Sunday, June 16, 2013

Feeling sorry for the rats.


'What's in the box?'
-David Mills, Se7en

'And the eye-in the-sky is watching us all.'
-Ace Rothstein, Casino

'To be modern only means to fill new forms with eternal truths.'
-Joseph Goebbels

As a trader, there is time to reflect ‘tween the flickering ticks, often in the wee hours. Here in the Great City there is tranquility when the air is sepia; the darkness balanced by the illumination necessary to keep the cameras in focus as they watch the over-served stumble home whilst the bunnies litter the green space. Actually we have a bunny infestation here, but no one seems to mind. After all they are cute, cuddly, and as such of course harmless. The signs referencing infestation always refer to the rodents, many the size of rabbits. Both critters carry disease no doubt, but there are of course no proclamations with big red Xs superimposed over Thumper and his kin.

For the gnostic the wailing and gnashing of being spy gamed is about seven years too late.  The Federales mirrored the San Fran Carrier Hotel  back in ’06 and have never snooped back. They hack us for our freedoms dontchaknow. The digital binding of the left hand to the right foot, the requisite dissection of ones’ avataristic soul, with mercy dispensed as necessary in the name of national security.

The comics of course living up to their name in discourse, oblivious to any other amendment other than the second.  Snowden, Manning, and the like, you are no Daniel Ellsberg, for as we live through a bad sci-fi movie from the 70s the concept of whistleblower is being queued up as requiring a minimum sentencing standard. Pay no mind that the self-immolation of a Tunisian monk that purportedly initiated the Arab Spring was motivated by the Wikileaks disclosure of corruption in their government and direct your inattention to the fact that Snowden’s girlfriend is kinda hot eh?

No one asked us if we wanted a credit score. No one will ask us if we want a citizen score. Alas such a metric is undeniably coming to a job interview, college application, mortgage document and dating website near you. When the spooks gave away the basic algorithms to business  awhile ago assuring that there was no bottle for that genie, the ubiquitous commercial application of that military tech became inevitable.

At the end of the day the data intelligence complex is a job creation program. Oh certainly the usual suspects over time will be rounded up so our solons with flag pins suitably shined can trumpet the necessity of it all for there is data gold in them there hills; a digital homestead with free spoils .

Youth may be for the young but youthful indiscretion is now a thing of your past, available into perpetuity at the touch of the button by any opposable thumb that finds you within six degrees of nefarious separation.

Frankly, I feel sorry for the rats.

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