New World Experiment #2,613,937

“Hey, can I see your world? Mine is a bit… hard to look at right now.”

After years of studying civilization and creating new universes, it baffles me how we’ve gotten nowhere. I doubt my research looks any different than my coworker’s, but I allow him to have a look anyways.

“Eek. That’s what’s been happening in mine. I don’t get it. No matter what we do, how many challenges and gifts we give to our experiments, they always end like this. Why?”

I peer through my glass screen again, watching the small people in New World Experiment #2,487,519 run out into the streets screaming. The New World Research Facility was created to study life forms and their patterns of civilization, but all of the projects end like this. Rebelling against each other and bringing their world to an end. I’ve terminated 17 projects myself, all with different variables yet the same results. It’s easy to create a world; difficult to keep it running peacefully.

“Why do you think people do this? I mean, discriminate others based on simple things like skin color, hair color, eye color, basic appearance? It’s… horrifying. It makes me glad to live in a different place.”

I turn to my coworker, a man of dark skin which contrasts my own. Here skin color doesn’t matter, gender doesn’t matter, nothing matters. We’re all equals because here everyone knows that humans are complicated and no one has created a perfect human yet. Those who think otherwise are terminated. It’s as easy as that. Some might call it savagery, but we call it utopia. Creating new experimental worlds has been a practice of ours for many years; the people in our research community are fascinated by humans and their complexity. We’ve started many projects and used different variables to see how humans would react. We’ve created all white worlds, all black worlds, worlds filled with one skin color, race, and gender. All of them have either ended in human extinction or rebellion against those discriminating people based on silly things. 

“Humans are such horrendous beings. There’s something inside of them that tells them, ‘Hate. Hate. Hate,’ instead of, ‘Love. Love. Love.’ I suppose we must keep studying them and changing them until we can identify the source of the problem.”

My coworker nods.

“I agree. Finding the problem and eliminating it will surely create a perfect human.”

I look back into my project world, where people are killing and being killed. This one is a definite failure, worse than some of my others. I created the world with an exciting variable; everyone has plenty of money and the same economic status throughout. No poor people to discriminate against. No homelessness, no overwhelming wealth. Money does not exist in this project world, yet people still found reasons to hate each other. I can’t help but feel disappointed as I slowly press down on the Terminate button, watching the people of New World Experiment #2,418,519 scream in confusion as everything turns to black. Now a white screen pops up where the world view just was; plain blue words read, “Press the yellow CREATE button next to the red TERMINATE button to begin new experiment.”

I grab my coat, quickly writing a few notes down before getting out of my seat and approaching my coworker. He is still peering through his glass screen. No emotion shows on his face.

“Still working? I had to terminate mine. It wasn’t going anywhere.”

“Yes. I think I may have to do the same, though. Silly humans, I believe an important variable to consider may be their tendency to become emotionally attached quickly. What they call friends, we call acquaintances. What they call family, we call relatives. If only they would treat humans as fellow humans and not as chairs to sit on or walls to lean against.”

“That’s very true. Do you think some of their hate is fueled by love? Silly to imagine, as the two are opposites and should not be associated with each other.”

My coworker looks away from his screen to write a few notes down.

“It’s silly indeed. All of these years of research and the closest thing anyone has gotten to where hate comes from is love. If I were to hate a human because they hated someone I loved… that makes absolutely no sense. It doesn’t solve why people hate because of physical factors.”

I sigh, slipping on my coat and grabbing my bag.

“I think it’s safe to say that hate doesn’t spring immediately from anything physical. It has to be mental, emotional, et cetera…”

“It must be pride. Humans are such disgustingly prideful creatures. Would I hate a person to feel greater than them? Heavens no, but I am a New Human. Perhaps a lack of pride would make all the humans in our experiments realize they are nothing but another creature among millions roaming the planet. They are insignificant and are only part of a greater plan.”

Thinking about it, my coworker may be right. All of us working for the New World Research Facility are New Humans. We have no pride, and we do not fight or hate each other. We are the closest to perfect humans we can get until we discover the secret to banishing all imperfections from ourselves.

“So you say we should create an experiment and remove an inner part of humans?”

“Yes. We should make the humans more like us and see what happens. It might be like spectating our own world, but it might be surprising as well. Maybe we’ll finally know the answer.’

“Finding the answer by studying ones like ourselves. I like it.”

My coworker doesn’t hesitate to terminate his current experiment, leaving his white screen flashing as he grabs his own things.

“I really believe we’ve gotten somewhere today. I’ll propose the experiment tomorrow. Would you like it to be a group project?”

A small smile forms on my lips.

“Of course. Let’s find the answer together.”

He waves goodbye as he exits the office, leaving me alone in between our desks. Some other coworkers have already left for the day; others will stay awhile, perhaps overnight, to finish up and gather more information. I plan to leave, however. I walk over to the elevator and tap in my ID number, stepping inside as it begins to rise to the station where I’ll get picked up and brought home.

To be honest, I am very excited to start a new experiment with my coworker. The research facility is based on teamwork; all experiment notes and results are compiled into one hypothesis which changes constantly as new possible solutions form. No one person can create a perfect human on their own, and no human can be perfect on their own. Love and hate aside, humans are social beings and are meant to survive with one another. Experiments have proven time and time again that strong attachment to a person can be dangerous; New Humans have found efficient and foolproof ways to maintain working harmony without creating lasting or tight friendships like the humans do in our experiments.

Our facility is committed to finding the cause of hate and violence and preventing it in future generations. We haven’t found one answer yet; humans are complicated and different from one another. We believe a basic, tentative solution is cooperation. Those who don’t cooperate force consequences onto themselves.

Hate is not embedded into people, it’s something taught or caused by something else. This we know. Don’t hate a person because of simple things like color, gender, or self identity. Respect every person no matter what. Although our experiments always end in flames, doesn’t mean the real world has to. 

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