My diary from 2091

In My 2091 Diary, I describe a totalitarian world at the end of the 21st century where human freedom has been radically restricted in the name of environmental protection. Nation states have ceased to exist, and everything is run by the World Commission through the Sustainable World programme, which controls human behaviour using an artificial intelligence called the Great Counsellor. Its “advice” has become commands—it tells people what to eat, how to live, or when to die, supposedly to reduce emissions, yet at the same time it encourages consumerist behaviour. As a result, sustainability has been abused and freedom destroyed, symbolised by the demolition of the Statue of Liberty and the erection of a statue of the Great Counsellor. As a journalist for the Sustainable Times newspaper, I initially considered this system to be correct, until a trip to Sri Lanka—the last free country—led me to realise that the world I live in is perverse. Driven by a desire for change, I returned to New York and published My 2091 Diary.