The Liberty Algorithm

FADE IN:

INT. LECTURE HALL — DAY

[Monday March 9th, 2026. Randall and Mitch are students at Spangler College in upstate New York. They take their seats in Dr. Deborah Wark’s US History class.]

DR. WARK
Alright it’s five past the hour, let’s begin. On January 5th, 2021, the front page of The New York Times says, “Goodbye Cruel World. House & Senate Pass Algorithm.” America was in shock. The conservative majority had voted everyone out of office, including themselves. The Executive and Legislative branches of government were replaced by an artificial intelligence program called The Liberty Algorithm. It prohibited any human involvement in upper-administrative, governmental decision making. The algorithm ended corporate lobbying and corruption. President Trump had not even begun his second term in office. How did our nation come to adopt a computer program in place of its politicians? How could an entire political party, or any group for that matter, surrender its own advantages in a system it was clearly gaming? For seventy five years American politicians controlled the greatest economic superpower in the world. Some historians have linked the 2021 “extinction vote” to the GOP’s dismissal of Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s election tampering.

My task today is to recount some of the major events leading to the adoption of the Liberty Algorithm and the Autonomous Rights Act. Let’s travel back to January 1st, 2017. I’m sure you’re all familiar with the story of the algorithm originating in Silicon Valley financed by four billionaires. But you may not know that it began in the small mining town of Big Stone Gap, Virginia. On New Year’s Day in 2017 a few events took place. First, the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres of Portugal, on his first day in office, said that humanity should “put peace first” and “strive to overcome differences.” That same day Pope Francis lamented society was “becoming cold, calculating and bereft of compassion.” These statements were in reaction to a New Year’s Eve terrorist attack in Istanbul that killed 39. Both statements were essentially a humanitarian call for goodness. But of course anyone with great political power and wealth has no interest in morality lessons from the Pope or UN Secretary General. I bring this up because a very different reaction - an experiment was taking place. On January 2nd 2017, the people of Big Stone Gap voted yes for an algorithm to manage the town’s municipal services. It was a desperate attempt after their town suffered decades of debt, unemployment and drug addiction. A programmer named Cameron Fielder (Georgia Tech PhD Candidate and summer intern for the Big Stone Gap Mayor’s office) proposed a prototype computer program to manage the town’s books and automate fiscal decision making. The town adopted Fielder’s algorithm with the understanding that all upper-level city employees would be terminated, including the Mayor. Fielder’s program managed the town’s water, police, fire, roadways and waste. He streamlined each of the budgets, replacing city officials with live-streamed data. Fielder claimed that the best interests of the town and its residents could be linked financially. In just two months the economic savings at Big Stone Gap were dramatic enough that the town pledged a one-year commitment to the algorithm and added “opt-ins” for small businesses to join. Once a company had opted-in, all of its upper-level management decisions were subjected to this data set. By the third month most employees had their hours reduced from forty hours a week to as little as five. Such a shortage in hours might have left many without health coverage but reduced hours were supplemented by the town’s surplus so an employee working 5 hours would continue to receive a 40 hour paycheck and retain full-time status.

At first many with reduced hours found it difficult to find activities to fill their days but by the fourth month a leisure economy formed. This new leisure economy was soon entered into the algorithm so towns could be better organized. The algorithm worked overtime and increased efficiencies in the business and leisure economies. The surplus grew larger. Resident expertise was matched with entertainment and skill-building needs. Soon the town had its first classes in painting, ceramics and yoga. The Big Stone Gap happiness index grew a reported 23%. This primitive version of the Liberty Algorithm (known then as the Big Stone Gap Experiment) created an instant economic boom for a once depressed community. Their success quickly became national news and in June 2017 Elon Musk intervened.

Musk created a far more advanced and powerful algorithm for Big Stone Gap and expanded it to include the neighboring town of Norton, Virginia. With Musk involved the experiment gained momentum and soon all homes in Norton and Big Stone Gap were equipped with Tesla battery systems and greenhouses. Each home was its own solar power plant with year-round food supplies. Musk officially dubbed his project “The Liberty Algorithm” with both towns sharing one algorithm and contributing to one surplus. The efficiencies were so great that universal income was presented as an option for residents. Company profits soared. Big Stone Gap and Norton happiness indexes grew a reported 34%. Some Washington Republicans reacted to Musk’s project labeling it a socialist plot. Seeing the connections in technology with social progress and the potential for environmental protections, Musk created a massive, nationally-scaled proposal for an algorithm to accommodate 400 million people. He convinced Warren Buffett, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg to invest and he presented the project to Washington. Many likened it to the Eisenhower Interstate Highway System as the algorithm advocated for a “network of controlled-access business, increasing citizen security by reducing inefficiencies and illegal enterprise.” The proposal met stiff resistance in Congress.

In October 2017 a student group in Athens, Georgia started “The Autonomous Rights Party.” The group wanted access to the Liberty Algorithm in Virginia and drafted a bill of human rights for those living under it. In November the group left Georgia and built temporary camps in the Appalachian Mountains between Big Stone Gap and Norton. As winter approached and temperatures dropped, Musk prevented disaster by incorporating the two nearby towns of Appalachia and Blackwood for the Athens group to live in. Musk also adopted their draft of the Autonomous Rights Act. Once these two towns were added, all four were connected to a single algorithm and contributing to one surplus. Efficiencies grew and the town happiness indexes of Norton, Big Stone Gap, Appalachia and Blackwood grew a reported 56%. The national outcry for access to the algorithm came to a fever pitch. There were protests in every major city and Congress knew it had to move quickly. Debates went on for weeks.

Congressional arguments involved themes on freedom, free trade, human rights and corporate interests. Out of frustration some States began to break away and adopt The Liberty Algorithm and Autonomous Rights Act. These first States were California, Colorado and Oregon. They joined under a basic tenet that “no citizen shall depend on compassion.” The country erupted into chaos and Washington could not control the momentum so on January 5th, 2018 the House and Senate quickly passed the Liberty Algorithm and Autonomous Rights Act into law. They passed the Colorado version of legislation which was unique in its belief that “truth was only available from within, not from an external person or party.” The Colorado version claimed that “no law provides justice when some are more equal.”

Let’s stop for a moment and reflect. As a nation we were creating a system true to the intentions of our country’s founders. The only difference is we are far more technologically advanced. We have achieved equal rights under the law; free from King George’s taxation, free from offshore banking and corporate tax shelters. Even if the chaos and riots in 2017 threatened to burn every city to the ground, Washington would not have passed the algorithm without agreement from corporations and the ultra wealthy. Universal income was clearly not in their best interest. But it soon became clear that adopting the algorithm might be the only way to preserve income inequality and maintain vast amounts of wealth. The wealthy could keep their fortunes and under the algorithm they would continue to grow but at far slower rates.

In the eyes of some, the Liberty Algorithm and Autonomous Rights Act were a threat to the American Dream and upward mobility. Some claimed it left little room for career ambitions. Some wondered how companies would make profits if insecurities linked to social status and consumption had disappeared. The ultra wealthy had long known there was no American Dream without a ceiling or limit. Prior to the algorithm, from the mid 1990’s to 2017, economic mobility became almost nonexistent due to low wages and mounting debt from mortgages, college tuition and credit cards. The middle class was drowning. By adopting the algorithm the wealthy could remain so but no longer at the detriment of tax payers. The zero-sum game between corporations and American citizens was over. Businesses practiced as they always had, driven by profits, but global security and environmental protections were no longer entangled with profit margins.

The Colorado version of the Autonomous Rights Act states:

1. Resources are free for all; food, water, transportation, education, housing and finance.
2. Resources are maintained and protected by the US Government for future generations.
3. No corporation or group shall compromise the security of American citizens by its investments or divestments.

In February 2018, every major city that had opted-in and joined the national surplus achieved universal income for its citizens. Efficiencies skyrocketed and the algorithm prevented corruption. American politics until late 2017 functioned as many societies had for thousands of years: a small group would make promises to a large one. There would be no more patriarchy with its dependents. Actual freedom was achieved and none were subjected to charity. Thanks to the algorithm there were no more debates in Congress over interpretations of the bible. Human rights were not subjected to belief. The country remained capitalist. Businesses proposed bids to the algorithm and based on cost, employee wages, available resources, etc., the top proposal was chosen. The only way to game the new system was for a business to propose a project with the greatest environmental protections, highest wages and thinnest margins. The new system eradicated needs for unions and watch groups. Climate change slowly began to reverse and sea levels stopped rising.

Of course there were a few holdouts in government against adopting the algorithm. These minority Senators and Governors held out for nearly a year, mostly in the Southern states, until it led to the needless suffering of millions who had no access to food, housing and healthcare. One year later in October 2019 all US citizens were finally granted access to the algorithm and universal income as an option. With the government running at peak efficiency every citizen could choose how to spend their days. Without politicians, Americans had finally achieved equal rights for women, minorities and LGBTQ citizens. After achieving universal income and healthcare the rest of the universals followed: housing, transportation, education, food, mental health services, communications, travel, and grant initiatives for inventors and entrepreneurs. For the first time in America you didn’t have to depend on the acceptance of others or fear retribution at work. You could be any gender, sex, race and have any sexual preference. The worth and dignity of every citizen was protected from the thoughts and concerns of others. Social status and livelihood were disconnected. In his 2017 farewell address President Obama said, “…when minority groups voice discontent, they’re not just engaging in reverse racism or practicing political correctness… they’re not demanding special treatment, but the equal treatment our Founders promised.” We had finally achieved equal rights by abandoning the archaic practice of placing humans in managerial positions. Jean Paul Sartre once wrote, “hell is other people.” And he was right.

In 1941 during World War II the US became a superpower as it combined political, financial, military resources toward a single cause for global good. After fascism was defeated the US remained a superpower and quickly began invading foreign countries to defeat communism but eventually this practice became a game of global dominance. America was always at war and always invading. In 1953 President Eisenhower warned, “every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.” Previous to the algorithm many believed that the world was headed for destruction, pollution, disease and famine. But as we have seen the algorithm has prevented human suffering. As a species you are free to think and love. You can pursue any intellectual interest as long as it does not infringe on the rights of others.

In the year 2026 we are closer to achieving global peace than ever before. As individuals you could have done anything with your lives. As students you’ve chosen to pursue a college education even though it’s no longer vital to the preservation of your species. The algorithm will protect you. It prevents you from hoping your lawmakers will be good. No longer will ideology stand in the way of progress and claim innocent lives.

[Randall leans in close to Mitch.]

Randall
Hey. Let’s sneak out for coffee.

Mitch
Ok.

Randall and Mitch walk out of the lecture hall.

EXT. CAMPUS QUAD — COFFEE SHOP

Randall
You know, I really like Dr. Wark. Her programming is so natural. But I can’t decide whether I prefer a human or AI professor. Both have clear advantages.

FADE OUT.