As scholars of science fiction have long noted, the genre is a powerful and engaging medium because it uses extrapolation and speculation to explore possible worlds and to encourage the reader to reflect on how those worlds came into being, how they operate, and how they differ from and reflect our present world. As such, they use the tactics of estrangement (pushing a reader outside of what they comfortably know) and defamiliarisation (making the familiar strange) as a way of creating a distancing mirror on society and to offer cognitive spaces to reconsider assumptions, rationales and viewpoints. In our cases, the stories seek to be plausible and consistent given existing technologies, business models, trends, news coverage and academic critique, though sometimes they push the logic, ethos, and the form and use of technology to an extreme to emphasize a point; they are sometimes satirical, sardonic and playful. They are designed to prompt critical thought about contemporary neoliberal urbanism and digital, networked technologies.

‘Why is garbage collection another tenner?’

‘Didn’t I tell you? There are no taxes at EasyCity.’

‘And yet we have to pay £10 to have our garbage collected.’

‘Yes, that’s a fee. It’s not a tax. We have abolished all taxes. In fact, we don’t believe in taxes.’

‘But how do you pay for street cleaning, schools, health care?’

‘We believe in the personal responsibility of our tenants. That’s why we have introduced a garbage fee. We’ve patented this actually: EasyGarbage. In addition, EasyTenants takes care of weekly street cleanings. Schools, doctors, hospitals are all available in Lionsgate and Gateshead.’

[...] AR represents for Google not only a medium that can overlay the ‘real’ world with digital information (selected and provided by Google) but which also can be harnessed to make the movement, mobility, gaze and the attention of users in everyday situations computable in ways that go beyond the granularity currently offered by smartphones and other devices. Given the levels of data harvesting that those devices currently offer, AR promises to expand the platform economy of Google by extending the possibilities of data accumulation and processing. This economic model is one where a few companies dominate as they control of the medium of exchange that is critical in this model: attention.

The attention economy is based on an acknowledgement that time, not material goods, is the key scarcity in modern society. The key to the attention economy is to create an environment where the attention paid in the present can refer to a past and a future within a given experience or platform. As a platform, Google stores our past and aims to predict our future. With AR, it can harvest more of the present, shape behaviour in real-time, and anticipate and direct future behaviour.

Sales: ‘You’re looking at it the wrong way. This is an opportunity more than a risk. Customers are seeking meaningful relationships with the brands they love. Their phone is the best way to connect with them. They keep their phones on them at all times, and interact with them about 150 times a day, if not more! They’re on the go seeking information that’s locally relevant, such as a nearby restaurant for lunch. We see these moments as opportunities, and unlike those boring banner ads you see on websites, our ads are much more authentic because they use location data.’

Sales: ‘We take every step to protect this data and respect the privacy of users. This data is proprietary after all! We adhere to all the self-regulatory policies as put forth by the IAA, DAA, DAAC, the UK’s Good Practice Principles for Online Behavioural Advertising, and the European IDAA’s self-regulatory principles!’

Client: ‘What do you mean by self-regulatory principles? Are there no laws that regulate this kind of thing?’

Sales: ‘Look, I’m here to tell you about the platform. Leave the laws to other people. All you need to know is that it’s perfectly legal. As far as self-regulation goes, we firmly believe that the market can effectively selfregulate privacy, and all these organizations set out a list of best practices for minimizing risk that members say they’ll adhere to. There’s even a few marketing associations out there that are working to prescribe best practices, so government need not interfere! Besides, regulatory agencies haven’t established any clear laws to limit mobile tracking, and yeah sometimes there’s a few bad apples that take it too far, but they’ve been punished. As far as we see it, we’re pushing the envelope on innovative marketing AdTech. As a final point, if for some reason people want to opt-out they can! All these advertising bodies offer opt-out settings for those privacy conscious markets. You just have to download an app, or you can register your MAC address with specific outout registries like the Future of Privacy Forum.’