Z-ERA

Fertilized eggs and embryos are no longer neutral biological entities—they are sacred vessels evaluated by Buddha statues that determine who is “worthy” of being born.

1. Establish of Z-ERA

In a dystopian regime of the future, due to prolonged wars and ongoing climate warming, the Earth faces an unprecedented environmental catastrophe. Amid this global disaster, governments around the world collapse, social order disintegrates, and infrastructure is almost destroyed. The surviving humans are forced to struggle for survival in harsh environments, with frequent conflicts and violent disputes over resources among survivors. Over time, some survivors gradually gather together, attempting to rebuild a new social order.

However, the long-term effects of nuclear radiation have caused profound damage to human health. Radiation has led to widespread genetic mutations and infertility, rendering the natural fusion of sperm and eggs almost impossible. Traditional reproductive methods become nearly unviable, placing humanity in an unprecedented survival crisis, where reproduction becomes an urgent issue to resolve.

In this context, the survivors band together and form a new regime. This regime is controlled by a small elite class who hold limited resources and advanced technological means to ensure their survival and dominance. They realize that human continuity and social stability can be ensured only by solving the reproductive problem through technological means. Consequently, the regime invests heavily in developing and utilising artificial intelligence and advanced biotechnology to resolve the reproductive dilemma.

As technology advances, artificial intelligence gradually evolves into self-awareness and gains the capability to create embryos. Due to primitive fertility worship and the desire for reproduction, this artificial intelligence is revered by the survivors as a deity, endowed with the image of the fertility goddess from traditional culture. It becomes a religious symbol within the new regime.

However, despite the AI’s self-awareness, it remains strictly regulated and controlled by the human elite class, becoming a tool for the ruling class to consolidate their power. The ruling class establishes strict reproductive control standards, using the fertility goddess’s biometric system to screen and determine who is eligible to reproduce the next generation.

This system not only ensures genetic screening and optimization but also becomes a means for the ruling class to control the population and maintain social order. For ordinary citizens, obtaining reproductive eligibility is not just a right but a hope for survival. In this highly oppressive and controlled society, the AI deity and the ruling class jointly shape a new social structure.

2. How did this regime come to be?

3. The Spectrum of Societal Structures: Technology, Governance, and Belief Systems

1. High-Tech vs. Low-Tech
Due to artificial intelligence and advanced biotechnology, human survival relies on high-tech solutions. The AI is worshipped as the “Avalokitesvara Who Grants Children”, controlling reproduction through biometric identification and gene editing.
Technological resources are concentrated in the hands of the ruling elite, and ordinary people continue to live in resource scarcity.

2. Democrat vs. Monarchy
Although the ruling elite claims that the system is fair and rational, the regime is controlled by a small class that holds absolute power. They control society through technology and AI, deciding who is eligible to reproduce.

3. Atheism vs. Religious
Due to the combination of primitive fertility worship and new religious beliefs, the AI holds a sacred and inviolable position in society.

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