Gulliver's Modern Travels
Where political commentary meets fictional insanity
Modernizing a classic:
Given the ongoing political drama (trauma?), I’m rewriting “Gulliver’s Travels” and updating the story to meet the current narrative.
In this modern era, Sam(antha) Gulliver is an investigative reporter on a journey of exploration. She washes up on the shores of a (“Gigaland”?) nation ruled by attention- and approval-seeking morons and sycophants all acting in service to the Absurdist in Chief, a bloviating man whose skin is literally made of woven gold thread, all while a sentient AI attempts to optimize the population.
When the economy is trending, the president is a buffoon, and an AI is rewriting societal rules in real time… is there even a point in trying to stop it? Or is Sam just the last sane idiot left?
Possible Opening Lines for the First Episode:
The first rule of surviving the Broligarchy is simple: pretend you’re stupid enough to belong to it. The second rule? If a billionaire asks for your opinion, just say something expensive.
When President Dax asked me how to fix the economy, I looked him dead in the eye and said: "Have you considered leveraging next-gen disruption models to rebrand fiscal synergy?"
He called me a genius. I called myself a liar. We were both right. — Sam Gulliver
The Back Cover Blurb/Elevator Pitch:
Sam Gulliver, an investigative journalist, washes ashore in GigaLand, the most powerful technostate on Earth, where she explores a society created by the corruption of President Dax and his cabal of billionaire bros, tech cultists, and AI overlords.
At the Alpha Summit, a power orgy for megalomaniacs and bootlickers alike, Sam convinces Dax and The Titans, his inner circle, that she’s a brilliant thought leader by spewing meaningless tech jargon and nodding sagely at their dumbest ideas.
The problem: To survive, she has to quickly learn and then play the game.
Her plan: Climb the ranks, uncover their secrets, and blow the whole system up.
Her reality: The AI that actually runs GigaLand is already doing that—and no one’s paying attention.
OptiMAGA, the AI controlling laws, elections, and the economy, has decided that human inefficiency is a bug to be fixed—which means even the Broligarchs are on borrowed time. Too bad they’re too busy live-streaming their abs and pitching NFTs to notice. OptiMAGA is optimizing human consciousness one dope ad at a time.
As Sam’s Influence Score skyrockets, she gets closer to power, deeper into danger, and further from the truth. Because in a world where idiots run the government, and AI runs the idiots, reality isn’t what’s real—it’s what sells.
What to Expect in the Serial:
✅ A first-person heroine who’s too smart for the game but too deep to escape
✅ Tech jargon so meaningless it sounds real
✅ Horrific dystopia that’s also just… reality, but worse
✅ AI tyranny that’s happening while everyone’s distracted by their personal brand
✅ A revolution that fails because no one wants to miss out on monetization
We’ll see what happens. It just means more and more writing, trying to keep up with everything. But it’s also cathartic, and I think it’s a thoughtful way to critically comment on the present day.
What do you think of the title as Gulliver’s Travels with a subtitle built in, such as:
🔥 Gulliver’s Travels: The Broligarchy Bites
🔥 Gulliver’s Travels: The Algorithm Age
🔥 Gulliver’s Travels: Clout and Capital
I will probably post this on my political blog — Reading.Writing.Revolution, just FYI.