Vertical Dreams in Chicago

Patrick Castle founded Nautlix with his friends, and Nautlix Inc. now boasts a market capitalization of 25.6 trillion dollars. Patrick, with a net worth of 3.2 trillion dollars and an IQ of 177, stands as America's richest man. He earned his PhD from Stanford before most people even enter college. Fans called him the Ice Prince, but Patrick preferred the nickname the media gave him: the Man Who Built the Future. Nautlix skyrocketed in value through breakthroughs in General Purpose Smart Intelligence System, or GPSIS, nuclear fusion, terraforming, and robotics. The company operates Teelium deuterium fusion power plants. Arc 1 and 2 in Milpitas and Palmdale, California, together generate 704 gigawatts of power. California now exports abundant electricity to Oregon, Arizona, Utah, and Nevada, forming the Power Belt and earning the nickname the Electric State.

Nautlix is renowned for GPSIS. Using terraforming technology, the company built the massive Nevada Water Genesis Megaplant in Tonopah, Nevada, producing 180 million tons of fresh water annually. In the Arctic, the TerraForce Rod S device played a critical role in addressing global warming. The successful launch of Magellan 1 sent the company's valuation to new heights. Nautlix mass produces the Evolve series robots, setting new standards in robotics. Designed as terminals powered by the GPSIS general AI, these robots rapidly replaced domestic labor in homes and industrial settings. Just as the iPhone and Tesla defined the 2010s, the Evolve series defined the 2020s and became indispensable across America, Europe, Canada, and Asia. Production hubs operate in Austin and Munich, with major factories in Korea, Vietnam, and India. The robots function solely as terminals drawing power from GPSIS central data centers located in dedicated facilities in the United States, Sweden, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, and India. GPSIS also controls 70 percent of global autonomous driving through its terminal architecture rather than onboard AI.

Through innovations in general AI, nuclear fusion, terraforming, and robotics, Patrick expanded America's GDP to approximately three times its previous scale while significantly boosting the economies of the EU, China, Japan, India, and the world at large. This ushered in the dawn of the hyper-scale era. Thanks to terraforming, the global population surpassed 16 billion, yet humanity avoided the collapse that past economists had warned about. This was made possible by the combination of terraforming, nuclear fusion, and newly discovered oil fields. Without these advances, it would have been impossible. The general AI known as GPSIS also contributed to discovering previously undetectable oil fields.

The Fifth Industrial Revolution brought the hyper-scale economic era. This hyper-scale economy pushed America's GDP to 87.894 trillion dollars, with its population growing to 714.8 million. Since the early 2000s, the United States maintained one of the highest fertility rates among developed nations, achieving steady growth through natural increase and immigration. After surpassing 300 million on October 17, 2006, the country recorded sustained annual growth while experiencing a dramatic population expansion by 2026. American-led GDP growth and the arrival of the hyper-scale economic era became a global phenomenon. Economists now call this the hyper-scale economic era, referring to the previous period as the old economy or super-scale economic era. These changes extended far beyond America. In this era of ultra-high-speed growth, the world population reached 16 billion, driven by nuclear fusion, terraforming, improved agricultural productivity, and new resource discoveries. China grew to a GDP of 66.3 trillion dollars with a population of 2.073 billion, becoming the world's second-largest economy. Japan reached a GDP of 34.74 trillion dollars and a per capita GDP of 88,700 dollars through advances in advanced materials, particularly titanium sponge and carbon fiber industries. Japan's population rose to 223.2 million through immigration. The greater EU achieved a GDP of 82.54 trillion dollars with a population of 883.192144 million. India recorded a GDP of 31.8 trillion dollars with a population of 2.83569 billion. Germany reached a GDP of 18.65 trillion dollars with 184.07 million people, the UK hit 16.23 trillion dollars with 144.5 million people, France achieved 14.45 trillion dollars with 131.4 million people, and Italy posted 12.87 trillion dollars with 138.9 million people. Canada grew to a GDP of 10.32 trillion dollars with 112 million people. South Korea reached a population of 98.404 million and a GDP of 8.48 trillion dollars. Population growth in countries other than India and China largely came through immigration.

After Nautlix surpassed a 25.6 trillion dollar market cap, multiple companies broke the 10 trillion dollar barrier. Nautlix remains firmly in the world number one position. On Wall Street, these companies are collectively called the 10 Trillion Dollar Club. Nautlix turned Alvin Toffler's visions into reality, making his books bestsellers once again. Meanwhile, the TerraForce Rod S project became the most decisive success story in global scale terraforming efforts. It reversed glacial melting trends and protected humanity from the worst impacts of global warming. Shortly after, the company unveiled the Clean Ocean System. Ocean rods powered primarily by abundant geothermal energy were installed on the seafloor. Engineers overcame seismic challenges through innovative vibration damping capsule structures, isolated rod designs, and sophisticated GPSIS based AI systems for earthquake dispersion and control. Started in 2022 as OceanForce Rod, the project delivered astonishing results in just four years. The world's oceans underwent dramatic transformation. Massive plankton blooms triggered explosive growth in fish populations. Marine biodiversity recovered sharply. Shark and whale numbers returned to levels from centuries ago. The surge in whale populations closely related to the restoration of the Arctic ecosystem through booming krill that provided abundant food.

Population grew beyond 16 billion, yet only the Mojave Desert and all of Texas have been turned into grasslands so far. Saudi Arabia has signed contracts for ongoing terraforming, and not every desert has been transformed. As a result, most cities have become megalopolises. In America, traditional large cities expanded vertically into megalopolises while suburbs grew with single family homes or terrace houses. Recently built homes shifted to terrace houses for medium density expansion. Wealthy neighborhoods maintained their mansions, but in cities zoning distinctions largely disappeared due to megalopolis formation. Europe faced challenges expanding historic city centers but developed megalopolises through high rise buildings in suburban and secondary urban centers. China and Asian nations adopted megalopolis development most rapidly, centering on major metropolitan areas. Only Texas became a low density megalopolis amid the global trend because the entire state was terraformed into grasslands. Thus Austin maintains medium density similar to Los Angeles while Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio, and Houston developed high density. In these megalopolises, even in America, residents shifted from universal car ownership to primarily using public transportation, adopting lifestyle patterns similar to Asian cities. Although downtown areas have wide parking lots capable of accommodating pickup trucks, most urban residents drive cars no larger than a BMW 5 Series on average and rely on public transit. Buses mainly come from European makers like MAN, Scania, and Volvo, while subways use American produced versions of Japanese train cars.

Suburban areas continue car centric lifestyles from the super scale era. In this transition to the megalopolis era within the hyperscale economy, America sent urban planners to high density Asian nations like Korea, Japan, and Singapore, even to Hong Kong, to learn zero rush hour policies and establish advanced urban and public transportation systems. Subways adopted double decker designs for regional and express lines while metro lines mixed single decker types. Buses avoided double decker designs due to higher rollover risks and lower operational efficiency, favoring articulated buses instead. In Asia the opposite occurred with more double decker buses and double decker subway cars for single and regional lines due to population density, a trend shared with Europe. In America, California buildings average 35 stories due to height limits, airports, and earthquake zones, while the Midwest and East feature 40 to 200 story structures. Europe sees both 40 and 200 story buildings, China reaches 300 stories for technological display, Korea builds 60 to 300 story towers centered on satellite cities rather than Seoul, and Japan achieves 40 to 200 stories despite earthquake risks thanks to its world leading seismic and base isolation technology. The UK develops 40 to 200 story buildings in secondary centers around major cities and constructs artificial islands eastward on the scale of Ireland in the hyperscale era. Dubai in the Middle East builds 400 story towers to showcase oil wealth and its role as a regional hub. A common feature across megalopolis eras is the inclusion of rooftop green spaces on these buildings.

You live in Chicago during this megalopolis era as a futures analyst. Lately the biggest rising star in futures is Teelium, the deuterium fusion fuel forty times more powerful than conventional fusion and one of the civilization resources that created the hyperscale economy. You are looking at a condo being expanded into the megalopolis structure. Your wife Kelly walks toward you with purposeful steps. You and Kelly had sex just the day before. Kelly approaches you completely naked and whispers with warm breath in your ear.

"Hyper scale era economy and megalopolis era. This is an age we could not have imagined even ten years ago. Twenty years ago it existed only in dreams. Look around. It is a megalopolis surrounded by towering buildings straight out of Minority Report."

Kelly continues.

"This megalopolis era and hyperscale economic era brought us incredible prosperity. Five years ago we never thought our per capita GDP would reach six figures."

Kelly goes on.

"Now the old doomsday theories and Malthusian traps are gone. We have entered the path of prosperity. Come to the bedroom. It is the weekend anyway. I want to have sex again. Since it is the hyperscale era, let us enjoy hyperscale pleasure."

You look at Kelly's face. Kelly takes your hand and leads toward the bedroom.

What is clear is that you and Kelly stand at the center of profound change.