In the districts

Beyond the manicured white villas, the expensive shops, the charming private parks, the government’s announcement reverberated. Long lines had formed at the registration offices. Those in line emanated confidence, hope, and fear. Perhaps this incredible basic income would be gone by the time they made it to the front of the line? Inside the offices, people were attended to at long tables that had been set up temporarily. The customer looked into a camera. The facial image was transmitted to a database, in fractions of a second a chip was loaded with all the data of the person in question. Device IDs, biometric passport details, bank accounts, addresses, medical files, police record, sexual predilections, friends, family, social peculiarities, legal troubles. At info stands, trained staff explained the typical applications of the sensational new technology. They spoke less about the personal information which could now be ascertained even when a target wasn’t within the catchment area of a biometric facial recognition system and went around without a mobile phone or ID. The personnel praised above all the simplification of the cashless transactions and the ease of use of public transportation. “And see, you don’t need a credit card or proof of insurance; you have all your passwords in one place and can manage your smart home with this chip.”

“What smart home,” one or two asked. “More on that later,” a staffer would respond. The registered citizens left the office feeling buoyant. Finally! They seemed to be thinking. Finally it was coming to fruition. The dream of progress and future. Finally things would be looking up,

Felt

The young

COMMUNICATIONS CONSULTANT

HEALTH STATUS: two abortions

DEFORMITIES: foot fungus

SEXUAL ORIENTATION: Tinder

POLITICAL CATEGORIZATION: on the left side of the spectrum, critical of consumerism

Well, theoretically a communications consultant. At the moment nothing was being communicated. And certainly not by her.

She’d had no idea what she wanted to be, like most of her classmates. Studied something that sounded nice. Something that involved people. Speaking to people sounded nice. The communications consultant didn’t want to put herself out. She didn’t want to be hated, get caught up in any shitstorms, didn’t want to reinvent the wheel, be unloved. Wow, how exciting.