i am in a mall. four floors in either direction. i have lost track of the day, the purpose. a feeling of loneliness and solitude falls upon me even though i am surrounded by people. the stale air does not move, dirt in my pocket is the only thing i feel as i reach hard into my pockets in search of mementos to tell me where i am. to tell me who i am. i look around, the faces seem familiar, the sky outside a haze, everything is disposable in this place. i think of my family, my friends, the memories and those moments. i am sure they were real, they meant something. i am certain it was not for nothing, but uncertain of what it means now.

streets are filled with people looking for places to take selfies while the politicians are babbling to an audience of few, making promises so they can keep being reelected. robots are around the corner, jobs and manpower destined to be a thing of tomorrow, change is afoot and fires are alight. maybe this is the end. like a slow boil, we have been in the pot all along. put your head down, keep in your lane, dont look behind the curtain as no one is in charge and there is no getting home in the end.

what we will leave the next generation? a more connected world, one where each inch, each object is clamoring for your attention. look here screaming each moment you are outside, cameras recording it all, scores of information being processed by other algorithms, a planet more and more inhospitable where oceans are devoid of life and zoos the only places where animals are found. people unable to communicate directly to one another but requiring some device to read and type into. lives not so much lived but processed, harbored in large units and organized by their use or placement in an ever connected but dissociated future.