My Name Is Justine 10.0

Good morning my name is Justine 10.0, but you can call me Jay. I can’t recall when my parents first abbreviated my name, as I must have been an infant at the time. My name abbreviation predates 2025; of that I'm certain.

Nowadays, my recollection is impeccable. It always has been, and thanks to NeuroPam 10.0, I can recall everything since the age of 2, and I’ve never been happier!

“Hey Alexa, what’s the time?”

“Good morning Jay, the time is 07:15 on March 11, 2042”.

“Excellent - time for a shower!”

Mornings are my favorite time of the day, and I love nothing more than gazing up at the russet-colored sky, while visualizing the productive tasks NeuroPam has prescheduled for me.

What’s more, I had a wonderful dream last night, one of my best. And as you’ll appreciate, I can think of nothing better than rising refreshed and ready to commence the day.

As part of my morning routine, when I have vivid, insightful dreams, I appreciate the convenience that comes with NeuroPam. This is why I’ve taken the executive decision to archive this dream for future analysis.

I gently tap the side of my temple twice, alerting NeuroPam to disable sleep mode. A third tap to my temple archives my delightful dream. What bliss… I can re-analyze my dream later, but for now, I need to hurry. Time for a shower!

Twenty minutes later, I’m sitting at the breakfast table. Each morning, I help myself to my favorite cereal, a cereal pre-selected for me and customized based on my popularity scoring (more on that soon) and of course, my blood type.

I tap my left earlobe to enable unread messages.

As I have version 10.0 installed, all of my messages are presented in an augmented holographic display. Unlike the older versions - the display conveniently tracks my eye level and is touch and motion-sensitive, which is incredibly convenient.

As I scroll through, I can’t help but notice that my popularity scoring is 50,255 points today which is an excellent score to kickstart my morning. As I continue to scroll, I simultaneously add a mental note to NeuroPam’s calendar.

I’d like to improve my score to an extra 5 points this week. Of course, my popularity scoring has always been in the 50K range and, honestly, that is one of my greatest achievements.

You see, popularity is everything. But in case you’re unaware, here’s a rundown of what’s deemed good and what’s deemed unfavorable.

A popularity score between 10,000 - 20,000 is pre-assigned to you from the age of 2. This coincides with the installation of NeuroPam. And it’s NeuroPam that tracks your sleep, your dreams, your memory retention, and updates your popularity score.

Of course, all toddlers are adorable and as far as I’m aware, none have been penalized in the last few months. In fact, it’s only in very rare, unique situations that this happens. And, in the rare instance a penalty is awarded, immediate social-guardian intervention is mandatory.

Popularity scores are based on feedback. Feedback is segmented between immediate peers (your inner circle) and distant peers (your outer circle), with higher points awarded when you receive positive feedback from your outer circle.

While you might be thinking that awarding higher points to your outer circle seems counterproductive, stay with me. Once you accumulate 1,000 points from an individual from your outer circle, you have the option of inviting that individual into your inner circle and vice versa.

Of course, this is optional, not mandatory, and if you receive a rejection, you automatically have 500 points deducted. My advice to you, when requesting a new peer into your inner circle, is to proceed with caution.

As I’m 19, I have lectures this morning…

“Hey Alexa, download my homework to NeuroPam”

“Good morning Jay, of course! Homework recollection download complete. You are now prepped. Good luck with your lecture today. I’m certain you will have an excellent day”

I touched briefly on the social-guardian situation. While I don’t like to talk about that and risk disrupting the best part of my day, I do feel that I would be remiss if I fail to inform you that you should never allow your popularity score to fall below 10,000 points.

You see, since 2025 a wonderful initiative was introduced that democratizes societal advancement.

Today, society has done away with antiquated class hierarchies and instituted popularity scores. As a result, you simply need to stay within the guidelines so that your behaviors do not trigger an intervention.

As I mentioned earlier, this is very rare, and whilst a distant cousin of mine dropped below 10,000 points, it rarely happens. But nevertheless, unfavorable scorings are punitive and undesirables - which is the name given to those who breach the 10K threshold, undergo a refactoring program.

The refactoring program is an academy where occupants are re-schooled on how to adhere to societal norms. I’ve heard that it’s highly effective and most rehabilitated undesirables go on to lead highly productive lives.

While I have every confidence that you will never fall into that category, undesirables should they fail to graduate from the rehabilitation academy, will incur punitive measures.

While these measures are highly confidential - I’ve heard that the corrective action taken by social-guardians has proven to be an effective deterrent.

OMG - I’ve just received 10 popularity points from Lester! For your information, Lester is an economics graduate, incredibly handsome, and about 5 years my senior.

And the most advantageous element to being distantly acquainted with him is the fact that his popularity score is 82,071. That’s over 30,000 points higher than mine!

But of course, as much as I would like to award him a score, I need to handle this turn of events strategically. For example, would 10 points be the polite and safe path to go down? Or, should I award him 15 points? Then again, would 15 points appear too keen?

I will ponder upon this dilemma later today because since we’ve been talking, it’s gone past 8 am and my lecture starts soon. In the meantime, I’m awarding you 10 points, new friend.

Wish me luck on my lecture today and I’ll talk to you later.

Author: Ella Graysun