THE PRELUDE

The Mid 2020's

Although the war between Ukraine and Russia didn't spill over to Europe and its community, it had deeply devastated them both. The union of peace was then considering creating its own army for its own protection. Still shaken by the events in Eastern Europe, the world was recovering from the trauma of those far away who needed to rebuild their country.

All the rich nations were exhausted despite their regained monetary serenity while the less fortunate ones tried as best they could to keep their brains, their youth, and their experts. Modern societies were ageing at full speed and the global situation didn't encourage fertility or the desire to procreate. Until then, mankind had never really asked themselves the question of the decline in fertility of the human species on a broad-scale. Before that, all experts were talking only about overpopulation. The few who mentioned the rise in infertility and the decline of the world population posed as lunatics. According to experts, there were far too many people on the planet, too many mouths to feed while cows were still taking up too much land and Africa and its women were still having too many babies. 

"Quick! Stop them!" The western leaders seemed to imply.

Education of women had always been accompanied by a decline in the birth rate for obvious reasons. Feeding many mouths was possible, but giving each of those tiny bodies enough brand-new toys and fashionable clothes, higher education in the best institutions, trips abroad, private lessons, various extracurricular activities and the list that kept going on and on. Having more than one child quickly became a daunting task for the happy new mums who also wanted to enjoy the delights of modern society.

Reality knocked violently at the doors of the west without warning: the decline of their population was accelerating and they had no backup plan. The young were dying in mass numbers before the old. 

How come? 

Remember what rich and influential men built their fortunes on? 

Consumption. 

The young who were more vulnerable and susceptible to addiction increasingly fell into the claws of junk food, drugs, and technology. As always, the consumer economy revolved mainly on the consumption of young people as well as that of the not so young addicted to everything they had been fed in their earliest years. The principle worked very well, too well even, and it was destroying us to the bone. Sadly, the damage was starting young. 

The modern world didn't want neither babies nor elderlies, the former being seemingly cumbersome, the latter being categorised as useless. However, the modern world was forced to accept the fact that it needed them at least until it could find replacements. The wheel of fortune needed to keep spinning and until further notice, it was mainly the old and the middle aged who had the money, and paid tax. Finding a cheap and effective way to take care of elderly people without needing the young became a priority. With regards to the fertility of ordinary men and women, the modern world would take care of it later. Much like Japan decades before that, the wealthy world threw itself headlong into robotics, biology and artificial intelligence research. It was necessary; this remained the quick and effective solution to all their existential problems.