I really don’t like doing chores. Isn’t there a faster way to send notes and talk to people across the Willage?
As I was drifting to the realm of magic, I saw a hole. I have often been accused of being a prying busybody whereas I am simply curious. What if someone needed help behind the hole?
I peered to see a boy sitting on a bench. Tears down his cheeks.
Whoa there was magic in the box. Really hope this is not a dream like that one I had last week about the box that played music.
“What happened?” I asked confidently.
He didn’t look up from the box. I gave him a slight kick, playful I thought, but he yelped in pain.
“I’m dying! That is what is happening!”
I’ve seen a lot of death but that’s mostly old people. I wouldn’t want to die, I think. Sometimes I think there should be faster ways to send for the doctor like speaking to him telepathically.
“Well! You seem to have magical powers, why don’t you stop death?” I looked at him hopefully,, hoping the box with the moving pictures meant he was a wizard.
He looked at me like I’m mad ( I get that a lot) .
“Well, I saw the box!” I said defensively.
“You mean a mobile?”
“What’s a mobile?”
“How - what, which block are you from?”
“Block?”
“I’m from the willage”
“You’re Kidding! The willage of the runaways? I thought that was a legend.”
It seemed like we needed to talk.
So we did. For hours. I talked about my world, he talked about his. He wanted to talk, and I let him. I suppose he forgot about death for a while.
He was just a scared lonely boy from the forbidden hell behind our willage.
This hell had magic. ‘Technology’, they called it. Noah (for I did ask his name, he didn’t seem interested in mine) showed me the amazing things Technology could do.
It’s not fair that I lived in the willage. Why wasn’t I born in a world where I could send my friends all the latest news from the school by using the magic box. It would save time.
I went home full of questions and ideas.
My parents weren’t happy. They had been looking for me everywhere and sent postcards to all my friends.
“If I had a mobile,I could have let you know where I was.” It just tumbled out. I was too angry to care.
“Looks like it’s time for the talk.” Dad said.
“Emma, as humans we constantly try to aim for better things. Over a period of time we learnt to mimic nature but faster. This was the advent of technology. It sounds like magic but it is a corruption of nature. Humans built technology, become more lazy, more connected but alone. The world grew closer, it seemed like technology was taking over everything. But then technology challenged the concept of gold or money. We started decentralising. This meant that we took back control from a select few. Obviously the rich and powerful panicked and they started their own version. This ripple effect was the downfall of block chain. Now the cure had become the poison. They started tracking us, making us work under the cloak of decentralisation. Our lives became controlled like we were robots. Any deviation and you were punished. Revolts were squashed, the people in jail became too much so death penalties were given.Technology became a monster. People’s lives started in a block and ended in it. Always being watched. The ones who escaped started this willage. They can’t track us. We’re safe.”
“Do you think Noah will tell about us?” I had an uneasy feeling after finding the truth.
That is when they panicked. Mom rung the big bell and hid me in a small cardboard box. She pushed me down a pipe.
There was darkness for a long time.
I do not know how long it took to reach back but I wish I hadn’t.
It was crimson. My parents, friends and world, all destroyed.
I wanted to hurt someone. I wanted them to pay. Noah.
I went back to where we had met. I’d picked up all the sharp stones that I could find.
He wasn’t there but there was a note.
Hey um I don’t know your name.
By the time you read this I’ll be dead. I was voted as the weakest link in the blockchain. I was always too curious. I wanted to understand everything. I hated being chained to the block.The government control us through the blocks and our phones. They bought the miners so the open digital ledger which records our life became a facade for centralisation.
I found a way to break the chain.
They tracked me down but I had found the willage. Don’t worry, your secret’s safe.
I wanted to mert a member of the runaways. To give you my work.
Stop the blockchain.
Let the willage take back the world.
Noah
A few years later
I have prepared for this moment. I learnt about technology you being a part of block number
13 so I could understand Noah’s work.
His solution to end the tyranny of blockchain was simple but effective.
Today is the day.
The plan went smoothly and all blockchain transactions stopped at a single dead-end address.%breakthechainNoah.
And the people looked up from their phone.
—
"The people will not revolt. They will not look up from their screens long enough to notice what's happening" - George Orwell
Pic courtesy pixabay