4 ms·

“The telescreen received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it; moreover, so l

by uptown 10y ago

“The telescreen received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it; moreover, so long as he remained within the field of vision which the metal plaque commanded, he could be seen as well as heard. There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. How often, or on what system, the Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork. It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time. But at any rate they could plug into your wire whenever they wanted to.” -Orwell, 1984

obstinate 10y ago
Kneejerk Orwell quote referencing minor advance to existing technology: check.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- criley2 10y ago
  Yeah Orwell was all about heavy handed government oppression, not willing consumer behavior. This is more Huxley (check another box, the Huxley vs Orwell comparison). At any rate, the quote would be better served when discussing Snowden style revelations, because we know for a fact that people in the US security apparatus could (and did) abuse their ability to spy on the internet behavior of everyday American citizens without due process.
sharkweek 10y ago
"And but so why the abrupt consumer retreat back to good old voice-only telephoning? The answer, in a kind of trivalent nutshell, is: (1) emotional stress, (2) physical vanity, (3) a certain queer kind of self- obliterating logic in the microeconomics of consumer high-tech." David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest http://declineofscarcity.com/?page_id=2527 http://declineofscarcity.com/?page_id=2527
sgift 10y ago
The joke's on us. Not even Orwell thought people would be willing to pay for that kind of technology. He thought government would have to force people to get it into their homes.
- fredley 10y ago
  Huxley though... I don't think it's really about whether Orwell was right or Huxley, I think they both are.
- drewda 10y ago
  See the forward to Neil Postman's "Amusing Ourselves to Death": > "But we had forgotten that alongside Orwell's dark vision, there was another--slightly older, slightly less well known, equally chilling: Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. Contrary to common belief even among the educated, Huxley and Orwell did not prophesy the same thing. Orwell warns that we will be overcome by an externally imposed oppression. But in Huxley's vision, no Big Brother is required to deprive people of their autonomy, maturity and history. As he saw it, people will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think. > "What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. As Huxley re marked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny "failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions." In 1984, Huxley added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us." https://quote.ucsd.edu/childhood/files/2013/05/postman-amusing.pdf https://quote.ucsd.edu/childhood/files/2013/05/postman-amusi...
  - deleted 10y ago
melling 10y ago
We heard you the first 10 times. Every time a new Echo is released, the warnings go out. If you don't want one, don't get one. In the meantime, the cellphone that you carry with you everywhere will report your location, voice, etc much more effectively. Here's a 2 year old Echo story, maybe we can recycle some of the comments? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9764723 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9764723
msabalau 10y ago
Perhaps the "baby cam" feature is a less grim way of indicating that caregivers can use this for surveillance of cognitively declining parents. "Telescreens, not just for the thought police anymore!"
- smileysteve 10y ago
  My first thought of the "rejectable" call was that this would be a way to communicate with my declining grandmother who would neither understand the buttons or be able to muster a "accept call alexa"

by uptown 10y ago

obstinate 10y ago

Kneejerk Orwell quote referencing minor advance to existing technology: check.

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
criley2 10y ago
Yeah Orwell was all about heavy handed government oppression, not willing consumer behavior. This is more Huxley (check another box, the Huxley vs Orwell comparison). At any rate, the quote would be better served when discussing Snowden style revelations, because we know for a fact that people in the US security apparatus could (and did) abuse their ability to spy on the internet behavior of everyday American citizens without due process.

sharkweek 10y ago

"And but so why the abrupt consumer retreat back to good old voice-only telephoning? The answer, in a kind of trivalent nutshell, is: (1) emotional stress, (2) physical vanity, (3) a certain queer kind of self- obliterating logic in the microeconomics of consumer high-tech." David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest http://declineofscarcity.com/?page_id=2527 http://declineofscarcity.com/?page_id=2527

sgift 10y ago

The joke's on us. Not even Orwell thought people would be willing to pay for that kind of technology. He thought government would have to force people to get it into their homes.

fredley 10y ago
Huxley though... I don't think it's really about whether Orwell was right or Huxley, I think they both are.
drewda 10y ago
See the forward to Neil Postman's "Amusing Ourselves to Death": > "But we had forgotten that alongside Orwell's dark vision, there was another--slightly older, slightly less well known, equally chilling: Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. Contrary to common belief even among the educated, Huxley and Orwell did not prophesy the same thing. Orwell warns that we will be overcome by an externally imposed oppression. But in Huxley's vision, no Big Brother is required to deprive people of their autonomy, maturity and history. As he saw it, people will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think. > "What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. As Huxley re marked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny "failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions." In 1984, Huxley added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us." https://quote.ucsd.edu/childhood/files/2013/05/postman-amusing.pdf https://quote.ucsd.edu/childhood/files/2013/05/postman-amusi...
- deleted 10y ago

melling 10y ago

We heard you the first 10 times. Every time a new Echo is released, the warnings go out. If you don't want one, don't get one. In the meantime, the cellphone that you carry with you everywhere will report your location, voice, etc much more effectively. Here's a 2 year old Echo story, maybe we can recycle some of the comments? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9764723 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9764723

msabalau 10y ago

Perhaps the "baby cam" feature is a less grim way of indicating that caregivers can use this for surveillance of cognitively declining parents. "Telescreens, not just for the thought police anymore!"

smileysteve 10y ago
My first thought of the "rejectable" call was that this would be a way to communicate with my declining grandmother who would neither understand the buttons or be able to muster a "accept call alexa"