The corporations have won. For that which creates the jobs, pays the wages, stocks the shelves with our bread and produces our movies/TV/circuses, makes the rules. They are too powerful an enemy/too necessary a friend to anger. So they got their automation. But fear not! They will continue to create jobs for humans! In the "Social Media Influencer" sector. YouTuber/Instathot/Blue Checkmark becomes the dominant industry around the world. And a global give-and-take economy is born. Corporations pay influencers to shill their wares. We, also influencers, pay corporations to have their wares. Back and forth, to keep brand strength and brand faithfulness growing.
But not just any inkwell can be an influencer. If you're putting your face out in public you need to be "advertiser friendly." In fact, it's the law. 100 years ago a company could buy and sponsor a couple of landmarks. Now? Companies go joint stakeholder on entire cities. And the statutes are written so that these corporations, the lifeblood-giving job creators, can stay alive. If you wanna even go outside, let alone be on a screen for people to watch, you can't be ugly. Thanks to near perfect Internet connectivity for all peoples of the world, Big Data was able to analyze what effect certain faces, bodies, etc. have on Internet users in what has been colloquially dubbed "The Reddit Gold Index." Wanna be sponsored by FINAO? They know what kind of look they need from an ambassador. Wanna be sponsored by RAID Shadow Legends? They know what kind of look they need from a streamer. But no matter what, you need to be some kind of attractive, within acceptable range of the current RGI figures. Just to leave your house, let alone get a job as an influencer. That's not fair? 100 years ago you couldn't expose your naked body in public, and we accepted that. Public indecency is a thing, and we've come to understand that your ugly face/body is indecent. So what do you do? 100 years ago if you covered your nudity with clothes. Today you cover your ugliness with a variety of augmenters. From prismatic face masks to holographic light bending fields. Can't afford one? Not an excuse. 100 years ago "I can't afford clothes" was no excuse to walk around naked. Dare to break this rule anyway? If you're caught on camera exposing your ugliness, recognition software will compare you against the RGI and like that you're a wanted man. Tracked down by robocops and held in Ugly Jail.
You live in Maxperit City. Population: 350 million. 37% ownership by Coca-Cola, 32% ownership by Sony, 25% ownership by BMW, and 6% ownership by "assorted others." Billboards and bright signs decorate the city, whose zoning ordinances dictate that they must be on at all times.
One night you visit the Mexperit Museum of Human History. Just for the relative peace. It's near deserted. Sleek and untouched. Human biology has been rewritten here to suit the modern morality: "Male" and "female" aren't hard definitions, More like spectrums. That science, to this day, does not understand and can never understand. Don't worry about. What matters is, does it affect your enjoyment of an ice cold Coca-Cola? You could go for an ice cold Coca-Cola. You look for the vending machines. Your footsteps echoing against the marble, punctuating your solitude. But wait, what's that? Other footsteps? Is someone else here? You stop, you glance behind. You are approached by... a security bot? No, it's... a man? Wearing the faceplate of a security bot? He moves like a machine at first. But his gait eventually becomes more human. As you both come to realize that neither of you is a threat. Your guards are down. Vulnerable. He draws closer... and he removes his mask.
And something wells up inside you. Something like hope, like courage. He is repulsive to look at. But damn it, he's human! He is...
But not just any inkwell can be an influencer. If you're putting your face out in public you need to be "advertiser friendly." In fact, it's the law. 100 years ago a company could buy and sponsor a couple of landmarks. Now? Companies go joint stakeholder on entire cities. And the statutes are written so that these corporations, the lifeblood-giving job creators, can stay alive. If you wanna even go outside, let alone be on a screen for people to watch, you can't be ugly. Thanks to near perfect Internet connectivity for all peoples of the world, Big Data was able to analyze what effect certain faces, bodies, etc. have on Internet users in what has been colloquially dubbed "The Reddit Gold Index." Wanna be sponsored by FINAO? They know what kind of look they need from an ambassador. Wanna be sponsored by RAID Shadow Legends? They know what kind of look they need from a streamer. But no matter what, you need to be some kind of attractive, within acceptable range of the current RGI figures. Just to leave your house, let alone get a job as an influencer. That's not fair? 100 years ago you couldn't expose your naked body in public, and we accepted that. Public indecency is a thing, and we've come to understand that your ugly face/body is indecent. So what do you do? 100 years ago if you covered your nudity with clothes. Today you cover your ugliness with a variety of augmenters. From prismatic face masks to holographic light bending fields. Can't afford one? Not an excuse. 100 years ago "I can't afford clothes" was no excuse to walk around naked. Dare to break this rule anyway? If you're caught on camera exposing your ugliness, recognition software will compare you against the RGI and like that you're a wanted man. Tracked down by robocops and held in Ugly Jail.
You live in Maxperit City. Population: 350 million. 37% ownership by Coca-Cola, 32% ownership by Sony, 25% ownership by BMW, and 6% ownership by "assorted others." Billboards and bright signs decorate the city, whose zoning ordinances dictate that they must be on at all times.
One night you visit the Mexperit Museum of Human History. Just for the relative peace. It's near deserted. Sleek and untouched. Human biology has been rewritten here to suit the modern morality: "Male" and "female" aren't hard definitions, More like spectrums. That science, to this day, does not understand and can never understand. Don't worry about. What matters is, does it affect your enjoyment of an ice cold Coca-Cola? You could go for an ice cold Coca-Cola. You look for the vending machines. Your footsteps echoing against the marble, punctuating your solitude. But wait, what's that? Other footsteps? Is someone else here? You stop, you glance behind. You are approached by... a security bot? No, it's... a man? Wearing the faceplate of a security bot? He moves like a machine at first. But his gait eventually becomes more human. As you both come to realize that neither of you is a threat. Your guards are down. Vulnerable. He draws closer... and he removes his mask.
And something wells up inside you. Something like hope, like courage. He is repulsive to look at. But damn it, he's human! He is...
