Industry People
In the near-future the populations in many of the prosperous countries are shrinking to the point where their economies and social structures are being threatened. The problem is that many of the people in these countries find the prospect of raising a child to be daunting and not worth the strife. As the populations drop so do the markets and outlooks of the world leaders.
In an effort to avert disaster the governments meet and decide to use industry to artificially create babies and raise them to supplement their populations. These industry babies are created using the best combination of sperm and eggs possible. They are raised via the best childrearing methods experts can agree on. These methods evolve over time based on the outcomes of the industry children.
The industry babies grow into industry people. They were raised and educated to maximize their genetic tendencies and the economic needs at large and thus are generally brighter and more successful when they go out into the world than those raised by a traditional mother and father. The number of natural births drop significantly and more industry babies are created to fill the void.
After two generations religious people are essentially the only ones still having children naturally. The churches preach that the industry people as missing some part of their humanity and are an affront to God. It doesn’t help that the industry people are not raised with religion at all. The industry people refer to those from natural birth as “naturals”. The naturals refer to the industry people as “industry people”.
As a means to improve the next generation the industry people use technology to increase the size of their neocortex which has the side benefit of improving Dunbar’s number significantly. Now the industry people aren’t just being raised in the most ideal conditions but are also actively improving their innate abilities. In two generations the industry people are universally brilliant. During this time the naturals have mostly been relegated to working for the industrial people performing menial labor or they live in societies entirely separated from the industrial people. Many of the naturals view the industry people as abominations and evil. While not illegal generally the industry people don’t form relationships with the naturals. Obvious reasons for this are obvious.
A newly-raised industrial guy falls in love with a beautiful natural girl. Over time and using certain physical wiles she convinces him that the industrial people are evil and should be stopped. Together they come up with a plan to permanently shut down an industry baby-making facility. They would have succeeded but by chance they fail and are apprehended. It turns out that the natural girl is part of a network of naturals actively trying to sabotage the industry people for political reasons (she thinks it’s a religious movement (she’s a genuine fanatic) but in actuality the organization is funded by a naturalist government).
After the industrial guy learns the natural girl’s background and the overall plot he becomes a staunch anti-naturalist and helps pass laws banning the association between industry people and naturals. Through much effort and hardship the industrial people forgo utilizing naturals for labor and work to completely isolate themselves from the naturals.
The industrial people own much of the world’s land and decide to centralize themselves on the Asian and Australian continents. The naturals are forced to leave these areas and are not allowed to return. Naturally the naturals are uneasy about this but they can’t really do anything about it as the industry people use advanced technology to block passage into their new country which the naturals cannot circumvent. The industry people cease all contact and communication with the naturals. The satellites orbiting Earth were created by industry people and are made to not transmit any images or data about the industry country. New satellites sent up by the naturals are easily hacked and made inoperable by the industry people. All electronics flown over the industry country fail. The naturals don’t know what the industry people are up to.
The naturalist governments secretly prepare to invade the industry country. They engineer terrible devices of war and chaos. Through the government-controlled media the people are told fabricated stories about atrocities committed by the industry people. A rumor emerges that the industry people’s land contains a miraculous mineral that cures cancer. This rumor becomes an alleged fact when a television personality on a morning medical show refers to an imaginary study which says that, when combined with coconut oil, the mineral eliminates cancerous moles.
As the rhetoric grows to a fevered pitch two disasters occur which devastate the naturals. A massive solar flare destroys much of their technology and shortly thereafter a new deadly flu wipes out 90% of their population. The surviving naturals suspect the industry people caused the flu epidemic and possibly the solar flare but they can do nothing in retaliation as the very act of survival becomes difficult (the industrial people were, in fact, responsible for both disasters). Tin-pot kings emerge and much of the natural population is subjugated by one ruler or another. In five years the naturals are largely isolated from each other and in 30 years they have technologically regressed to the Bronze Age.
The industry people were able to shield their technology from the solar flare and continued in their self-improvements. They decide to venture into outer space to further expand their comprehension of the universe. To accomplish this goal the industry people find a way to blend their consciousnesses into their technology which will allow them to survive the long and radiation-saturated journey through space.
Their technology has advanced to the point where much of it is biological. Thus when they do blast off into space they actually grow their space ships around large asteroids in order to utilize their gravities and raw materials. This takes many years but eventually the ships are finished and the industry people leave the solar system to explore the galaxy.
The naturals left behind have forgotten much of what occurred in the past. To most the industry people are myths and legends. Some religions arise based on writings about the industry people from before the sun punished the people for their wicked ways. Time eventually eliminates all traces of the industry people and the technologies of old.
Over three thousand years pass and the world is now completely inhabited by the naturals. Their society has advanced to the point where some of the richer county’s populations begin to shrink due to the burden of raising children. In an effort to avoid social and economic disaster they get the idea to create babies artificially and raise them to supplement the population.
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