never in our dreams

leela: didn't you have ads in the twentieth century?
fry: well, sure, but not in our dreams. only on TV and radio... and in magazines... and movies, and at ballgames, and on buses, and milk cartons, and t-shirts, and bananas, and written in the sky. but not in dreams, no sirree.

marketing and advertising, along with services, are the preoccupation of our current economy. the public, inundated with messages in every space of their life, tunes out to a degree and so there is substantial pressure to find the latest, most innovative way to reach people.

currently, there is a fair amount of backlash against the preponderance of ads in our world. with services such as firefox's adblockplus, obnoxious internet advertising is no longer a problem for many. tivo, dvr and apple tv have effectively reduced or eliminated television commercials. advertising agencies are scrambling to figure out how to overcome these new obstacles and are turning to more direct methods.

there is another path though that is far more disturbing than a website portal targeted to your specific tastes or a telemarketer calling or emailing you to check on your supply of charmin, lucky charms, etc. imagine a world where marketing messages are transmitted directly to your brain. with the rapid advancement of biotechnology, this is not a huge stretch. another disturbing element is the continual pandering of our government to big business at the expense of our personal privacy. just today, i read this article which describes legislation recently passed in the senate to ensure telecom retroactive immunity from the domestic wiretapping debacle.

if we continue on this current path, we are approaching an obnoxious if not dangerous future. i am physically repulsed by the nexus of biotechnology and advertising. we have already seen monstrosities such as this. what is next?