The year is 2245. Over the course of humanity we have changed so much. From bands of scavengers, to tribes, to communities, to cities, to states, to countries, to the world government. The stone age gave way to the bronze age, the iron age, the steel revolution, the technology age, the fusion age, the antimatter age. We now have a full colony on the moon and Mars is well under development. They say in less than a thousand years the hyper gate will arrive in the Alpha Centuri galaxy and we will be able to explore it.
Life on earth was good! it was peaceful, happy, and pretty much worry free. There were no wars, crime was nonexistent. The dissolving of all currency after the huge crash of 2172 saw the end of money and the new credit system. Everyone now received a set amount of credits a week no matter what and it was more than enough to provide for basic living. Since you couldn't steal credits and making a illegal transaction with credits was quickly caught it almost put a end to the majority of crime all over the world.
Almost everything was automated so most people didn't have to work although many did. Not in the hard labor areas but in the sciences or artistic fields. A walk through any retail area in any city turned up ten times the amount of small boutiques selling hand crafted items that were a stark contrast to the big store's computer designed and factory made items, but even those were more prized than the simple replicator items you could make in your own home.
Oh, replicators? No, not like the ones in the ancient Star Trek movies that turned energy into matter. Think 3D printer extreme. They took basic material and arranged it on a atomic level into just about any simple item you wanted. A holovision display, no. But a pair of shoes or a dish, yes. Even food in the kitchen models. Material were cheap (except for rare elements) and were usually stocked weekly on a subscription. Many hotels and apartments came with free materials in their rental agreements.
Life span had grown to around 200 years with the oldest known human being 257 years old! As far as human biology had come over the centuries they still couldn't replace the human brain. They could replace arms, legs liver, everything else but when the mind went that was it. Early experiments to download a mind to a computer when horribly wrong and although there were still studies in the field no real human trials have ever been approved since then. Population growth was halted at 17 billion. Since then a couple was allowed only one child per gender in a marriage. A male and a female were allowed one of each, two males were allowed two male children and so on. Anything beyond that had to be approved by the population control board.
Life on earth was great! there was only one small'problem', moral laws. There were first put in place to protect the children and others from things they thought were offensive, and they did work. Teen pregnancy disappeared. Kids were sheltered from sex and all it involved till they were 18. Premarital sex was a fine-able offence and cheating on your spouse was punishable by jail time. People didn't even talk about sex publicly unless they wanted a fine and jail time for repeat offenders. You could even be fined for showing too much flesh in certain areas! Clothing was government approved. You could drink, but you could not get drunk. Recreational drugs were mild and only allowed in the home.
Everything was pretty vanilla, except in one area. Since way back in 1931 when the first casino first opened in the small desert town Las Vegas it was a hot bed for all things morally corrupt. It grew over time and eventually it earned the name Sin City. If it was perverse or morally wrong you could find it there. As the moral laws came down like a hammer all over the world it alone held it's ground. To combat the moral majority they passed their own freedom of choice laws and banned anyone under the age of 18. It fought a long hard battle with the moral majority but eventually won out as they eventually agreed that there needed to be a place where these 'moral degenerates' could go to. What happens in Sin City, stays in sin City eventually became a law not just a saying. People were free to go there but they were not allowed to bring any of those perversions back with them.
It was no longer called Las Vegas even though that was it's name. A antique sign in the center or town proudly proclaiming "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas Nevada" was one of the last vestiges of the old city, it was Sin City, where all your perverted fantasies come true. It grew to over 8000 square miles and became one of the largest cities in the world.
Some came for the drugged out parties on the nude beaches of lake Mead or to gamble in the endless casinos and see erotic shows that couldn't be found anywhere else in the world although most came for the sex. Hookers everywhere catering to any taste, robot sex, cross dressing, bondage, incest, you name it. if you could dream it you could find it here. people came from all over the world of all races and backgrounds looking for fun and excitement.
Oh, look, here comes the 9am bullet train into the southern quadrant station. Let's see who gets off.