chairman - appendix c - charles ashley's proposal

by fred flynn

for previous episode, click here

to begin at the beginning, click here

my name is charles ashley. my number is 6743-7853-329h. i am a level three technician in in the implementation cohort of the global reorganization project of the empire. i have been assigned to draw up a preliminary proposal to answer a question which was brought up several times at the recent imperial councils. the question being - after the reorganization is complete, what are “the people” ( i e, the 80 billion inhabitants of the planet with no official standing or duties) to do all day? i am grateful to the chairman for allowing me to make this possible humble contribution to the reorganization. instead of one city/building inhabited by all 80 billion persons on earth, i propose that eight cities of 10 billion people be established. the eight cities might be close to each other so that a single energy source can power all of them, but i suggest that they be spaced as far apart as possible around the planet as i think his would increase the spirit of competition which i think it is necessary to foster. all the humans who wish to participate should be offered an endless series of contests and competitions to fill up their days. these contests can be either a) individual. or b) team note: citizens will not be obliged to participate. those who wish to spend their lives quietly in their rooms, eating and sleeping, will be allowed to do so. note: team competitions will not be subject to “tryouts”. all who wish to participate in any competition will be chosen by lottery. in the early stages of the reorganization, due consideration will be given to ensure proportional representation of divergent groups, particularly historically marginalized groups, but as these divergences evolve away into a single “human” type, this will become unnecessary. contests will take place within each city, and the winners or winning teams in each city will then compete against each other to determine final “champions” in each endeavor. the length of time between each “final” can be varied, and staggered to provide a continuous flow of competitions without overloading the attention of the citizens the first contests will be the traditional ones - poetry, football, weightlifting, cake baking, etc - of previous generations, but as the cities are expected to last forever, new contests can be devised as the millenia pass. contests to devise new contests can then be established to replace the worn out ones, and then contests to replace those contests, with some of the older contests recycled judiciously from time to time, creating a new ever-expanding universe of competition. i hope this humble memo makes some small contribution to the discussion. all glory to our immortal chairman/emperor!