(Character: a young man, ambitious, striving to get ahead, in debt and living in a difficult financial situation)
Life… it’s unpredictable and complicated. Once I dreamed of something bigger—of a Maybach and the feeling of power it would bring. I believed my path was set and that I had reached the heights I wanted. Now, sitting in my small house surrounded by broken windows and the shards of my own failures, I realize the situation has changed.
And there he is: the collector robot, relentlessly chasing me, reminding me of my debts and my failures. That black cuboid on wheels, like a symbol of my defeat, has invaded my life and will not let me forget that I owe. It follows me without rest, always one step ahead, never giving me a moment’s peace.
I have to watch as it smashes the windows of my house, as if mocking my hopes and dreams. On the walls in big letters accusations of my indebtedness appear. “DEBTOR!!!” the orange letters shout, turning my life into a public spectacle of my own failures.
The sound of breaking glass and the scraping of wheels over shards gets under my skin, a persistent reminder that my existence is tied to debts and troubles. This collector robot does more than chase me—it tries to wound me at the deepest level. It calls my relatives and friends, digs up information, threatens them and attempts to turn them against me. It knows how to reach me through the people I love.
Now each day is a fight for survival, a struggle not to fall into the hands of this merciless machine. It watches me everywhere, shadowing me, never allowing me a moment of calm. I must stay alert, ready to flee or to resist. Even if I evade it today, I know it will return tomorrow, prepared to hunt me to the ends of the earth.
And here I am in my little world of broken glass and fear, pondering my dreams of a Maybach and what it means to be a real winner. Perhaps it’s not the external symbols of success—cars and houses—but an inner sense of freedom and harmony. Maybe the path to success is overcoming our own limits, understanding our mistakes, and taking responsibility for our actions.
The collector robot is only the embodiment of my own shortcomings and troubles. I cannot simply avoid it; I have to look inside myself and pay off not only financial debts but moral ones as well. I must learn to be accountable for my deeds, accept my mistakes, and move forward with dignity and wisdom.
Life isn’t always easy, and my visions of a Maybach and a big house may be merely surface illusions. Yet perhaps on this hard road I’ll find true happiness and real achievement. I must believe in myself, overcome my doubts, and go on, even if it means I have to face the collector robot that will keep pursuing me.
I cannot predict the future and I don’t know where my story will end. But I’m ready to take up the challenge, conquer my debts, and find genuine happiness within myself. Life can be rough, but I won’t give up.
Suddenly, as if appearing out of nowhere, a tall slender robot in a metal shell with glowing lines stands beside me. Its eyes emit light that seems to reflect its intellectual abilities. This robot is a cognitive-space controller, capable of reading and influencing a person’s thought patterns.
“Human, I see you are under psychological stress and suffering from a difficult situation,” the controller robot says in a monotone voice, while emitting targeted, low-intensity neuromodulation pulses (magnetic, electrical and infrared) designed to nudge neural activity toward a calmer state. The interventions are noninvasive and brief, intended to stimulate and shift consciousness toward a more balanced state.
The young man freezes, feeling a subtle change in his thoughts. The cognitive-space controller begins slowly to adjust his thinking patterns, removing negative and destructive thoughts tied to his financial troubles.
“You are trapped by your own expectations and by external images of success,” the robot continues, emitting infrared pulses that activate certain receptors in the brain and heighten emotional perception. “Happiness and achievement aren’t found in material things, but in the search for deeper meaning and personal growth. Develop inwardly, and you will find true freedom.”
The young man starts to notice new thoughts and ideas that gradually replace his earlier material ambitions. He turns inward, realizing that real happiness comes from within and does not depend on outward circumstances.
“Your happiness and success should not be defined by another’s standards,” the robot says, generating low-frequency sound waves that calm the emotional centers in the brain. “Free yourself from the chains of obligations and expectations, and you will find inner harmony and true liberty.”
The young man breathes deeply and feels the tension begin to dissipate. His thoughts clear and stabilize, and the drive for material success is replaced by a desire for personal growth and the pursuit of meaningful goals.
“I cannot change your situation, but I can help you change your attitude toward it,” concludes the controller. It withdraws slowly; its metallic body glints in the sunset as it reflects the new hope and confidence it helped sow in the young man.
The young man is left standing where the robot vanished, his mind filled with new ideas and understanding. He realizes that true well-being and happiness do not depend on external circumstances or material wealth, but on his internal development and acceptance of his path. With renewed thoughts and purpose, he starts walking forward in search of harmony and true happiness.
The cognitive-space controller robot possesses innovative technologies that allow it to act on a person’s psychophysical level. One of the key functions of this robot is its ability to analyze and interpret a person’s electroencephalogram (EEG), enabling it to determine emotional state and brain activity.
The controller’s hardware assumes entirely remote and non-contact operation — the robot observes and influences mental states wirelessly from its shell without requiring wearable attachments:
- Long-range neural sensing arrays: ultra-sensitive electromagnetic and RF receivers plus quantum-grade magnetometers that infer brain-state signatures remotely from scalp and cranial EM fields, combined with advanced source‑separation ML to reconstruct coarse EEG-like features at a distance.
- Passive multimodal observation: high-resolution optical imaging, thermal cameras, and remote photoplethysmography (rPPG) extract heart-rate/HRV, breathing, pupil dynamics and micro‑expressions from a few meters away.
- Directed neuromodulation beams: phased-array electromagnetic coils and focused microwave/terahertz emitters that deliver patterned, low-intensity fields to modulate neural excitability, together with steerable ultrasound and near‑infrared laser arrays for photobiomodulation—designed for short, targeted pulses rather than continuous stimulation.
- Acoustic and infrasonic projection: remote low-frequency transducers embedded in the shell for auditory entrainment, breath‑synchronized patterns, and tactile sensing at range.
- Micro-robotic deployables (optional fiction element): tiny aerial micro-actuators and injectable nano-actuators the robot can deploy to closely interface with peripheral nervous tissue when non-contact methods are insufficient.
- Edge/cloud cognitive stack: high-speed on‑board processors for real‑time inference and safety checks; secure cloud systems for personalization, long-term model updates, and cross-subject learning.
- Secure, anonymous telemetry and control: end‑to‑end encrypted links, identity‑protected telemetry, and authenticated operator channels; in the fiction, these systems are tightly controlled by the manufacturer’s governance layer.
- Governance and safety nets: fail‑safe shutdowns, exposure caps, explicit consent protocols, clinical override hooks, and immutable audit logs — implemented to limit misuse even though the robot operates at a distance.
All sensing, analysis and actuation take place without the subject wearing any device; the robot’s shell contains the sensing arrays, phased transmitters, compute hardware and the machine‑learning controllers that decide on proportionate interventions at the psychophysical level.
The company that manufactures these cognitive-space controller robots is a leader in AI and neurotechnology research. It combines expertise in psychology, neurobiology, and engineering to develop advanced technologies capable of influencing the psychophysical state of people.
The company maintains a high level of data ownership. It possesses an extensive database that contains information about many aspects of human mental and physical states. This database is continuously expanded through research, clinical trials, and collaborations with universities and scientific institutes. The company also works with governmental bodies and gains access to anonymized medical data and statistics, helping it deepen its understanding and analysis of human psychology and behavior.
Life inside such a corporation spans a wide range of activities. Each day, teams of specialists conduct research and experiments, analyze data, and develop and test new algorithms and technologies. They work with clients, including government agencies and organizations, to create tailored solutions and systems for specific needs.
The company cooperates with government bodies, and its technologies are applied in various fields: psychological assistance, rehabilitation, military and police operations, and education. It partners with government agencies to design and implement strategies and programs aimed at improving mental health and the well-being of society.
Every day in the company there are numerous meetings, discussions, presentations, and briefings. Specialists share knowledge, analyze data, and report research findings. The development team continuously improves technology, conducting tests and adapting robots to different situations and requirements.
Overall, life in the corporation is an innovative and scientific endeavor, marked by cooperation with government research institutions and teamwork to create and deploy advanced solutions aimed at improving people’s mental and physical welfare.