The Company Company

I worked for several years as a video producer for a large organization that focuses on issues around aging. I mostly produced short documentaries for them. But I once developed an idea for a weird scripted anthology series, like The Twilight Zone or Black Mirror, that touched on some key issues people face as they age. I never formally pitched it and so it never was even really considered. It would have been a huge undertaking and a big swing for an organization that doesn’t really do this sort of content. But I still think about it sometimes.

The best science fiction reflects society’s hopes and fears, so what better way to prompt people to think about the issues older people face than through science fiction?

I wrote short treatments for four possible episodes. One of them, called “The Company Company,” feels far closer to reality today than when I wrote it in 2018, years before Artificially Intelligent companionship was something people were actually playing around with. It’s also the most fleshed-out of the four treatments.

I present it here, along with the other treatments, for your enjoyment.

“The Company Company”

Will Barnes is a lonely 65 year old man. Divorced for several years, he still doesn’t know how to get “out there” again. His online dating hasn’t gone well. But he keeps seeing ads for something called The Company Company. Their slogan is “We make products that keep you company”. And they promise something new: incredibly realistic android companions.

Will knows it wouldn’t be a real relationship, but he’s curious enough. He visits The Company Company’s office park location where he learns how things work. Each customer can lease a lifelike android to become their companion. These aren’t sexbots. They don’t even have the necessary parts for that. And they don’t have feelings. They’re just programmed to be good company.

Will fills out a personal profile, and is introduced to a few androids who have different attributes. They are amazingly realistic and lifelike. He chooses an android named Nancy who is designed to look like a woman around his own age, maybe just a little younger, to take out to dinner. She explains that she doesn’t really eat, being an android and all, but if he wants to go to a restaurant, she’ll chat while he eats.

They have an amazing time. It’s the best conversation he’s had in ages. He feels like his old self again. She makes pop culture references and does a funny Cliff Clavin impression. This intrigues Will and prompts a conversation about how her programming works. Nancy explains that she’s never actually seen Cheers, she’s just programmed with certain high-level knowledge of general topics.

They continue to see each other over several weeks. Nancy tells Will that she doesn’t understand how, but even though she’s programmed to just be a good companion, she thinks she’s actually falling in love with him. Will is on cloud nine. He’s definitely falling for Nancy.

Then Nancy gets a glitch. She’s got something wrong with her shoulder motor that’s limiting her arm movement but she assures Will it’s not a big deal, it’s something easily fixable. The problem is that she’s afraid to tell the Company because they might deactivate her to fix her shoulder, and who knows if she would still love him once she’s reactivated? It’s too big a risk.

But it’s okay, because she knows of rogue roboticist in town that can fix her. It’s just going to cost a little money. Will gladly pays and Nancy gets her shoulder repaired. She is so thankful, she showers Will with kisses when she returns.

But gradually over time, Nancy’s problems get worse, and more expensive to fix. But Will keeps paying. How could he not?

One day Nancy calls Will in a panic. She says that The Company has found out that she’s operating outside her programming, thinks she’s in love, and visited an unauthorized repair shop, and they are going to deactivate her! But they see an opportunity to squeeze him for money, so they’re willing to leave his robot love alone if he pays them a ton of money. But what they’re demanding is more than he can afford.

Out of options, out of money, and madly in love, Will decides to rescue Nancy from The Company. He’s going to break in, get her out, and run away with her.

Will breaks into The Company’s office park location and searches for Nancy. But when he finally finds her, she’s hanging out in the company break room with the other Company employees he met — and they’re all eating take-out food together.

Will realizes that Nancy isn’t an android at all. She’s just a person. This whole time she and The Company Company were just using him for his money. He’d fallen for a high tech version of an old fashioned romance scam.

Age-related Message: Con artists are always updating their scams to take advantage of the latest trends and technology. Be aware of the signs of romance scams in modern dating.

“Young”

Gordon Douglas, 62 years old, is at the top of his career. The CEO of a large corporation, he has a happy marriage and a good life. But when he looks in the mirror, he misses his old physique and longs to be young again.

One day, while out to lunch with some other executives, he sees a young man in the restaurant who looks familiar. They catch each other’s eye but don’t speak. As Gordon is leaving the restaurant, the other man comes out, calls his name and catches up with him.

Gordon realizes who it is. This is the son of his old friend Wallace. He looks so much like his dad did at that age! But no, Gordon is wrong. The man explains that he isn’t Wallace’s son. He is Wallace. But that’s impossible. How could he look so young?

Wallace tells Gordon that he underwent a new experimental procedure, a sort of modern fountain of youth. It rolls back the years, leaving you physically as you were when you were younger. He gives Gordon the contact information for the company that does the procedure.

Gordon thinks is over and decides to do it. He goes through with the experimental procedure and comes out looking half his age. He is thrilled. His wife loves her husband’s new look. And his colleagues are impressed. He commands attention in meetings. He has renewed energy in bed. All is good.

But then things slowly start to go wrong. The procedure has a side effect. Along with losing all his wrinkles, Gordon begins to lose the wisdom of experience that came with them. First things begin to fall apart at work, as he makes poor decisions that he should have known better. Then his personal relationships are strained. He acts a lot more immature than his wife has been used to at this point in their marriage.

Gordon realizes what he’s lost and becomes desperate to revert the process and reclaim his true age.

Age-related Message: Age and experience are benefits to be embraced.

“When I’m 64”

The year is 2058. Tina Grant is a brilliant scientist with a major problem. 34 years ago, just before she turned 30 years old, she made a discovery that was hailed as the solution the world’s energy problem. But it didn’t turn out that way. What seemed like a panacea accidentally accelerated climate change and now the planet faces imminent doom and it’s largely her fault.

But Tina has a chance to solve this problem. Time travel has recently been discovered. All she has to do is go back in time to 2024 and prevent her younger self from implementing her discovery, and the planet will be saved.

But when she meets her younger self, she realizes that it’s not going to be so easy. Tina forgot that when she was younger, she was incredibly ageist.

Young Tina has no patience for this old woman who knows everything about her and claims to be from the future. Young Tina assumes this lady is crazy, out of touch, and knows nothing, even though she clearly has a lifetime of experience in the sciences.

The fate of the world rests on Old Tina convincing Young Tina to put her ageism aside and work together to save the planet.

Age-related Message: Ageism is the strangest prejudice because it’s against a group you hope to one day be a part of. In a sense, it’s discrimination against your future self — in this case quite literally. And ageism prevents people from learning from each other, collaborating, and benefiting from a multigenerational experience.

“Olivia Twist”

On the morning of Olivia Twist’s 60th birthday, she goes to her corner coffee shop like she always does. But even though she’s standing there in line like everyone else, the barista never takes her order.

A slightly older customer, Jackie, sees Olivia’s confusion and leads her over to the end of the counter where people pick up their coffee orders. They wait until the barista puts out a coffee for another customer, and before he can get it, Jackie steals the coffee and gives it to Olivia.

The other customer is confused, asks the barista what happened to his coffee.

Olivia is also confused. Jackie explains to Olivia that now that she’s an older woman, she’s invisible. Younger people don’t see her. It’s not that they can’t see her, but it’s like she’s always in their peripheral vision. They won’t notice her unless they have a reason to.

Jackie introduces Olivia to several of her friends, a group of older women who use their invisibility to commit crimes: a little pickpocketing here, a little shoplifting there.

They all share their loot with their ringleader, a woman named Megan who strategizes their thievery and refers to Jackie as the “Artful Codger.”

Megan is eager to bring Olivia into their group. Olivia is intrigued and caught up in the excitement. She joins the group on a big heist they’ve been planning, burglarizing the home of a young couple.

During the caper, someone drops a statuette on a glass coffee table. It makes a lot of noise, and a glass shard cuts into Olivia’s leg. She’s bleeding and unable to walk, and the rest of the group abandons her and gets out of there.

The young couple discovers Olivia bleeding on their floor. Instead of turning her in, they talk to her. They hear her story and together hatch a plan to catch Megan’s band of invisible bandits.

The plan works. Megan, Jackie, and the rest of the band of thieves are no longer invisible. And neither is Olivia, who is seen as a hero.

Age-related Message: Being treated as invisible is demoralizing. It can be prevented if we work towards an intergenerational world where people spend time with others outside their generation.

Okay. I’m no Rod Serling. But in the six years since I wrote these, I’ve seen elements of some of these stories pop up both in fiction and reality. The product called Friend seems to be trying to make their own version of an A.I. companion with a weirdly dystopian promotional video:

And when I saw the disturbing trailer for the movie Companion coming out next year, I immediately thought of The Company Company. They don’t say she’s an android in the trailer, but that’s my guess (is it a spoiler if it’s just speculation?):

Anyway, that’s it for another newsletter. I got my COVID booster a couple days ago and the side effects hit me harder than in the past, so I’m in a bit of a feverish stupor as I write this. So if you didn’t enjoy this edition of the newsletter, that’s totally why.

Thanks for reading. See you next time!

David