Concept: It is set in the future where a man-made disaster of apocalyptic scale has reduced the human population to 70 million. What’s curious is that this apocalypse specifically killed humans without causing damage to infrastructure or other living organisms. So the surviving 10% of the world’s original population is now left with the money, resources and knowledge of the entire human race. This ushers in a new era of understanding, enlightenment and peace. The survivors are desperate to avoid a repeat of the apocalypse. So their brightest minds come together to form a new society whose basis is freedom tempered by globalism. They came up with a unique way of achieving this. Every human being was registered as an individual country, with the physical boundaries of their bodies comprising the borders of their “country”. Each person now had the sovereignty and rights that a country had on an international level.
The survivors sat down and pondered over how the history of the human race had inevitably led to the apocalypse. It was agreed that a general lack of respect for the lives and freedoms of each other was a major factor. It was further agreed upon that in the old world, human rights were too easily trampled. Finally, it was agreed that with only 10% of the original population remaining, there was no justifiable excuse to not distribute the world’s resources equally. In order to address all these issues and goals, the system of registering every individual as their own country was implemented. Every country in the world would be allowed equal access to all resources and complete access to all knowledge. The new United Nations Organization was repurposed and significantly different from its old counterpart. This had significant consequences on human society.
How it impacted personal identity: People still remained people. But having gained the higher identity of “country”, they were now simultaneously a country, a citizen of that country, and also the highest elected representative of that citizen of that country.
How it impacted government: Considering every person was now the citizen of their own unique country, the concept of governing these “people” was moot. As such, the new UNO did not have any authority of governance. However, it did have the authority to investigate war crimes (whose new definition will be discussed in its own section), hold trials for war criminals and order executions of war criminal as deemed fit by its member country representatives.
How it impacted the concept of “family”: The very nature of people living together under a social contract was drastically changed. This was no longer a family of five. It was five neighboring countries entering into a trade agreement. No country was allowed to inhibit the freedom of movement of another country’s citizen. No other country could stop one country’s elected representative from deciding to exit the trade deal. This accomplished the much needed liberation of the people who, whether due to legal bureaucracies or societal prejudice, would have been forced to stay in abusive families in the old world.
How it impacted the concept of conflict: Causing physical or psychological damage to another person was considered an act of war. Depending on the context of the “war” and the damage inflicted by the countries involved, people who participated in it might be accused of war crimes and executed. In general, while war was frowned upon, it was understood that conflicts were an irrevocable part of human society and most minor conflicts were resolved through peace treaties.
What constitutes a declaration of war: The moment the intent to perform an action that could harm another person enters your mind, it is a declaration of war. You do not need to be aware that the action could cause harm. Intent to cause harm is also not required. Just the intent to perform said action is enough.
What constitutes war: Any action that is deliberately performed to cause direct or indirect physical, psychological, social or financial harm to another person is an act of war. In the context of war, speech is also considered action and thus, during the course of a war, speech that is meant to directly cause psychological, social, or financial harm or indirectly cause physical, psychological, social or financial harm is also considered an act of war.
What constitutes a war crime: Any action performed during the course of the war that is in violation of the UNO War Regulations that universally apply to all wars is a war crime. Under these regulations, actions that constitute a war crime include, but are not limited to, usage of weapons or tactics deemed inhumane by the UNO, causing harm to children, sexual misconduct of any form, and causing harm in any form (physical, psychological, social, financial or otherwise) to victims of any crimes (war crimes or otherwise) for seeking justice and compensation. This is not the complete list of war crimes.
How it impacted the concept of sexual intercourse and reproduction: An interesting consequence of designating a person to be a country and defining the physical boundaries of their bodies as the literal borders of the country is that sexual intercourse became an issue of immigration, as far as impregnation was concerned. The act of sex itself remained the same. As long as it was mutually consensual and did not result in a pregnancy, the concept of sex remained in its old form. If the pregnancy was desired by both parties, the sperm was considered to be a legal immigrant. Further, in the cases of birth-related complications, the highest elected representative of the “mother” country had the sole authority to make the decision whether the doctor should save the mother or the child. In the case of an unintentional pregnancy, it became a matter of illegal immigration. In such a case, the sperm would be considered an illegal immigrant and the resulting zygote would be considered a seditious element that could, at the sole discretion of the “mother” country’s highest elected representative, be “executed” at any stage of pregnancy. Of course, if both countries still wanted to go through with the pregnancy, that was not prohibited. But the ultimate authority to make the decision rested with the mother country since it was within the borders of her country that the zygote was living.
How it impacted the concepts of sexual harassment, sexual assault, and rape: All forms of sexual harassment and sexual assault are deemed to be war crimes since they cause psychological and/or physical harm to a person. To be clear, this is a direct consequence of the new definition of war. The moment a person has the thought of sexually harassing another person, it is considered a declaration of war, since it is an intent to perform an action that is going to cause harm to the other person. And sexual misconduct during war is a war crime. Therefore, all forms of sexual harassment and assault are war crimes. War criminals, as stated above, are put on trial and executed. The victim may make an allowance for the war criminal to be given a life sentence instead of death. These definitions are all gender-neutral and non-dependent on sexual preferences of the parties involved and thus, encompass harassment that involves perpetrators and victims of any gender and sexual preference.
How it impacted the concepts of “parent”, “child”, and parent-child relationships: Mishandling or otherwise not taking care of your child is a war crime. The moment a child is expelled from the mother’s vagina, it is registered as a citizen of its own unique country. As such, from the moment of mutually consensual conception, the father and mother of the child are compulsorily locked into a trade agreement. One or more other consenting adult countries may also be locked into this agreement, depending on the wishes of the parties involved. It is to be noted that these additional parties may exit the agreement under reasonable circumstances. The agreement states that all adult parties involved will provide care for the child/children included in the contract.
What constitutes “care”: The parent parties are, by way of the contract of trade between the parent parties and child party, required to provide the child country access to resources deemed necessary for their growth until such time as the child country acquires a level of knowledge that is sufficient to enable the child country to access the world’s resources on their own. This knowledge also includes a history of the old world, the apocalypse, the reasoning of the new world’s system, an understanding of how countries with multiple people worked in the old world and an understanding of how that translates to the new system of having each person be their own country. This is necessary to ensure that the new system does not lose its original context over the course of future history and thus, does not lose its power of strongly but subtly enforcing human rights and individual freedoms through the enforcement of country-based sovereignty.
How it impacted religion: Each country had the right to its own religion. Separation of church and state is moot when your country has only one citizen. If two or more consenting countries participated in a certain religion, it was considered an acceptable form of cultural exchange. However, in the case of one country trying to force another country into a religion, it is an act of war. This includes parents trying to get their children to participate in their religion. Let me elaborate. Parents are allowed to give their children knowledge about the various cultural and ritualistic practices of their religion. They are allowed to give their children knowledge about the historical significance of their religion. However, they are not allowed to coerce an unwilling child into practicing the religion. As such, all practices that cause bodily harm without medical justification are war crimes by virtue of definition. Thus, you can be Christian. And your child may choose to be Christian. However, the ultimate authority to make that decision lies with the child.
How it impacted the LGBTQ+ community: This is already indirectly explained in the war crimes section but I just wanted to spell it out. Since you are your own country, you get to make laws for your citizen (you). Thus, there is no tyrannical government out there trying to stone you for being gay. If someone even thinks of performing an action that could cause you any form of direct or indirect harm (be it physical, psychological, social, financial, or otherwise) that already counts as a declaration of war and any action thus taken will be considered an act of war. So you are empowered to protect yourself and demand justice and compensation as and when necessary. This applies to everyone, of course, regardless of their gender identity or sexual preference. However, it is a unique declaration of the new world that did not exist in such an empowering form in the old world.
How it impacted professions and taxation: Good news for libertarians: Since everyone is a citizen of their own country, the concept of taxation is moot. You are the only citizen of your country and you are your own highest elected representative. Applying a tax on yourself is meaningless. However, that doesn’t mean that the benefits of a socialist or communist society are lost to the new world. That brings us to the concept of jobs. All countries in the world have equal, unfettered access to all resources. This was done deliberately to eliminate conflicts that arise over resource redistribution. However, with unfettered access to the old world’s vast resources and knowledge, the new world was able to efficiently build and maintain the systems and infrastructures required to keep itself afloat. Since everyone had access to what they needed, the exceptionally productive portion of the population was able to achieve levels of advancement that would have been virtually impossible in the old world. As such, everything that could reasonably be automated was eventually automated, thus leaving humanity free to pursue science and passions in favour of survival. Of course, the history of the old world was always in their minds due to the education system, thus ensuring that they appreciated the context of this newfound elation of lifestyle.