Chapter I
Future, No Thanks!
Iara's apartment is small and sits on the fourth floor of a salt-stained residential block in the Várzea district, one window facing the Novo Mar. The cooling unit above the door rattles every forty seconds and doesn't do much.
She has cleared the drawing paper from her table, set out two plates, and cooked something with rice and beans. A folded blanket sits on the end of the sofa.
* * *
Iaraopening the door, looking at him for exactly two seconds, her expression shifting from warmth to quiet alarm Belizar, you look terrible, I told you to not come here if you are sick and tired, and you came here sick and tired. guiding him toward the sofa Sit down before you fall down.
Belizarsitting down on the sofa Well, there is no much to do at home, and besides, I still have the energy.
Iaratouching his forehead with the back of her hand You are burning up. sitting beside him, her knee pressing against his I made food, but first cool down, the blanket is there if you get cold later.
BelizarSo, what is going on in your life?
Iaraleaning back, pulling her knees up on the sofa They fired me from Maré Atelier, two weeks after you and I got kicked out that day. picking at the edge of her sleeve I found something at a jewelry store in the "old" center. a tired half-smile And the job is the same thing, I stand there and I am warm and I speak softly and people buy earrings. They gave me a ring as a perk but I don't wear it. looking at him I am so tired of being hired because my face makes people comfortable spending money.
BelizarIt's incredulous that you are being hired only because you look nice or speak softly.
Iaraquietly The interview was fifteen minutes, they asked me to stand behind the counter and greet them, and then they asked me to describe a piece I liked, and that was it, no questions about what I think or what I know.
BelizarI wonder why they care more about how you appear on the spot rather than what ideas you have, because it is clear for me you have a lot of ideas, you can think for yourself...
Iaraclosing her eyes for a second I ask myself that every morning. looking at him, tired Can I vent about something?
BelizarYeah, sure.
Iaraher hands moving as she speaks Every job I have had, every single one, the first thing they notice is how I look and how I sound, and the things I actually think about, the economics, the systems, the way I see this city, none of that has ever come up in an interview or a performance review, and after a while you start to wonder if your mind is even visible to anyone or if you are just a surface that makes transactions feel pleasant. pulling her hair over one shoulder, her voice getting quieter I let you say things about how I look because when you say it I feel like a person you care about, but if anyone else said it I would hate it, because they are always measuring me, and I hate that I photograph well, I genuinely hate it, because every time a camera catches me looking calm and soft it becomes proof that I belong behind a counter and nowhere else.
BelizarAnd that is also a problem of poverty, like we both don't have many possibilities. I would probably end up training another AI even though I can program basic tensorflows to train AI without myself. And if you are to be fired again, you would end up in another counter.
Iaranodding slowly I get letters, actual printed letters on nice paper, from shops I have never been to, asking me to come in for a position, and they all say the same thing in different words. I know exactly why they are writing to me, and I don't have the option to say no because the next rent is always coming.
BelizarWhat they say?
Iaragetting up, going to a small stack of mail by the window, pulling one out and reading it flatly "Dear Iara, we have been impressed by your profile and believe your presence would complement the atmosphere of our flagship location at the Novo Mar Waterfront Pavilion. We are seeking a client relations associate with a warm, approachable energy to represent our brand values. Competitive compensation and product benefits included." dropping the letter on the table They have never seen my work or asked what I studied.
BelizarI think that beauty at the counter is pointless because I arrive at the store usually to purchase something, and regardless of whether or not the store has an attractive person or not, I would still not care.
Iarasitting back down beside him You would, and most people probably would, but the stores run on a theory that says a specific kind of face at the counter increases average transaction value by some percentage, and as long as that number exists in a report somewhere, they will keep hiring the way they hire.
BelizarWhat number?
IaraFourteen percent. The manager at Maré Atelier mentioned it once during a training session, something about how customer-facing staff appearance correlates with a fourteen percent uplift in spend per visit.
BelizarI don't think it correlates... coughing a little with an uplift in spend per visit.
Iaragetting up, going to the small kitchen, filling a pot with water I don't think so either, but they believe it. coming back with a cup of tea and a white pill Here, drink this, take that.
Belizartaking the pill and starting to drink from the cup Oh... thanks. Still, I hate the fact that they care only about your looks and voice.
Iarasitting down, her voice tightening I hate it the most, because I didn't do anything, I didn't train my voice to sound like this, it just sounds like this, and I don't wear makeup, I have never worn makeup, this is just my face, and somehow that became a qualification. wiping her eye quickly with her wrist And I know what people see when they look at me, they see someone soft and quiet who will do what she is told, and I look like that, I know I do, but I refuse to be that, and the fact that I have to keep refusing every single day is exhausting. her eyes filling, her jaw tightening as she tries to hold it Sorry, I told myself I wouldn't do this tonight.
Belizaropening his arms I know, and you can cry as much as you want, there is no restriction.
Iaraleaning into him, her face pressing against his shoulder Sometimes I think about cutting my hair very short or doing something to look older, because maybe then the letters would stop and someone would ask me a real question in an interview.
BelizarWe could write a story, maybe we could go to the next protest to tell your story, or we could drop something.
Iarapulling back slightly, looking at him with wet eyes You want me to stand up there and say all of this out loud, in front of people?
BelizarYes, because maybe that way, we could have other girls tell their stories.
Iarawiping her face, thinking about it There are at least four girls at the old center I can think of who got hired the same way, and none of us have ever talked about it to each other. We just smile and work and go home. after a short pause I would be terrified, but I want to.
BelizarThe previous protest has largely been for data workers like me, but we could also make it for women like you.
Iaraher eyes brightening through the tears Yes, because everything I just said to you, I want to say it to a crowd, I want other people to hear it, I want the girls at the jewelry store and the girls at the boutiques to hear someone say it out loud so they know it is real and they are allowed to be angry about it.
Belizarlooking out at the window Looks like there is a protest against Schomer and the vagrancy laws, I didn't expect the people to be so lively, let's go there.
Iaralooking at the window, then back at him Belizar, you have a fever and you just took a pill, you are not going anywhere near a crowd right now. standing up to look out the window They are loud, though. turning back to him We go to the next one, together, healthy.
BelizarYou know when the next unrest occurs? Well, in a few months or weeks, and this could be an opportunity for you.
Iaralooking out the window again, the noise rising, then back at him, conflicted I know. grabbing her jacket from the chair, then pausing Can you walk?
Belizarstanding up from the sofa and then going to the apartment door I can, sure.
* * *
They leave the apartment and take the stairs because the elevator has been broken since March. Iara keeps one hand on Belizar's arm as they cross the embankment toward the waterfront, where the noise thickens with every block.
The crowd has gathered at the Várzea intersection, three hundred people or more, holding signs that read "Future, No Thanks!", "ED114 Is a Vagrancy Law" and "Unemployment Is Not a Crime". Someone has draped a banner across the old filtration building that says "We Did Not Vote for Schomer, We Cannot Vote at All". A woman with a megaphone stands on a concrete barrier, and the salt wind carries her voice in broken pieces across the square.
Iaraholding his arm tighter, looking at the size of the crowd, her breath quickening There are more people than last time.
BelizarYeah, let's go to the front.
Iarapushing through the crowd with him, her hand sliding down to hold his, the chanting getting louder around them Stay close, you are still warm.
They reach the front of the crowd, where the chanting is loud enough to feel in the chest. A man in his fifties climbs onto the concrete barrier beside the woman with the megaphone. He waits for the crowd to quiet.
"We named this protest after a video game. Some of you played it when you were young. It was made by Molleindustria seventy years ago, and it was about a man living in an ecosocialist utopia who did not want to be there, who looked at the perfect future built around him and said, no thanks. And people laughed at it because it was a comedy."
"And now we are standing in that future. The Ecological Alliance tells us the climate is being managed, democracy thrives, technology serves the public good. And we look around and we see vagrancy laws, we see bathroom breaks timed to the second, we see a decree that makes poverty a crime, and we say the same thing that old man said in the game: 'Future? No thanks!'. Because this is not the future we were promised, this is a corporate plan with a green logo, and if rejecting it makes us bitter old men then so be it."
The crowd roars. Someone near the front starts the chant and it spreads fast.
'Future? No thanks!' 'Future? No thanks!'
Iaragripping Belizar's hand, her whole body tense, shouting it with them Future? No thanks!
BelizarNow, let's step up next. Describe everything like you described things to me, and it's okay if you cry, because the emotion gives you power.
Iara steps up onto the concrete barrier. Her hand leaves Belizar's and she takes the megaphone. The crowd noise drops slightly. She stands there for a second, looking out at the faces, and then she starts.
* * *
Iaraon the concrete barrier, megaphone in hand My name is Iara, I am twenty-two, I sold bags at Maré Atelier for two years and now I sell jewelry at the old center, and the reason I have a job is because of how I look.
her voice steady, clear I went to an interview and they asked me to stand behind the counter and greet them, and that was the interview, they never asked what I think or what I know, they looked at my face and listened to my voice and decided I was right for the space.
a short breath And I get letters, printed on nice paper, from boutiques I have never been to, asking me to come work for them, and the letters all say the same thing, they say I have a warm presence and an approachable energy, and what that means is that my face makes people comfortable enough to spend three hundred dollars.
her jaw tightening My manager once told a room full of us that customer-facing staff appearance correlates with a fourteen percent uplift in spend per visit, and I sat there and learned that my face has a return on investment.
the first crack in her voice I don't wear makeup. I never trained my voice to sound a specific way. This is just how I am and I didn't do anything to earn that or to deserve being reduced to a qualification.
tears starting, she pushes through And there are girls at every counter in this city who know exactly what I am talking about and we have never said it to each other because we just smile and work and go home, and I am tired.
crying now, the megaphone shaking slightly in her hand I want someone to ask me what I think. I want one interview where they care about what is in my head. I want to stop being someone's ambient.
She lowers the megaphone. The crowd is quiet for a moment, and then the noise comes.
Belizarstepping up on the concrete barrier after Iara I am the same data worker that spoke at the mall, and I met her while she was still at the bag store and once we sat under the counter and then of course the manager evicted us for the day and she got only twenty percent of her pay and I held where when she cried.
pausing, letting part of the crowd settle She cried a lot, she has been broken by those companies that care only about looks, and she is not the only broken person. stepping off the barrier after the speech
A silence holds after Belizar steps down, and then a woman in her late twenties pushes through from the middle of the crowd and climbs onto the barrier.
"My name is Cleo, I work the cosmetics floor at the Pavilion, and everything she said is true. I was hired after a ten minute conversation where they asked me to smile and describe a lipstick. I have a degree in environmental policy and they have never asked me about it."
She steps down. Another woman, younger, maybe twenty, takes the megaphone from her with shaking hands.
"I am Maren, I work at a café near the transit hub, and last month my supervisor told me to tie my hair differently because a regional manager was visiting and he wanted the staff to look fresh, like I am produce."
A third woman doesn't climb the barrier. She speaks from the crowd, loud enough.
"I was let go from a hotel front desk because I gained weight after my pregnancy and they said my presentation no longer aligned with the brand identity."
The crowd is shifting, something moving through it, and then the chant changes.
'We are not your ambient!' 'We are not your ambient!'
Iarastanding beside Belizar, tears still on her face, watching the women speak, her hand finding his again, barely able to talk They are saying it, they are all saying it.
BelizarGood...
The chanting pulses through the intersection. A young man near the barrier raises a hand and the megaphone passes to him.
"I want to say something about the name. 'Future, No Thanks' should be what we call ourselves, because we are saying no to a specific future, the one where the Ecological Alliance tells us they are doing the most good with the most efficiency and we are supposed to be grateful."
"They call it effective altruism and it has been in the Alliance charter since the beginning, the idea that you calculate the greatest impact per dollar and that settles it. And do you know what happens when you calculate like that? A philosophy department somewhere decides that preserving Picasso's paintings scores higher on their model than feeding a child in this city, because the paintings have cultural value across centuries and the child is one data point."
"That is the logic. That is what they built our economy on. Evidence and reason, they say, while the evidence is chosen by people in tall buildings and the reason always points north."
A woman shouts from deep in the crowd.
'Future, No Thanks' as a party! A real party!
The shout catches. Other voices pick it up, scattered at first, then repeating, layering, becoming a rhythm.
'Future, No Thanks!' 'Future, No Thanks!' 'Future, No Thanks!'
Somewhere to the east, the green corporate security vehicles appear on the embankment road. The crowd sees them and the chanting gets louder, defiant. The megaphone woman calls for people to hold position. The noise is enormous.
Belizar and Iara look at each other. He is sweating from the fever. She takes his arm and they move sideways through the edge of the crowd, past the filtration building, into the side street she knows by memory. They walk the twelve blocks back to her apartment in silence, and by the time they reach her door the protest is a distant hum behind the buildings.
The apartment is dim now. The plates of rice and beans sit on the table where they were left, gone slightly cold. Iara closes the door behind them and leans against it for a second before moving.
* * *
BelizarThe best contribution to society that Bill Gates had in society was a vacuum, waterless toilet, according to "Future? No Thanks!".
Iaraclosing the apartment door behind them, leaning against it Out of everything, a toilet is what lasted, and the man spent billions on malaria and education and global health systems and the thing that actually works in people's homes sixty years later is the toilet. going to the kitchen to reheat the food Sit down, you seem tired again.
Belizarsitting down on the sofa Out of all initiatives, the toilet survives, because I can do an effective altruist calculation and confirm that the toilet is the best thing in the world, that in the past, millions of people didn't have access to proper hygiene or water. Despite more people having access to water in the modern world, many still don't have proper sanitation and the repeated use of static reservoirs reduces their potability, and the toilet resolves this by removing the need for water, essentially reducing the number of people who don't have access to a toilet by almost fifty percent.
Iaracoming back with two plates, setting one in front of him That is the whole problem with how they think, because the toilet is genuinely good, but when your best legacy after decades of philanthropy and billions of dollars is a sanitation device, maybe the framework that guided all that spending was never equipped to change anything significant. sitting down beside him Eat.
Belizarstarting to eat the food What is then effective altruism if the best legacy was a toilet?
Iaraeating slowly A very neat way for the rich to feel moral about spending billions on infrastructure that never reach us.
BelizarAccording to Our World In Data, many low-income countries in the world became middle-income and many middle-income countries became high-income countries, and the technological gap is closing, meaning that the north no longer exploits the south, therefore, we have no imperialist pigs and claiming the existence of imperialist pigs is evidentially wrong.
Iaralooking at him sideways I know you don't believe a word of that. setting her fork down When I was maybe ten I remember the news running a segment about how the gap was closing, and they showed a chart with lines going in the right direction, and my mother looked at the screen and looked at our kitchen and said nothing, and that was the moment I learned that a chart can say one thing and a room can say another.
BelizarOf course, and now that I disproved the existence of imperialist pigs, it is now up to you to demonstrate the existence of imperialist pigs.
Iaraa dry smile Fine. I earn twelve dollars an hour selling jewelry made from minerals extracted in this region, shipped north for processing, shipped back as a finished product with a three thousand percent markup, and the store is owned by a company registered in Zürich that pays its taxes there, and the ring they gave me as a perk was made from gold mined forty kilometres from my apartment. picking her fork back up There is your pig.
BelizarAnd Zürich is not flooded, it should be on one of the European islands. Anyways, even if you have proven that there is an imperialist pig, you are not allowed to say it is a pig, because according to, you know what, pig is too radical, too aggressive, and it does not explain how the global south actually works.
Iarachewing, looking at him with tired amusement You are doing the voice again. swallowing Pig is accurate because a pig eats everything in front of it. The global south works like this: we extract the materials, we label the data, we train the models, we sell the products back to ourselves at prices we cannot afford, and the profit leaves. You label twenty images a day for fifty dollars and a company on one of the European islands sells the model you trained for six figures per license, and they hire you because you are cheap and you are cheap because you live here and you live here because the sea swallowed everything else. That is how it works, and calling it a pig is the most polite thing I can think of.
BelizarThat is not empirical proof for the existence of imperialism, and of course I am joking, of course the World Bank does not include data that directly demonstrates resource flows, so they can say there is no imperialism.
IaraI don't think anyone trusts the charts anymore, the people in this city see them and walk past, the charts are for the summits, for when the eco-circle sends a delegation somewhere and needs slides that say things are improving. pushing rice around her plate And the eco-circle is the worst diplomatic group in the world because they wrap everything in values language and wellness frameworks and effective altruism and you need a degree to understand what they are even saying, and by the time you do, they have signed another accord. The progress-circle is terrible too, but at least when they exploit you they say they are doing it, they admit to imperialism and call it growth strategy, and you can fight something that admits it exists.
BelizarYou know how many times Our World In Data appears in eco delegations when compared to progress delegations?
Iaraflatly Every single presentation, every opening slide, every justification for every trade agreement, it is their bible. The progress-circle barely mentions it because they don't need to prove they are doing good, they just do what they do. The eco-circle needs the charts because without them they would have to explain why a city where bathroom breaks are timed and poverty is a crime is somehow the moral option.
Belizargrabbing rice from the side What is good about OWID?
IaraThe data is fine, I have looked at the website many times on my phone, the datasets are real, the methodology is usually transparent. The problem is who funds it, how they frame the conclusions, and that eco delegations use it like scripture. I saw a statistic once where OWID appeared eight to forty times more frequently in eco-circle presentations than in progress-circle ones, and some presentations cited it as their only source.
BelizarMake a logically correct chain of events that you can link to using only Our World In Data and nothing else at all.
Iarasitting up straighter, imitating his tone Alright. Global literacy is at ninety-seven percent, so we can all read. Access to internet has reached near-universal coverage, so we can all learn. The share of the population with tertiary education has tripled since 2030, so we are all qualified. Income inequality within the eco-sphere has decreased by twelve percent, so the barriers are shrinking. Democratic participation indices are at historic highs, so we all have a voice. counting on her fingers Therefore, anyone in this city, including me, can become an eco-executive, and if I have not become one, the data suggests the obstacle is personal, and I should consult Lisa for a motivational CBT module.
BelizarIn reality, I don't think eco-executives have more expertise than say a random trainer or programmer like me, and just because literacy is at ninety-seven percent, that does not mean there is little functional illiteracy.
IaraHalf the people I work with can read the words on a contract and have no idea what the clauses mean, and it does not show up on any chart because the chart asks can you read and they say yes. looking at him And the eco-executives I have met, the ones who come into the store, they talk a lot and they talk well, but when you listen closely they are rearranging other people's ideas in a confident voice, which is a skill, I suppose, but it is not expertise.
* * *
They finish eating in quiet. Iara takes the plates to the kitchen, rinses them under the tap, and leaves them in the small rack. The cooling unit rattles. Outside, the protest hum has gone silent. The haze over the Novo Mar has turned dark blue through the window.
Iaracoming back, looking at him on the sofa, his eyes half-closed You are not taking the transit home like this. pulling the blanket off the sofa arm Come, the bed is there.
Belizarstanding up from the sofa and lying on the bed And you are going to lie too, right?
Iaraturning off the kitchen light It is my bed. lying down beside him, pulling the blanket over both of them Move over a little, you are taking the whole pillow.
Belizarmoving a little further to the margin Okay...
Iaraquietly, after a moment Come back, you went too far, I want you close. reaching for his arm You are warm from the fever anyway.
Belizarmoving closer to her Yeah, sure.
Iaraturning onto her side and pressing close against him, her arm resting over him I feel close to you right now.
Belizarfeeling her heart I would like to think your heat beats fast because you are feeling nervous.
Iarastaying still against him A little, yes. I have never had someone in this bed before.
BelizarAnd then you told me to come close, so you can sit on top of me.
Iarashifting closer, resting half on top of him It is better than another boring night alone in this apartment, and we are close enough as friends for this.
BelizarWe are not very different after all.
Iaraher voice soft against his chest We never were, you just organize your pain and I let mine spill everywhere.
BelizarI know, and I like when your pain spills everywhere because it's more honest.
Iaraa quiet laugh That is a very kind way to describe being a mess.
Belizarholding her hand I don't think you are a mess...
Iarasqueezing his hand I cried at a protest in front of three hundred people two hours ago.
BelizarIt's courage.
Iaraclosing her eyes If you say so, I will believe you tonight.
BelizarYou don't have to believe me. When you vent things to me, you are no longer keeping them secret.
Iaraopening her eyes, looking up That is why I invited you here, because you are the only person I can say all of it to and not feel watched.
Belizarsqueezing her slightly while in a long silence
Iarapressing her face into his shoulder, her breathing slowing
Outside, the sky is darkening, and inside the apartment, they fall asleep close to each other, breathing in the same uneven rhythm.