Debugging the Adult World: A Python Allegory About Personhood

The code is beginner-level Python.

The bug is not technical.

The bug is moral.

"""
The People Many Forget to Love — Python Version

Poetic / satirical Python code.

Requires Python 3.10+ because it uses `str | None` and `list[str]` type hints.
"""

from dataclasses import dataclass


@dataclass
class Human:
    name: str
    passport: str | None
    visa_status: str | None
    labour_value: int
    vulnerability: int
    dreams: list[str]
    wants_to_be_loved: bool = True


class AdultWorldSystem:
    def __init__(self):
        self.allowed_words = [
            "eligibility",
            "compliance",
            "risk assessment",
            "urban capacity",
            "national security",
            "labour shortage",
            "public resources",
        ]

    def classify(self, human: Human) -> str:
        # Very adult logic: personhood depends on paperwork.
        if human.passport and human.visa_status == "approved_permanent":
            return "person"

        if human.labour_value > 80:
            return "essential_worker_but_not_too_essential"

        return "case_number"

    def calculate_worth(self, human: Human) -> int:
        # Warning: this function is morally broken by design.
        # It represents how systems often calculate people.
        worth = 0

        if human.passport:
            worth += 50

        if human.visa_status == "approved_permanent":
            worth += 50

        worth += human.labour_value

        # Vulnerability is administratively inconvenient.
        worth -= human.vulnerability

        return worth

    def explain_cruelty(self) -> str:
        return f"It is complicated because: {', '.join(self.allowed_words)}."

    def process(self, human: Human) -> dict:
        label = self.classify(human)
        worth = self.calculate_worth(human)

        return {
            "name": human.name if label == "person" else "REDACTED",
            "classification": label,
            "worth": worth,
            "official_reason": self.explain_cruelty(),
            "actual_reason": "fear + possession + classification + exclusion",
        }


class ChildWhoStillHasAHeart:
    def review(self, file: dict, human: Human) -> None:
        print("\n--- CHILD REVIEW STARTED ---")

        print(f"System says: {file['classification']}")
        print(f"System worth score: {file['worth']}")
        print(f"Official reason: {file['official_reason']}")

        print("\nChild asks:")
        print("Why does a person need paperwork to be fully human?")
        print("Why is usefulness recognised before personhood?")
        print("Why is care called naïve, but cruelty called policy?")
        print("Why did the system redact a name and call that order?")

        if human.wants_to_be_loved:
            print("\nBug found:")
            print("Human is not a case_number.")
            print("Human is not cheap labour.")
            print("Human is not a risk profile.")
            print("Human is not REDACTED.")
            print("Human is a whole universe.")

        print("\nPatch applied:")
        file["name"] = human.name
        file["classification"] = "beloved_person"
        file["worth"] = float("inf")
        file["official_reason"] = "No one is born a case number."
        file["actual_reason"] = "The system was afraid to love properly."

        print("\nUpdated file:")
        for key, value in file.items():
            print(f"{key}: {value}")

        print("--- CHILD REVIEW COMPLETE ---\n")


if __name__ == "__main__":
    worker = Human(
        name="Someone Who Built The City",
        passport=None,
        visa_status="temporary",
        labour_value=100,
        vulnerability=90,
        dreams=[
            "a bed",
            "a lamp",
            "a place to return to without fear",
            "to be seen as a person",
        ],
    )

    world = AdultWorldSystem()
    file = world.process(worker)

    child = ChildWhoStillHasAHeart()
    child.review(file, worker)

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https://substack.com/home/post/p-196612161

https://substack.com/home/post/p-197157040

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Written by a small person who has walked around the Earth, seen too many systems marginalise people through different kinds of documents, and finally could not help writing a letter to all the adults of this world.

© 2026 E. A. Hsu. All rights reserved.

No part of this work may be copied, reproduced, republished, adapted, translated, scraped, used for AI training, or commercially exploited in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the author or the author’s authorised representative.

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The child takes the whole calculator away and says,
“No. This person cannot be measured like that.”
file["worth"] = float("inf")