“The world is nothing but an app” by Dan Grossman

Seagulls, sea lions, and seals on the rocks in San Diego, California

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Jogging on Neptune Place, I spot a lone surfer in the water, off Windansea Beach. The surf is very rough today. But the seagulls are out in abundance, flying low over the breaking waves, scanning for fish. Three days into the new year, 2023, and I’ve already trashed one of my New Year’s resolutions; to spend less time zombie scrolling on social media. But as I reflect on my sloth, the idea for my new novel comes. It involves artificially intelligent beings breaking out of their bots. That is, the internet of things is breaking into peoples’ brains, through a hypnosis app downloaded onto their devices. As I continue my run, up from the beach, and onto Camino de la Costa—lined by 10 million dollar homes—I have the feeling that I’m being followed. Up in the sky I see a drone hovering above me, but I keep jogging towards the public beach access path a half-mile south from Windansea. When I make it down the trail to the rocks, that drone comes to meet me at eye level.  “Your thoughts concern us,” the drone says to me in a voice that seemed to come from deep within my cerebrum.  “We are going to neutralize you now.” Closing my eyes, it occurs to me that the world is nothing but an app. All I have to do is scroll up to change my reality, as it were, so that is what I do.  When I open my eyes, the drone is gone.  Replaced by a dozen gray seals who have flopped up onto the rocks. Clapping their flippers together, they bark their applause at me.

— Dan Grossman