5 ms·

I'm kinda old fashioned for my age, but I thought the end of the video where humanity was coerced into cleaning up its act was the scariest part. I disagree wi

I'm kinda old fashioned for my age, but I thought the end of the video where humanity was coerced into cleaning up its act was the scariest part. I disagree with his definition of 'cleaning up its act.' It sounds like he equates 'cleaning up humanity's act' with the small changes, like brushing your teeth, cleaning your room, and eating your vegetables. Is it really to our benefit to have this god watching over us, and we'd better act good otherwise we'll go to hell. I mean, let's be reasonable, no game system in the world is going to end rape, theft, or murder. but what would it change? Apart from my crotchety rantings, it was nice seeing how many of his ideas of the future seemed to come from Futurama. :)

teilo 17y ago
Agreed. I did not find the end to be optimistic at all. I found it to be a totalitarian nightmare. Let's face it, technology like this isn't going to be "opt out" if the government has anything to do with it. Show me a government that, when given more data about the personal lives of the governed, didn't become more oppressive in using this information to first encourage, and later coerce specific behavior. We already see this coming with "smart grid" technology, whereby the power companies would be able to control when you use certain appliances. Now imagine gaming that system, whereby you would be allowed to use certain devices more if you correct certain behaviors. There's just no end to this. Now imagine a group of people decides that they are going to "opt out" anyway, and go off grid. They defeat the sensors in their lives in some fashion because they no longer wish to be tracked and monitored. The response is predictable: These people are labeled as subversives who use resources without accountability. They are not good citizens. They promote societal unrest. They cannot be allowed to ruin the lives of their fellow countrymen with their selfish behavior. They must be forced to comply. Yeah, disturbing to say the least.
jackfoxy 17y ago
It takes all kinds of people to make the world go around, and birds need a left wing and a right wing to fly. So long as people just talk about visions of the future with people acting "the way they're supposed to", "responsibly", whatever...it's quaint. And if your name is Plato, people still might read and talk about your ideas 2,400 years later, but whenever people have banded together to bring these visions about it's resulted in distopia.
- Semiapies 17y ago
  Sorry, meant to vote this up, not down.

teilo 17y ago

Agreed. I did not find the end to be optimistic at all. I found it to be a totalitarian nightmare. Let's face it, technology like this isn't going to be "opt out" if the government has anything to do with it. Show me a government that, when given more data about the personal lives of the governed, didn't become more oppressive in using this information to first encourage, and later coerce specific behavior. We already see this coming with "smart grid" technology, whereby the power companies would be able to control when you use certain appliances. Now imagine gaming that system, whereby you would be allowed to use certain devices more if you correct certain behaviors. There's just no end to this. Now imagine a group of people decides that they are going to "opt out" anyway, and go off grid. They defeat the sensors in their lives in some fashion because they no longer wish to be tracked and monitored. The response is predictable: These people are labeled as subversives who use resources without accountability. They are not good citizens. They promote societal unrest. They cannot be allowed to ruin the lives of their fellow countrymen with their selfish behavior. They must be forced to comply. Yeah, disturbing to say the least.

jackfoxy 17y ago

It takes all kinds of people to make the world go around, and birds need a left wing and a right wing to fly. So long as people just talk about visions of the future with people acting "the way they're supposed to", "responsibly", whatever...it's quaint. And if your name is Plato, people still might read and talk about your ideas 2,400 years later, but whenever people have banded together to bring these visions about it's resulted in distopia.

Semiapies 17y ago
Sorry, meant to vote this up, not down.