In the far future, the Sun has become an expanding red giant and is threatening to engulf the Earth in 100 years. Realizing the impending danger, the world's countries have come together to form a United Earth Government, pooling their resources to save humanity. One proposed plan, known as the Moving Mountain Project, involves constructing thousands of gigantic ion engines to propel the Earth out of the Solar System towards another habitable star system. A second proposed plan, the Digital Life Project, involves developing mind uploading technologies to achieve a future of "digital immortality". All human consiousnesses will be uploaded onto a supercomputer that will be launched into the cosmos, and all future humans will live in a virtual, simulated consciousness.

Moral education refers to the way a school helps its students learn virtues or moral habits that will make them better people outside of their classroom. Examples of topics that can be covered include compassion, persistence, and life skills. Moral education has been taught informally in Japan for decades, but it is gaining prominence in the Japanese curriculum, being taught in some schools on a par with subjects such as science or mathematics.

"Primate cities are disproportionately large cities in the urban hierarchy of a country. They are unrivaled political and economic hubs, as well as often serving as the capitals or administrative centers of a nation. In pursuit of economic development, countries often centralize resources and encourage migration to increase the labor force in these cities. Examples of Primate Cities include (Seoul, Cairo, Bangkok, Budapest, Jakarta & Lima)

The Industrial Revolution was a period of scientific and technological development in the 18th century that transformed largely rural, agrarian societies into industrialized, urban ones. Goods that had once been painstakingly crafted by hand started to be produced in mass quantities by machines in factories, thanks to the introduction of new machines and techniques in textiles, iron making and other industries."