"Frank Simmons, March 1st, 2483.

"My first journal entry. I realize the risk, but someone must record what has happened to us.

"I'll start where it began. The Alien, as we called it, came to Earth exactly one decade ago. It's really quite remarkable how we quickly embraced it and the rest of its species' highly advanced culture.

"Though, I do often wonder what we've truly sacrificed. There's a certain level of sterilization in how things are now. It's changed us so drastically. After re-watching some underground news archives, I can now see how primitive, savage, brutal, greedy, selfish, melodramatic, and emotional we once were …

"The Alien claimed the key to our strengths and weaknesses lies in our interaction with one another and the ad hoc creation of beliefs. So to strip us of our history, cleanse us of illogic, and firmly root ourselves in the empirical and theoretically testable, in a constant state of analysis, would free us.

"The Alien brought with it technologies that could only be described as miraculous, ending famine, disease, poverty, and inequality. The word rapidly spread as a new religion (though more of an anti-religion), and people diligently followed it, eventually dominating the entire planet with their 'new way of life.'

"But in doing so, it came with a considerable trade-off. I must secretly practice my faith and love for writing, art, and music or suffer the consequences if caught …

"I do pray that …"

A squad of 'The Patrol' broke into Frank's domicile, interrupting his neural sync.

He tore off his headset. "What's going on?"

"Mr. Simmons, we've established a link to your exocortex. As a result, we've monitored your thoughts and found you guilty of violating 'The Faith Without Evidence Statute,' said an alien officer.

"What kind of doublespeak is that?" asked Frank. "Even faith with evidence is still faith!"

"You shall resume Filtration Training, Mr. Simmons. The philosophy of logic and science is the best way."

"So you say, but what's the point of living for its own sake?" Frank ran toward a window to jump out.

The alien officer stunned Frank, rendering him immobile and speechless. "You'll think differently when you're done with the process, Mr. Simmons. Your primitive human tendencies toward fanciful beliefs must be excised. There's no other way to confront the highly complex cosmic challenges your species will soon encounter."