57294301 groaned as she
realized she forgot to recharge last night. She remembered her mother’s old
saying, if your second hand wasn’t connected
to your body, you’d forget it. The teenage girl considered going to school
late, but figuring she could make it through the day, hurried outside. She
slammed the front door behind her, waving her hand to lock it as she ran to her
car. Once inside it, 57294301 swiped her second hand at the scanner, causing the
car’s engine to roar to life in recognition of her identity. As she backed out
of her driveway, she turned on the radio to hear a reporter discussing a woman
who tried to rob a bank that morning. The woman’s chip had naturally alerted
security the moment she stepped close to the safe and police caught her minutes
later. 57294301 shook her head, chuckling at the woman’s futile attempts to
escape the government’s watch. Every so often, someone would test the system
and inevitably fail. After all, how could anyone outsmart a system where
everyone had the robotic second hand that tracked each person’s every action and
contained every detail about everyone’s life? As 57294301 neared the school,
her second hand began beeping and she pressed on the brake, realizing in her
eagerness to arrive to school on time, she had gone 1 mph over the school speed
limit. 57294301 swiped her hand at the scanner at the high school’s entrance
before heading off to history class. Today’s lesson focused on the era right
before the second hand’s invention: the early 2000s. The history textbooks described
how there used to be voter fraud, stolen identities, fugitives escaping the
police, and kidnappings. Her teacher even insisted that people used plastic
cards for IDs and boarding passes to travel on planes. 57294301 laughed at such
primitive ways. How did people survive before Apple created the second hands? As
soon as school ended, she raced home. Grabbing her charger from the floor, she
connected it to her second hand and sighed in relief as the energy coursed
through her body.
Ana, your blog really inspired me since you took a future perspective rather than present. I loved the minor details such as the numeral name as well as your mentioning of the "primitive" ways of our current society. Your story also reminded me of Anthem by Ayn Rand. How interesting to think of how advanced technology may become.
ReplyDeleteYour writing reminded me of "The Unknown Citizen" by W. H. Auden and I thought the girl upon who you focused mirrored the ideal citizen of "The State" in that poem. I found it creepy that she likes her "second hand" and her impersonal identity and seems to trust in the government that imposes both those upon her. She probably aspires to work for the Bureau of Statistics.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I feel a little scared for the future after reading your blog, the way in which you portray the girl's second hand is fascinating. I wrote my blog about almost the exact opposite concept, and I love seeing how our classes can interpret such a simple concept in so many ways.
ReplyDeleteAna, I really enjoyed your creavity in creating this invention. It reminds me of a video I watched where a man had a completely robotic arm after he lost his original one. Also, we talked about similar tracking chips in Government, which makes me wonder just how soon a device such as the one you suggested could come along. While the prospect of controlling crime seems alluring, this alternative society with such a lack of freedom frightens me--another interesting component of your story.
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