this post was submitted on 12 Jun 2026
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Comic Strips

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When posting images, you should strive to add alt-text for screen readers to use to describe the image you're posting:

Another helpful thing to do is to provide a transcription of the text in your images, as well as brief descriptions of what's going on. (example)

Web of Links

founded 3 years ago
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SpaceboyCantLol | Instagram

TranscriptComic title: Life in 2030”

This shows guy facing futuristic yet bleak smart home with many IoT devices and AI etc. Smart toilet is updating so he cant use it. Robot wife low battery so cant sleep with her. Fridge locked behind ads and ask to upgrade to premium version. Park is now data center so no walk for him. Smart bed subscription expired so he falls on floor. Air is taxed so he cant breath and vents say pay now to getair. Man looks stressed and sweaty in every panel.

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[–] samus12345@sh.itjust.works 1 points 15 hours ago
[–] ceenote@lemmy.world 154 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (8 children)

This is silly. A tax is something the government charges you. We'll be paying a privately owned corporation for ~~our~~ their air.

[–] thessnake03@lemmy.world 69 points 5 days ago (1 children)
[–] tgcoldrockn@lemmy.world 19 points 5 days ago (1 children)
[–] fartographer@lemmy.world 9 points 5 days ago

Land of Confusion music video is fucking wild

[–] Zorque@lemmy.world 28 points 5 days ago

Yeah, but with regulatory capture they outsourced air-distribution to private companies.

[–] Mika@piefed.ca 8 points 5 days ago

Do the air pollution -> sell air filters and compressed clean air cartridges.

[–] Denvil@piefed.world 6 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Don't a lot of people already pay companies to do their taxes for them? They're just cutting out the end man and keeping the middle man

[–] stoy@lemmy.zip 15 points 5 days ago (4 children)

That seems to mostly be a thing in the US, in developed countries we have pre filled out tax forms that you sign online, if you haven't got anything special to report, it takes 5 min to just double check the numbers and sign it.

[–] yermaw@sh.itjust.works 10 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Here in the UK "normal workers" dont even do that. Your employer does it all for you and you just get told about it in your payslip.

[Here's how much you earned.]

~[Here's a bit of tax.] [Here's a bit of other tax] [Here's a bit of national insurance] [Here's a bit of pension contributions] [Here's some other numbers that I cant even remember because I never bother looking] [boring stuff really] [you should probably look at this but who gives a shit its boring]~

[Heres what youre actually getting!]

[–] stoy@lemmy.zip 5 points 5 days ago (4 children)

Oh yeah, your employer pays your tax here in Sweden, I am just talking about the yearly income report you have to submit.

You only have to make any changes if you have earned money not automatically reported to the government.

I sold some stock a few years back, and had to report it and pay tax on it.

I ran the simple calculation, reported everything, and transfered the money to my tax account, total time was 45 min.

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[–] Simulation6@sopuli.xyz 5 points 4 days ago (1 children)

But, but how do you lie and cheat to pay no taxes at all (assuming you can't afford a senator)?

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[–] mrgoosmoos@lemmy.ca 6 points 5 days ago (2 children)

there won't be a government, just private corps

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[–] Rcklsabndn@sh.itjust.works 14 points 3 days ago

Philip k. Dick, in his novel Ubik, described the main character being trapped in his apartment because the front door required a .25 fee to open and the MC had to trick the door in order to leave his own home.

There's a lot more than that in the book. It would be interesting to see someone try and fail to make a film out of it.

[–] kender242@lemmy.world 58 points 5 days ago (1 children)

"Every time we demand to be heard, they hold back our water, ration our air, until we crawl back into our holes, and do as we are told!"

[–] Dyskolos@lemmy.zip 38 points 4 days ago (1 children)

And that's why you should always have a can of PerriAir at home!

[–] cannedtuna@lemmy.world 20 points 4 days ago (1 children)
[–] Dyskolos@lemmy.zip 4 points 4 days ago

Ah, thanks for doing what I should've done :-)

[–] ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net 24 points 4 days ago

On the other hand, some Nazi might own quadrillion dollars by then. Think about that.

[–] borkborkbork@piefed.social 28 points 5 days ago (1 children)

joke about the air, but in a few short years we're going to be paying for climate control like that because we're in for one hell of a summer here, and from here on out they'll only get hotter.

[–] gilokee@lemmy.world 5 points 4 days ago

it will always be the hottest summer... so far.

[–] CheeseNoodle@lemmy.world 20 points 4 days ago (3 children)

Bed think literally already happened, some amazon smart bed or some shit that was adjustable and it would fold shut like a clam if you didn't pay the subscription so you physically couldn't sleep on it.

[–] ragebutt@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Pod8, not Amazon related but a like 3-8000 dollar mattress topper that can heat or cool depending on a number of factors. The model that adjusts temp is server sided so it will work without a subscription (for now) but just in basic β€œset temp” mode, when it’s sold as this device that tracks heart rate and movement to dynamically adjust temp. Tech bros with no kids and too much cash love it

It also stops working if Amazon web services go down, which is hilarious (which is maybe why people link it to Amazon, but that’s a different and worse problem where Amazon controls like 50% of the internet through data hosting)

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So many dystopian novel authors predicted this. P K Dick and Gibson among others. Forced to pay for life critical necessities like air and water, as well as fees to enter your apartment or take a shower.

Companies have given up making anything new. It takes too long, requires a large R&D investment, and expensive tooling to manufacture new things. So they just start making up ways to claim ownership over everything they can and the delivery method to get it there. Robber barons and bridge trolls profiteering as middlemen that actually produce nothing. Want a concert ticket? Buy it through a service that bought it from the venue and pay fees on top of that if you can get them at all on release, if not pay again to the same company that lets scalpers resell and they get fees a second time. Want music? Pay for the data service, pay for the music service, pay again for the album if you actually want to keep it, pay for the cloud you store it in.

Itβ€˜s only getting worse.

[–] WorldsDumbestMan@lemmy.today 23 points 4 days ago (1 children)

They flag you as a terrorist because the AI hallucinated, and you find your pay for air button just does not work anymore one day.

[–] ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world 9 points 4 days ago (2 children)

And once you're pissed enough at the AI, ICE will deport you El Salvador, because the AI tech bros have lobbied out a law that labels all anti-AI activities as an act of terror on behalf of China.

[–] moondoggie@lemmy.world 3 points 3 days ago

The DHS fusion centers are already flagging anti-AI comments and memes as possible terrorist activity: https://www.wired.com/story/us-law-enforcement-warns-of-anti-tech-extremism/

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[–] TerdFerguson@lemmy.world 14 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Woke up this morning.

$5 convenience fee for that.

[–] NottaLottaOcelot@lemmy.ca 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

For an extra $3 per day, your wake up can include no headache. Please provide your credit card information to subscribe

[–] racketlauncher831@lemmy.ml 3 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

You joke, but people with ~~chronicle~~ chronic headache will find that a great deal. No side effect, though.

[–] NottaLottaOcelot@lemmy.ca 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Side effects can be eliminated for an extra $5 daily

[–] racketlauncher831@lemmy.ml 3 points 3 days ago

You... you genius!

[–] GreenKnight23@lemmy.world 4 points 4 days ago

died in the night, $3000 cremation fee and a $6000 disposal fee.

[–] Zozano@aussie.zone 27 points 5 days ago (3 children)

Doesn't seem much different than now

[–] zurohki@aussie.zone 8 points 5 days ago

Should be "You haven't paid to license that feature."

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[–] Vinylraupe@lemmy.zip 17 points 4 days ago
[–] Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 14 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Whatever happens, I'll never forget to charge my Wife Pro Max.

[–] janus2@lemmy.zip 1 points 3 days ago

i would hot swappable battery mod my wife straight outta the box

[–] NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world 11 points 4 days ago (2 children)

That's been the joke for a long time. If corporations could charge you for air, they would. This comic is too real.

[–] schipelblorp@sh.itjust.works 10 points 4 days ago (1 children)

People are buying water right now as we speak.

[–] NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world 4 points 4 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Oh, yeah, I'm waiting for the water wars to start. Already have in some middle eastern countries. But, I'm sure they'll reach richer countries as well like the U.S. eventually.

Climate change isn't going to wait for us to care.

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[–] oyzmo@lemmy.world 12 points 5 days ago (1 children)

A capitalist's dream come true! ... remember, socialism is bad πŸ˜…

sadly this is actually the direction we're going in. everything will be a subscription

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