12 Products That Show We Live in a Dystopia
Carly Tennes
Published
07/10/2024
in
creepy
Though it may seem as though we're on the brink of a 1984-esque society, one seemingly reserved for Black Mirror, Animal Farm, and The Hunger Games, something even scarier is taking place — we're already there. And with a late-stage capitalist dystopia comes some pretty insane late-stage capitalist dystopian merch, products so uncanny, so borderline apocalyptic, that they would even send a shiver down George Orwell's spine.
From A.I.-fooling outfits to a robot that can outrun any human on the planet, here are 14 very real products that prove we're living in a dystopia.
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1. Replika
“The founder of an AI girlfriend app, Replika, was inspired by a dystopian Black Mirror episode where a woman resurrects her dead boyfriend with AI, which goes horribly wrong.” -
2. Amazon’s Worker-Tracking Wristbands
Back in 2018, Amazon came under fire after patenting a wristband that can not only track where an employee’s hand is at any given moment but vibrate, encouraging them to move their hands in a different direction. -
3. Deep Voice
Ever wish there was an A.I. copy of your voice? No? Too bad! Enter Deep Voice, a voice-to-text A.I. that can accurately recreate a user’s voice in roughly one minute. -
4. A.I.-Tricking Outfits
“A fashion designer tricked face recognition AI by changing her shirt and pants i.e. making it think she was an animal when she looked otherwise human.” -
5. Streaming Bundles
While we once heralded streaming as the end of cable’s stronghold, the long-detested tradition of paying more for less has returned. Case in point? Streaming bundles that have essentially re-invented TV as our parents knew it. -
6. LifeCard
Clocking in at .5 inches and less than 7b ounces, LifeCard is a foldable .22 caliber pistol that is the same size and shape as “a stack of credit cards.” -
7. Prison Potato Chips
“The Whole Shabang, a brand of chips initially only sold at prison commissary stores. The chips were so popular amongst ex-inmates that it became a grey market commodity and finally was sold to the general public.” -
8. Boston Dynamics Handle Robot
Clocking in at 6.5 feet tall with a max speed of nine miles per hour — a speed faster than most humans — Boston Dynamics Handle robot scares even Boston Dynamics founder Marc Raibert, who described the invention as “nightmare-inducing.” -
9. Skynet
“The Chinese government has an AI survelliance system that uses +20M cameras and facial recognition to track citizens behavior and monitor criminals. They officially named it: ‘Skynet’ - because of Terminator…!” -
10. Chipped Hotel Towels
“Hotels use RFID chips to track their towels and linens. One hotel in Hawaii saved over $15000 in stolen towels using the RFID chips.” -
11. OK Soda
“Coca-Cola made a soda for the dystopian future, called OK Soda, which came with its own manifesto, and the slogan, ‘Everything is going to be OK.’” -
12. Boston Dynamics’ BigDog Robot
At 2.5 feet tall and 250 pounds, Boston Dynamics BigDog is — quite literally — an invention straight out of Black Mirror. The military-grade robot can run up to 3.5 miles per hour and comes with a laser gyroscope. -
13. GoggleBox
“There's a television show, GoggleBox, that have us watch British families watching American TV shows.” -
14. Magibook
Magibook, a reading comprehension app, allows people to essentially dumb down pieces of text, including iconic books like “The Great Gatsby.”
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