We Are All Jokers In 2035.

The mirror is cracked. There’s a flicker of fluorescent light. In that grim little apartment, silent except for the flicker of a late-night TV rerun, Arthur’s world shrinks.

He smeared clown makeup half-finished, staring at his own reflection:

Is it just me … or is it getting crazier out there?

No social worker, no meds, and no work.

Even one’s own thoughts start to feel like someone else’s script. The city decides who he is, how he should feel, and what he’s allowed to become.

Gotham’s streets scream outside, but the real chaos is inward.

No, we aren’t living in Gotham.

But tell me… how much real choice do you have these days? Your daily life is dictated by your email, your work, the rules set by others before you were born, the technology built with others’ profitability in mind…

Almost every door in your life opens only after a quiet negotiation between invisible systems; think of an interview CV filtered by AI, an insurance claim decided by AI, and online schooling, TV shows, music, and shopping all recommended by AI.

Even you started to adopt it.

Whether due to peer pressure or willingly… You use AI to draft your resume, summarize your meeting notes, recommend holiday hotels, and handle school applications.

Very few people notice the drift.

Little by little, human connection thins out, replaced by machine mediation.

Your AI connects with their AI.

The “Being Human in 2035” report by Janna Anderson and Lee Rainie (Elon University) has become my favorite piece of future-forensic journalism. They surveyed 300+ experts with 15 core human traits, asking one burning question: how will AI shape the very stuff of what makes us human?

61% of the experts agreed that the change by 2035 will be deep and meaningful or fundamental and revolutionary.

If you’re just tuning in, I highly encourage you to read part 1 (about your emotion) and part 2 (about your brain).

• Part 1—Alone, Together
  dissected what happens when AI mediates our relationships, empathy, and emotional intelligence. Spoiler: loneliness amplified by AI, enter an age of global hikikomori.

• Part 2—Where Do You Stand in the AI Hierarchy?

  explored how AI turns your brain into a productivity sidekick, until you realize your thinking skills have quietly atrophied while the rich retreat into digital detoxes.

In Part 3, we will dig into the numbers that should make you pause.

• What is agency in a world run by prompts and nudges?

• How do you find purpose when “achievement” is just another task handed off to an algorithm?

Shall we?