Brave New Worlds

freedom. For the good of the new regime!

    Go to section 4.

    7. War

    Oh boy, it's war! Your regiments march like clockwork toys. Colonel Mustard is your general, with his dashing moustache and monocle. Your hats are quite classy, with a feather for each soldier (for officers, two!) On the streets, your noble supporters weep with pride as their loved ones march past. The people support the Cause (both sides, if it's a civil war). Or if they don't, you silence them, for national security. Jane blows John a kiss as he shoulders his weapon and heads away. He'll come back a hero, and they will marry.
    Your soldiers fight bravely. They pose for photos every time they save a small child from Tyranny. There's no blood—at least, not in the photos. The enemy can't oppose the side of Truth and Justice, which you're quite certain is you.
    Congratulations! You've won the war! Now for the next step: What kind of society do you want to build? Is your future an ideal Utopia, or a dark Dystopia?

    If you build Utopia, go to section 8.
    If you build Dystopia, go to section 9.

    8. Utopia

    Medicine: Disease has been eliminated, and people live to be 120 in perfect health. As a result, your people have more time to contribute to society and to enjoy their lives.
    Agriculture: Food is mass-produced by advanced techniques so that there is plenty for everyone. Special additives in the food guarantee nutrition and health for every citizen.
    Employment: Everyone is guaranteed a job that pays a living wage, so that all people have the means to support themselves.
    Housing: No one is homeless. Citizens are guaranteed safe, affordable housing.
    Education: Citizens may study any available information. The government provides the entirety of human history and current events, and encourages people to read.
    Law: All issues are decided by fair courts. Mistakes are never made.
    Government: the government wants to make sure the citizens are happy.
    Wow! What a wonderful world you've built for yourself. Now, all that remains is to help everyone else enjoy Utopia!

    Go to section 10.
    9. Dystopia

    Medicine: Disease has been eliminated, and people live to be 120 in perfect health. As a result, your world is overpopulated and resources are scarce.
    Agriculture: Food is mass-produced by advanced techniques so that there is plenty for everyone. Special additives in the food guarantee obedience to the government.
    Employment: Everyone is guaranteed a job that pays a living wage, so that people are trapped in nightmarish jobs that they can't leave.
    Housing: No one is homeless. People without homes live in institutions, where they are subjected to conditioning and experiments.
    Education: Citizens may study any available information. The government provides the information that citizens are authorized to see, and records who is reading it.
    Law: All issues are decided by fair courts. Mistakes, of course, are never made. How could they be?
    Government: the government wants to make sure the citizens are happy.
    Oh dear. What a horrible world you've made for yourself. Hey—those people next door, in that other place? they have Utopia, and you don't. Misery loves company. It's time to change some things.

    Go to section 10.

    10. Zeal

    Rows of smiling identical people sing a patriotic anthem in perfect tune. In Utopia/Dystopia, you are never alone.
    Your society is happy, or it's not. Someone else has it better, or they don't. But you're sure about one thing: other people are different from you. And that's dangerous.
    Everyone else must share in your happiness or unhappiness. Everyone else must be just like you. Like Jane. Like John.
    Oh boy, it's war again!

    Go to section 11.

    11. War, Again

    I hope you're not surprised. It always comes back to war. The details change, but the patterns remain the same.
    The last war was just for fun, but this one is serious. You're blowing the left arms off babies and burning 10, 000-year-old monasteries. You perfect the technique of keeping a soldier alive despite mortal injury; the technique is quite helpful for spies on suicide missions. Your soldiers pray to God in the field, but you don't have time to answer. You're busy making military decisions. This war is serious, and hard choices must be made. John marches off again, and someday will return to Jane. Or he won't. that's war.
    The question is, did you win? Will you dominate these not-like-you people and rule them with an iron hand? Or did you lose, and now