Such Is Life in 2030

>2030 >chip implant starts vibrating, signaling me that it's time to wake up >roll out of my rented sleep pod and check my smartphone to see how much CO2 I exhaled >"0.00001 WCC has been deducted from your account for carbon tax. Remember, we're in this together!" >Pour myself a bowl of CricketCrunch™, decide to use orange juice because I burned through my dairy ration too early this month >Go to the bathroom to brush my teeth >Fuck! I forgot to request a new toothbrush rental >Put in a request >3 hours later, a BezosBot 2.0 delivers the brush to my house >I grab the package, ignoring the Alexa voice that says "Thank you for your purchase, Anon! Remember, we're in this together!" >Toss aside the card of Jeff Bezos giving a thumbs up that says "We're in this together! Regards, Jeff" and his printed signature into the compost pile >Yes! The bristles are hardly worn on this one! >Feel a mild shock from my chip implant, realize that I'm late for work >Put on my mask and boot up my computer rental >Electric shock sensation intensifies every 30 seconds >Jump on a Zoom call, where the other employees are waiting for me in our morning virtual meeting >Boss asks why I am 5 minutes late >I start to talk about the toothbrush, but he raises a remote and presses a button 5 times >5 excruciatingly painful shocks rip through my arm, I see the rest of the team wince as they have their shocks delivered too, one guy falls out of his chair, causing his mask to fall off as he gets up, and the boss presses the button a sixth time, this one being the worst pain out of all of them. >A woman on our team has tears in her eyes, the boss hovers his finger over the button and she quickly composes herself >"Remember, we can't have lateness or unprofessional behavior. We're in this TOGETHER! Ok, so moving on ..." Such is life in 2030.

A dystopian 2030 worker lives under total corporate control, relying on rented technology, carbon taxes, implants, delivery bots, and workplace shock punishments. The repeated phrase “we’re in this together” satirizes fake corporate solidarity while everyone is exploited and disciplined. It is used as an absurd, bleak reaction to authoritarian workplaces, surveillance capitalism, and dystopian futurism.

• @profunctor_io / 6858 2021-07-12