They sat in even rows<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lake slaves in the galley<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Attached to a screen by digital chains. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Compliant, obedient, dead-eyed<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They stared at the glassy surface<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jumping through the hoops that would determine <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Their futures. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Standardized didn\u2019t just apply <\/p>\n\n\n\n
To the test they took. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I felt the awful conformist dystopian wretchedness <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of the whole scene<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As they became cogs in the system,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Slaves to the algorithm that determined their scores<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Their value, their worth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The brainwaves synced to a type of thought, <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Where there is only one right answer <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And the measure of a person<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Is their cut-score.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
STOP. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I called time, <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Happy to set them free <\/p>\n\n\n\n
From the subjugation<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of their electronic oppressor,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Free from the screens that controlled,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not just their minds for 90 minutes<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(give or take), <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the span of their learning for nearly two decades, <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Everything designed to please the algorithm, <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nothing designed to question it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Happy to set them free, <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I told them to relax, to chat, <\/p>\n\n\n\n
To hang out, to joke, to laugh, <\/p>\n\n\n\n
To play. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In short, to act like human beings again.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But then I had to hand back<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Their own screens <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And the room fell silent again<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As they moved their eyes and fingers over the glass<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As invisible eyes collected yet more data on them <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And they became once again<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Attached to a screen by invisible chains.
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
They sat in even rows Lake slaves in the galley Attached to a screen by digital chains. Compliant, obedient, dead-eyed They stared at the glassy surface Jumping through the hoops that would determine Their futures. Standardized didn\u2019t just apply To the test they took. I felt the awful conformist dystopian wretchedness Of the whole scene Read More >><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mrfitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mrfitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mrfitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrfitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrfitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mrfitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17,"href":"https:\/\/mrfitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16\/revisions\/17"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mrfitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrfitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrfitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}