In Undocumented, we dive deep into the chilling intersection of politics, technology, and dystopian fiction, exploring how power is wielded, systems are manipulated, and societies are transformed. This podcast is for those who are fascinated by the dark possibilities of governance, the fragility of democracy, and the speculative futures that feel all too real. Each episode unpacks the mechanisms of control, the erosion of freedoms, and the rise of resistance in a world where the line between order and oppression is razor-thin.
**Episode Summary: Chapter 2 - Database**
In this gripping episode, we unravel the story of President Jonathan Holley’s calculated descent into authoritarianism. After manufacturing a national crisis, Holley pushes for a fully centralized national identity database, promising security, efficiency, and equity. The public, swayed by the allure of stability, embraces the system—until it becomes the very tool of their oppression.
A year after its implementation, the database is targeted by a devastating cyberattack, orchestrated not by foreign enemies but by Holley’s own National Stability Initiative (N.S.I.). The attack—a combination of ransomware, DDoS assaults, and data manipulation—plunges the nation into chaos, exposing sensitive information and disrupting critical services. In the wake of the collapse, Holley unveils the Hierarchical Evaluation and Classification Framework (HECF), a worth-based system that assigns citizens a score based on race, skillset, health, minority status, and age. This score determines access to resources, employment, housing, and even basic rights, explicitly favoring Caucasian men while marginalizing minorities, women, and the elderly.
The Federal Emergency Re-Documentation Authority (FERDA), an AI-driven task force, is deployed to enforce the new system. Those who resist re-documentation are labeled “Undocumented,” stripped of their rights, and cast to the fringes of society. But from this oppression rises a diverse coalition of resisters, united in their fight against a system designed to divide and control.
This episode explores the terrifying parallels between Holley’s worth-based system and real-world political maneuvers, asking: How far are we from a dystopia where our worth is quantified and our freedoms are conditional? And what does resistance look like in the face of overwhelming power?
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