Parabole of Digital Pessimism

Imagine a very small town in California where there is an old lady who has two children, one of 17 and one daughter of 14. She is serving them breakfast and has an expression of concern. The children ask her what is wrong and she responds:

– I do not know, but I have dawned with the presentiment that something very serious is going to happen to this town .

They laugh of mother. They say that these are forebodings of old, things that happen. The son gets to play the World of Warcraft Legion, and the moment he goes to kill a very simple monster, another player says:

– I bet you a bitcoin that you do not kill it.

All players online laugh. He laughs. Charges the weapon and fails. He paid his bitcoin and everyone asked him what happened, if he was a very easy enemy. Answers:

– It is true, but I have been worried about something that my mother told me this morning about something serious that is going to happen to this town.

Everyone laughs at him, and the one who has earned his bitcoin goes to the kitchen of his house, where is his mom or a cousin or, in short, any relative. Happy with his bitcoin, he says:

– I earned Michael a bitcoin in the simplest way because he’s a fool.

– And why is he a fool?

– Man, because he could not kill a very simple trol clogged with the idea that his mother dawned today with the idea that something very serious is going to happen in this town.

Then his mother tells him:

– Do not make fun of the old man’s feelings because sometimes they leave.

The relative hears it and is going to buy an Iphone. She tells the clerk:

– I wanted an iPhone 7 – and at the moment they are going to bring it to you, he adds: Better sell me two, because they are saying that something serious is going to happen and it is best to be prepared .

The dependent delivers smartphones and when another girl arrives to buy an iPhone, she says:

– Take two because here people come saying that something very serious is going to happen, and they are getting ready and buying smartphones and gadgets.

Then the old woman answers:

– I have several children, look, better give me four iPhones and four Apple Watch.

It takes the four Iphones; And not to make the story long, I’ll say that the retailer in half an hour exhausts the Apple stock, makes another order, sells everything and spreads the rumor. The time comes when everyone in the village is waiting for something to happen. The activities are paralyzed and suddenly, at two in the afternoon, it is hot as usual. Someone writes in the Facebook group of the town:

– Have you noticed the heat you are doing?

– But if in this town it has always been hot!

(So hot that it is a village where the boys had the mobile phone chargers in the freezer and always carried them in shanties in the shade because if they were put in the sun they would melt.)

– However – tweets one with the hashtag of the village – at this time it has never been so hot.

– But at two o’clock in the afternoon it is when there is more heat, post another on the official website.

– Yes, but not as hot as now, whatsapea a third.

To the desert town, to the street of exit, two families of Mexicans suddenly descend and the word is heard:

– There are many Mexicans in the square.

And everyone begins to connect to the Internet, frightened, to see the Mexicans by the security cameras of the town hall.

– But gentlemen, there have always been Mexicans who leave.

– Yes, but never in winter and in pairs.

There comes a time of such tension for the villagers, who are all desperate to leave and do not have the courage to do so.

– I am very macho – shouts one. Yo me voy .

He picks up his laptops, his children, his cell phones, puts them in the car and crosses the central street where the poor people are watching him. Until the moment they say:

– If this one dares, then we also go .

And they begin to literally dismantle the people and their social networks. They eliminate groups, take laptops, video games, housings, everything.

And one of the last to leave the Whatsapp group, he writes:

– Let not the misfortune come to fall on what is left of our house – and then it burns and others also burn their houses.

They flee in a tremendous and real panic, as in an exodus of war, and among them goes the lady who had the omen, crying out:

– I said something very serious was going to happen, and they told me I was crazy.

The following week, Apple News reported that Facebook had lost 500 million users and that the ozone layer had undergone a sudden hole of 1000 square kilometers. The planet will be over in a month…