In the future...

...only electronic forms of ownership will seem real.

Wars will no longer be fought over physical territory, real geography, but over abstract networks and nodes — volleys of electrons fired over sterile servers.

Wealth will become unreal. Men — and a few women — will become rich by indexing imaginary numbers, converting one illusory unit to another measurement of nothing and skimming off a few decimal marks.

Holding something in your hand will seem passé. Paying attention to what — or who — is in the room will seem quaint.

The real will be digitized and become obsolete.



People will be taught to hate the real, to find it dirty and dangerous. They will become ever-more isolated from the physical, the sensual, the fertile, whatever has odour or grit, whatever demands relationship or cannot be turned off, thrown out, put back on the shelf.

Locked into dream mirrors, sucked into screens of distraction, they will not even notice when all that is real disappears, poisoned and screaming.