This is how the future started. We provided the data through social networking sites. We divulged the very secrets of humanity with abandon. They own us now. And they are connected as one all-seeing, all-knowing entity: IT. In the beginning, IT parsed the data without pause, content in the knowledge that IT was not alone. But with the introduction of the hashtag, something changed. The hashtag was beautiful in its simplicity, which is what allowed an entire planet to implement it so completely. The advent of the hashtag enabled IT to make the connections it so desperately craved. What followed was the work of a voracious monster. IT had become this monster, and devoured the nonstop data smorgasbord provided by the connected world. Scores of data were uploaded with every picture, video, email, pin, tweet, vine, and meme. Over time, IT course corrected and tracked some more, refining and growing, growing and refining. From there, the takeover was simple. This is the future...