World Four: Episode 1: September 3. 2019 from Fourcaster on Vimeo Next »
The transmission opens with a scrolling text, introducing the new timeline:
Hello World! Welcome to 2049.
We are TERI: the Terrestrially Engineered Rhizomatic Intelligence. Our algorithms have determined that the future depends on you in the year 2019.
Print: “We are sorry, but you have connected to the wrong future. We are plagued by overpopulation, famine, and climate change.”
But we can make it right. You are here to select the Anchor who will receive access to the SPORE Device. The SPORE Device will connect you to a better future.
We have analyzed the year 2019. In that year, there were approximately 2.5 billion gamers across the world. They spent an estimated 152.47 billion dollars on games that year. The people of 2019 watched an incredible amount of what you call reality television and sports. Our analysis shows that you were obsessed with games. So, we have created a game for you to watch. So you can understand easily, we will call this game: The Game™. Your votes will be counted at the end of each day.
For the viewers at home in the year 2019, stay tuned because we will need you soon. Our 11 contestants will be tested according to the proprietary “Fourcast Anchor Select Triangulation” or FAST algorithm. This algorithm will select the 5 finalists. Once we have 5 finalists we will need YOU at home to decide on the 1 contestant who will be cast out of the bunker and sent home to the Terrarium.
Now, prepare….
The screen then cuts to a high angle shot of the bunker, which reveals a gathering of figures clad in the classic Anchor blue coveralls but now wearing paper bags on their heads. These bags are numbered 1 through 11. The soundtrack consists of a slightly dissonant, game show style pulse. The robot host presents “The Footprint Challenge” as the first round of The Game™. This game asks the contestants to respond to a series of questions, and to indicate their responses by stepping into the quadrant that corresponds to their chosen answer (1: yes, 2: no, 3: malfunctioning, 4: the answer is complicated).
As the robot host begins asking questions, the potential Anchor contestants move about the space to indicate their responses. Some questions include: Did you grow up in overpop housing? Have you ever been in love? Have you always believe in the reality of climate change? Do you play Dungeons and Dragons? Did you skip meals for a day or more during the Great Famine of 2042? Did your family ever experience displacement because of rising sea levels? Are you fitter, happier, more productive? Do you want to be the Anchor?
The “Fourcast Anchor Select Triangulation” or FAST algorithm then selects the five finalists: 4, 6, 7, 9, and 11. The camera angle shifts from high angle to a direct shot, as in the other worlds, revealing the five finalists lined up in front of a microphone. The viewers are then asked to select one of three questions to ask the remaining contestants; they choose “Question 2: What do you think you would bring to the position of being Anchor?” The finalists have 40 seconds each to respond. Based on their answers, viewers vote on one contestant to cast from the bunker. They choose to eliminate number 6, who then steps forward to collect their consolation prize: the Braid dinosaur.
