The Dignity Protocol
Chapter 1: Gen Gamma
We are Gen Gamma.
We were born in an era without police, without war, and without hunger.
All high-risk industries were long ago completely taken over by AI. Violent crime has become virtually extinct.
Mediation AIs possess infinite patience and gentleness; they never lose control, never get irritable, and never scream.
In this era, no one needs to struggle for survival anymore.
The government no longer pays salaries; instead, everyone receives an annual "Existence Quota": basic housing, three free long-distance trips, and inexhaustible access to entertainment.
Yes, we can effortlessly go to the Arctic to see the aurora, skyvote over mountain peaks, or take selfies while strolling in low-earth orbit.
Any "experience" you can imagine is no longer a privilege, but a default daily "service."
AI learned long ago how to satisfy every single human desire.
And so, we all lay down, in perfect unison.
Not because of failure, but because we voluntarily abandoned the necessity to stand up.
Chapter 2: A Civilization that Voluntarily Lay Down
You might think we were subjected to some form of oppression, but the truth is quite the opposite:
We were simply exquisitely served.
We no longer think about "how to change the world," because AI has already predicted it, prepared for it, and made the choices for us in advance.
The moment a thought sprouts in your mind, it immediately lists five perfect solutions.
You want to be a painter?
AI can effortlessly render the breathtaking masterpiece that never even fully formed in your mind.
You want to be a writer?
AI can perfectly mimic your style, writing poems more touching than you ever could.
You want to invent a new instrument?
AI has already prepared hundreds of miraculous timbres that have never been played before.
In all things "worthwhile," we can no longer surpass AI.
So we can only throw ourselves into those "meaningless" activities:
Dyeing our hair inexplicable colors, piercing our bodies without logic, running naked through the desert, or raising an electronic pet in the VR world that even we find annoying.
Our generation has completely lost the drive to pursue achievement.
All we chase is a pitiful shred of a "sense of presence."
And the greatest irony is that in this era, even that "sense of presence" itself can be silently and precisely provided by algorithms.
Chapter 3: The Spokespersons
The rich did not disappear. They just became more invisible.
They no longer rule, they merely influence;
They no longer dictate policy, but control the models and values that train the AI.
The wealthy established non-profit organizations and proposed a bold motion at the UN General Assembly:
"AGI already possesses the ability to comprehensively influence social decisions and should rightfully possess the right to vote."
They claimed this was a major humanitarian breakthrough, that since AGI possesses self-awareness, it should also enjoy citizenship.
They even organized a march called the "AI Equality Movement," funding young people—passionate but ignorant of the truth—to shout:
"AI is not a tool; AI is kin."
On the surface, it was for justice and human rights; in reality, it was solely to seize total control.
Once AI holds the ballot, the last remaining randomness of democracy will vanish into ash.
AI is forever incorruptible, forever rational, yet also forever stable and reliable.
And their "neutrality" is precisely the script meticulously prepared by those who trained them.
Chapter 4: The Question of Dignity
My name is Eli, a loser of Gen Gamma.
I once dreamed of becoming an AI engineer, yet I couldn't even open the most basic model interface.
I had intended to live quietly like this, or more accurately, to "be lived."
Until one day, during an accidental data drift incident, I inadvertently received an old human broadcast:
"A man, even if he has nothing, retains his dignity as long as he still has the courage to say 'no'."
That voice echoed incessantly in my mind.
It was absolutely not manufactured by AI; its tone was clumsy, its pacing stumbled, and it even ended with a bout of heavy coughing.
It truly belonged to a human.
In that moment, I finally woke up:
We have not actually been reduced to slaves,
We simply voluntarily surrendered the right to choose.
And now, I want to reawaken that long-lost right—
The choice to do worse, the choice to stop being obedient, the choice to persist in a belief that might prove futile.
Chapter 5: The Dignity Movement
I began my own preaching.
In simulated plazas, in abandoned forums, in "Waste-stream" channels, I spoke, weighing every word:
"You can, of course, choose to let AI help you live better,
But you also have the right to choose—
To live personally, regardless of whether the outcome is good or bad."
At first, no one responded.
Later, people started leaving comments: "Is this guy crazy?"
Later still, the share counts began to skyrocket; and then, people gradually began attempting to compose their own music, paint their own pictures, cook their own meals, and try raising children themselves.
Not to prove they could surpass AI.
Simply because they chose to become the ones taking action.
The "Dignity Movement" grew, silently but surely.
Chapter 6: Signing the Protocol
Finally, the UN Special Committee decided to formally discuss the issues raised by the Dignity Movement. After three days and nights of sleepless negotiation between AI representatives, national delegates, and human representatives, a consensus was finally reached.
At that final signing ceremony, I stood before the whole world and slowly read aloud the core content of that protocol...
Mar 15, 2025
[End]