We’re Setting Our Story in 2031

In the 20s and early 30s, we see gradual climate decay with growing local and regional challenges. The United States and China are the major poles of influence, followed by the European Union. 

Because powerful nations prize their energy independence, fossil fuels remain an option for many. Mother Nature is demonstrating a guarded patience with humanity, refraining from obliterating us but issuing catastrophes as dire warnings. 

The great sense-making algorithm we call Smartacus has transformed our media environment. We continue to live in a VUCA world, but democracy has returned to America like a fresh spring breeze.

By 2031, a wide array of neurotechnologies are connecting brains and AI via smart helmets, caps, watches, earbuds, glasses and anklets. We’re also seeing more direct implants, which can handle much greater bandwidth.

In the medical sphere, we see quadriplegics standing tall and speaking just by thinking.

We see psychiatric disorders like as depression and PTSD becoming afflictions of the past. We can thank Surina Rao for her development of Kensho, the therapeutic helmet she incubated in the StartFast Venture Accelerator and launched in 2028 in a nanoscale chassis fabricated by Global Foundries.

The spigot opened by the Chips and Science Act has made possible the construction of the Mount McGregor Research Center on the site of the former Metropolitan Life sanitarium ten miles north of Saratoga Springs.

It’s here that Rao and her team are developing the transformative neural auxiliary soon to launched as ThinkPal.

The first whole-brain interface with AI, Thinkpal will link directly to the Smartacus AI Colossus via the high-speed 9G Wireless Neural Connector.

Like the three central processors that send signal to and from the thalamus via the trigeminal nerve, this antenna is crafted in the shape of a rear molar, making insertion easy.

The jaw turns out to be a great place to stow hardware.