I have seen the future and it is so gross

Originally published at: I have seen the future and it is so gross | Boing Boing

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gross GIF

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I’ve also encountered a future ever more clotted and curdled on closer inspection:

(just for reference, I’m not looking to be off-topic here; I’m working on an interpretation of this being a venue where various gross futures are potentially relevant. If it’s strictly for the experience of having the dream of the automat degrade on contact with reality like a brutalist not familiar with what English weather does to unprotected concrete; please let me know and I’ll remove this; or someone with relevant power can feel free to remove it.)

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Thanks, i hate it.

Eddie Murphy Reaction GIF

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That happens with my carrier and I’ll yeet my phone off a cliff.

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This would be great for iPhone sales.

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If they had a mashed potato machine that had a big hopper on top full of fresh potatoes, like this type of orange juicer, then I could really go for it. (Maybe they could just add something like that for show and still serve up the reconstituted stuff through the nozzle)

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The texture at the end surprised me. I thought it’d be more soupy, but it looks like it sets up a bit.
It’s likely just those instant boxed mashed potatoes, which, I’m not a fan but it’s not that gross.

Now, what @fuzzyfungus is talking about is a disgusting breach of…something. Reminds me of that BlackMirror episode where you earn points to compete on a show, but in the meantime you’re forced to watch all the media. :nauseated_face:

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Obligs:

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What chilled me to the bone was reading that they have 80% handset penetration in the Indian market.

When it comes right down to it, while I’m horrified by the concept, I realize that I’m really pretty insulated: I can either afford to pay more for a non-broken handset or burn some nerd time on researching which handsets are best loved on XDAforums and defanging a bugged handset; but these guys obviously didn’t get 80% coverage because 80% of the Indian subcontinent actually loves this stuff; but because a lot of them have no information or no choice.

Not like the ‘digital divide’ really needed to get worse; but it’s certainly one more facet where not only is access unequally distributed; but what ‘access’ even means is unequal; and the low end is pretty grim. Their CEO is actually remarkably candid:

“Consumers will move from seeking content to consuming what is shown to them.”

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Wow, that is shocking. The digital divide, indeed. You can’t function anymore without a smartphone (especially in places without much “on the ground” internet infrastructure like India) so this is basically forcing billions of people (who can’t afford a “premium” ad-free phone) to watch ads just to function in daily life. Horrible.

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Just like Tucker Swanson is more an approximation of a human being.

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I would never eat anything from a machine like that unless I was starving and desperate.

But I do love instant mashed potatoes. The trick is to add some white pepper.

I also like Stove Top Stuffing so…

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The word congealed came to my mind which, when you get down to it, is not really an adjective most of us wish to have applicable to our food.

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Me too, but I wish there was a way to cut the sodium content the way I do quick saffron rice like Vigo brand by adding an equal amount of regular rice. I guess maybe a loaf of stale bread?

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Mmmmm! Congealed! :joy:

Just to show, the past was pretty gross, too!

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Hasn’t the Amazon Kindle long had a two-tier system that does this? For the low-cost tier customers, the device shows ads when powered off, or in the main menu, or something. For the people who pay for a premium version, the device doesn’t show ads.

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They used too anyway.
They also had a partnership with Motorola/Lenovo to show ads on the lock screen on “Amazon Editions” of some phones. I had one and it was remarkably unobtrusive. But it was apparently too evil for even Amazon because they dropped it.

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“Smashed” potatoes.

(Which is perfect when you consider that “smashing” is current urban slang for, well. . . )

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