Zappy bit of metal drives the plot

[beccaelizabeth]

Today I woke up from a dream
where the brain chip Spike had in Buffy the Vampire Slayer
was retasked by US law
to enforce modern slavery
as punishment for a crime
where the crime was notionally theft
and the theft was inability to pay a bill or pay back a loan.

Also they had, like, prepackaged debt that could be bought and sold and traded around,
so they didn't have to prove it was originally your debt,
they just had to get your thumbprint on you 'accepting' responsibility for the debt now,
kind of like when companies pursue debt from dead people
and their heirs might not know any better.

But even within that very loose definition of debt
the standards of evidence were insanely low
like debt recovery people in the here now who don't even prove you have the same name or address
just pursue someone with vaguely the same initials
or a similar postcode
and leave it up to the 'debtor' to prove they never were that person.

Put it all together with a chip in your brain though
and it applied aversive stimulus
whenever you failed to demonstrate remorse
ie
said things like
I didn't do it
it wasn't me.



... now I'm awake I only find the whole thing implausible
because the cyberpunk future costs money
and just trashing someone's credit rating and waiting
is practically free
so why brain bomb them
when they'll sign up the old fashioned way
and queue up for zero hour gig economy work
instead of becoming legally property
and an owners responsibility.

Just seems too spendy.



However
thinking about murderbot
the answer becomes
some people have too much power
to leave it unplugged.

So it's brain bombs for the ones with the weapons
or the lawyers who enforce where to point them.

Comments

[anne_d]

Yikes that’s dystopian.

[beccaelizabeth]

Indeed.