Are We There Yet?
Just in time for Halloween!
Thank you for your patience
And apologies for the delay!
We know how dull this passage has been for all of you
But you have to admit!
At least the standards
Of entertainment and comfort
Have improved along the way!
Are We There Yet?
You have arrived!
(Well, some of you)
At the event horizon of progress
Perhaps the final stop
On our tour
Behold!
At long last
The Grey City
It Rises
Are We There Yet?
Here you will find a shopping experience that is beyond all compare!
Get ready to discover
A curated selection of products
From the finest brands
That your species has tenderly birthed
If you can imagine it
We have it for sale!®
Off the shelf or bespoke
It will be in your hands
The very instant the transaction clears
(All digital currencies accepted!)
EVERYTHING is for sale!
Are We There Yet?
Though the city itself may be grey
Inside you’ll find it anything but!
An extravaganza of sensory delights awaits you!
If you can imagine it
We can bring it to life!®
(For a small fee)
We Have the Technology!
And for the foodie
Prepare to embark upon
the most exquisitely engineered Culinary Journey
That any tongue has ever navigated
Mmm. What’s for dinner?!
Are We There Yet?
By now you’ve noticed that
The sky has been richly saturated
To a lovely hue we like to call
‘Sommerset Gold’®
– A sunny amber tint that imparts an ambience
Of wit and sophistication
We’re proud to say that all the pigments used
Were derived from the
(Otherwise discarded)
Outgrowths which we have sourced directly
From our superlative energy providers
TRANSPORTATION of the pigments certified carbon neutral!
Are We There Yet?
No doubt you’ve also observed
That we have blushed the earth
To a lovely tone, branded
‘Rose Omen’®
(We’ve found that the subtle russet notes
Stimulate the appetite for fine cuisine
While simultaneously enhancing
Those priceless evenings
Of shared dining with intimate friends
In any of our bountiful
Michelin Ranked
Restaurants)
‘Rose Omen’® has been handcrafted
From the purest, genuine nutrient transport fluid
Derived from those numerous, but misguided Vertebrate species
Who were puzzlingly unwilling
To adapt themselves to the changing times
And thus were captured by the necessary
But unyielding hand
Of extinction
(The mysterious will of evolution must be obeyed)
While these overall aesthetic enhancements
Have been provided free of charge
You’ll also find these colors featured
In the luxury line of interior paints
Available from any of our
Premium Brands
Learn more about our Premium Brands!
Are We There Yet?
And now for the final sight before you before you…
…’Disembark’…
On this important transhuman adventure
Witness!
The Tower of the Allmind
It serves as a monument to our Final Victory
Over the age-old tyrannical limitations
Of individual human Thought and Creativity
And not only that!
It is the very temple that houses
The Sacred Central Node
Of the Allmind itself
Whose godlike powers have enabled us
At long last
To provide you with this earthly paradise
While you are, of course, under no obligation to do so
We have found that many take this opportunity
To kneel
With gratitude and humility
In the presence of its holy and omnipotent majesty
Blessed Be Our Name
Are We There Yet?
The Daily Stone
That’s very intriguing!
What is Rose Omen?
Can you tell more about it?
The “poem” grew out of the painting, which is an allegory.
“Rose Omen” is just an imaginary name for the shade of red in the painting. It was supposed to sound like something an advertising consultant would come up with to sell that color of paint (which in the poem has been absurdly swiped from our common reality and protected under intellectual property law).
But the word “omen” carries “ominous” overtones.
It’s really just the blood of all the animal species Western Civilization has driven to extinction.
Oh my god! It was a poem to sound like a commercial?
Well, it convinced me totally! I was thinking that you were about to sell something!
Lol lol lol
Here’s the way I imagined it –
Humans are on a journey. The journey is “progress.” We started out with no real “entertainment” or “comfort,” but developed those along the way. Now we are here, and in the poem just a bit further along.
The Grey City is my tragic vision of our future. It’s a monument to our human cleverness, greed, and ego.
Inside it’s a world of sensor stimulation and maximal consumption, where EVERYTHING is for sale.
From the outside it is a grey tumor rising from the surface of a world stripmined of natural and biological resources.
Towering above it all is the greatest “achievement” of “progress” – this artificial intelligence that we have unleashed, and which can never be contained now.
The theme of sales in the poem is meant to mock the exquisitely refined capitalist engineering that has carried us to this point. It’s the last stop on a long journey, and my own impression as I look around is that WE CAN’T GET THERE SOON ENOUGH.
Thus, the repeated childish demand to know “Are we there yet?!”
Loved it! Beautiful and very suggestive poem. A lot of images and words came to my mind while reading/ listening to it: stills from John Carpenter’s “They Live”, some stuff I read about rich people cloning their dogs, loud tv ads and also Sequoia Nagamatsu’s “How High We Go in the Dark”.
So glad you enjoyed it! I figure, if I’m not laughing, I’ll probably be crying. There’s plenty of space for that of course, but I get tired of crying after a while. And laughing is a lot more fun!
I’ve heard of “They Live” but never seen it. I will try to check it out.
I hadn’t heard of that other novel. I checked out the author’s Wikipedia page. It sounds like the book might be similar to Margaret Atwood’s “Oryx and Crake,” (which definitely influenced me).
Hi, not sure how it happened but I did not reply to this comment, sorry for that!
I love “They Live”, it’s a 80s Carpenter movie so you have to like the genre but I think it is a very nice movie.
I haven’t read “Oryx and Crake” (yet) but I would suggest Sequoia Nagamatsu’s “How High We Go in the Dark”, it’s a beautiful book full of interesting suggestions.
I will watch “They Live”! I enjoy the genre 🙂
As for books…I used to read books like a maniac. Now I hardly ever do. Kinda sad really! But I will store that title away in case I ever start reading real books again!