Most people fear the end of hard cash in their lives and do not want to be controlled by a digital currency (DC) that might make them feel metaphorically naked when they try to purchase something digitally and the transaction is refused because you have low social credits after you wrote “nasty” things (justifiable criticism) online in social media about the government.

In China, this system combines financial credit data, regulatory compliance records, and behavioural assessments into a unified scoring mechanism that affects how businesses and individuals operate within China’s economy: China Social Credit System Explained – How It Works [2026]

This nightmare scenario has the potential to happen in the coming year(s). In the 1993 film, Naked, directed and written by Mike Leigh, the protagonist, Johnny, delivers a bleak monologue on this subject

The blue-grey cinematography gives the movie a cold, gritty, raw feel. But despite the heavy-handedness of the narrative, the film works quite well and is arguably one of the best movies of the 1990s.

The story revolves around a degenerate misfit ‘philosopher’ called Johnny Fletcher (played by David Thewlis), resembling a modern-day ‘Catweazle’, as we follow him on his debauched odyssey in a Godless, amoral UK.

After a rough sexual encounter copulating with a woman in a Manchester alleyway against a wall, which looks like rape, Fletcher steals a car and goes on a sleazeball journey to London. During his travels, he meets Brian, a security guard, who has to contend with the preaching of Fletcher’s pessimistic world view on the doomed fate of humanity. I regard this scene as the greatest of all Leigh’s films.

In the interior of a London building one night, Johnny gets talking to the security guard who welcomes him inside. Johnny rants a depressing monologue to the security guard on the future of currency and the ‘Mark of the Beast’. He says:

Take a look around you man, it’s all breaking up. Are you not familiar with the book of Revelation of St. John, the final book of the Bible prophesying the apocalypse? … He forced everyone to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead so that no one shall be able to buy or sell unless he has the mark, which is the name of the beast, or the number of his name, and the number of the beast is 6-6-6… What can such a specific prophecy mean? What is the mark? Well the mark, Brian, is the barcode, the ubiquitous barcode that you’ll find on every bog roll and packet of johnnies and every poxy pork pie, and every f*****g barcode is divided into two parts by three markers, and those three markers are always represented by the number 6. 6-6-6! Now what does it say? No one shall be able to buy or sell without that mark… They’re going to subcutaneously laser tattoo that mark onto your right hand, or onto your forehead. They’re going to replace plastic with flesh. Fact!

Will DCs, particularly Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), redefine our economic lives with significant risks that must be addressed immediately? Dr Jashim Khan, lead author of the study from the University of Surrey’s China campus, Surrey International Institute at Dongbei University of Finance and Economics (SII-DUFE), said: 

We are currently standing at a crossroads. Digital currencies could streamline transactions and enhance financial inclusion, but we must be vigilant. If we do not address the inherent risks, we may inadvertently create a new financial crisis. Is digital currency the future of money or a risky gamble? | University of Surrey 

But it’s not just DCs that could control our lives in a tyrannical way. EV cars are now installed with ‘black boxes’, microphones, and cameras that record the driver’s every move. With such devices, this is Big Brother surveillance on steroids.

A Sunday drive in the country will include a collection of a tonne of personal data. Go a fraction over the speed limit while overtaking a truck, and a speed traffic offence might be beamed up to a ‘cloud’ in police headquarters, resulting in a fine in the mail the following Wednesday.

Another negative aspect is most automakers are already incorporating attention-tracking technology, monitoring the driver’s eye and face position to ensure focus on the road—a seemingly harmless safety feature that opens the door to exploring further uses of biometric data by vehicles: Facial recognition in cars: the good, the bad, and the ethical | Regit

But what happens if a driver is trying to get a family to hospital in an emergency? A voiceover in the car might say, “You are unfit to drive. You are sweating and seem in a panic, as your facial muscle movements indicate you are suffering from anxiety. In order to get the car started, take a 15-minute nap and we’ll see if you’re much calmer later.”

Then there is the risk of having confidential conversations in your car with a passenger(s). Cybernews journalist Anton Mous said:

The intelligence agency recommends not having confidential conversations in or around smart cars, not using a vehicle with an external camera when travelling to a sensitive location, and not connecting a smartphone to a USB port but instead using a data blocker. In addition, we should be cautious when entering personal details into the car’s navigation system, such as a home address or sensitive location. Smart car data risks: Dutch spy agency warns drivers | Cybernews

We need to be over-cautious that a digital blanket world, covering all financial and other physical devices, will not make us feel metaphorically naked. It’s hard these days to get into a conversation without AI or DC being mentioned. If only we could ‘unplug’ the West, then plug it back in again!

Finally, did you know that there was a city called Ai mentioned in the Bible? And that Ai, in Hebrew, means ‘the heap (of ruins)? Just sayin’: Ai (Canaan) – Wikipedia