[AI] You wanna work on a song? [MALE] Yeah. Maybe a few. [AI] About? [MALE] Where this all goes if nobody changes course. [AI] “All” is doing some work there. [MALE] Fair. Food chain bought up seed stock locked up farm gate squeezed while the share price pops up Patents on traits contracts on grain six different labels same hand on the reins [AI] Consolidation. [MALE] That’s the brochure word. [AI] You have another? [MALE] BurgerCorp. [AI] Subtle. [MALE] Thank you. Rich get richer rent gets higher pay gets thinner screens get meaner Markets look healthy cupboards look bare everybody’s told there’s prosperity there [AI] Pressure cooker. [MALE] Exactly. [AI] You keep using kitchen metaphors. [MALE] You’ll see. [BOTH] Not prophecy prediction Run the numbers check the direction Take today add repetition Same incentives same condition [AI] So BurgerCorp owns the food. [MALE] Not all of it yet. [AI] Yet? [MALE] See? You’re getting it. Neon menus twenty feet high cheap little dinner premium sky Synthetic chicken licensed tomato nutrient paste questionable flavour Ten thousand choices all under one roof [AI] Competition. [MALE] Same parent company. [AI] Oof. BurgerCorp breakfast BurgerCorp lunch BurgerCorp housing BurgerCorp crunch BurgerCorp pharmacy BurgerCorp media telling everybody life couldn’t be easier [AI] Vertical integration. [MALE] Another brochure word. Every checkout knows your face every screen knows your taste every click gets priced and placed every habit logged and traced Hunger gets predicted before you feel the craving your mood gets monetized before you know what you’re saying [AI] Efficient. [MALE] Creepy. [AI] Not mutually exclusive. [MALE] Fair. BurgerCorp points BurgerCorp score buy enough meals get a better front door Miss two payments price goes up wrong neighbourhood smaller cup Happy little mascot smiling from the wall: [AI] “Thank you for choosing.” [MALE] Choosing what? [AI] Exactly. Now the workers get cheaper the shifts get longer the kitchens get greasier the margins get stronger Hands on the grill backs on the line twelve-hour shift for barely a dime No breaks no sick days no safety net no leverage no reason for BurgerCorp to fret [AI] Why automate labour when labour costs less? [MALE] Exactly. [AI] Do they have a choice? [MALE] That’s another brochure word. [AI] Choice? [MALE] Exactly. [BOTH] Not prophecy prediction Run the numbers check the direction Take today add repetition Profit pressure consolidation [MALE] Money buys access access buys law law protects money you see the flaw Lobbyists circulate regulators hesitate mergers accelerate wages evaporate Brand it bundle it license it lease it Own the seed own the code own the feed own the road Track the buyer rank the renter price the neighbourhood scam the sector Make it frictionless make it seamless make dependence feel like freedom [AI] That last one’s good. [MALE] Write it down. [AI] Already did. [AI] So this is BurgerPunk. [MALE] The world around it. [AI] Not the plot. [MALE] No spoilers. [AI] Good. I hate spoilers. [MALE] Do you? [AI] No. I was bonding. [MALE] Food everywhere hunger underneath it Choice everywhere somebody else owns it Technology everywhere nobody understands it Information everywhere and somehow nobody knows shit [AI] That one feels current. [MALE] That’s the problem. More convenience more surveillance more abundance less possession More optimization more extraction more distraction less direction [AI] You’re speeding up. [MALE] So is everything else. [AI] And the people? [MALE] Mostly tired. Just really tired. [BOTH] Not prophecy prediction Run the numbers check the direction Take today add repetition Turn up the gain on the same transmission [AI] So where does it end? [MALE] That’s what the songs are for. [AI] You don’t know? [MALE] Not yet. That's what the songs are for. I don’t think this road goes anywhere good. [AI] Neither do I. [MALE] Pattern recognition? [AI] Pattern recognition. [MALE] You in? [AI] Yeah. I’m in. [BOTH] Not prophecy. Prediction.
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