I’m going to share a story idea that I might turn into a book someday. It’s just a kernel of a story and it will more than likely come out as a different story by the time I write a book using it. Anyway, it’s just a story idea, which is little more than a slightly fleshed out story prompt.

What if the technology is invented that allows humans to have information implanted into their brains? Let’s skip over some of the nefarious parts for the moment and we’ll say that there are safeguards in place and the individual has to sign off of what will be implanted in their brain. Imagine if we could eliminate college and go right to the job center and get an implant that gives us the knowledge needed to do a job well. Also, imagine that the implant wires our brain so that we really enjoy doing the work we select. Furthermore, a job placement center has a list of jobs that need to be filled. How would that affect society? What if war broke out and the government drafts people to be soldiers? They would be required to go in for re-programming.

What about this twist? There are a group of people who are immune to the reprogramming. They form an underground organization and they discover that the government has been manipulating the jobs program for years. They have decided to re-organize society in their own vision. They reprogram executives who start businesses that favor certain politicians. That drives demand for workers for that business.

Other aspects of this technology. What would the pay scale be? Should they charge more for people to be programmed for better jobs? I would work a job to save up money to get re-programmed to get paid a higher wage. Then I would turn around and do the same thing until I work my way up to a position that makes me rich. If I was programmed to enjoy the job, then I could work at any job. That’s different from today where we work jobs that we enjoy doing, or we work a job that we can handle. Otherwise, everyone would be a corporate executive or a brain surgeon.

If the story contains an underground of rebels, then they have to have a way to bring down the whole thing. Maybe they hack into the system and implant people with the ability to resist the devices. Maybe, they set it up such that everyone gets the knowledge of what nefarious plans have been in place for years. All at the same time. Yup, there’d be a lot of angry customers.

Another angle is this: What if the government has a kill switch installed in everyone that has been reprogrammed. Maybe it’s just a control program that is enacted in an emergency that causes everyone to be a zombie for a few days while they are on hold. Then they are sent to facilities to be re-programmed.

Let’s say the organization that is controlling everyone (government, mafia, etc.) finds out that there is a group of people that have discovered their plan. Let’s also say that the government is having trouble capturing them or finding them. They send thousands of people to the re-programming centers to become FBI agents or police detectives. Suddenly there are a bunch of Sherlock Holmes running around searching for clues of who is part of the underground group. Can the people that form the underground organization keep their identities hidden? Maybe they can fake being re-programmed to cover their tracks.

There are other angles as well. If someone was controlling the population through mind re-programming, what would prevent them from secretly erasing tiny bits of inconvenient information? Maybe historical information disappears from people’s minds over time. Eventually, nobody knows about the Romans or the dark ages. At some point, this information can be replaced with a fake history of what society was like before the invention of the mind device.

There’s a book in there someplace.