Great Shift

The Great Shift, also known as the New Earth Project, was an event in the year 2050 in which much of Earth was converted to cyberworks and a new global system in which countries were replaced with large sectors dominated by science and technology. These changes had an enormous impact on all aspects of civilization and nature.

However, governments also gained much more control over the people as they became 'logged in' to digital networks, which became much more prominent in human life. Such a creation was the Code 0 realm. One of its primary goals was preservation of planetary resources, which were becoming vary scare with the rising population. Essentially, the human condition became one with technology.

History
The ultimate gateway to the Great Shift was the technological singularity in 2041, in which artificial superintelligence surpassed natural human intelligence, resulting in an intelligence explosion. This sparked an entire new era of science and nanotechnology, culminating in a grounded project to change and adapt Earth as a whole. The shift date was set for 1 January 2050, after all major global power centers were established--the shift itself would, technically, never end.

The shift was agreed upon and work began years in advance by a collective union of all Earth's major countries and industries, using the collaboration of thousands of computer scientists and visionaries. One of the reasons for the shift was Earth's nonrenewable resources becoming scarcer with the rapidly growing population. With the shift, the United Nations was abolished and replaced with a new but weaker planetary council. Each continent besides Antarctica essentially became a 'supercountry', also known as a sector, though borders were redrawn. Some of the planet, namely poorer countries, did not immediately convert or agree to it. However they were gradually forced to over time, being absorbed into the sectors. Massive cities soon dotted the globe, as beacons of human culture, science, and technology.

However with great power comes great tension and corruption. Before long most communication between sectors became hostile and proxy wars broke out between digital networks and databases, through Code 0, a realm in which humans can upload themselves or their minds into a digital global database (similar to the internet) and even fight viruses within it. This crime underground became known as the Sky.

Most humans as of 2117 do not remember much of the world before the Great Shift, as they have been brainwashed to forget about it, and have been taken in by extreme commercialism and media presence that now dominates Earth. It is really of no interest to them.

Of course space travel and astronomy experienced great strides in this time period, with the first Human landing on Mars occurring in 2026. The public interest in space exploration dwindled as technology on Earth improved and advanced, however the government continued, and by 2117 had established domes and colonies on Venus and Mars. Though there are many rather questionable activities they've engaged in that are totally secret to the public.