Demo-Plants

You know, it is all fake

— Cassandra

"You know, it is all fake", the little girl said, her large-brown eyes expressing something between amusement and the seniority of a child ahead of age.

"It is all greenwashing and creating a false perception about their Yummies. They know that their shit tastes like shit, but because they cannot do anything about it, they are telling you that its healthy, at least, and because they have to prove it - I have to go to this demo plant tomorrow to see where the green stuff is growing and how they do it without chemicals and real soil, and bla-bla-bla - but you know that, right - I mean that this is all show, right?"

"Yeah, of course I do, for years, and I am happy that you know the truth as well".

"Good, but have to go now - school" and with a smile and satisfied to have proven again me being her body in crime, she locked the vacuum door to her cubicle.

Poor thing, growing up in this fake world, where MegaCorps have taken over the education system to ensure that the narrative for their products is getting into their young, innocent brains. Those corporations that control everything from the seed over the plants up to the final product in the store, have all the money to hire the best marketing-experts and show masters to make such excursion trips a reality that sticks with them for all times.

Everything will be clean from the first moment when they enter the plant until they leave it again. Everything clean, shiny, good, logical, and trustworthy - because they can see it, touch it, smell it, and experience it—how green plants are growing and how not so cute insects are fed to become the main ingredients of Yummie - the always same yellowish, viscous mass that comes with different flavors of fruits, which will be demonstrated to the kids to have naturally grown as well.

And of course, it is all fake. And the kids know it. It's like Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. They know that they are fake but enjoy the opportunity to spend a day outside their little boxes where they can see some real-real shadow folks in the "streets" during transfer and will finally enjoy themselves along all the sensations that were built for them, up keeping the illusion of still natural food growing in natural environments.

So the kids really like to join the demo, although they know, that they will not learn about reality but about the stuff one has to know to comply with the "truth" the society has decided to believe - most probably because the real-real might not be bearable.

And the MegaCorps have put real money and effort into the upkeep of this illusion. At their demo-plants built in every single city where they have taken over the education system, one can, for instance, see and feel artificial winds waving through square kilometers of indoor permacultured demo-rye - looking more real-real and real-life touchable than anything natural these cubicle kids have ever physically experienced before.

And spending then an afternoon in a dark hall where samples of all kinds of plants are exhibited in open, highlighted glass containers inviting to be touched will add to this illusion that these exhibits and samples are just a tiny small glimpse of much, much bigger farming in the "zones".

But they know that this is solely a show, and Yummies are simply a chemical mix made from recycled waste, dead bodies, algae, fungi, microbes, and insects - all "manufactured" hidden behind shut doors that are permanently locked for the public, and nobody really knows what exactly they are eating when eating the stuff normal people can still afford.