Imagine combining: ubiquitous video surveillance, cloud based automatic facial recognition, cellphone tracking and now, as this article explains, computational

Imagine combining: ubiquitous video surveillance, cloud based automatic facial recognition, cellphone tracking and now, as this article explains, computational detection and classification of emotion. I have a positive bias toward technology but that combination gives me pause. Collingridge Dilemma, used as the hook of this article, reminds me a bit of Marshall MacLuhan's The Medium is the Message. In both concepts there is a warning not to ignore the underlying technology/medium because its impact may be more powerful than any particular message or application that runs on the technology. Some of that power derives from its subtlety. We become dependent on the technology for its clear benefits but the underlying shift in society including many of the negative effects seem to sneak up on us because the technology effect is so much more subtle than the immediate and apparent message or application effect.