Dystopian Writing Prompts

People now gain immortality by transferring their consciousness to robots, by purchase or lease. The poor rent; the poorest live from paycheck to paycheck. You work for a conglomerate as a repossessor. To not feel like a murderer, you started storing people's consciousness on your old computer.

"Your job is simple, you make them scan their badges if a scan fails or they refuse shoot them immediatly, no matter what. If there is an alarm ignore and mute it, don't call anyone. If it's dark or foggy and you see something humanoid but not really human scorch it outright."

The Purge Day is coming, where all crimes are legal for only 24 hours, I'll finally install that extension to my loft without ANY planning permission

Physicists create a machine to travel into the future. The wealthy elite travel 100 years into the future to capitalize on long-term investments and access better technology. But in the century they are gone, society changes dramatically.

Every year, the richest person in the country is declared the, "Winner of Capitalism". They get a special badge, and then all their money, assets and everything that they own are donated to charity so they have to start back up again at $0.

You live in a world shaped like a big Rubik's Cube, the face of each square having a unique climate. Some unseen force periodically twists and repositions the cube, so you never know what friends, enemies, dangers, or resources will be at your borders next.

Being an immortal in a dying universe, you're being hunted by the last civilizations, who are keen on harvesting your entropy-defying body and transforming you into their power source.

When robots became sentient, we expected them to attack humans. We were completely surprised by their actual target

When a soldier loses a limb, it is a tragedy. Soldiers are needed at peak efficiency, so they must undergoes the unthinkable - grafting metal to flesh. A horrific abomination, the mere process is often enough to shatter what is left of their mind. Then, there are the humans.

In an age where gaming is widespread, militaries all over the world swiftly (and successfully) adapt by drafting gamers and assigning them into units and roles based on mandatory tracking of their most played genre and overall gametime. You just got your draft letter.

Ever since joining the galactic society, humanity has been in a golden age of peace, restoration, and learning. We just learned that we are, in truth, the newest slave world of an evil empire, most people just had it so bad that it's still a step up.

You receive an emergency alert on your phone telling you that a nuclear device will be detonated in your area within the next 10 minutes. 11 minutes later you get another alert saying "This test of the Emergency Alert System has been sponsored by Oppenheimer, in theaters July 21st."

All children under the age of 13 vanishes with only a note left behind that says "Due to humans not caring about the future of their young, all children have been relocated. If you truly love (Name), you will not intervene as we restart your race. -Signed 'The Protectors'"

At the age of 18 you take a mandatory test. Talking about the test is prohibited. If you score a 95% or above you're taken away. You just scored the highest in the world.

Everyone received the exact amount of money they would need for the rest of their life. Most people got many thousands or even millions, while you were given exactly five bucks.

In a world where the government controls every aspect of citizens' lives, there is a black market where people can buy glimpses of their memories before the government wiped them. As an underground memory dealer, you must decide how far you are willing to go to help people reclaim their past

Many ages ago Death was defeated and sealed. Immortality is the norm, but the loss of death has lead to a society of ultralites that rule over never dying slaves. As Death's first reaper after the unsealing, you are here to remind them why Death exists... and why your master should be feared.

Brain chips have arrived, making the whole world an augmented reality! It is really *THOUGHT REDACTED*. That's weird, I forgot what I was about to say.

Eel-punk. Eels generate 98% of the power required by the world. Megacorps manage breeding programs and sell sterile eels. Today, Joe the Fisher caught a fish that could change everything.

In a country were an unbeatable truth serum with a verified 0% false positive rate is routinely used on all political candidates, the revelation that one candidate is completely clean of any misdeeds is considered terrifying by everyone (voters included) instead of reassuring.

Your grandfather is a little eccentric, but he tells good stories. You don’t know what a skyscraper is, or an internet, but he always gets excited when you bring him something from the old world.

“Your child is a static. One in a million disorder. They’re unable to shapeshift and will be stuck in their human form for their entire life. Hell of a thing, I’m sorry.”

We did it. We engineered a bacteria that ate plastic and released oxygen. We could unleash it on the plastic pollution plaguing the planet. We did. It didn’t go as planned.

Every year, Earth has to send 10 tributes to participate in the intergalactic battle royale. Everytime, the tributes are massacred and solely entertainment for other races. Except for this year.

"We repeat: stay in your homes at all costs, all other advice is compromised and not to be trusted", the message on your screen concludes. "We repeat: head to the designated evacuation spots immediately, all other advice is compromised and not to be trusted" the message on your phone concludes.

Nearing the end of Earth, humanity united to send passenger ships across the universe the preserve the species. But that's not your story, you're one of the ones deemed unfit to send.

Your elder sister, an android created to take care of you, always told you to never go outside, that the earth had been taken over by robots and are hunting humans to extinction, and that she was protecting you from them. She lied.

When at least one copy of a book exists, so too exists an alternate dimension where the story is true. The government, upon building an interdimensional transportation device, realized the danger of this and began burning all 'harmful' books.

After a devastating war, 95% of men are dead, and woman now outnumber them 20:1. In an effort to increase the population, men are banned from all "unsafe" jobs. Years later the laws are still in place, and men are sociality expected to be househusbands and sex objects for women.

In the first half of 21st century, mankind has mastered biological immortality. It began running prisons as rehabilitation and re-education centers. Year is 5049 AD, 3000th 'anniversary' of your first and ongoing incarceration...