Mitchell Philipp

Mr. Greenlee

AP Computer Science A, Period 1

18 January 2019

Summary: On January 4, 2018, someone with the username @world_record_egg posted on Instagram a single image of an egg, with the goal of making it the most liked image ever posted on Instagram. The record to beat was 12 million likes on Kylie Jenner's birth announcement. On January 13, just 9 short days later, that dream was achieved, with the post surpassing the 12 million mark. The very next day, it surpassed 42 million, becoming the most liked image anywhere on the internet.

Opinion: This is a truly inspirational achievement. No one saw this coming. This egg had the determination and grit to work its way up from nothing, and find its way to fame as the most famous image ever. In a world apathetic to its cause, it forced its way into the spotlight and found its voice. This egg is a true hero. Years in the future, we will look back on this day as one of paramout historical significance, a turning point for the human race. Wars will end, hunger will disappear, and greed will be no more as the entirety of humanity shouts "HAIL TO THE EGG!" in glorious unison. As we leave our round homes in the morning, we will see Egg Tower, a giant looming over us, a beacon of hope for all to see, and we will remember the great peace it brought us and cry out, "Praise to the mighty Egg, which shepherds our being and holds our souls in its mighty shell!" As our eggCars roll down the street, we get a notification on our eggPad tablet from @world_record_egg, the sacred oracle. The oracle speaks for the Egg, and we follow every word as gospel for they are chosen by the Egg and cannot be questioned. As we read the notification, we see what we all fear but none expect. The Egg has fallen from its pedestal and shattered. Some fool had come to give praise before the Egg, but had accidentally shaken the pedestal as he bent down to give himself, prostrate, to the Egg. In panic, he had jumped up to stabilize the pedestal, but in doing so had only shaken it further. The egg had rolled off the pedestal and into the air, tumbling downward with grim trajectory and devastating speed. As it fell toward the floor, the fool had tried to catch it in is hands, but due to his incompetent clumsiness, it only bounced away from him and toward a plain white wall. As the Egg smashed into pieces against the wall, he had begun to wail, lamenting the dire consequences of his carelessness. The security cameras in the Egg's chamber caught all this on tape, and the footage of the moment it all went wrong was included in the notification. We all watch as the Egg, our sole reason for being, smashes into the wall, and our hopes and dreams shatter instantly like that perfect brown shell. The bright yellow yolk spreads rapidly outward, an eternal entropy of our very existence. We hear cries from all around as the Fall begins. People begins to riot in the streets. Some of us fight anyone who stands in our way for we know we are the only ones who can protect us. Others hide, unable to bear the thought of living without the egg. A few become convinced they can fix the Egg, breaking into the top of Egg Tower and attempting to take Its shattered remains. Those few fight over the Egg's destroyed leftovers, and in their division they take out weapons they collected in preparation for just such resistance to their plans. One fires a gun, but the bullet misses its target and ricochets through the tower's chambers until hitting an energy storage unit, setting it ablaze. As they continue fighting over the Egg, the fire spreads rapidly up the building, engulfing the entire structure in roaring flames. Within minutes, the Tower's structure is weakened to the point that it can no longer support. It collapses, the golden statue of the Egg on top descending into a cloud of broken dreams and bitter dust. As Egg Tower tumbles downward, the fire spreads to nearby buildings, which quickly go up in flames. With the tower's fall, a worse panic erupts in the streets, for we now know that all hope is gone. The streets become a warzone as fires burn in storefront windows. eggCars are looted for food, and the air becomes heavy with smoke. The power plant stops, and every light in the city goes out. What was once a thriving city is now a desolate urban wasteland. Over time, we survive by scavenging. Clans form as authoritarian leaders fill power vaccums. Their small armies fight in the streets, and it becomes completely unsafe to venture outside alone. Some of us see this sorry state of the world and try to escape. They leave the city, hoping to find a society still intact, but they only find a world as desolate and hopeless as the one they left. Others try to put society back together by organizing an election, but no candidates enter. As the warring clans rage on, food becomes more scarce than it already was. Those of us who are smart leave the city to subsist on hunting and gathering. Those who don't join the clans for food. The city becomes nothing but a battlefield of thousands fighting for sustenance. The city has fallen. The world has fallen with it. The Egg is gone, and there is nothing to hold us together now.

Citation: Jon Porter, "Egg picture beats Kylie Jenner as most-liked Instagram post of all time", The Verge, 1/14/2018, https://www.theverge.com/2019/1/14/18181806/instagram-most-liked-post-egg-kylie-jenner