I will take pictures of my teeth and print them out and give them to NTs to satisfy their curiosity about what my teeth look like. Actually maybe they’d prefer the CT scans of my teeth from right after I had my concussion. By seeing my teeth the NTs will know that I am a human being just like them and not a mischievous sheyd, who would actually have a beak and chicken feet.
The psyche of the average individual in less-disenfranchised Western communities was unmistakably warped by the multi-faceted rejection of masking practices during the Chronic Viral Infection years of the 2020s. These rejections coincided with a massive shift technologically towards the incorporation of automated algorithmic generative and predictive programs, sometimes baked into consumer products. Some of these systems, promoted as "AI", were rapidly enmeshed into users devices under what we now consider the "automated photography system". Rather than rely on the information and representation of oneself or one's experiences as it was, these software and hardware developments aimed to "improve" reality by making it Better. To these unthinking programs, their directives made it clear that "better" was synonymous with "positive".
It started out as a subtle and understandable use; make the sky a little prettier, the colors a little nicer. Casual corrections common for any contemporary photography. Then it began to make rainy weather sunnier, pollution filled skies became clean, an oil spill in a river could no longer be picked up by newer smartphone cameras. The least criticized instances however, were those that "corrected" one's facial expressions. Neutral faces became Mona Lisa smiles, a smirk would be a grin, tears automatically removed, sad expressions no longer registering within automated photography guidelines.
It mirrored a logic that began to arise in response to at-risk individuals who tried to fight for continued masking protocols: "But we need to see faces; we need to see smiles!". Years later, one of the leading corporations in automated photography—PureLens—would proudly announce it had succeeded at a previously unpublicized goal that had led them to their established success at correcting facial expressions.
"The engineering teams here at PureLens have brought us a groundbreaking development in AI Photo Optimization," Tol Kzedek, Head of Communications at PureLens explained to an interviewer in 2027, "We have finally achieved what we started working on before the company was officially founded. PureLens can now offer AI tech that removes all masks or respirators from faces, whether of an individual or a crowd. Don't you hate it when you take a great photo but you can't see someone's smile, due to them wearing a mask? It's agitating! Right? PureLens will be able to help casual and professional photographers alike in solving this problem. We can't force those people to move on with their lives, but with technology to help us, we can correct this issue and end up with flawless results!"
All these manifestations of the Americanized obsession with pearly whites had one common thread; simulated reality. The truth we are now facing, as it becomes ever more apparent the United States is internally bracing for imminent collapse, is the consequence of having waited only an additional 10 years in pretending the timeline for spread of diseases and chronic post-infection conditions, coinciding with the consistent accuracy of climate change forecasts, was avoidable or not the case. This piece of work intends to do its best to document a timeline of this simulated reality hinging on a consistently emphasized reason-in-the-abstract for enforcing said simulated reality;
The Smile.
[fin]
