Who’d been in the library of the microbiology institute, surrounded by a few students quietly babbling to themselves, many wearing bodycams in their hipster glasses. Naturally. Complete idiots. Nearly everyone has them, well, everyone who isn’t totally thick. In the case of any dispute it’s important to be able to make an airtight case as to just who acted like a criminal. Just think about it: you’re tottering along the street and get run down by a self-driving vehicle of some kind. Right. Whose fault is it? He said, she said. Or. You’re at a restaurant and get accosted. Or you have an argument with a neighbor. Or you exercise your democratic rights and work out in a so-called public space and come into conflict with some sort of security officer. So, who is right? Hmm? “You’re right. And you can prove it!” It was the greatest slogan since the invention of advertising. As if bodycams weren’t ridiculous enough, many people here wear cortex stimulators. Transcranial magnetic stimulation. TMS, as the pros say, used to be employed only for schizophrenia, migraines, and epilepsy. These days you can grab the little pads for free at any pharmacy, stick them onto your skull, activate, and whoosh, your brain is treated to an invigorating fireworks display. Fear, nervousness, insecurity are suppressed. The depolarization starts in the axon and then spreads through the cell bodies of the neurons and on to the dendrites. The customer quickly feels an effect. A blanket sense of well-being. And a certain indefatigability. That there are students in the library long after midnight can be attributed to the new stimulation technique. That and the terror over being intellectually left behind, because the gulf is no longer between rich and poor but between smart and dumb. A couple of percent of the global population compete with artificial intelligence to remain in the comfort zone. Over 90 percent can no longer keep up. They understand to various degrees:

Nothing.