In the so-far fictional world of Panoptica, shops have nothing on display. You enter, wave your chipped hand over the reader, and the assistant hands you your shopping, bagged up and ready.
There is no tobacco and no booze. All it took was a couple of generations of keeping it out of sight and putting out terrifying fiction labelled as research, and nobody even remembers they were ever legally sold. They are not illegal, just as street photography is not illegal now, but who knows?
What’s in your bag depends on your weight and activity levels, all monitored of course. You do not choose what you want. It’s all pre-processed crap with occasional fresh fruit and vegetables. Tomatoes appear rarely and those who get them are suddenly found to be smokers, and are forced to take early retirement. Which sounds good until you find out what it means.
There is no cash. In fact, there is no money at all, but the residents believe their chips actually contain their money. How that works, well, we’ll do that another time.
Today, the coalition took another step towards the long-dreamed-of cashless society where nobody has any printed money and money is worth whatever the government says it’s worth.
They are starting with ‘problem families’.
I used to hang out with those sorts of people. Druggies, alkies, the dregs. Somehow I never got into drugs at all. I was more interested in getting out of that world so I wasn’t going to spend money on oblivion powder. I succeeded and found the truth in the ‘frying pan and fire’ saying. The world they dropped out of is just as crappy as the one they are in.
So, what do I think they’ll do when their benefits will no longer buy them booze and baccy and burgers?
They will buy what they can buy and resell it to buy what they want. Or they will steal cash, mug people, or just steal the things they want. This is obvious to everyone with an IQ above 50. The government has not noticed.
How to stop it? Oh, that’s obvious too. Everyone gets a card. Everyone. The druggies can’t mug you for cash if you don’t have any so the sheeple will soon be delighted to find they can have the cards too. What is there to fear? They aren’t unemployed so the restrictions won’t apply to them.
Then only those Approved Of will be able to buy tobacco and booze. You’ll have to register as a baccy monster or boozehead to be allowed, of course. Just like the plans to make you register as a pervert if you don’t want your internet censored.
Misbehave and your privileges are withdrawn. Remotely. You will find out when you try to buy your monthly bottle of wine.
All it takes to bring this into my fictional world is to put it on an implanted chip, and the technology to do that has already been around for years.
I should have written Panoptica ten years ago. Keeping up with the sods these days is proving really difficult.
Incidentally, the main character is a devoted drone called Wayne Taylor. Since I have to type his name often I don’t want a long and complicated one. If anyone comes up with a better name and I use it (think two more generations of chav/footballer names but keep it simple), you’ll get a free signed copy when it’s finally done and one of Samuel’s Girl when I get print copies too, because it could take a while to get Panoptica finished. I keep having to think of new and more bizarre stuff the maniacs in charge haven’t already done.
Winston Smith is a bit obvious, and really very unlikely in a world where knowledge of the past is presumably strictly controlled. However I see William was the 14th most popular baby name in the UK last year. William Smith conveniently shortens to Wills…
Oddly enough, the name Harry is currently at number 3.
Your book will be like the forth bridge, everytime you finish it you’ll find out the first 5 chapters need doing again as they aren’t fiction anymore
It’s going to end up as a documentary, I just know it.
Get a shift on Leggy! I want to ‘BUY’ this book!
Duncan B
I think the implanted chip idea would merely lead to some very gruesome crimes indeed.
I’ve thought of that too
Our local Asda just opened a petrol filling station that is ‘card only’. This trend is spreading rapidly. No card authorisation…no petrol…no travel.
It doesn’t seem to be a manpower saving issue as there’s always someone there in case there are problems with using your card. They could easily take cash as well if they wanted to.
To be fair to Asda, they are probably just trying to pre-empt the possibility of some desperado robbing the till at knife-point, although there are of course ways of putting cash out of the reach of said desperados.
We are also seeing a whole new virtual currency called ‘Bitcoin’ – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin – emerging, which is rather interesting, particularly as it is almost untraceable. TPTB won’t like that one little bit! It could provide the perfect antidote to the “cashless economy” that politicians have wet dreams about.
Don’t worry about the cashless society–the state will be cashless soon by reason of being broke.
We just start our own currency. It is already happening in the USA where criminals are using Tide detergent as a liquid medium of exchange that can’t be traced. Money is only semi-real–whatever people agree on is the medium–the state will never be able to abolish cash.
I agree. Criminals are always the ones to watch when it comes to avoiding the government. One unpleasant aspect of a cashless society where other things muct be bartered, is the ever decreasing value of bargaining power the further down the pile you get. People eventually only have themselves and each other to offer up, which never works out well for women and children.
Its quite possible that within a decade the UK may be much like India where the rich live as untouchables whilst the good looking poor whore themselves to anyone for a pitance and the ugly rummage through landfills hunting seagulls. It will be a bit like Asia, but nobody except pedophiles will want to come here on their gap years.
Name suggestion: Samuel Franks
Why? No reason. Its timeless and doesn’t appear to be notorious or known (according to Google). It’s also memorable, easily scanned and doesn’t appear (to me at least) to carry any baggage. Sadly, your current name ‘Wayne’ just doesn’t sound right.
I have to confess, until I looked back to check your current name I hadn’t noticed the title of your other story so not sure if Samuel would cause any confusion? I think not but its your choice.
Samuel might be a problem with the other book coming out in November. Harry Franks would work though.
IN keeping with the (current in today’s society, which you keep playing catch-up with), wouldn’t there be a short version, with a number in it, say Wayne Ta1234? After all, restricting the words available is one way to keep the drones in line. Think TomKat, or Brangelina, or any other celebrity/pop icon meldings.
Aha. A combined name with no family name (there’s no family). That sounds good.
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I’m sure the PTB are trying to breed a new lot of Wild Boys to terrorize us into submission.