There\u2019s a website where anyone can submit the name, face and description of any human. Site visitors then vote on these humans and whoever is at the top of the ladder at each full hour dies instantaneously. (2000 words)<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n \u201cYour ID card, please,\u201d said the clerk.<\/span><\/p>\n I handed it over, he crossed out my name in his forms and sent me to the voting booth. The booth contained a simple table, a chair and a computer. The national elections are coming up in a week but today, I\u2019m making my death vote.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Voting for death. What a bizarre idea. Fifteen years ago, when the Death Site first appeared, it was chaos. The instructions on the site were somewhat complicated:<\/span><\/p>\n The website had appeared suddenly and looked amateurish, like something from the twentieth century. But when the people who initially discovered the website found it actually worked, its existence spread virally. Soon everybody knew about this new website where everybody could play god.<\/span><\/p>\n That time was chaotic. Celebrities ruled the list because everybody knew them. And if a person needed to decide whether to kill a human he doesn\u2019t know, or a celebrity he despises, many chose the latter. Politicians also dropped. North Korea went into civil war as its entire leadership died in the first few hours.<\/span><\/p>\n In a week, the governments of the world managed to block the Death Site\u2019s domain and seize its server, located in an anonymous warehouse in Japan. But it wasn\u2019t enough. The people who were on top of the list prior to the server\u2019s seizure died as scheduled. And a few hours afterwards, a new server popped up elsewhere to replace the old one with a new domain, and this too spread virally.<\/span><\/p>\n When it became clear that the website could not be stopped, that computer experts were powerless to stop it from killing, people started to form opinions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Some said it\u2019s our responsibility to choose who to kill, that we should put criminals on the list, others said we should put the destitute in there, still others said we shouldn\u2019t use the website at all, that we shouldn\u2019t participate in this collective murdering. To which the first ones said, that if we don\u2019t vote ourselves, we are letting innocent people die instead of criminals. And finally, some said we are overreacting, that 24 deaths a day are a meaningless amount, compared to the thousands who die per day of road accidents, that we shouldn\u2019t care about this site and consider its killings unavoidable \u201crandom deaths\u201d. That didn\u2019t sit well with anyone.<\/span><\/p>\n Some, of course, never stopped fighting. Right here in my country, we have the Death Site Destruction political party, a single-issue party that promises to devote budget and highly skilled professionals to fighting to stop the Death Site. But in the initial reveal, all the world tried, and nothing worked: so why waste your votes on a party that won\u2019t at least promise to lower taxes? It didn\u2019t even get to parliament.<\/span><\/p>\n Eventually, the chaos subsided and people came to terms with the site. \u201cIt\u2019s just a part of life,\u201d they now said, \u201cI don\u2019t think about it much.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Each nation reacted to the new reality in its own way. Governments set up laws governing the use of the website. Some governments, mostly in developing countries, or where the population did not have much in the way of internet access, did not pass any laws. But all of Europe passed some laws and, despite fourteen years of negotiations, each state still handled it differently. The Union members just couldn\u2019t agree.<\/span><\/p>\n Some countries, such as France, instituted mandatory voting for government-appointed victims. Each citizen was required by law to present himself, twice a year, to a voting booth, and vote for the selected people under the supervision of a government official. \u201cThis absolves our people of all guilt,\u201d the French president had said, \u201cif you have no choice, you don\u2019t need to worry about being a murderer.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Others, such as Germany, let people do as they wished and did not waste resources on controlling access to the website. The government issued recommendations but did not consider using the site to be evil. Notably, you could vote for whoever you wanted and submit any human into the database and even if they were killed by the Death Site, you were not considered a murderer.<\/span><\/p>\n My country has the best system of all, however. Much like in France, we require people to vote, twice per year. The reasoning is that, if we don\u2019t vote, then people with lesser moral standards than us will decide, and they might choose worse targets. However, the government does not force a unified list, you may vote for almost anybody you want to, and secretly. There are some exceptions, though: You may not vote for high-standing officials and diplomats of the Republic or its allied countries and you may not vote for \u201cpremium members\u201d who paid for the right to be unvoteable.<\/span><\/p>\n I am, of course, a premium member. I spare no expense on safeguarding my life. And yet still I take my duty as a citizen seriously. I now have 180 votes to distribute. It would be a pain to distribute them on my own. Usually, I just send them all to my favorite death curator, the Heinous Murderers Curator, who maintains a worldwide list of criminals convicted for especially cruel murders. The government website then sends my votes to the curator who uses the Death Site\u2019s API to submit them for me.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n This year, though, I\u2019m not so sure. What good am I doing for the world by killing off people sentenced to lifetime in prison? I scroll down to the list of top death curators. My curator tops the list but immediately below is the Terminal Patients Curator who kills people in the last stages of a terminal disease. The third one disgusts me. It\u2019s called the Do Not Care Curator and it distributes the votes it receives randomly, but concentrated mostly on insignificant humans who have no chance of actually topping the list. Basically, it\u2019s a way for people to throw away their votes. To throw away their responsibility. Giving this curator a vote is like not participating in the death vote, shunning your public duty.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The fifth curator intrigues me. It\u2019s called the Volunteers Curator. I click on it and view its list of top names. Its top recommended victim, one Mr. Handson from the United States, is placed 1724th on the world list. Voting for him could make a real difference. I view his details. It even has a personal statement. <\/span>\u201cFor two decades now, I suffer from severe depression,\u201d<\/span><\/i> it said, <\/span>\u201cevery day I wake up to feel an intense sadness. I take no joy in anything I do. I have no family or friends and nobody cares about me. Many psychologists and psychiatrists tried to help yet none lifted my spirit even a little. I am too afraid to kill myself but desperately want to die. I wish for this sacrifice to be my ultimate act.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n Yeah, that\u2019s a good candidate. Voting for him is a win for everyone – he gets to die as he wishes and society rids itself of another death slot. I reenter my password and submit my vote. The Volunteers Curator will redistribute my votes as it deems fit but most of them will go to Mr. Handson.<\/span><\/p>\n My civic duty is done! Now I\u2019ll just double check that I\u2019m still on the premium members list. I search my name on the website and soon my photo and name come up. My premium membership doesn\u2019t expire for ten years. Good. But wait\u2026 what? <\/span>I\u2019m 233rd on the world list?!<\/span><\/i> How can that be?!! I\u2026 I\u2019m a premium member, I can\u2019t be voted for\u2026 I can\u2019t die!<\/span><\/p>\n I frantically search the website for more information. Did some famous curator put me on top of their list? No\u2026 it doesn\u2019t seem so. I am on the \u201cFilthy Rich People Curator\u201d list, of course. That swine lists all premium members in my country. \u201cThe rich should die first,\u201d it claims. What nonsense. Of course the curator is banned in here and even elsewhere, only few vote for it. No, that can\u2019t be the source of my votes. What else is there?<\/span><\/p>\n Was I targeted by mafia? Doubtful\u2026 I make sure never to take part in shady affairs. I amassed my fortune legally and don\u2019t take any sides in political conflicts.<\/span><\/p>\n Of course. It has to be a hack. Someone hacked the government portal and is playing a practical joke on me. Haha, very funny. I open up another tab and view the Death Site itself. My heart beats very quickly. I search for my name and\u2026 <\/span>it\u2019s still on the 233rd position<\/span><\/i>, even on the canonical site!<\/span><\/p>\n Then the Death Site itself must be hacked, mustn\u2019t it? This is illegitimate, someone needs to fix this soon! How many days does it give me? Two hundred and thirty-three, divided by twenty four, that\u2019s what? Ten? Shit, that\u2019s not nearly enough. How could this happen so quickly? Somebody would alert me if I got this close to the top, wouldn\u2019t they?<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span> I climb out of the booth and shamble towards the reception desk, \u201cuh, excuse me, sir,\u201d I say, \u201cwould you mind checking my position on the world list?\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cOf course, sir,\u201d says the clerk. \u201cOh, wow, uh\u2026 you are 233rd, I\u2019m sorry to say. I offer you my sympathies –\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI care NOT for your sympathies, idiot!\u201d I shout at him, \u201cI need you to fix this hack and send my record back to its usual rank where it belongs!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cSir, …there\u2019s no hack,\u201d he mutters, \u201cI checked the Death Site itself. We have a secure connection. The Site says you are 233rd. Believe me, the government – hell, all the governments – tried to hack it before. None ever succeeded. The Site just works. It reestablishes itself even we physically destroy the server. I\u2019m sorry, but nothing can be done –\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cOF COURSE something can be done!\u201d I shout, \u201cI CAN\u2019T die. Explain this to me: If there was no hack, how could I get to the top rank, huh? And so suddenly, too? That\u2019s not how it works!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Tears begin to flow from my eyes.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI am deeply sorry, sir,\u201d repeats the clerk. After a while, \u201cI suppose it could have been the Chinese\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe Chinese?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cYes, well, nobody knows how they vote. Once a month, the government makes everyone go to a computer and press a button. That way, they can redistribute votes of the entire country as they wish. Now, of course, they deny it. But, off the record, I think that China, from time, adds some votes here and some there, balancing the ladder so as to further some kind of hidden agenda. Of course, some say that China created the Site itself –\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cOf course it\u2019s the Chinese! I never liked those bastards! We should have nuked them all when the Site first appeared!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cSir, you must calm down,\u201d the clerk answered calmly. I suppose he was used to this. \u201cWe have a brochure that will help you come to terms with the fact that you\u2019re going to die –\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cCome to terms?! No, no, definitely not.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n What can help me? A private medical doctor? No, they have no clue how to prevent this. Heaps of money? I could pay for any medical operation. I could purchase a small army. But that won\u2019t help either. An assassin? No, the damage is already done, killing anybody won\u2019t help now. A fallout shelter? Space?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n …Maybe. As far as I know, no astronaut was ever killed by the Death Site. None was ever targeted. It was possible the Death Site\u2019s reach was limited. But no shuttle was probably planned to depart for the next ten days and even if, they wouldn\u2019t let me board.<\/span><\/p>\n Cryonics? I look down on my bracelet. <\/span>See reverse for biostasis protocol,<\/span><\/i> it says,<\/span> in case of death, begin CPR and call this number<\/span><\/i>. No, that\u2019s a long shot to begin with and who knows if humanity ever finds a way to reverse Death Site deaths.<\/span><\/p>\n Organize votes for other people? Even if I were that influential, it would merely postpone my death. With so many votes for me already, I\u2019m bound to end up dead in a month at the latest.<\/span><\/p>\n So there\u2019s no way. I can\u2019t hack the site in time, I can\u2019t hide and I can\u2019t survive. I can\u2019t outvote myself.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n With tears in my eyes, I turn away from the desk and make to leave the voting site. As I pass the exit doors, I notice an election poster from the Death Site Destruction party.<\/span><\/p>\n I blink. I should be able to make it to election day.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n And I suppose I know who I\u2019ll be voting for.<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There\u2019s a website where anyone can submit the name, face and description of any human. Site visitors then vote on these humans and whoever is at the top of the ladder at each full hour dies instantaneously. (2000 words) \u201cYour ID card, please,\u201d said the clerk. I handed it over, he crossed out my name […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hudecekpetr.cz\/cs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hudecekpetr.cz\/cs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hudecekpetr.cz\/cs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hudecekpetr.cz\/cs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hudecekpetr.cz\/cs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=978"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hudecekpetr.cz\/cs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/978\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":979,"href":"https:\/\/hudecekpetr.cz\/cs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/978\/revisions\/979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hudecekpetr.cz\/cs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hudecekpetr.cz\/cs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hudecekpetr.cz\/cs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n