Alec Dystopia just wanted to be happy. This, he was discovering, was problematic.

In another time, perhaps it was his youth, he’d had a traditional education. Personalised. Automated.

Rapid advances in analytics and big data in the early 21st century meant it was easy and cheap to customise individual learning across every kind of demographic, device, operating system, and geographical location.

But the real price of Alec’s free and ubiquitous education had been the seamless integration of laser-precision targeted advertising and government propaganda.

Beamed directly into his cerebral cortex.