“The future,” she lied. Because what she’d actually seen was a past that hadn’t occurred—a life where she’d never joined the Bureau, where she’d had a daughter, where the world had ended not with a bang, but with a slow, silent un-creation. And in that vision, she had been the one holding the eraser.

However, the digital age has complicated the model. The internet allows fringe communities to find each other instantly. While this is wonderful for obscure hobbyists (e.g., "vintage button collectors"), it is dangerous for radicalization. The "fringe" no longer has to live in the shadows of the city; it lives in the algorithm. Echo chambers amplify fringe political ideologies—both far-left and far-right—giving them a visibility that rivals the center. When the fringe becomes loud enough, it ceases to be the fringe and becomes the opposition.