This is the second incarnation of Piku. The original was somewhat different.
Piku is a futuristic setting inspired by the style of some serious anime and manga. I'm still working no it, so this section is mostly just an unformatted collection of my work in progress.
PIKU is set on Earth in the year 2122, six generations from now. The oldest woman in the world was born in 1999; the second oldest was born in 2008, almost a decade later.
Things stayed mostly how we expect on the surface through about the early 2020s, when suddenly rich people were buying tourist travel tickets to the moon, Webnet 3.0 had achieved wireless broadband worldwide, and nanites were coming back into the press as the wave of the future.
Then, in the early 30s, cheap space travel became possible, the moon opened up for immigration, and NASA began sending out tons of cheap space probes all over the solar system. At the same time, nanoconstruction was becoming a reality, although it was not yet impacting the economy. Psi phenomena was also on the rise, although it was not to become noticeable until a decade later.
The 40s represented a very different world. Flights to the moon were still incredibly expensive, but routine. Wireless, broadband access and the computers that ran it were ubiquitous - everywhere and invisible. People just entering middle age were encouraged to go to their doctor to inquire about telomerase treatments to extend their lifespan. And a number of things such as cars, refrigerators and other bulky, fairly complex objects became extremely cheap with the advancement of nanite factories. Parapsychology became an accepted field in the face of overwhelming evidence of psi abilities. The economy was booming, and the future was here. Even Mars was being conquered as a colony target by "the Ares Project".
Then everything came crashing down in 2046. It started with a scandal in the US government, "Mindgate", when it was discovered that the US was secretly using psis to spy on its own citizens (and government employees). Anti-psi riots spread across the nation, and then began spilling into other nations around the world as word spread via the ubiquitous Webnet and citizens of other nations used the US government as an excuse to rebel against their own governments. The economy began to slowly crash.
Not everyone was rebelling, obviously. The riots concerned only about 12% of the world population and the governments, but the financial crash was hurting everyone. In order to survive when governments were having problems keeping order, several of the larger corporations became a kind of social bomb shelter for their employees, particularly in third world countries. Corporate loyalty soared (particularly in those third world countries).
Everything culminated, historically, with the "Year of Hanging" in 2048, when mobs of citizens literally strung up large numbers of government officials and suspected psis (many of whom were innocent of government or psi ability). As things began to settle back down, the recession continued to worsen, and a number of corporations stepped forward as leaders in bringing the world out of its financial straits.
Over the next ten years, the corporations slowly assumed more of a role in government, although somewhat less so in nations already heavily corporatized. A social movement towards "completely privatized government" began to gain serious influence, and by 2059, many nations were part of global corporations that blurred the line between private entity and government entity.
In an attempt to rebuild the economy, the corporations brought a number of measures into effect. They automated many parts of the economy, particularly traffic/freight and the stock market, with artificial intelligences. They introduced "corporate tax packages", where one bought a social welfare "package" from the corporation, and used the money generated by these to invest in programs that were seen as necessary for bringing the economy out of its slump.
In the end, it worked. By the end of the 50s, things were looking up. Asteroid belt mining became economically feasible, and colony ships began planning their trips. Science and technology once again seemed poised to bring the world into the future.
Then, in 2063 the AI-driven stock market collapsed completely in a matter of hours. AI Speed Economy became AI Speed Death. Corporate values smashed into the dirt, welfare packages lost any value, and the banks were hit with a rush on accounts.
Fortunately, the belt was not hit by any such problems. They continued to stream raw materials back to Earth, and people slowly realized that the economy was still viable