DESIGN FICTION: The Memes are Never Justified by the Ends
DESIGN FICTION: THE MEMES ARE NEVER JUSTIFIED BY THE ENDS.
Lagos, 2045
The memes are never justified by the ends.
In a landmark case, the African Congress of Nations handed down the biggest single penalty against environmental activists and organisations. The ruling, covering jurisdictions in all African countries and extended to the METAP states was groundbreaking in that it will immediately seek reparations for activities that were acknowledged as being 'uniformly good for the victims'.
The Justice Afrikaaner stream listed Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, Greta Action, Gates Foundation, UN Committee for Climate Change, Harvard Center for Sustainability, and Stanford Biodiversity School as "guilty of overt, deliberate and duplicitous manipulation of African populations and administrators through sophisticated sustained campaigns of meme-engineering". The report went on to detail the forensic investigation that demonstrated with certainty that these organisations engaged in campaigns dating from as early as 2028 in which popular communication channels were weaponised to stoke fear and action in Africa in the face of a worsening climate and biodiversity crisis.
The meme-engineering began on social media (an unsophisticated early version of modern Casting), moved quickly to the spatial computing and then to Casting, Dreamspace and MoodPlace. The tactics, laid out in detail in the year-long proceedings in Lagos, demonstrated how the meme-engineering began as AI-generated videos. These videos adapted to trending memes and interlaced them with urgent calls-to-action for African citizens. Meme-models were then retrained, modified and reposted in minutes to learn what would maximise engagement with users.
The Tribunal heard that while the practice was morally wrong, it was still a legal grey area in 2028. However, even these early campaigns clearly contravened the Meme-Manipulation Act of 2030 and therefore punishments handed down could date only from 2030 onwards. This exempted any participants or rights-holders in the BioClasp campaign in 2029 and has cleared any involvement by FIFA President Zinedine Zidane and football icon and billionaire Christiano Ronaldo.
There were audible gasps and outrage when verified, bio-verified footage of conversations between the late Bill Gates, Greta Thurnberg and Sadie Eke showed the group plotting to "create widespread urgency and dedication to the defense of nature". In one clip, Gates is seen saying "at the end of the day, these people and their children and their children's children will thank us for this. If we don't do it, there will be nothing in Africa but dead sand". The use of 'Dead Sand' is still considered highly emotive language in parts of West and North Nigeria. Lawyers for the Gates Foundation claim that the remarks were not intended to refer to the chemical disaster of the same name, although the phrasing was both unfortunate and unwise.
That Gates and company were correct in their prophesy proved irrelevant.
Where the campaigns ran, environmental action was overwhelmingly effective in protection, restoration and re-wilding. In areas where the campaigns did not run - such as in the Distributed Republics of the Dodoth and Turkana which had banned all Spatial Computing platforms in 2027 and in Zambia which had recently erupted in civil war - climate destruction accelerated. Both areas were environmentally devastated prompting ACN to step in with force in 2038.
The Tribunal heard that the defendants were clearly correct in their judgement that meme-engineering would lead to improved environmental, societal and indeed economic outcomes for citizens and businesses in Africa.
The effectiveness at which they ran their campaigns was praised as being technically and sociologically cutting-edge and of artistic sophistication. There was speculation and praise by v-poet Femi Ng that the Campaigns very likely birthed the BioCraft v-poetry movement, and by experiential artist Gabi Nketia that the Campaigns themselves were the seed that blossomed into African Environmental Supremacy. Africa today is the global leader in Biodiversity Care and Gaia Enrichment precisely because of these Campaigns, the artist claimed. "One led to the other, this is obvious."
The African Supreme Court of Moral Judgement is known to oscillate between abstract philosophising and raw practical realpolitik. As part of the Tribunal, it was convened for a two-week period where Philosophers, Neo-Sages and Theo-saints were invited to debate the philosophical merits of the case.
On the one hand, meme-engineering was outlawed and morally unjustifiable. On the other, the benefits to all involved, including future generations were undeniable.
The moral good realised by the Campaigns was estimated at 59 trillion QALYs (Quality Adjusted Life Years) by the panel of Simulation Consequentialists and CONAI their AI simulation engine. For context, this is the equivalent of avoiding 1,239 World War IIs.
Nevertheless, the African Supreme Court of Moral Judgement argued forcefully that the means are not justified by the ends. In short, consequentialist estimates of 'moral good realised' were only estimates. These 'goods' were not real and so the Campaigners were gambling with the minds, moods and free-will of the African populace.
The Court concluded that moral rules must be upheld, and to set precedent here of manipulation for good could and would be abused in future.
The arrest warrants for Greta Thurnberg, Sadie Eke and 7,876 other employees, beneficiaries and intermediaries was issued subject to Appeal. Should any of these individuals set foot in ACN or METAP countries they will be arrested. Extradition laws will be enforced in China and OCEANIA+.
Negotiations are on-going with EU and ASEAN countries who are expected to grant asylum to the Campaigners. Perhaps unsurprising, given that 329 of those convicted now hold public positions in the EU Commission, EU Agencies or EU ActionGroups.