The backlash started after H&M stated that they won’t buy cotton from Xinjiang because of human rights violations in the area. In response, some of China’s biggest online retailers took the company’s products off their website.
Then, H&M’s physical locations were scrubbed—they don’t show up on major ride-hailing apps or map services. Their smartphone app has been removed from app stores.
Other companies are also in the line of fire after expressing concerns, including Nike, Adidas, Burberry, Uniqlo, and Lacoste.
Crazy stat: The autonomous region of Xinjiang is almost twice the land area of the United States.
Turning this into a story, what if the technology existed that could remove people’s memories of whatever has been canceled?
The main character is a jazz club owner who insulted the country’s leader. He wakes up the next day and finds his jazz club closed, his accounts frozen. Returning home, someone’s already removing his belongings.
He tries going to the authorities, but there’s no record of his existence. His friends don’t remember him. When his wife sees him, nothing registers.
Searching for the last remnants of the life he once had, the erased man goes to the bed and breakfast in the country where he proposed to his wife. Amazingly, the owner, a kind old man, recognizes him.
Over time, the man finds out there are others at the bed and breakfast who were erased, that the owner is the last person who remembers them too. He meets and falls in love with a young woman from the town. Without a past, he’s free to be who he wants, adopting a personality that feels more authentic than his previous life’s.
As the story unfolds, the man finds out the woman was erased as well, came to the bed and breakfast, and started a life in the nearby town to be near the one person who knew who she was in her previous life. In fact, the entire town is made up of people who share a similar background.
His world is turned upside down when the country’s leader walks into the bed and breakfast, apologetic about closing the jazz club and wanting it reopened.
The man tries going back to his former life, with his former wife and assets, but finds that he misses who he was in the small town outside the bed and breakfast. He throws water in the leader’s face, gets canceled once more, and returns, only to find out that the woman has returned to her own former life.
The second book would center around the man setting up his life adjacent to the woman. He succeeds in getting her erased again, hopeful she’ll return to his side, but she ends up leaving him.
The third book would find the erased man meeting the country’s former leader, who’s now been erased.
Throw this all into a futuristic setting, with advanced technology for the erasures.
Shanna Swan, an epidemiologist at the Icahn School of Medicine in New York, thinks so. Her research shows that sperm counts fell nearly 60% between 1973 and 2011. She’s written a book about the implications of her research and says the impending fertility crisis threatens the human species.
Her projections suggest sperm counts fall to zero in 2045. Is she a modern-day Cassandra?
Swann blames the falling sperm counts on both chemical and lifestyle factors. In particular, there’s a significant focus on endocrine-disrupting chemicals, specifically PFAs and BPAs. These chemicals are well-known for their presence in plastics but are found in countless manufactured products.
While some scientists have pushed back on the link between endocrine-disrupting chemicals and fertility, what if sperm counts fall to zero in 2045?
In a world where fertility rates bottom out, all babies would require creation in a lab using the parent’s genetic material. It’s not a leap to imagine that genetic-editing technology plays a role, eliminating conditions like sickle cell disease.
If you can correct a genetic defect, why not have complete designer babies?
The story could center on an “oddball” couple determined to have a natural baby in a world where it’s believed impossible. Their best friends and family all advise they go to the lab. They finally cave and make an appointment.
They discover they’re pregnant on the eve of their appointment. Their friends deem the natural conception a miracle, and the word quickly spreads.
Scientists worry the baby will have genetic defects and use both media and lawsuits to encourage abortion. The future mother doesn’t cave; it’s all she’s ever wanted. The world waits in anticipation as the woman, now with a cult following, comes to the end of her pregnancy.
The cult deems the child the second coming of Christ when the baby’s born healthy, even though it’s a girl.
A potential second story could cover a battle within Christianity. Some priests accept the child as their savior, and others accuse her of being a false prophet.
Future books could deal with the child’s growing up with both a target on their back and as the object of adoration.
Scientists at the University of Arizona have proposed a new, tamper-proof way of saving genetic material: keep them on the moon.
The concept of saving genetic material isn't new. Several seed banks already exist on Earth—the picture above is of one in the arctic ocean. The lunar gene bank just takes the efforts to a whole new level, extending the scope to all of the Earth's species.
It's an insurance policy against catastrophic events like nuclear war or supervolcanoes. Animals at risk of being extinct, like Florida's manatee, can be brought back in the future.
What if a lunar gene bank was discovered by an alien species, which then duplicated Earth? Upon discovering the Earth-clone, the inhabitants of our ravaged Earth left, leaving a small group behind. They left instructions about re-seeding the Earth using the genetic material stored on the moon once the planet recovered.
The story could center on the descendants of the small group. They've existed without technology for centuries and live in farming city-states. One day, a rocket appears and seeds the genetic material—this is the prologue.
The arrival of the rocket lives on through the oral tradition until we meet the story's hero, a young girl who experiences the world with the seeded animals and plants. It's a survival story where the humans band together and defeat both bandits and wild predators.
The first story could center on the conflict with the bandits. The second story kicks off when the descendants of the original humans return from the Earth-clone after destroying that planet's environment. The two groups coexist until the destruction of the actual Earth becomes a point of contention, kicking off confrontations about the planet's future.
A judge in Peru has ruled that Ana Estrada has the right to decide when her life ends. She’s suffered from a disease that attacks her muscles for over three decades.
Peru outlaws abortion and same-sex marriage, so the government hotly contested her right to euthanasia from the start.
Once she decides to end her life, she has ten days to fulfill her plan. Her deciding factor? When she can no longer write. Anyone who helps is cleared from facing charges.
Estrada hopes it serves as a precedent for others suffering from debilitating diseases. There’s one wrinkle: laws still prohibit assisting in another’s death.
Turning this into a story, what if someone wants out of an apparent utopia?
Borrowing from Brave New World, the main character sees through the illusion of the apparent “perfect society” and decides he no longer wants to participate.
In this world, family bonds are nonexistent—citizenship takes priority. Everyone lives under constant stimulation from both entertainment and various state-provided drugs.
The book begins when advanced surveillance captures the protagonist’s first attempt at suicide. They transport him into their form of suicide watch. Then, the legal battles begin.
His lawyer is provided by the state, given the job with the expectation he’ll fail because he’s new and inexperienced. The lawyer’s particular skill? How much he cares. He tries to convince the main character there’s a point in living.
The main character has a series of suicide attempts thwarted—a play on brushes with death common in thriller stories.
The lawyer wins the case during the final battle, and preparations are made for the assisted ending of the main character’s life.
At the end of the book and the main character’s life, he decides he “might miss this place” as his eyes close.
NASA's Mars Perseverance rover landed on Mars on 2.18.21 after a journey lasting over six months. NASA released the video of its descent, including a view of the parachute attached to the rover.
It's a red and white parachute. At first glance, it looks like a random pattern. But hidden inside the colors is a message left using binary code. It says "Dare Mighty Things" and gives the GPS coordinates of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (the quote is their slogan).
Turning this into a story, what if a message like this started a worldwide scavenger hunt?
The world's richest man has passed away. His will says that his fortune goes to whoever follows the clues. The whole world looks for these clues, and a message in a lunar landing holds the first.
The main character would be a poor student obsessed with space—similar to Ready, Player One.
The first clue becomes mainstream after a few days, and by then, he's already working on the second clue, which happens to be in a city near his home. It's a wonderful stroke of luck. After he becomes the third person/team to discover the second clue, a wealthy corporation gives him their financial support—a company with an eccentric leader.
The opponents in the story are the teams and people also looking for clues. In the end, it comes to light that the company backing him plans on double-crossing him before he final clue so they can acquire the wealth themselves.
The story could take place worldwide, with 3-5 clues before the final "battle," which is a logic puzzle similar to the sphinx's riddle. Better yet, the last clue could be at the sphinx, and everyone gets caught up with the sphinx's riddle, leaving space for the hero to identify the final clue's true nature.
In short, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory meets Ready, Player One in a worldwide scavenger hunt.
