Where Our Sense Of Self Begins in 2021,

https://unherd.com/2021/07/the-chinese-future-isnt-bright/

(based on the above essay in today’s Unherd, which was actually quite good, but one line in the conclusion annoyed me) 

“Every generation has to re-define what it means to be “free”, where our sense of self begins. In a digital age our individuality begins at the place where our data cannot understand us. Freedom emerges in the space between the algorithms and our actual lives. Tech can deliver many wondrous and terrible things, but it will always fall short of really knowing what makes us human.“

This generation feels the urgent need

To re imagine, comprehend anew,

What freedom really is. This generation must succeed,

For they believe their forebears failed. They view

Their task as more than progress for the few;

They seek to benefit us all, proceed

As if they have some fresh, trustworthy clue.

This generation feels the urgent need

To understand where self begins, it's not agreed.

To set the world aright for all, it seems requires a slew

Of legislation drawn up in haste, at speed.

To re-imagine, comprehend anew,

Our individuality, requires us to construe

New interpretations, how much should we concede?

And were there those who ever knew,

What freedom really was? This generation must succeed,

Convince the people not to act with greed,

For freedom’s simply data’s end, where we are not seen through,

That’s all. Ignore what’s gone before, they plead,

For they believe their forebears failed. They view

The notion as complex, fraught, and seek to strew

The onward path with technocratic jargon, each phrase a weed

That multiplies, grows tall and dims from sight what’s true,

So liberty’s a distant place, always seeming to recede,

This generation feels.