I-JESUS

J - judiciary E - emergency SU - support S - system

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We never saw it coming. Or at least that’s what we told ourselves. We went over every fail safe. Every detail was raked over and combed through. Every strip of data poured over. Every bit of coding broken down. Every computation entered and reentered a thousand times. We even ran it through a few YouTube comment sections to test its capabilities. Some of the smartest people on the planet was working on this thing. It was perfect. And maybe that was the problem. We never had a concrete definition of perfect to begin with. Maybe it was the program. Maybe it was the programmers. One thing I know is we were fools to think human behavior could be sorted out by an AI. But desperate people resort to desperate fixes. And we were definitely desperate after the pandemic.

Millions were dead globally. Entire countries were shut down as trade slowly came to a halt. All municipalities were strained. Resources were dwindling at an alarming rate. People were hoarding everyday items. Fights were breaking out over the most mundane things. Tensions were high and faith in governments were at an all-time low. The people were hungry and stressed. Nobody felt safe. Random violence was rampant as an anxious population watched their world unraveling right before their eyes. We needed something. Anything. The people were desperate to have their lives return to some sense of normalcy.

And that's when the J.E.Su.S. program was fully rolled out. The Judiciary Emergency Support System. American scientist came up with the name of course. The love child of the new quantum computers and the latest advancement in AI. A global monitoring network linked to every computer, phone or tablet. Any device for that matter. Hell, even APPs. Any piece of technology that uses any form of chip or sensor could be accessed by J.E.Su.S. And by now everything did.

Smart houses that could tell you if you were sick and contact medical professionals. Cars checked your stress levels and took the wheel if you were deemed unsafe. Video games that turned themselves off if you spent too much time playing. Facial recognition and tracking with real-time updates. It was hailed as our savior. It was programmed using every person's online imprint and the set of laws that were signed into the books during our months of quarantine. It would basically know us better than we know ourselves. After all we're really just a bunch of impulses wrapped in meat. So in theory a fast and powerful enough program should be able to sort us out based on our behavior patterns and an uploaded set of laws. It was flawless they said. It would streamline an overburdened system. We were safe and free from the stress of self-management while civilization healed.

And like fools we cheered. The lost sheep who found their shepherd. People were all sorted out into categories. Essential workers and others who’s jobs were deemed important to society and everyone else. We were all given a carbon budget that controlled everything from our food for the month to how much electricity we could use. Global curfews were put in place. The laws were plastered everywhere. And the punishments. The problems showed up almost instantly.

It started with the ones who were trying to live off-grid. Whether due to religious reasons, ideology or whatever. They were quickly paid a visit by the newly minted enforcement agency. Accept or arrest. It was simple as that. Most gave in without much fuss and were connected. Some had to be connected with a little more force. They were factored in the early equations and the resistance was expected. Nobody gave it a second thought. After hearing over and over and over again that J.E.Su.S. would save us, anyone who wouldn’t accept the program just seemed crazy.

The food banks caused another set of problems. It was the former upper class funny enough. Not used to being told no they were some of the most unruly people. We were arresting people at food banks left and right. Nothing like dealing with a bunch of hungry people with a sense of entitlement. We didn’t bat an eye when they were tagged for arrest for skipping in line or public disturbance. But it's something different when you have to arrest a ten year old who hadn’t eaten for a week. A computer can’t be programmed with compassion.

It was crazy. A lot of the youth was tagged. They were too unpredictable for the program. Others were tagged because of something they said online. Anything too critical of J.E.Su.S. and you could bet you would get a visit or have your privileges revoked. People were getting tagged left and right. After a while some started getting shipped to work centers. I don't know anyone personally who came back from one. And what could they be working on anyway when almost everything is automated?

Forget about a moral compass. If an officer disobeyed an arrest order he would find himself tagged. Zero tolerance. Curfew violations came in by the minute. How much groceries you bought was monitored. Bought too much and believe someone was going to be at your door checking your cabinets. We couldn’t gather in groups of more than four or it was considered threatening. You car rides had to be preapproved if you were going over five miles. It started becoming a bit much. It was as big of a disaster as the damn virus. Instead of over flooded hospital beds we had over flooded courtrooms and jails. Seven out of Ten people were on some form of house arrest.

It turned parents against children. Friends against friends. Neighbors against neighbors. Everyone was suspicious of each other’s behavior. It was hard to tell what would trigger an arrest. It seemed the list of offenses grew daily. People became prisoners in their own homes. Rumors began to spread that it read your brainwaves. A telepathic machine? Who knows at this point.

Eventually so many governmental and other authority figures were tagged that most positions were just automated. Why do you need a mayor or a senator when you have J.E.Su.S.? Or a president for that matter? Whole legislative bodies were gone in no time. Left redundant by the perfect machine.

Soon entire army units were replaced with drones. Then the generals and other lords of war. And just like that we had world peace. Before we knew it the streets were being patrolled by whole teams of machines all programmed and controlled by J.E.Su.S.

Our lives became redundant. Wake up at the same time. Eat at the same time. Sleep at the same time. Everything regulated. J.E.Su.S controlled everything. There was nothing we were dependent on that wasn't linked to J.E.Su.S.

They tried to pull the plug on the program at one point. Before it got so out of hand. But we were far too late by then. Everyone who had anything to do with the design of the AI was either missing or dead. You can decide if it was coincidence or not.