR eyewear that allowed interaction with a virtual world – Dev 1.0. It also had other capabilities like instant pictures, video recording and full mobile device control.
[4] Development 2.0 – The second virtual world. A more immersive experience, with people transitioning to this world as opposed to experiencing it with the uRetina.
[5] The Wave of Desertion – A period between 2077 and 2082 when there was a rush for Development 2.0. It had a massive economic and political toll on Nations on Earth. Leaders, rich and bale-bodied young people were leaving for Dev 2.0.
[6] Universe of Existence – An officially accepted alternate Universe for Humanity.
[7] Mass Decompactor – The device built by MaDe that enabled the transition to Dev.