an old fart reflects on the good old days and the Horror of the NOW!
Capt wardrobe Dec 2020
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Years ago back when it was still fun to go shopping.
I used to wander along Holloway Rd in North London and up to the
Highbury roundabout to rummage through old Vinyl in Reckless records, Islington.
I could be in there for at least 2 hours. Sifting through the crates...methodically, row at a time.
When i had found something that looked weird enough...usually fulfilling a myriad of
criteria including, either having an associate musician from a band i'd heard
of and liked, or just a goofy enough cover to pique my interest - i'd make THAT decision.
In the pile it went.
When the stack reached 10 - I had to make another choice before the beckoning cash-till extended the haunt of ensuing debt. [ooh how poetic]
Sometimes i'd have to make a choice - because of the financial constraints of the bi-weekly unemployment cheque [dole] &
of being a hopelessly precocious, astonishly pretentious, unemployable slacker.
The choice was 'BUY THIS RECORD' or get drunk in The Flounder & Firkin or Hen & Chickens [if i wasn't barred]
This choice would make me stand for several minutes amongst the piles of boxed albums.
I would literally sweat it out. Juggling amazingly weirdly designed covers with - the smaller prices
along with yearned for items or just latest releases from loved bands.
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Narcissistic Hollywood Cunts!
So, now imagine we are in alternative universe.
I take the records home, listen to them and suddenlly...
in a feat of marketing telepathy, the record shop, it's tills & ledgers, all those who work in it & the proprieter ...The Tax man & The Government all
automatically all know which ones I liked or disliked.
What kind of strange new dimension is this? I hear you ask?
Perhaps it's an idea for some sci-fi slacker movie called 'Higher Fidelity'
starring John Cusack as a record store owner who has a love affair with the
AI avatar that represents 'the premises'...because, the Avatar loves all his amazing choices in music...
and you know, that is likely to happen in a Cusack film these days...Being the overpaid narcissistic Hollywood cunt he is!
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Back to the Shop
Imagine further that when I returned to the shop all the shelves were rearranged and stocked with things that match my previous choices. All the content it thinks I don't like as much has been put in the back. And now I only get to see the result of my previous experienced choices.
But, now we have a nosy & intrusive Government involved. This particular Organisation doesnt see my choices as fit or healthy - so, after monitoring all my choices - it, you know, makes a few choices on behalf of me. After a while, because the citizens are now used to the changes made by the Government, the corporations responsible for providing product have all realised that the best selling products are government mandated - Nobody notices that the entire world has become a intensely dull, assanine, sterile & completely fucking boring place.
When did it start & where does it end?
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How did this happen? Well as it turns out - my 'record player', as it played the 'records' I was enjoying or loathing... or hadn't quite made my mind up about - was sending messages back to the shop in real time as it watched and gauged my reactions. It logged all the choices of product - then logged the biometric data to see 'how' I consumed them.
Now let's consider that the shop on the high street does not exist & it's a virtual one - on my computer. Neither does the record player. It's a website streaming audio files.
It's a virtual shopping mall full of shops that sells everything. And the proprieter are all trillionaires running an Artificially intelligent workforce of algorithms as Bots.
Also; The majority of humans on the planet are carrying it around in their pocket. Each system is attuned to their individual preferential choices.
Now imagine you are not allowed to leave the house much, or socialise, because of a disease.
and everyone everywhere has to stay indoors and use this system
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NOW WHERE'S THE FUN IN THAT?
This dude does not wish to abide!
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This is a picture of a human.
He is operating a machine
Is the man controlling his own movements?
Or is the machine limiting his choices of movement within the confines of it's own design?
Does the Operator still believe he is free?
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HERE ARE SOME FUN WORDS
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
BLOCKCHAIN LEDGER
CRYPTO CURRENCY
CONSUMER SURVEILLENCE DATA
CORPORATE STATE
BEHAVIOURAL ECONOMIC DATA MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
find more interesting words here
with many thanks to Ali MacDowell
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