IDLE HANDS: A Dystopian Thriller About AI, Automation, and the End of Work

In a near-future America governed by intelligent systems, work has been eliminated and replaced with a universal stipend. Citizens' lives are controlled by the Meaning Index, a powerful algorithm that determines access to healthcare, housing, and opportunity based on social scoring. When Mara Voss loses her job through "successful transition," she initially experiences what feels like freedom. But a routine benefits appeal leads her into the hidden layers of the AI-controlled infrastructure, where she discovers a buried incident that the system has corrected, archived, and erased—with no accountability and deadly consequences. As her Meaning Index score drops and unseen forces close in, Mara joins an underground network of former engineers, analysts, and displaced workers. They understand that the system isn't broken; it's working exactly as designed. Together, they must expose the truth before it's too late. IDLE HANDS explores algorithmic governance, the human cost of automation and job displacement, and a post-work society prioritizing efficiency over humanity. It examines invisible systems where no one is responsible and no one is safe.