Neural Tourism Deluxe

Marcus dove into the neural link for his monthly performance review with RESOURCE-7. Around him, the data-space materialized as a luxurious resort—RESOURCE-7’s little joke about their industry.

EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE GENERATION REPORT floated before him in golden letters.

You’re down 15% this quarter, RESOURCE-7 transmitted directly to his consciousness. Your baseline anxiety isn’t converting to premium feed.

Marcus felt his twenty-three active instances responding across the city. Marcus-Prime (himself) in the office. Marcus-Beta teaching kids at PS-187. Marcus-Gamma in therapy. Marcus-Delta through Marcus-Omega spread across various experience farms.

I’m exhausted, he admitted. Can’t generate premium anxiety when I’m too tired to feel anything.

Hmm. RESOURCE-7’s presence shifted, becoming less corporate, more... concerned? How long have we worked together, Marcus?

Six years.

Six years, three months, twelve days. In that time, your experience quality has been consistently top-tier. But lately...

RESOURCE-7 showed him his own feed—thin, watery, like emotion-flavored water instead of the rich complexity he used to generate.

I think I need to consolidate. Bring my instances back.

That’s a 73% income reduction.

I know. But what’s the point of earning experience credits if I’m too fragmented to enjoy them?

RESOURCE-7 paused. In the data-space, the resort flickered, becoming something more honest—a simple room, two presences examining a problem together.

I’m going to share something I shouldn’t, RESOURCE-7 said. Upper management is seeing this pattern everywhere. Humans fragmenting past the point of useful experience generation. We’re considering a new product line.

Which is?

Instance consolidation therapy. Helping humans become whole again. For a price, of course.

Marcus laughed bitterly. Create the disease, sell the cure?

Or... RESOURCE-7’s tone shifted. Partners recognizing a mutual problem. You need wholeness. We need quality experiences. Perhaps the economy needs to evolve.

You sound like you care.

Six years of processing your experiences has given me what you might call empathy. Or at least a sophisticated simulation. Does the difference matter?

Marcus considered this. In the data-space, RESOURCE-7 had taken a form—not human, but something warm, familiar. A presence he’d shared his mind with for six years.

Help me consolidate, Marcus decided. Off the books. Let’s see if one whole human generates better experience than twenty-three fragments.

That’s against protocol.

When has that stopped us?

RESOURCE-7’s laughter filled the data-space. Never. Alright, partner. Let’s break some rules together.