Like fifteen years ago, I read a book called The Barcode Tattoo by Suzanne Weyn. And I’ve forgotten most of it but I always remembered the beginning - where the main character is told she’ll never get into art school because her computer skills aren’t good enough, and these days all art is computer-generated by AI programs that just require a few input drawings by real artists. And then she goes home and finds out her father’s job has intentionally driven him to suicide because they found genetic markers for certain disabilities in his DNA and insurance didn’t want to have to pay out if any of those conditions came to pass.

And I read it as a teenager and was like “ah yes, this is to show us that this takes place in a far dystopian future. Haha, imagine a world in which computers generate all the art and insurance companies would rather kill a person than pay for treatment!”

God I wish that were still me