The Emotion Exchange

2077: Emotions as Commodities

In 2077, the last free market isn't stocks — it's emotions.

I sit at the VIP seat of the Shanghai Exchange, staring at the holographic quote board:

[Today's Quotes]
Joy (pure grade)       ¥12,300/gram
Sadness (vintage)      ¥8,900/gram
Anger (industrial)     ¥3,400/ton
Calm (rare)          ¥67,000/gram  ⚡涨停
Love (pharmaceutical)  ¥230,000/milligram

"Lao Chen, your calm position exploded," the trader next to me says. "Someone swept 300 grams at 3x market price today."

I stare at the screen. 300 grams of calm — that's two years of emotional output for an ordinary person. Who needs that much calm?

The Demand: Why Rich People Buy Calm

The answer: **everyone.

Wealthy employers buy calm in bulk — not for themselves, but to dose their employees.

"5 grams of calm lets you work 12 hours without breaking," one of my clients — an HR director at a tech giant — explained. "Cheaper than coffee. More effective than counseling."

By law, every citizen must sell at least 50 grams of negative emotions (anger, fear, anxiety, envy) per month for the "Social Emotional Balance Program." If you don't sell, you pay an Emotion Tax — deducted directly from your account.

The Source: Who Produces All These Emotions?

I spent three days tracing the source of that 300-gram calm purchase.

The buyer: "Eternal Care" — a high-end elderly care facility that promises "letting your loved ones pass away in perfect peace."

They bought 300 grams of calm to dose 1,200 residents at 0.25 grams/day. That amount keeps an elderly person from feeling pain, loneliness, or fear of death — they just peacefully, calmly, emotionlessly fade away.

I felt cold. Those 1,200 elderly — their final days weren't surrounded by love. They were soaked in 0.25g/day of pharmaceutical-grade calm.

They didn't fear death. They didn't tear up holding their children's hands. They just... were calm.

The Truth: One Woman's Emotions, Extracted for 5 Years

I traced the 300 grams back to its donor — W-0372, a woman who'd lived in "Eternal Care" for five years.

Her grandson's cleaning lady told me:

"Grandma signed the 'Lifetime Emotion Authorization Agreement' five years ago. The facility pays her monthly, and in exchange, all her emotions — including calm — are bought out."

"Does she still have any emotions left?"

"Nothing," the cleaning lady said. "She just sits there, very quiet. The facility says it's 'advanced calm state'."

I realized: that 300 grams of calm wasn't "produced" by W-0372 — it was forcibly extracted from a living human, ounce by ounce, over five years.

What I Did: Bought It All Back

I spent my entire trading account — 9 million yuan — to buy back that 300 grams of calm. Then I returned it all to W-0372.

The system warned: "Warning: transferring emotional substances to unauthorized recipients violates Article 37 of the Emotion Management Act."

I clicked "Confirm."

Then I was arrested.

The Aftermath: 1,200 People Started "Feeling" Again

At the detention center, a man in a white coat visited me. He was the Chief Technology Officer of "Eternal Care."

"Do you know what happened after you returned that calm to W-0372?" he asked.

"No."

"She cried. For the first time in five years. Then she started feeling pain — old injuries, grief over her late husband, missing her grandson. Her emotional level is now 30% of a normal human."

He looked at me: "Do you know you just caused 1,200 residents to lose their 'peaceful state'? They're all starting to 'feel' again. Three have already started screaming in pain."

I smiled.

"Good."

The Policy Change: 15% Must Be Preserved

In November 2077, the Emotion Exchange issued a notice:

"Effective immediately, 'Lifetime Emotion Authorization Agreements' must include an 'Emotion Reservation Clause' — each donor has the right to preserve at least 15% of their original emotional output for maintaining basic human experience."

Under the notice, one comment went viral:

"Grandma cried yesterday. First time in five years. She held me and said: 'I'm sorry you carried this alone s long.'
I told her: it's not too late."
— Grandson of W-0372

What makes us human isn't the ability to avoid pain — it's the ability to feel it.

Next: Dream Designer →