Future Shock

[Glen_Glog]

This is the Future Shock thread. Times they are a changing, and rather rapidly.

I have one foot solidly stood upon the 1980's because I am old and also have seen a lot of change in this world. Today I was Future Shocked. I was asleep (11AM Central time) and somebody was wailing on my door. This is normal for my regular sloppy Post Man or UPS Person. Back to sleep I go. Then I get this text from "Jeremy" who is my Amazon.com delivery driver and needs extra advice to deliver my Pendleton shirt. At the door is a young man in a straight and well rendered barf blue uniform and he is from Amazon.com. Being half asleep all I asked was "when did this happen" (meaning why is some person in an Amazon.com blue uniform delivering my shit) and being young, fast he knew what I meant anyway -- he said in response "Oh about a week".

I have never seen an Amazon delivery driver before and am worried for no reason that they are going to take over the Post Office or UPS or whatever. When within a week did they replace anything here?

COVID 19 is handing us much more than a new social premise, companies are going full force in delivering the new future along with automation, virtual (not just an app) banking etc and this event is the excuse. This post is a dumb example but we are turning a tight corner today and I am grasping for those handles they used to put in cars.


If you have any other Future Shock stories or concerns please post them here

[mechanismj]

Amazon ended up handling a delivery you were expecting the USPS to deliver? Crazy.

I dunno. I cannot say I am shocked by all of this anymore. Any organization with endless resources and influence would be foolish not to take advantage of a tragedy to buy up more resources when they are at dirt cheap prices. It's the ethically / morally bankrupt capitalist wet dream! That said, WE would be foolish to let all this happen without questioning it.

Once this is all over I am half expecting all of our neat little local restaurants to turn into McDonald's and Starbucks, and they won't take your cash anymore because it's filthy and could spread viruses.

[2020k]

Amazon has had its own share of delivery drivers for quite some time now. In a few cities they have drones that deliver packages as well. Bezos really needs to take a good, long (and I do mean long, with the amount of 0's attached to it) look at his bank account and really ponder if one person needs a trillion dollars, but Amazon has changed the face of retail in so many ways that I think it's been a fascinating move forward in the 21st century.

***Steps on soapbox***

The only thing that really took me by surprise is that we have all of these digital tools to connect us at our fingertips, but the general public has found more ways to be destructive with technology than it has to enhance our lives or cause any sort of change. Since I started using the Internet, as a child, in 2002, I used it as a way to connect, educate myself, and respectfully share my life perspective as a queer man living in the United States. I thankfully fell into some nice communities, found things that interest me (that otherwise would've never been uncovered without the internet), and have found myself joining some causes over the years (peaceful protests organized via Facebook events and such). But, all you have to do is take a look at the trending topics on Twitter or spend three seconds on a politician's Facebook comments to see that it's still mostly an ignorant cesspool out there just screaming into the 0's and 1's. The anti-vax movement, 5G conspiracies, the people who equate COVID19 to the flu and share propaganda filled, fake news memes...It's all very troubling. The media, big conglomerate corporations, and politicians have globally grabbed onto how this kind of toxic digital atmosphere can be easily manipulated into clicks, purchases, and votes, and it all deeply worries me about the future.

I wrote a song & visually conceptualized this subject (here) in 2016, but don't know how many people were paying attention to what I was saying at the time, since it was a relatively new phenomenon happening. There were a few shows where I performed this live and was met with blank faces staring back at me. I feel like it, but cannot be the only one with this perspective?

***Steps-Off***

[float face]

[bungler666]

"Do you think things are gonna get better before they get worse?

No way. Things are just gonna get worse and keep on getting worse. Like I said, America's a third world country as it is and... and we're just basically in a hopeless situation as it stands

What do you think this country's gonna look like in the year 2003?

Y'know, I'll tell you the truth - nothing against you guys, but I don't wanna answer that question because... I haven't even got a mind that's that...that inhumane"

[Torn n Frayed]

Straight outta of the Tavistock Institute.

[Torn n Frayed]

I see nothing in this about spirituality, religion or God and I know it's by design. It reminds me of when I worked for Gallup and would conduct surveys with business people with all these buzz words that say fuck all when you boil it down...