At the Mobile World Conference in Barcelona this week we were given a glimpse of the new world order.
Samsung on Feb. 21 unveiled its latest smartphones, the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge—iterations on the similarly named S6 models from last year—but the main thing it showed off was a glimpse of a strikingly new world and the prophet heralding its arrival, Mark Zuckerberg.
The founder of Facebook, connector of billions, strode confidently onstage at Samsung amidst a sea of plugged-in civilians, all experiencing a collective virtual-reality demonstration. In one fell swoop, while reminiscing about coding when he was 11 years old and explaining how great VR content has become, Zuckerberg brought to the fore a new delineation in society: The connected and unconnected classes.
The unconnected class controls what the rest of us see, how we the connected interact with each other, what we buy, what we consume. We, as one body, separated by distance but bound by VR headsets, willingly accept.
Those of us who try to see beyond the virtual are quickly discovered.
We may have our own goals, desires, and dreams.
But in reality, they feed the collective.
We are legion.
Soon, as the Samsung Gear VR is now being given away as a free add-on to any Samsung Gear S7 preorder, we shall all join the connected class. Only those who are pure of vision and flush with venture capital shall remain unconnected to help shape our experiences.
The future will be an exciting roller coaster.
Meetings will be simpler.
World leaders will join the connected class, ceding power to the remaining few unconnected to make our decisions for us.
There’s no point resisting.
Join us.