“This Age of Laughing is adorable.” The lead engineer conducts the tour past the incubation chambers. A shriek startles me but is quickly replaced by giggles of delight. The viewfinder shows a group of sleek robots two meters tall, somersaulting across the room.

The engineer chuckles. “The bio-brain matter develops at an exaggerated pace in the early stages. Thankfully, because the next stage is brutal.”

“What follows?”

“The Age of Negation. It’ll begin any minute.”

In the cell a tech attempts to coral the group to a worktable. One robot falls to the floor, wailing. Another squats and refuses to move. A third yells, “Nooooooo!!!”

My guide flinches. “It will pass within twenty-four hours. Then acceleration slows as the bio matter nears the optimal age for mental processing.”

“A day is not so much of a nuisance considering the geo-engineering possibilities.”

“If that were the last,” he sighs. “It’s the final stage which lasts the longest, regrettably.”

“What stage is that?”

“The Age of Ennui.” Inside the final cell, a robot lays prostrate on the floor. Another slouches in the corner. A tech attempts to assist a third, but it shrugs her hand off and turns its back.

“How long does it last?”

Before he answers, an assistant robot slouches up to him. “There.” It hands him a folder, mumbling, “Why not ask the world’s most complex bio-robotic construct to unplug and bring a folder you could easily access on any tablet.”

My guide’s shoulders sag. “Seventy-three years and counting.”

Photo by Xu Haiwei