Dear Evil Engineer,
I am director of a global management consulting firm. I recently secured a contract to compile a report on leveraging emerging technologies to settle territorial disputes (‘Breaking New Ground: Territorial Dispute Resolution in the Digital Age’). I admit ending territorial disputes is not strictly aligned with our brand values, but it was too lucrative an opportunity to turn down.
Anyway, I brought together my band of bright graduates – none of whom have any experience in the sector, but all of whom really know how to use a fish knife – for some out-of-the-box thinking on the problem. One consultant suggested generating and allocating virtual, non-fungible territory in the metaverse to compensate for real-world territorial concessions. This was unfortunately shot down by our conservative-minded client. Still, it got us thinking: why shouldn’t we create more land in the real world, so everyone can have all the land they want? If we...