As a hypothetical exercise we tried to imagine our future selves. Our vision was someone who freed her-/himself from the constraints of content production and constantly being online – someone who serves the corporations as a potential data mine. And yet this future self has access to a basic digital supply system that lets people present and express themselves and socialize. How do we attain this state?
There should always be alternatives to the monopolies. There has to be a multiplicity of choices and applications. We also have to deconstruct fears because the problem of being sucked up and analyzed by the commercial social network is not just driven by the behavior-controlling design of the programs. It is also the personal fear of being left behind and no longer belonging to the current swarm and of possibly losing the digital existence that powers users. Many business models have formed around the monopolies of digital platforms (influencer, online shops, gig economy, subcontractors), which is why our vision has expanded to include a financial and physical basic supply. How do we give our future selves the assurance that they will have everything they need, even if we opt out of the game? We have to promise our future selves that we will not stop worrying about data protection in the future – especially when Big Tech’s biggest promise is a supposedly worry-free life.
The future self says:
“Don’t be scared. I am still here and I am still taking care of us.” In a surveillance society and capitalist system based on goods and services the ERROR – everything that pushes the bounds of the order of analysis and calculability – is a form of resistance. Luckily, both errors and unpredictability are inherently human. Our utopia can only happen if we anticipate the systems’ next move and act or object first – preemptive disobedience. How do we divert the all-encompassing eye of mono-technologism?