The View from the Panopticon

Brazil was more prescient that 1984. It more accurately observed the decrepitude of Dystopia. The weakness of Orwell's work was in his villains, his inner party members who really knew what they were doing. If you haven't seen Gilliam's film, or haven't seen it in a while, pick it up, watch it, and then read this article. Tuttle, Buttle, etc.

I fear a surveillance society not because I think that the government will actually catch me in my subversion, but because I fear that it will think that it's caught me in my subversion. The pressure to "produce results" leads to the issuance of too many traffic tickets. Imagine what it will do when someone has to justify spending a bajillion dollars on some kind of algorithmic AI that's supposed to psychohistorically predict when a new 9/11 will change everything all over again forever. The more I order from Amazon, the kookier its recommendations for me. Entrail-reading isn't science, no matter how much one wishes it were so.