Shell: Gas Prices, Empty Shells, and What the Hell Else?
Ghost in the Shell" Predicted Our Cyber Hellscape, But Did Anyone Bother to Listen?
Alright, let's be real. Another anniversary piece about "Ghost in the Shell" predicting the future? Give me a break. It's not like we haven't heard it all before. But fine, I'll bite.
Cyberpunk Prophecy or Obvious Extrapolation?
So, the article says "Ghost in the Shell" nailed the whole government-backed hacker thing, right? The Puppet Master being an APT before APTs were cool? Okay, sure. But was it really prophetic, or did someone just take existing anxieties about technology and run with them? I mean, the Cold War was still a thing. Paranoia about government overreach was practically a national pastime.
And this whole idea of hacking into someone's "cyber-brain?" Please. We can't even keep our email accounts safe from phishing scams. The idea that some garbage man is hacking his wife's brain because he thinks she's cheating? That's less "cyberpunk dystopia" and more "bad daytime TV."
The article quotes some official saying they "profiled his behavioral tendencies and code/tech patterns" to catch the Puppet Master. They're basically describing antivirus software. But like, duh.
The Banality of Dystopia
Here's the thing that gets me: We knew this was coming. "Ghost in the Shell," "Neuromancer," all those cyberpunk stories weren't just cool thought experiments. They were warnings. We saw the potential for this stuff to go sideways, and what did we do? We clicked "I agree" on every damn terms of service agreement without reading a word. Now we're surprised that our data is being harvested and weaponized?
It's like that shooting in Canton where they found 75 shell casings after some funeral. Cops show up to "chaos" and nobody's talking? And then there's Roseville, where kids are apparently dropping shell casings at school because some online challenge told them to? Roseville Community Schools district says multiple shell casings found at 2 schools What the hell is going on?
We're so busy arguing about who's right and who's wrong that we're completely missing the fact that the entire system is rigged against us. We're all just puppets dancing on strings controlled by algorithms we don't understand, and corporations that don't give a damn about anything but their bottom line.
Speaking of bottom lines, check out this article. Shell, BP, ExxonMobil, etc., raking in billions while the planet burns. They're all patting themselves on the back for "strong results" and "excellent performance." Wael Sawan, Shell's CEO, even says they're gonna start another $3.5 billion in buybacks. It's almost like they're intentionally trying to make everyone hate them.
Is There Even a Point?
So, "Ghost in the Shell" predicted the future? So what? We're still hurtling towards it at full speed. We saw the cliff coming, and we decided to floor it anyway. Maybe we're just too stupid to be saved. Or maybe, just maybe, there's still a chance to pull the emergency brake. But honestly, I'm not holding my breath. The amount of apathy is startling.
We're Screwed, Ain't We?
I'm not saying "Ghost in the Shell" wasn't a cool anime, or manga, or whatever. All I'm saying is, it didn't exactly take a genius to see where things were heading. And now we're here, drowning in data breaches, stalkerware, and government surveillance. Offcourse, the only people benefiting are the ones selling us the "solutions" to the problems they helped create.