'Ghost in the Shell' Predicted Our Cyber Hellscape – But Are We Really Surprised?
Anime Prophecy: Now With More Malware
Okay, so "Ghost in the Shell" called it. Big deal. Another sci-fi flick predicts the future. It's not like William Gibson didn't lay the groundwork decades earlier with "Neuromancer." But fine, let's humor the tech bros who are suddenly anime experts. This article claims the Puppet Master hacker predicted "government-backed hackers" and "tech-enabled domestic abuse." Groundbreaking.
Give me a break. Any vaguely plausible cyber-attack in fiction is going to accidentally stumble on something that eventually happens in the real world. It's like saying "The Simpsons" predicted Trump. No, they just made a joke that happened to come true. The world is absurd.
And this idea that Masamune Shirow, the manga creator, was some kind of visionary? Please. He was probably just reading the same news stories about early computer viruses that everyone else was. This article says he "never spoke about what real-life events inspired the hacking plot points." So... speculation, then?
The article points out how the Puppet Master hacks into the Sanitation Department. The author calls it prescient because "government hackers often break into large networks to spy on specific individual targets." Yeah, and sometimes they probably order pizza online too. Does that make "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" a documentary?
Climate Finance: The Ultimate Shell Game
Speaking of shell games, let's talk about "climate finance." I stumbled across another article – completely unrelated, I know, but my brain works in mysterious ways – about how rich countries are basically cooking the books on their climate pledges. Apparently, they're counting everything from airport expansions to ice cream shops as "climate finance." I swear, you can't make this stuff up. Italy claimed $4.7 million as climate finance for helping a chocolate and ice cream company expand into Asia!
It's like a magician pulling rabbits out of a hat, except the rabbits are made of debt and broken promises. Developed countries patting themselves on the back while the planet burns. And we're supposed to believe this nonsense, and honestly... I'm starting to think the Puppet Master was right. Maybe humanity needs a good hacking to wake it up.
Oh, and get this – the article mentions a new Shell gas station opening up near me. Coincidence? I think not. It's all connected, man. The anime predictions, the climate lies, the gas stations popping up like mushrooms after a rain. It's a conspiracy, I tell you! A conspiracy of mediocrity and corporate greed!
Then again, maybe I'm the crazy one here.
The Illusion of Progress
The thing that really gets my goat is the audacity of it all. These governments and corporations expect us to just swallow their BS. They relabel existing aid as "climate finance," they count fossil fuel projects as "eco-friendly," and they expect us to applaud their "progress." It's not progress; it's an illusion. A carefully constructed facade designed to keep the status quo intact. As detailed in How climate finance to help poor countries became a global shell game – donors have counted fossil fuel projects, airports and even ice cream shops, the reality of climate finance is often far from what is advertised.
It's like those "Shell Shockers" games my nephew plays online. All surface-level violence and cheap thrills, masking the deeper rot underneath. Is there a shell gas station near me? Offcourse there is, there's one on every corner, fueling the system that's actively destroying the planet.
But what are we supposed to do? Boycott gas? Stop eating ice cream? It's a drop in the bucket. The whole system needs to be torn down and rebuilt from scratch. But who's going to do that? Me? I can barely manage to put pants on in the morning.
