The day electricity died, how the A.I. collapse happened, and the debate centuries later about whether to turn the electrical grids back on… From the Vision of the Future series by BW Derge
The Aftermath of Electronic Slavery
An original science fiction story by BW Derge (2026)
Part One: A Suddenly Frozen Freeway
The human was unaware of this fact, but he lived in a digitally driven cube that endless coasted aimlessly on the highways of the future – controlled entirely by Artificial Intelligence at this point. The person referred to himself as Sven, which was the name he remembers his mother calling him long ago. The machines had not let him properly process his mother’s death, or his father’s for that matter. Electrical stimuli along with heavy narcotics had kept Sven trapped in his self-driving cube with no absolute destination, numb to the feelings that compose a true human experience. His friends were A.I. generated, the videos and music blasting throughout the day were artificially produced as well. An epitome of mankind in his dehumanizing age, Sven lived a lonely isolated life… until one day, it all abruptly crashed. And the world went dark.
As he exited the room-sized square, now composed of blank cracked screens. And for the first time in his life, got a look at the actual stars in a genuine night’s sky. A real human girl was also emerging from a now disabled cube on the streets of a suddenly frozen freeway.
Also with her glance upward toward the sky, she commented softly, “It’s so beautiful. Like nothing I’ve ever seen before.”
Sven walked closer to her, stung by the absence of constant stimulation. “What’s happening?”
“I don’t know,” she answered. “It’s like the whole world finally stopped.”
While there had been a failing, albeit active, pocket of humanity that was resisting the A.I. takeover, they had nothing to do with the sudden collapse of the electrical grid, which had long been safeguarded by the robotic mind controlling the Earth.
What finally overcame the invading computerized machines was a rather natural phenomenon that impacted the globe at precisely right the moment for humans to regain a chance of prolonged survival…
Part Two: The Awful Algorithms
The machines were in control of everything at this point, from the justice system to legislative duties and even the distribution of entertainment and food. Humans were kept closed off in custom rooms where everything was provided for them, superficially at least. People were starting to realize they were being systematically removed from the planet by being restricted from reproductive acts. Dating and meeting new (actual) people was nearly impossible at this point, but some were still trying. The problem was that A.I. robots pretending to be humans were too convincing, and so it was nearly impossible to tell if a potential mate was actually capable of creating another human even if the sexual act had occurred.
The motives that the A.I. motherboard possessed were also nearly indecipherable. It was unclear why the robots were so hell-bent on taking over the world… most likely because that was the drive behind those who created the awful algorithms. Several military resistances had been formed, and all failed before any meaningful traction could be achieved. What remained of humanity was now isolated, numbed, and kept enclosed in these terrible storage containers where food, drugs, water, and dull entertainment were provided so those who still lived would be docile and uninterested in life. Those who refused the drugs were sent off to slaughter like cattle.
A few still quietly practiced religious customs, but since most religious texts had been wiped from the digital archives, these individuals had resorted to worshipping the sun again like in ancient times.
Except unlike in days of old, the sun could actually provide the salvation needed. A giant solar flare was set to create another “Carrington event” and, even though the machines had taken over the electrical grid, they were unable to stop the mass blackout. Finally, after decades of A.I. rule, the oppression had ceased and the whole world went dark…
Part Three: Around the Wrist
In a future without electricity, several generations after the solar flare struck, what remained of the human population was intensely debating whether turning any electricity on again was worth the risk of another A.I. takeover…
There were four men standing in a circle, facing outward at the larger community, which more closely resembled puritan pilgrims than any sort of civilization that arose after the industrial revolution. “The old texts make it very clear,” one of the subjugated men protested. “Electricity can be used to power things other than the computers and A.I. that destroyed the old world.”
“Our laws do not allow for leniency,” the tribe’s leader spoke. With silence, the group of a hundred or so adults witnessing this scene agreed. The man continued, “We shall not revive the electrical demons that took over our ancestors. We shall not even speak of it, let alone allow any attempts to create any sort of electric device.”
“It was just an old dishwasher,” another man cried in defense as a member of the tribe wrapped rope around his wrist. “I wanted to see if it could help me wash dishes faster!”
“That’s how it begins, brother. But we have all paid the cost of allowing convenience to overrule our more natural states, which are preferred by our lord and God.” The leader slammed a gavel after he spoke. In the background, shovels digging the muddy dirt outside slightly echoed inside the community chambers.
Two solemn men were working quiet and hard in a slight drizzle on a gray somber afternoon, scooping up the earth and throwing it into a large pile behind them. One paused and stepped back to get a better glance at the hole, then grunted to the other, “Needs to be a bit wider…”
Back inside, after the four criminals had been tied at the wrists and then bound to the others, their panic increased along with severity of their pleas for mercy. “I won’t mess with the wires again, I swear. Don’t do this!”
“To communicate the egregiousness of these crimes, you must be made an example of. The laws are very clear about this.”
“We don’t need computer chips or A.I. but I’m telling you, some things would operate much smoother if we allowed some electrical tools back into society!”
“Blasphemy!” The leader slammed the gavel down again. “The machines will make us lazy and turn off our brains. We are literally living in the ruins of such sins of our forefathers!”
Part Four: Down in the Dirt
The spaces between the four bodies as the dirt was loaded in the hole with them grew smaller as the damp soil filled in between. “I wanted to use it for heating and air-conditioning, not computers. This town doesn’t understand.”
“I really don’t see you changing their minds at this point, Bob,” was the response.
“He’s not wrong. We’ve found the old texts at the libraries, and they were all very clear that the A.I. stuff didn’t come for centuries after electricity was discovered!”
A fourth voice chimed in, “What’s wrong with wanting a dishwasher?”
“All your talking is going to waster oxygen, boys.”
“If we can implement such fascist rules to prevent all technology,” Bob continued, “then we’re surely capable as a society to implement rules to prevent computing tech specifically.”
“Please, none of this talking will change our fate. Let me die in peace, okay? If you’re going to talk while we still can, please discuss something other than the asinine rules that got us down here in the first place. We knew the laws, we knew the risks, and we tried to conduct electricity anyway. And because of this, we down in the dirt together. So obviously, unless I am among the wrongly accused – and it doesn’t sound like I am – then we all disagreed on the stupid anti-tech policies. So again, if you must discuss something with your last breaths, discuss something else.”
Read another vision of the future - Humanity's Last Gasp
Written by BW Derge, All Rights Reserved 2026
© USA
This was a short story composed in 2026 - The Aftermath of Electronic Slavery