Friday the 5th of october 2040. Markus is finishing his working day. Nothing to do in the two following days. It’s going to be good, he has really worked too much.

His health insurance company has also made the same calculations. The algorithm has just raised to the light warning level today: too much stress, too low sport, plus no girlfriend currently. It has been sometimes and Markus’ profile suggests a tendency to depression. It is not in Markus’ interest. But the most important is that it is not in his health insurance company’s interest either !

Various algorithms has gone through the net. A female client of the company has also been single on a long time, yet this one is more stable. But the profiles presents a high compatibility degree. It is good. It is the company’s interest to get a client. It has better data and it will be cheaper than to use a non-client’s profile.

Markus is receiving a message on his terminal, mentionning the presence of gorgeous girls at the Ocean’s bar. The advertisement is a bit vulgar. It has been calculated this way to match Markus’ estimated state of mind. Markus does not know this, but the message has actually been sent by the company, which has a commercial agreement with the bar. He decides that it would be great to stop thinking about the various trajectories of objects in space, as it’s the job he has now, but instead focussing on boobs and asses.

By the same time, Berenice receives also a comercial stating that she will have some of her favourite cocktails free during some precise hours at the Ocean’s bar. Why not ? She calls some friends to see if they want to come. One says yes. They will head to the bar in the next hour.

Markus is sitting at a table. He has dropped his terminal on the table. The bar’s system has recognised him and granted him a free beer. This is the standard welcoming for all clients. It is also a part of the secret agreement the bar has with the insurance company: the company will know all his drinks, and will pay for all the free ones. A substantial part of the bar’s income comes from this kind of agreements it has with several companies.

Berenice and her friend arrive at the bar. The door recognises her terminal and greets them. A red spot shows a free table next to a guy that looks a bit tired, but good looking.

The waitress comes by and asks Berenice and her friend if they want something. They just take the free beer plus some nachos as a starter. Then the waitress turns to Markus, as her instructions is to provide a way for him to start a conversation with Berenice. It is actually her real job, as taking orders and delivering drinks could be done by an automated process. But bars are social places, and robots are bad at socializing people.

She propose a quizz game to them. Markus turns to the two girls and ask them if they want to play. They agree. The waitress launch the game by selecting an option on her own terminal.

By the time the girls’ beers arrive, the three of them have exchanged names and are playing this game which is specially designed to raise the intimacy degree between people. The game is synchronized with the bar’s system in order to know exactly what quantity of alcohol they have drunk. When they will have reached some level of alcohol, the game will include some more hot questions in its random cycle.

Later, the bar has included some dezinhibiters in the next drinks they have ordered. And has also raised just a bit the level of the questions again. It has also created a sound barrier around them in order to ease the process. The lights have been adjusted at some subtle point to focus Berenice on Markus’ hands, as women consider them a sexy hotspot of a male’s body.

It is 2 o’clock in the morning. Markus is making love with Berenice. In the taxi they have ordered (the health insurance company as also an agreement: when asking for a taxi on his terminal, it’s this taxi company that dropped on top), they have exchange a lot of kisses and Markus has been a bit adventurous under Berenice’s skirt. They have exchanged a look to the taxi’s condom distributor. Markus showed his healthy status on his terminal. Berenice gave him a kiss and moaned that she has the same. Thus, no need for protection. It will be amazing.

While they are having sex, the two terminals also are coordinating in a way that looks like their owners current occupation. They are exchanging data, pictures, contacts, in order that the next days, Markus and Berenice will see the other one easily. The two terminals are also updating various status in the insurance company (Markus’ status is way better now !), sport club (They don’t go to the same. Maybe they should. Some algorithm is working on it.), and some others.

Saturday, 12 o’clock. They are waking up. Berenice’s terminal has a message: she should run a bit to maintain her condition according to the sport program she has set. The message propose a course around the lake followed by a vegan brunch at the restaurant close by the lake. This has been specially calculated to match Markus’ interest as well. It is the company’s interest.

This short story is inspired by the current evolution in technologies related to privacy (behavior algorithms, connected devices) and corporate ethic (low concern for privacy, superior consideration for economics instead of human and moral rights).

As you recognize it, most of the roots for it to happen are already there : the terminals are smartphones and their cousines (Apple watch & co), social profiles and algorithms to watch them.

Some people have raised the question that this type of scenario could happen really fast. And indeed, some insurance companies have already created contrat-scheme for it !