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"Generally, the human race avoids doing anything radical until forced into it."
- Frederik Pohl
 |
| Timebroker | ||
| A person who traded in the commodity of other people's time. |
In the near future Earth of this short story, Cedric Swann is a timebroker. His job is a byproduct of the a-soms, anti-somnolence drugs that eliminated the need for sleep. Finally, humanity had broken free of the time standard created by their planet's rotation. There were no longer hours that were especially more desirable for work, or for leisure, or entertainment.
| A timebroker mediated between individuals and institutions, citizens and the government. Individuals registered their shifting schedules hour by hour with a timebroker of their choice. During such and such hours, they would be willing to work; during other hours, they were interested in attending a concert, a ball game, a university class, a gym. Contrarily, institutions registered their needs. The symphony wants a thousand listeners at four a.m. on Sunday. Can you provide them?
Institutions paid the timebrokers large fees for delivering guaranteed numbers of people - customers or workers or jury pools. Citiziens received discounts on the face value of ickets or tuition, or bonuses from employers, or tax breaks from the state and federal governments, for being willing to commit blocks of time via their timebrokers. |
| Technovelgy from Shuteye for the Timebroker,
by Paul Di Filippo. Published by Penguin in 2006 Additional resources -
|
Very cool meditation on the fungibility of time in a 24/7 society.
From the excellent anthology of original stories Futureshocks, edited by Lou Anders.
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- Eventful Timebrokers Your Future
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'BY PUSHING AGAINST THE LITTLE MARTIAN MOON WITH OUR ROCKET SHIP, WE HAD LESSENED THE CENTRIFUGAL SPEED THAT HELD IT BALANCED IN THE SKY.'
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'...a prayer wheel swung into view and began spinning at a furious pace.'
'And are all the people willing to be governed by a machine?'
