Politics that didn't Happen

As the frist quarter of the XXIst century neared its end, elections in the U.S.A. became more and more contested, be it municipal, state or nationwide. As a result, more often than not, the only way left to determine the winner was by coin toss.
As this trend showed no clear sign of stopping, it was soon decided that elections would be abolished all together. Instead, every person who could pay a fee (based on the average campaign costs of the last ten people to have successfully run for the desired office) would be allowed to participate in a coin-toss competition to see who could get the most heads on twenty tosses, and the winner would automatically be sworn in (in case of a draw, there was a sudden-death rule).
As this system was first introduced, civil liberties unions were outraged, and protested heavily. But after the first few "elections" were over, everyone quickly realised that the results were not that much different from before. In fact, given the increase in diversity in "elected" officials, which suddenly reflected the demographic make-up of the U.S., one could even argue that the system worked even better than before. And, due to the entry fees being collected by the concerned municipalities, as well as state and national governments, instead of being wasted on ridicoulously overblown campaigns, the U.S. budget situation took a turn for the better. In fact, the new system was so successfull that it wasn't long before other countries started to follow suit, and by the end of the twenty-first century, most nations decided on their leaders by some form of lottery.
Of course, on occasion, this could result in unqualified people getting the top jobs in government. But as we all know, this had always been the case. And now, at least people were free to concentrate on other things instead of following the election ("Coin-toss night" was still the most watched T.V.-event in the world, but it only took up one evening, instead of over a year), thanks to which we managed to handle the situation a lot better than before.

Citations that weren't Made

"Today's a good day to die. But tomorrow wouldn't be so bad either..."


   - John McClane

Tomorrow

The sun is shining bright outside, and the earth seems to steam as the translucent rays of light beat upon it. Flowers sprout, and birds sing. The ice and snow recede into the shadows. I look out the window, wondering how much of it will still be alive next year. Nature woke up early this time around, so it might not be able to hold on until the end. I open up another bottle, because I haven't got anything better to do.

Actually, I have a lot of better things to do. Goals to achieve, dreams to realize, duties to fulfill. But those don't count. These days, they never really do. Not as long as I've got time. And even though the day always seems to fall short, the nights are long.

Politics that didn't Happen

As the twenty-first century progressed, data-collection was all the rage. Through social networks and the IoT, humans collected all the data they could, all the time, as their long-forgotten romance with probabilities and statistics found a second wind. The passion of this mid-life love-affair was such that, by 2020, more money was invested in digital storage than any other commodity. Of course, all that data was not collected just to look at it.
From credit ratings to citizen scores to threat levels to the likelyhood of you buying a new flatscreen TV, every aspect of human life was suddenly influenced one way or another by big data. Law enforcement especially was in love with the new technology, which could finally absolve it of any responsability in the decision-making process. But it seems the romance was as short-lived as it was intense.
In 2023, Alfred Marx, form the Max Planck Institute for Data-Mining (which was a real thing by then), invented an algorithm that used publicly available data to detect large-scale fraud and/or tax-evasion. In a master stroke, it seems he managed to include the algorithm in law-enforcement data-mining software through government-mandated backdoors. And, since the police was now entirely dependent on data-analysis for any kind of investigation, they were forced to go after more and more rich criminals. And given the proprietory nature of the software, nobody could look at the source code to change it back. This, of course, had dire consequences for the data industry.
In less than six months after the first arrest, privacy protection was the main topic among politicians, and less than two years later, laws were passed that allowed only the most rudimentary form of data collection, until, once again, the easiest way to get rid of investigations was to be rich. Because traditions should not be forgotten so easily.

Citations that weren't Made

"If we've got more than enough time today, let's wait until tomorrow!"

    - Unknown

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand

We're back!

Fridays is now flash fiction instead of "Animals that don't Exist", the rest is the same as always!

Tell your friends! ;)

Z.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand...

Break-Time!

See you in 2016!!!