Persona 2: Alyx Lee

In Scenario #2, government is proactive while corporations compete for social reputation. Rising global tensions built consensus for sweeping, conscientiously capitalist reforms. Corporate tax hikes support measures like greater privacy protections, which in turn unlock personal data’s full commercial value. New social tech and norms boost ethical consumption. And all these forces are reshaping Toronto. Changes are visible everywhere, from ag-tech complexes to hallucinatory popup nightspots — if you can afford the social impact offsets to get in.

Mom was right: there’s solid money in synthetic agriculture

It was a long shift. With the new bioreactors still calibrating, outputs weren’t quite right. There was something off with the texture…

After all that, Alyx set their devices for minimal distraction right through the PATH. No need to let smoothie and kluay tod * offers get in the way of dinner at home with the family.

A fairly empty train left Alyx room to sprawl comfortably. So curiosity set in about a whitelisted ad-test ask. It arrived a few hours back, but was still available. Obviously a tight targeting fit.

The video for a new CleanCuts cultured chicken breast doesn’t take long. Cute kids play tag in a reclaimed poultry house. It’s now all creepers and quick-growth interior mosses. Closing flicker promises sweet offset numbers against farmed meat. It’s a good spot, and Alyx’s smile isn’t forced.

That would probably be pointless anyway. CleanCuts’ values match and privacy ranking are high. So they’ll be getting video, haptics & heartrate from the view. Plus any relevant purchases in the few weeks. Satisfying way to earn a few bucks.

***

Alyx arrived in Canada young. So Toronto dominates their early memories. Childhood near a small community garden left them passionate about plants. And Alyx really still believes that saving the world will take fixing food.

At least, that’s one of the things it’ll take. Mom was right: there’s solid money in synthetic agriculture.

That led to a double major in Agronomy and Biochemistry. Then a year of placements on small, southern Ontario farms to give Alyx some time working real dirt. Then it was back home, helping scale up TO’s food production.

Their main gig is minding a reactor sector on the York Biosystems subfloors. This means working with nutrient startups, and a lot of gene-hacked yeast. But not much sun.

Luckily, the city’s demand for heirloom greens is bottomless. This leaves plenty of reason to spend time in the co-op greenhouse atop Alyx’s apartment block. That’s good for a share in profits, plus salad.

Then there’s always remote bioreactor consults for hobbyists. But Alyx especially loves helping farmers near where their parents grew up. Development offset dollars cover remote tech repair, plus pest and seed license troubleshooting.

Along with data royalties, this all lets Alyx live pretty well. Even setting some money aside for the next flu or market shock.

***

The rest of the ride slips past with a recap of big Strange Company news. Then some flipping between favourite character threads.

When a StockX alert pings, Alyx indulges: they grab some slick black Onitsukas. Crunch-rate hours getting those reactors set up last month more than cover the shoes. Plus the site flagged this nearly new pair just a 20-minute cycle from home. So it doesn’t even mean a carbon and waste hit.

That should keep last month’s footprint cut streak going, too…which’ll make for an even better look when they post pics.

Contributors

This scenario was written by Alastair Cheng. It was developed based on the contributions of the following people at the Microwork Drivers Workshop held December 10, 2019.

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TORONTO 2030: TALES OF POLICY AND PROFIT