Pendulum

“For Hegel, freedom was not just a psychological phenomenon, but the essence of what was distinctively human. In this sense, freedom and nature are diametrically opposed. Freedom does not mean the freedom to live in nature or according to nature; rather, freedom begins only where nature ends. Human freedom emerges only when man is able to transcend his natural, animal existence, and to create a new self for himself.” -Francis Fukuyama, The End of History and The Last Man       Hypercapitalism rules. Corporations run every aspect of this world. Politics now have no pretenses: Life is decided by investor meetings, not by a senate.   History doesn't exist. People cling to tragedy after tragedy on social media as mere fads, but it is impossible to sort history into anything meaningful. There is simply too much data to sift. City-sized data centers can barely keep up with the load, and so data is deleted in months. It doesn't matter who creates the data, unless held on a personal server, it is ephemeral.   As a result, culture is a flowing thing. Thanks to genemodding, race and gender are fashion trends. Your birth race is decided by what your parents were when they had you, but there is no further connection to skin color or facial structure beyond trend. Robotic limbs are a fashion statement as much as a utility.   With open conflict being held in only the board room, PMCs and Merc groups handle the conflicts that only force can decide. You are a member of one such group, by choice, to pay your debts, or to fight for some higher ideal.