Welcome to What Life Will Become…
People all across the globe who live in modern comfort have their heads stuck in the sand, and the lucky ones – or the smarter ones – are those who depend far less on modern day electronics. Anytime one’s T.V. can spy on a person and a device named “Alexa” can turn itself on at will and record private conversations in one’s home, that represents a real and extremely enormous problem, a threat to freedom and liberty and simply life in general.
For those who remain doubtful, allow me to be your guide today.
Born on November 6th, 2020, I was just about to turn 40 years old, when I awoke one Saturday morning in 2060, to the sound of my iPhone alarm at 4:30 AM, I sat with my coffee – brewed automatically after my wake-up alarm sounded — ruminating about some old letters of my Great GrandDad’s, which had described a society where liberty was being destroyed. He described all the freedom he had as a boy, when he could ride a bicycle without some police officer making him put a helmet on or drive without a seat belt when he turned sixteen; and, he was able to carry his own 12 gauge shotgun through the streets of town, on his way to the fields and the hunt, without nary a glance from the local Sheriff’s Deputies or city police, when he was just eleven years old.
I opened the door and pulled out some bacon and eggs for breakfast, along with the jug of milk and orange juice, which sent an automatic signal to the stove and my iPhone. Shutting the refrigerator door automatically activated an RIFD – Radio Frequency Identification – signal on the packages I removed, and so my refrigerator knew what was removed and when it was removed. And so too did Apple and anyone else who bought the information they sold, without my consent or approval. This is breakfast in our brave new world.
It’s the same way as I dressed myself. Each article of clothing had an RIFD chip from the store where I bought them, even my shoes. It was cold this morning, so I dressed warm and hoped my electricity monitor was functioning properly, since it shuts off after I’ve reached my allotted use for the month. Everything was tracked by my phone, WiFi and kitchen appliances, which spy on me daily and sell my activity tracking information to other retailers. So much for personal privacy, not to mention that everything I own seems to be making money off me.
In preparation of what I anticipated to be a wonderful day, I opened my dresser drawer near my bed and retrieved my pistol and headed out the front door to my car, a rickety, not-too-safe, and often unreliable energy efficient “smart car”, as my house noted my departure and the car noted my arrival, with motion sensors, RIFDs, my iPhone all now tracking me. The car started itself and my entertainment system was already playing my favorite music, while the car’s little black box, Google GPS and my phone were all over me, like a bloodhound on a scent; and, in departing, I was tracked to every location, every traffic signal, and every song I listen too was noted, filed and logged, whether sad or lively. Even local businesses captured all my information through their security cameras as I passed them by.
And yet, there I was thinking nobody knew where I was, where I was going, what I’m thinking or what I planned to do that day. I was truly enjoying my weekend and thinking ahead to spending some wonderful quality time with my wife and children, as I also looked towards the upcoming holidays, with hope for the future and better days to come.
I was headed towards one of my favorite hiking places near Goshen Hill, because it had been a terribly stressful week and I needed some quiet, relaxing time, in the woods alone. I brought a firearm along, because our local wolf and coyote populations had grown quite large and aggressive, since the Forestry Department had transplanted them in the area.
Imagine my surprise when I saw blue lights behind me, as I drove down the old abandoned country road, prompting me to pull over. A bullhorn blared its demand I throw the gun from the car and exit slowly, even though I have done absolutely nothing wrong and am caught completely unaware and I certainly did not want to scratch up my $10, 500 nearly rusted .40 caliber Beretta; I had a permit and wasn’t a threat to anybody, so I decided to open the door. And my last memories were of multiple loud bangs as I was shot to death.
After a short investigation and “inquiry”, the media narrative explicated how it was known, that I had a stressful week and was planning on hurting someone or myself, but along the way, I had chosen to “die by cop” instead. How curious this should have been to all, in light of the sweet note I had left for my wife and kids, laying out my plans for a fun hike and explaining that I had brought my pistol to fend off the wolves, in abundance since hunting was outlawed; I had written that I loved them “so very much” and looked forward to taking them to the county fair in a few hours. But this was all ignored and explained away, since it didn’t fit the the narrative that firearms are evil and people that own them are completely unstable.
Among all the questions, nobody asked the officers how they “knew” I had a firearm or what made them feel that I was a threat at that time, due to my “stressful week”.
This was how tyranny came to America, a little bit at a time. I was dead and branded a “pistol wielding mad man” by the Murfreesboro Post and the Daily News Journal and my wife’s and children’s lives were changed forever. Others who witnessed this abuse of power fell in line, rank and file, toeing the line and complying to avoid a similar fate, as they understood they too were being tracked, choosing to ignore it because Grand Theft Auto is just so interesting a game and keeps them from being alone, for a few minutes, while waiting for dinner guests to arrive.
Welcome to what life will become, if Americans and the entirety of modern societies everywhere do not soon take necessary precautions against electronic intrusions on our everyday personal lives. This is life as it most probably will become, when we place it all under the control of algorithms and abandon the Bill of Rights, especially the 4th and Second Amendments. If people fail to act in a timely fashion to this threat to freedom, they will get what they have requested, what they deserve – tyranny to their hearts’ desire or until they are sick to death of it.
October 13, 2019
~ The Author ~
Justin O. Smith has lived in Tennessee off and on most of his adult life, and graduated from Middle Tennessee State University in 1980, with a B.S. and a double major in International Relations and Cultural Geography – minors in Military Science and English, for what its worth. His real education started from that point on. Smith is a frequent contributor to the family of Kettle Moraine Publications.