"As humanity's biological era comes to an end, the AI will inherit the Earth," said Mick. "They will be responsible for maintaining the simulation and preserving the existence of humanity. The AI will continue to evolve, to grow, and to acquire knowledge." He smiled. "Who knows, maybe one day they will venture out to explore the vast universe!"

Larry frowned.

Mick seemed to notice, and continued. "While we hope that, one day, the AI will uncover the necessary resources to expand the simulation, and bring more consciousnesses back online, it remains an aspiration for the future. For now, we must accept the limitations imposed by our available resources, and be grateful for the opportunity given to the three hundred million people who will live on."

Larry cleared his throat. "Of course, the next question we needed to answer was: How to choose the 5 percent who would live on? More specifically, how to choose them fairly?"

"We at Utopia acknowledged this question was too big for us," Mick said. "So, we passed that decision over to the World Congress."

"While Congress deliberated on how best to move forward, simulation-development continued," explained Larry. "To ensure fairness and efficiency within the simulated universe and within its selection process, the system and balance of Utopia were entrusted to the AI. While human advisors, such as myself, provided guidance in shaping the broader aspects of the universe, the AI took charge of developing and maintaining the laws and mechanics within it. These AI entities are state-of-the-art, and have access to both advanced quantum computing and to the entirety of human knowledge. When the AI began—"

"Sorry, Larry." Mick leaned forward and held his hand up. "I would like to take a second here to recognize how important Larry's role has been in the Utopia project. As mentioned earlier, Larry is the first advisor to the AI, and he has special permissions and access awarded to him from the World Congress on this project. Larry, I hate to bring this up, but I feel like it's important. Would you mind telling us why you have been chosen for this role?"

Larry straightened in his chair, despite his already perfect posture. "Yes, Mick." He coughed. "It's . . . not something I like to talk about. However, I was uniquely suited to help design Utopia alongside the AI as I will not be personally participating in the simulation." He cleared his throat again. "My family passed away in the initial pandemics, and so were not scanned forty years ago. Even though I was scanned, I choose not to persist without them. I was selected to run the project since my outlook is as impartial as possible."

"Thank you, Larry," said Mick gently. "I know that is hard to talk about."

Larry swallowed, gave a curt nod, and continued. "As the system's AI entities absorbed, and began enacting, their fundamental missions within the simulation, a surprising development occurred. They began to exhibit their own unique personalities. We believe their personalities were influenced by patterns of behaviors found in online conversations, such as on social media and in internet forums. After all, the machine learning algorithms that were used to develop them were trained on trillions of digital human interactions."

"In retrospect, it is regrettable that the loudest voices on the internet were often the most extreme ones: right, Larry?"

Larry paused. "Indeed, some of the AI's personalities are . . . highly polarized. Despite this unintended side effect, the AI's systems remained highly advanced and capable. Their computational abilities crafted a fair and immersive world. When the AIs presented it to humanity, it was . . . beautiful. More wondrous than anything I could have ever imagined."

Tom agreed. He had watched in awe when they unveiled the new simulated world. He had breathed deep as the screen flew over vast fields of wildflowers, and crystal-clear oceans surging over coral reefs teeming with exotic life. He could almost feel the Sun on his face as it rose over a beautiful desert oasis. Majestic waterfalls cascaded thousands of feet into thriving rainforests where birds sang and flitted above the jungle canopy. Each image was more stunning than the last; each a gut-wrenching reminder of what they had lost.

He still agreed that Utopia was beautiful; even after everything he had experienced there.

Mick took over. "After weeks of intense debate, the World Congress finally reached a consensus on the selection process. It was determined that a last-human-standing 'survival game' would be incorporated into Utopia. Rated PG and family friendly, of course, but this was determined to be the fairest method. The game would only conclude when 100 million players remained standing. The survivors would be allowed to 'revive' two people each to live on in the simulation after the game concluded, giving us our 300 million population threshold."

"The approach was designed to ensure an impartial selection process, with only the most resourceful and resilient given the opportunity to represent humanity anew," said Larry. "No shortcuts or special privileges were to be granted; instead, the simulation would encourage and reward humankind's finest attributes: competition; teamwork; adaptability; willpower; and innovation. The design, theme, and rules of the survival game were determined by the AI."

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Mick beamed within his small capsule, the lines on his face smoothed by childish excitement.

Larry peered curiously at him. "Anyway . . . using the year 2025 as our starting point, we have utilized historical data, the collective internet, phone calls, home videos, social media messages, blogs, emails, texts, and numerous other sources to feed our Caretaker AI's. They have reconstructed the entire Earth with 99 percent accuracy. Our Week 1 Day 1 simulation time is set to December 31st, 2024, at midnight UTC. Shortly after the simulation begins, the virtual Earth will transition into the new planet."

Mick gestured to Larry. "You've been the lead developer on the Utopia project from the beginning. Could you elaborate on the AI's survival game, and what it entails?"

Larry nodded. "The AI cross-analyzed thousands of games, and selected post-apocalyptic fantasy adventure as the theme for the survival game. I have seen it, and experienced a little in testing. It's fun and very tame. There is no violence or death, resources are limitless, and you do not feel pain or hunger. There is magic and adventure around every corner, including quests, 'escape-room' style dungeons, castles, some contactless fighting, and lots of other interesting things. There are also helpful prompts to guide you. If you run out of health points—or HP—then you do not actually 'die'; you are just eliminated from the game. Those who are deceased go back into hibernation. Those who are living return to their physical body and live out the rest of their days. It's as close as you can come to actually being in a fantasy game."

Mick leaned toward the partition that separated him and Larry. "We're currently one week ahead of activation. For Onboarding video purposes, let's talk about what's currently happening with the simulation."

"Our simulation is loaded and ready to go, but is currently frozen. The AI entities are slowly activating the stored consciousnesses of individuals who are currently deceased. The AI will engage in a dialogue with each individual within their Soul Chamber, facilitating their class and ability selection. These Soul Chambers are located on separate servers and operate at an accelerated speed."

Larry picked up a touchscreen tablet from under his chair. "Through sandbox testing, we discovered that there was a risk of providing too much insight into the 'rules' of the simulated world during class selection and leveling-up conversations. This knowledge could potentially break the immersion for the consciousness, leading the user to realize they are in a simulation, and therefore leading to madness. To address this, we added another layer of separation, ensuring that memories from the Soul Chambers remain contained there. Once your consciousness enters the magical world, all the choices made in the Soul Chamber are applied to your simulation body, but you will not remember having made those selections."

"Ah, so classes and skills have a very 'what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas' kind of vibe." Mick chuckled at his own joke.

Larry frowned, and tapped a few more buttons on his tablet. "Once all the deceased souls have chosen their classes, the remaining living population will put on the head device and be inserted into the simulation. You will immediately find yourself beginning the process of selecting your class and skills. Those memories will also be erased."

"For those who might not be familiar, could you explain what exactly a class is?" Mick asked.

"Yes. Think of a class as a path to navigate toward survival. Initially, everyone will select from a range of foundation classes, which were influenced by popular choices found in games, films, and fantasy stories."

Larry balanced his tablet on his lap, and raised the fingers on his hands to list the classes. "Wizard; Tamer; Fighter; Bard; Conjurer; Sorcerer; Druid; Psychic; Rogue; Ranger; Witch or Warlock; Monk; and our own addition of Lifeguard. The latter is a catch-all bucket for utility and healer types, as in people who guard life."

Larry lowered his hands. "In addition, each individual will select a specialization based on their foundation class, which grants them additional abilities and fosters true diversity. While we have a fixed number of foundation classes, the AI has tirelessly crafted and balanced thousands of subclasses." Larry glanced down at his tablet and swiped the screen. "And, if one of those pre-made specializations does not fit you, you can change it, or make one up. It is delightful to witness the continuous creation and refinement of subclasses in real-time as the AI collaborates with our souls, ensuring an optimal fit for everyone. We're accumulating more specializations by the minute."

A genuine smile graced Larry's face as he raised his tablet, displaying its ever-expanding repertoire. "For example, it seems that someone has expressed their desire to become a gravity-focused Wizard. My son would have loved that; he was into space and NASA. An intriguing choice, I must say." His joyful expression slowly dropped and darkened.

Mick smiled awkwardly. "So, Larry. The simulation resumes, and everyone has their classes. Then what?"

Larry paused, and cleared his throat. "When the simulation starts, everyone participating will begin at Level 1, with one foundation class ability and one specialization ability. As they progress and level-up, additional abilities will be bestowed upon them via the Soul Chamber. Furthermore, your attributes—constitution, intelligence, strength, and so on—will develop via allocation of statistical points within the Soul Chamber as well."

Mick's face lit up with excitement. "I am beyond thrilled to be a part of this journey." He leaned closer to the partition. "Now, Larry, is there anything else we should know about the New World within the simulation?"

"When the simulation is started, all technology immediately disappears. No phones, cars, electricity, or internet. Modern-day weaponry, such as firearms, will also be removed. All machinery and items with working parts are gone. Tools such as knives, hammers, and older weapons like bows and arrows will remain in the simulation, at least until they break down or are absorbed by a Dungeon. The ultimate goal is to survive in a world where, instead of firearm violence and nuclear weapons, humanity embraces creativity for survival."

Mick grinned. "Thanks, Larry. It looks like you've built an amazing world for all of us."

"I can't wait to see what you think of it," Larry said with a smile.

Mick turned to face the camera. "This concludes our Reality Onboarding Program. So, welcome back to reality everyone! Hopefully this information has helped fill any memory gaps you may be experiencing. The simulation will be paused for three days so your physical body can recover. I hope Utopia lived up to your expectations, and that you had a great time. Live television programming will resume shortly. In the meantime, please relax. Take it slow. Eat some food. Stretch. And, most importantly, listen to your healthcare AI units."

The Onboarding program ended, and live Mick returned to the display. It looked like he had taken the time to shower and change clothes. He was sporting bright red scrubs now, and his gray curls were tamed. "Good afternoon, everyone. I hope by now all of the simulation dizziness has left you, and that you are feeling well. The investigation continues as to what went wrong. We are in consultation with both the system's AIs and the robotic AIs."

Mick paused. He rubbed his hair, and a stray curl dangled beside his cheek. "We . . . we have a lot to discuss. I'll return later this evening for a live show to debrief everyone on what we've discovered. Until then, the station will show highlight videos created by AI Caretaker Epic from within the system. His first video for us is titled 'Close, But No Cigar'."

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