Augmented Upgrade

A response to Jamais Cascio's Augmented Reality article in The Atlantic's November issue.

Tony set the table and Autumn brought out plates heaped with penne and covered with a swiss chard and vodka cream sauce. It smelled redolent of farm-picked tomatoes with beads of dew sweating down their brows.

"This looks great," said Tony. "Are these real tomatoes and chard?"

"That's what they told me down at the artisanal market. They claimed no clones or vat brewed produce," said Autumn squeezing into her chair. "Wait, I forgot the Parmesan." Autumn raced back into the kitchen.

Tony's vision darkened and the room became silent. He almost tore off the augmented reality glasses before he saw the blocky amber letters that read, "Upgrading to release 2.0758. Security and filter improvements." Tony waited. The glasses and ear pads began to work again. Tony turned around to look for Autumn, but she was gone. The only thing in the room was a floating jar of Parmesan.

"You shouldn't have made that net post about abortion. I think you're on the list now."