Thank you for writing this Brett and for putting it in front of your paywall. It needs to be read by every single Londoner and beyond.
"I just want to walk in and to hear the bosses admit that those self-service checkouts have got sweet fuck all to do with my interests." So true. Brilliant, and tragic.
Brett, This article is masterful in its expression of the increasing commodification and control of human behavior. I can see it as the centerpiece in a collection that might be called, "Localist Lamentations."
We have been witnessing the transformation of our economies at large, global scales for the past 50-odd years. Local mom and pop being replaced by optimized, similarly looking global corporations. Your walk through London reminds me of a road trip I did through the Appalachians with my cousin. Every town had the same food and grocery options provided by the same set of chains. Soul wrenching. Everything is Carl's Juniors, Wendy's, Dollar Tree / Shop, Walmart. Any kind of local store has been crowded out completely since they cannot compete with the optimized *everything* (cashless is just an aspect) of the big chains. And just like you said, experiences that the public yearn for get globalized and standardized to a degree that is astonishing (e.g. Airbnb Aesthetic https://www.ft.com/content/6996e7f2-7446-43e5-9c31-2606b9e316b7).
Excellent Brett, went through Kings Cross to Heathrow for the first time in decades this year. It was harrowing (very hot, very crowded) and your writing brings home the profound spiritual disconnect I experienced.
When I come across interesting essays like this I try to restack it with the quote that I think will hook the most people into reading all of it. How dare you write so well that I had to pick and choose from about five different places and still not think I captured the most important point??
Thank you. So many points here I can relate to in the onslaught of progress on the west coast of the U.S., where communities I participate in used to fight the good fight at keeping our worlds out of the system. Now, people got tired, married with kids, or so many of us got our lifestyles priced out of existence. "It's just not economically viable" colonizes our mind when we simply want to live by our hand craft exchanged directly with other humans without the mediation of authority. Still we must find and maintain corners of this world, keep them quiet and real, human and immediate.
We feel it too. It's worth talking about and fighting for.
I greatly appreciate the point of view in this intelligent and creative essay. It seems the cashless society's goal is to use a corporate logo to plug the hole in any open mind.
A few of my favorite phrases:
• cashlessness is an eviction notice served to non-commercial spirits
• dripping corporate inauthenticity
• un-intermediated life is an endangered species.
• mine their environment for emotional commodities that could be pushed into an attention marketplace.
• developers would constantly try to cloak their profit-extraction endeavors in non-commercial imagery
I'm rather new to your writing, and plan to dive deeper.
I venture to guess that you've written about the default user agreements for these cashless cards. I received one this week, a multipage-page, 10000-word contract in a mini font, insane legalese, demonstrating that the legal system is co-opted for the cashless takeover.
And what is seen as the next step: AI bots trying to convince us that they're just like us, human. AI bots use of personal pronouns is disconcerting. They claim it makes some people feel more at ease. Another canard. If I have to deal with an AI bot, I want it to state upfront that it's a dumb machine albeit with lots of facts at it's disposal.
I'm a cash-carrying wary citizen, and I keep my technology on a very taut leash. And I plan to keep it that way. Or so I think.
New Zealand's reserve bank (Reserve Bank of New Zealand) is exploring reintroducing cash into rural areas where the commercial banks have removed themselves precisely to support the informal economy essential to the functioning of these regions. The bank is calling for case study communities to participate who will have a cash reserve secured in their community that will side step the costs of daily security transportation that is said to have been the justification for identifying commercial banks regional branches as non-viable. How the reserve bank intends to protect against New Zealand's plague of ram raiders is a curiosity yet to be explained but apparently the bank has a responsibility to protect New Zealander's access to cash which is allowing them to explore this approach; all of which is even more interesting when reflecting on the wider world through your article, Brett.
Dec 20, 2023·edited Dec 20, 2023Liked by Brett Scott
What a brilliant essay! Your discussion of gentrification, informality, and vibe is not only written beautifully, but also contains a glossary-level conceptual rigor. I'll be featuring this on my Substack, Handful of Earth, tomorrow. Know that the work and care you put into writing like this is appreciated!
Cool essay. Have you seen this book: "Mundane Governance: Ontology and Accountability" by Woolgar and Neyland?
It's quite academic but I think the ideas in the book resonate strongly with some of your experiences.
Abstract
This book focuses on ways in which our lives are increasingly regulated and controlled in relation to ordinary objects and technologies. The analysis considers questions of governance, how this occurs, through what means, and with what consequence; accountability, to whom (or what) for which kinds of behaviour; and ontology; suggesting the very nature of people and things is entangled in governance....
Thanks for sharing this without charge. Good article and sort of resonates as we get sucked into using the machine for day to day existence. What you might also notice on day two is that most of London has been hollowed out for faceless businesses, and homes that no one can afford to live in.
" Their faces seem to say ‘Don’t ask me to think about something political. This is progress’."
They're probably not thinking that. They're probably as capable of political reflection as you are. They're probably thinking "fuck I need to get back to work before I get bollocksed/ to childcare to pick up the kids before I get charged extra money I can't afford" and I bet there's not a cashier in sight, or a queue for one anyway.
London in the 60s was collection of villages. We had a different kind of facial recognition back then, that of recognising a fellow human face in the street, making eye contact, smiling and speaking, even when it was a stranger’s face. It still works in villages, so let’s bring back the humanity of facial recognition and re-weave some lost threads of real life.
This is a really fine piece of writing - thank you.
Have you looked at the Brazilian experience with Pix?
And on steadily marching acquiescence, the Sainsbury’s in Crouch End now allows you scan your own shopping, pay for it on your phone, and leave the store without even needing to interact with a staff member or self checkout. Presume the store is basically a 3D motion capture environment...
Thank your for so eloquently expressing in words what my nervous system and soul have been feeling for a long time. I only live an hour outside of London, in a forest actually, yet I can't find the energy to get into London for more than a handful of times a year.
I had a work trip to Zurich recently and after only 30 minutes in the centre, I suddenly needed to get on an e-bike (convenient though with it's payment app!) and escape it all towards the shores of Lake Zurich with the snow capped mountains in the distance.
No matter where I go, I feel that the commercial layer of any city is constricting me as an free human being, that endandered species. I cannot imagine to ever live in a city...and I don't know how people are flourishing there. It seems more and more they don't.
Having been in business since the original internet - and having sold out (as a good Gen X did) to Web 2 - I find solace in some pockets of web3: there is a growing intersection of commercial people, techies AND contrarians, disruptors, social activists, change catalysts that dare to dream yet once more that through decentralisation, and true ownership of our digital assets, we can become a force, even if small, to co-create a hemisphere outside of centralised corporate control.
Bitcoin, Ethereum, and many crypto/web3 projects/protocols with meaningful utility could potentially usher in a regenerative renaissance. CBDCs (Central bank Digital Currencies) are the techno-lords-marrying-populists wettest dream for surveillance capitalism's dystopia.
To reach utopia, we probably need to co-elevate consciousness within a mere few years. For that to happen, we would most likely have to make psychedelics available safely to the masses, for which we need Biotech 2.0 (can't have millions flog to Peru and Costa Rican native rainforests, can we?) whose 'industry leaders' would love to collect your brain data.
Anyway, I believe that it's all going to be fine, we are just part of a cosmic game we know hardly anything about. WAGMI
Such a fantastically written & important piece. It was frightening and enlightening in equal measure. Knowledge is power eh, I hope there is still something in that saying. Thanks for helping to name that most complex of feelings and unpack it.. Bravo sir!
Thank you for writing this Brett and for putting it in front of your paywall. It needs to be read by every single Londoner and beyond.
"I just want to walk in and to hear the bosses admit that those self-service checkouts have got sweet fuck all to do with my interests." So true. Brilliant, and tragic.
Brett, This article is masterful in its expression of the increasing commodification and control of human behavior. I can see it as the centerpiece in a collection that might be called, "Localist Lamentations."
We have been witnessing the transformation of our economies at large, global scales for the past 50-odd years. Local mom and pop being replaced by optimized, similarly looking global corporations. Your walk through London reminds me of a road trip I did through the Appalachians with my cousin. Every town had the same food and grocery options provided by the same set of chains. Soul wrenching. Everything is Carl's Juniors, Wendy's, Dollar Tree / Shop, Walmart. Any kind of local store has been crowded out completely since they cannot compete with the optimized *everything* (cashless is just an aspect) of the big chains. And just like you said, experiences that the public yearn for get globalized and standardized to a degree that is astonishing (e.g. Airbnb Aesthetic https://www.ft.com/content/6996e7f2-7446-43e5-9c31-2606b9e316b7).
Excellent Brett, went through Kings Cross to Heathrow for the first time in decades this year. It was harrowing (very hot, very crowded) and your writing brings home the profound spiritual disconnect I experienced.
When I come across interesting essays like this I try to restack it with the quote that I think will hook the most people into reading all of it. How dare you write so well that I had to pick and choose from about five different places and still not think I captured the most important point??
Thank you. So many points here I can relate to in the onslaught of progress on the west coast of the U.S., where communities I participate in used to fight the good fight at keeping our worlds out of the system. Now, people got tired, married with kids, or so many of us got our lifestyles priced out of existence. "It's just not economically viable" colonizes our mind when we simply want to live by our hand craft exchanged directly with other humans without the mediation of authority. Still we must find and maintain corners of this world, keep them quiet and real, human and immediate.
We feel it too. It's worth talking about and fighting for.
I greatly appreciate the point of view in this intelligent and creative essay. It seems the cashless society's goal is to use a corporate logo to plug the hole in any open mind.
A few of my favorite phrases:
• cashlessness is an eviction notice served to non-commercial spirits
• dripping corporate inauthenticity
• un-intermediated life is an endangered species.
• mine their environment for emotional commodities that could be pushed into an attention marketplace.
• developers would constantly try to cloak their profit-extraction endeavors in non-commercial imagery
I'm rather new to your writing, and plan to dive deeper.
I venture to guess that you've written about the default user agreements for these cashless cards. I received one this week, a multipage-page, 10000-word contract in a mini font, insane legalese, demonstrating that the legal system is co-opted for the cashless takeover.
And what is seen as the next step: AI bots trying to convince us that they're just like us, human. AI bots use of personal pronouns is disconcerting. They claim it makes some people feel more at ease. Another canard. If I have to deal with an AI bot, I want it to state upfront that it's a dumb machine albeit with lots of facts at it's disposal.
I'm a cash-carrying wary citizen, and I keep my technology on a very taut leash. And I plan to keep it that way. Or so I think.
You are not weird.
New Zealand's reserve bank (Reserve Bank of New Zealand) is exploring reintroducing cash into rural areas where the commercial banks have removed themselves precisely to support the informal economy essential to the functioning of these regions. The bank is calling for case study communities to participate who will have a cash reserve secured in their community that will side step the costs of daily security transportation that is said to have been the justification for identifying commercial banks regional branches as non-viable. How the reserve bank intends to protect against New Zealand's plague of ram raiders is a curiosity yet to be explained but apparently the bank has a responsibility to protect New Zealander's access to cash which is allowing them to explore this approach; all of which is even more interesting when reflecting on the wider world through your article, Brett.
Thank you and Merry Christmas!
What a brilliant essay! Your discussion of gentrification, informality, and vibe is not only written beautifully, but also contains a glossary-level conceptual rigor. I'll be featuring this on my Substack, Handful of Earth, tomorrow. Know that the work and care you put into writing like this is appreciated!
Cool essay. Have you seen this book: "Mundane Governance: Ontology and Accountability" by Woolgar and Neyland?
It's quite academic but I think the ideas in the book resonate strongly with some of your experiences.
Abstract
This book focuses on ways in which our lives are increasingly regulated and controlled in relation to ordinary objects and technologies. The analysis considers questions of governance, how this occurs, through what means, and with what consequence; accountability, to whom (or what) for which kinds of behaviour; and ontology; suggesting the very nature of people and things is entangled in governance....
Thanks for sharing this without charge. Good article and sort of resonates as we get sucked into using the machine for day to day existence. What you might also notice on day two is that most of London has been hollowed out for faceless businesses, and homes that no one can afford to live in.
" Their faces seem to say ‘Don’t ask me to think about something political. This is progress’."
They're probably not thinking that. They're probably as capable of political reflection as you are. They're probably thinking "fuck I need to get back to work before I get bollocksed/ to childcare to pick up the kids before I get charged extra money I can't afford" and I bet there's not a cashier in sight, or a queue for one anyway.
So true, so sad.
London in the 60s was collection of villages. We had a different kind of facial recognition back then, that of recognising a fellow human face in the street, making eye contact, smiling and speaking, even when it was a stranger’s face. It still works in villages, so let’s bring back the humanity of facial recognition and re-weave some lost threads of real life.
This is a really fine piece of writing - thank you.
Have you looked at the Brazilian experience with Pix?
And on steadily marching acquiescence, the Sainsbury’s in Crouch End now allows you scan your own shopping, pay for it on your phone, and leave the store without even needing to interact with a staff member or self checkout. Presume the store is basically a 3D motion capture environment...
Thank your for so eloquently expressing in words what my nervous system and soul have been feeling for a long time. I only live an hour outside of London, in a forest actually, yet I can't find the energy to get into London for more than a handful of times a year.
I had a work trip to Zurich recently and after only 30 minutes in the centre, I suddenly needed to get on an e-bike (convenient though with it's payment app!) and escape it all towards the shores of Lake Zurich with the snow capped mountains in the distance.
No matter where I go, I feel that the commercial layer of any city is constricting me as an free human being, that endandered species. I cannot imagine to ever live in a city...and I don't know how people are flourishing there. It seems more and more they don't.
Having been in business since the original internet - and having sold out (as a good Gen X did) to Web 2 - I find solace in some pockets of web3: there is a growing intersection of commercial people, techies AND contrarians, disruptors, social activists, change catalysts that dare to dream yet once more that through decentralisation, and true ownership of our digital assets, we can become a force, even if small, to co-create a hemisphere outside of centralised corporate control.
Bitcoin, Ethereum, and many crypto/web3 projects/protocols with meaningful utility could potentially usher in a regenerative renaissance. CBDCs (Central bank Digital Currencies) are the techno-lords-marrying-populists wettest dream for surveillance capitalism's dystopia.
To reach utopia, we probably need to co-elevate consciousness within a mere few years. For that to happen, we would most likely have to make psychedelics available safely to the masses, for which we need Biotech 2.0 (can't have millions flog to Peru and Costa Rican native rainforests, can we?) whose 'industry leaders' would love to collect your brain data.
Anyway, I believe that it's all going to be fine, we are just part of a cosmic game we know hardly anything about. WAGMI
Such a fantastically written & important piece. It was frightening and enlightening in equal measure. Knowledge is power eh, I hope there is still something in that saying. Thanks for helping to name that most complex of feelings and unpack it.. Bravo sir!