The near future, around 2150. Earth’s resources are on the verge of depletion, the environment is deteriorating, and the gap between rich and poor is immense. The concept of the nation-state has weakened, while a handful of massive technology conglomerates, known as “megacorps,” effectively control society’s lifelines.
Eternal Oasis: The pinnacle of human technology. A global immersive virtual reality network managed and maintained by the super AI Noah. People connect through neural interfaces to live, work, play, and socialize within it. The sensory experience is indistinguishable from reality, or even better. Time in the Oasis can be adjusted, usually to pass more slowly than in the real world. It is not just an “escape” from reality, but also the core of the economy, politics, and culture. The real world has become the energy and hardware base that keeps the Oasis running, and ordinary people spend most of their time living in the Oasis.
Mind Uploading and the Immortality Project: The “Afterlife Project,” led by the megacorp Genesis Technologies, has made a breakthrough. In theory, it can fully scan and upload a human consciousness to the Oasis’s deepest core, the “Eternal Sanctuary,” making digital immortality possible. But the technology is prohibitively expensive and ethically controversial, so it is available only to the powerful.
