Second Day: Relationships

Wherein, under the rule of Elizabeth, the stories are told of those who entrusted their relationships to the same powerful technologies encountered on the first day. It seemed like a really good idea to make exchanges faster, to keep up with the times, to never be far from your loved ones and to never suffer from the absence of someone, in short, to feel right in the place where things were happening, at the speed of light.

That is to say: “Connect with…”: partners, children, parents, friends and friends of friends; but also unknown humans, and even non-humans. Yes, because the great denied of these relationships mediated by digital machines were precisely the machines themselves. Only a few tried to know them, only a few cared.

And above all, not only the machines but also the people and companies that owned these machines were forgotten. Their plans to profit and expand beyond all imagination were forgotten. Machines enslaved to free humans from the effort of building their relationships? There was something fishy about this.

And to mask the smell of something rotten… many rich prizes and cotillon! Each interaction seemed to become a game, dotted with points, prizes, leaderboards, levels and gadgets; marked by constant calls, notifications and extraordinary occasions. Game patterns inserted everywhere, to transform any relationship into an unrelenting competition.