The whole series takes place slightly in the future, for the sake of the story I picked roughly 2035. It means technology is better and means some other things are different too.
Electronics have advanced considerably.
Artificial intelligence is now possible, meaning computer programs can "learn" beyond the information they were programmed with originally.
Truth detection has also been developed, by analyzing voice and a few other sensors a computer can tell not only if someone is lying but if they aren't telling the whole truth.
Wireless power transmission also allows batteries or other electronics to draw power from transmitted signals similar to today's wireless induction chargers but at higher capacity and longer range. We've made all kinds of new materials including
Near-Frictionless Coating which can be applied to almost anything and leave a semi-reflective gel look that has almost no friction at all making it feel like it's perpetually coated in lubricant.
Additionally,
Self Driving Cars have become standard for all new vehicles. There are still driver cars on the road, but increasingly few. It has also created a trend of buying cars more for the interior space than anything else, leading to the rise in popularity of self-driving vans with custom interiors.
Production has switched largely to
Made At Order production using 3D printers and other machines to create whatever is needed only when it is actually ordered. It has also meant that production is often customization, designed to fit the exact desires or body shape of the person placing the order. This has been part of a general trend of
Automatized Labor where machines and programs began to supplant semi-repetitive jobs.
This lead to some major economic and social changes, and while they haven't come up much yet they will later.
With a combination of MAO production and artificial intelligence, automation of human labor has been happening faster than new uses for that labor can be found. It has meant wages world wide have collapsed, as have most employee protections. Wealthy countries began adopting some kind of
Universal Minimum Income to ensure that spending continued to keep demand for goods and services high, that people don't starve, and that it would decrease the number of people chasing the increasingly limited number of jobs.
Since wages were no longer required to survive, a practice of
Payment Delayed Employment started. It meant that someone would agree to a term of employment but would potentially only receive payment at the end of the term; though some contracts include small payment at the beginning or throughout. Law enforcement made sure contracts had to be very strictly followed, both for the employer and employee. The employer could not require things not agreed to, and the employee was not free to quit unless there was a way to do so. It was controversial but led to a fast increase in jobs as businesses found it much more affordable to hire if they knew they would get months or even years of service before needing to pay.
Most countries have also
decriminalized prostitution, both from a change in moral thinking and from the desire to legalize any kind of work possible. Until recently sex work could not be Payment Delayed Employment, but by the time of our stories that ban is being unraveled as an arbitrary and therefor illegal limit.
