A far worse place than this

I've been to many timelines, and divergent universes. Most of the SUUUUCK. Sad to say, the mulitiverse is mostly awful. With endlesss potential, there are trillions of quadrillions of possibilities , and all of them turned badly. all of them are

meaningless in their recognizable yet different gloom. Maybe it's just my impression...

I'll tell you of my last trip..just because you asked.

Well, the divergence started with french conposer Claude Debussy, who did not have a daughter in that universe, and consequently did not compose his 'Children's corner' (1908). What made the diffetence particularly acute is its mocking quotation of Richard Wagner's Tristan and Isolde. Oh, it's amazing how a sharp few bars can change the world..

I dont know how it happened, but this minute change, brought all kinds of things. by our time, civilization has developed into this thing, where sympathy is a required tax, imposed and measured. People are required by law to wear a wide, flexible band over their foreheads, which in shining letters, tells everyone their 'status' the status may be some social, familial, physical, or financial setback, which they are required to post. If you lost your job, the sign says "unemployed", if you have Chrone's disease, the sign shows all your condition. The sign is hooked to the network, and is updated regularly. As all people are miserable in obe way or another , there must be something to out on the sign. Of course it could be just 'uncomfortable' from wearing the sign, but then the sympathy tax benefits are lower. The sign is also a very compact PET scanner. It can tell if as you walk and encounter others with their misfortune, you feel sympathy. Genuine sharing in others pain and the desire to help. The tax system calculates the troubles you have and the sympathy you feel , and the total is added up, which you are required to pay. Now, you would think that the sorrows. and sympathy you have are calvulated in favor of those who are miserable, but its quite the opposite. Those who suffer, for theselves or others, pay proportionally more than those who don't. It's all built around the desire to see misery in the world reduced-so all who live must creatively find a way to reduce the level of misery in their status (not easy, as it's all connected to hospitals and banks and not up to you to post the status), or to refrain from feeling sympathy. Punishment for tax evasion is severe and goes all the way to being consigned to hard labor in a chain gang , where convicts must help people move house and organize their stuff. You see them with their orange overalls moving sofas and TV sets, all because they showed sympathy. I showed my concern for these unfortunates, and was promptly landed with a fine, which i shall not pay.

But some things are good over there. The beta site for prose.com never appeared, and so people can enjoy posting things. It's actually a very important platform over there, in the underground movement.