Sleepwalking into the Surveillance State
The historians say that we sleepwalked into a surveillance state. They meant that the technology for widespread surveillance progressed and was implemented in a gradual manner, though quick considering the actual time scales, and with little in the way of open discussion about the ramifications, so that before anyone thought to object it was already ingrained into society. When the tables turned and the same technology was used to watch the watchers, there was a bit more resistance, but by that point the genie’s bottle had already been melted down and reshaped as a camera lens. By the time the pundits broke out their talking points and started debating the issues and repercussions, a new equilibrium had already developed. As usual, the conversation was framed in a way to distract people, to keep them endlessly arguing over the same points.
Notes:
Exerpt from a futurist vision.
Folksonomies: futurism technology surveillance
Taxonomies:
/law, govt and politics/espionage and intelligence/surveillance (0.643991)
/technology and computing (0.577266)
/society (0.408432)
Keywords:
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Concepts:
Photographic lens (0.937497): dbpedia | opencyc
Society (0.880082): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc
Camera (0.866848): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc
Book of Optics (0.810425): dbpedia | freebase | yago
Funk (0.705052): dbpedia | freebase
Leica Camera (0.702820): geo | website | dbpedia | freebase
Point (0.692577): dbpedia
Photographic film (0.692509): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc
Eclipse Phase - Panopticon