Through a system of sensors connected to a cube-shaped “brain” suspended above the user’s head, the existential calculator determines whether you are living your life to the standards you have set for yourself. As you wear them, the sensors collect data throughout the day. When you get home, you check in at the wall portrait by removing the cube and docking it to the wall. The calculator then runs an equation based on a all of the quantitative and qualitative data collected. This produces a percentage that determines the amount your portrait is blurred as the output. The output will be a reflection of the user for a moment, then it will begin to blur based on the percentage. The blurrier and more faded the portrait, the further the user is from existing.

The unavoidable feedback of the permanent wall-sized portrait would potentially incite the user to do better for him or herself on the following day. He could of course choose not to participate any longer, but the portrait would remain there, growing blurrier and blurrier until he eventually fades away. It would hopefully have a positive impact and cause the user to truly live, rather than just exist as a blur.

In a world where many people use these existential calculators, society as a whole could potentially be living with greater meaning. Within a home that is populated by more than one individual, it would be impactful to concurrently monitor the well-being of your child or spouse.

The cubes everyone wears will emit colored light that indicates the person’s state to others. This would potentially allow for a community effort to help someone else.

Duplicates of all the portraits live elsewhere and are monitored by a larger system, a Master System. Inevitably, there would be an uprising against this requirement to check-in to a machine everyday.

If they were hacked or disabled, would there be chaos?