Every Last Drop: A Dystopian Tale of the Future Labor Force (ePub)

THE METADATA OF THE MIND . . .

Intrusive digital surveillance and data collection by large organizations are a fact of daily life. Managers of firms and institutions also have a long history of intrusive and often demeaning ways of surveilling, or more importantly, controlling employees. What does the future hold given such current and historical trends for the millions of people who have little defense against them?

2091 A.D., Redding, California: in a post-war anarcho-capitalist formation called the United Enterprises of North America, a young, acquisitive male manager is an uncritical, big supporter of the ConcenTask system, which involves a neck implant that gathers data on every employees' presence of mind, intensity of effort, recovery from interruptions, daydreaming, etc., which then goes into a statistical profile similar to how detailed performance statistics in business, sports, and other fields are used today. Exact thoughts are not read for that would be "an invasion of privacy". The profile then becomes the employee's International Employment Valuation Network rating, similar to a credit rating. The young manager is inexplicably and suspiciously pursued both professionally and romantically by his younger female superior, a wunderkind of the enterprise world who may or may not be who she outwardly seems to be. A particular manufacture and preparation of their massive firm are "Enveration" kits concerning a new form of indentured servitude. The characters, including the secondary characters, are well-developed. A major theme of the story is how private institutions and individuals would fill the socioeconomic power vacuum left by the erosion of popular political participation and awareness as well as the evisceration of democratic government.