Streaming platforms would have to admit that digital borders aren’t real borders. Corporations would have to redesign their systems so that suspicion isn’t the default state of the user.
Anna imagines logging in the way she unlocks her phone: one gesture, one breath, no interrogation. David imagines a world where he isn’t forced to decode mangled questions shouted across hemispheres. And I imagine a Saturday when Chase doesn’t call me three times to ask whether I have recently been threatened by Walmart.
The coffee hisses again. Steam rises in a narrow ribbon. The kitchen is quiet. My phone is still. For a moment, the silence feels like a future no one has built yet—one where not everything requires proving I exist.
The phone rings. And then, inevitably: “I’m sorry I can’t approve your transaction. Is there anything else I can help you with? Have a nice day.”
Bibliography
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