A Glimpse Into The Future
This moment came to me when I was on my third retreat to Joshua Tree National Park this year talking about debt cycles to a bunch of unenlightened software engineers.
It’s the year 2042. Bytedance, the parent company of TikTok has announced that it is moving into the groceries business. Kim Kardashian-West is now the president of a weakened United States. The TikTok app notifies me on my Apple Phone to head where the Von’s used to be. I leave my Little Tokyo apartment intrigued and with my AR glasses fully charged. I navigate to the new store careful to not get distracted by annoying holoads, apparently they still don’t know that I DO NOT have a structured settlement. The exterior is a shiny obsidian with streaks of blue and red in the stone. After I walk in, I am greeted by multiple video feeds of TikTok users posting videos of relevant foods popping up on my heads up display. I am craving some watermelon. I walk over to the produce section where I become engulfed by a stream of video related to fruit. There was this one duet that was pretty funny involving a user from Chile and India. The next video was even better, a coordinated dance routine where they are juggling fruit by the dance group, The Kinjas. I make a mental note to search up more Watermelon Memes later that day.
Before I know it, I am staring aimlessly into the void while video number 47 plays for me. The chill of the fruit isle is comforting. The isolation between me and my memes is heartwarming. I forget that I wanted to eat watermelon. I realize that this is all I ever wanted. Infinite entertainment in a finite world. I find love in the watermelon videos. I never leave the TikTok grocery store. I am fired from my job. Life is great.
Serious article out now, The Story of Musical.ly.
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