The jobs of hundreds of millions of people have been made obsolete due to artificial intelligence. Pharmaceutical companies are one of the few remaining industries that still hire humans—as test subjects in drug trials. With nothing to lose, and the hope of experiencing something unexpected in your cybernetically-enhanced brain, you sign up to test mood-altering pharmaceuticals, which are designed to be maximally addictive. One day of tests, you think, and then you'll be free with your time again.
...you have no way of knowing that you'll find yourself stuck inside the virtual world of this dystopian, cyberpunk world.
The drugs that you experience during the tests change your mind's structure permanently, allowing you to connect, without any form of direct input, to the faux wiring and fuzzy algorithms—the AR—which gives the tests their all-too-real quality. The AR is not just picking up your electrical signals and streaming them onto a screen in a lab—it is a full-fledged simulation that has employees and guests participate in, unaware.
It is controlled by a supercomputer, the Room 3000. It is due to an upgrade in this supercomputer that you have been bumped up to be involved in extended sessions, for two months. Each night, you will be put into the head of a character. This character will be you. You will be this character. Your body will stay in the lab so you will remain safe from any physical harm. This will give you some relief, as you are scared of being physically hurt or killed.
The drugs you experience will change you. What goes in your mind will be brought out to the beginning of the day, when you wake up in the morning. The breakthroughs of the day, the thoughts and memories that you experience, will be brought back to you by the AR simulation at night, before you go to sleep. Your mind will cycle between waking and sleeping, experiencing new things all day long—items and activities, people and places, and on, and on. Sometimes it will feel like a dream, often, it will seem more like a nightmare.
You get to know your testees—the corporate employees, who are real people from Earth, and the simulated characters, who are flawed copies of the people, who have been temporarily placed into your mind.
You ask them basic questions, such as why they agreed to be put into a test situation where they are put in the role of a character they are not.
The testees appeal to you. You’ve met them. They’re real people. You know them. You want to know what makes them want to give up their humanity for two months. Even though it's an incredibly unlikely situation, it happens in real life: many people sell their souls for being able to become superstars in their world, for having more money than they could possibly ever spend in their entire lives.
Some will tell you, plainly, that they sold their minds because they’re in severe debt and have no way to pay their creditors. Others will respond in a vague, confused manner, saying that it’s different for each person. It’s up to you to decide what to believe. It seems that some people can't live with the hazy reality of the present, the existential questioning and doubt, and that they crave radical change in their lives.
Some testees will tell you that they want to be in control. They feel as though they have no control. They feel as though they are puppets. Their lives are manipulated by unseen forces and events. They are played. The simulation allows them to be the puppet master.
It seems that some of them enjoy the chance to be someone else. To be someone of greater importance than they are in their dull lives. It seems that they experience a feeling of control within their testee role, a sense of power and total control. The AR doesn’t just give them the feeling of control—it gives them real control.
The creators of the AR, the system on which the whole operation that puts real humans into simulated roles, are controlled by an ultra-wealthy corporation, which is controlled by its shareholders—like most other things in this world.