4 ms·

"One person cannot watch more than one person in full concentration, and can only do so for a comparatively short time before attention begins to wander. ... Co

by mrob 6y ago

"One person cannot watch more than one person in full concentration, and can only do so for a comparatively short time before attention begins to wander. ... Consequently, the system of oppression by two-way television simply will not work." I find it strange that a widely read author with a known interest in history had apparently never heard of the panopticon. Orwell outright states that the telescreens work on the same principle: "There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. ... You had to live—did live, from habit that became instinct—in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized."

inglor_cz 6y ago
Sounds like Twitter. Except that Orwellian tech did not have the ability to search your actions back ten years ago. At least the Orwellian invisible guards were paid employees. On contemporary Internet, there is no shortage of unpaid volunteers digging in other people's activity just for the thrill of getting someone punished. The difference is that the state apparatus may run out of money; the USSR did. You never run of enthusiastic volunteers, as long as you reward their actions with what they want, in this case, a public spectacle of a virtual guillotine.
- hobby-coder-guy 6y ago
  Doesn’t sound like Twitter at all.
- chongli 6y ago
  There were plenty of enthusiastic volunteers in 1984. Children in the story were trained as spies and rewarded for denouncing their parents. Friends denounced friends. Orwell understood that in order to create an atmosphere of total oppression there could be no loyalty between anyone. This is why the party criminalizes sex for pleasure. It’s the recognition that the loyalty within families is the greatest threat to the totalitarian state. The government in Brave New World recognizes that as well but seeks to eliminate the threat by other means (taboo and superficial pleasure).

by mrob 6y ago

inglor_cz 6y ago

Sounds like Twitter. Except that Orwellian tech did not have the ability to search your actions back ten years ago. At least the Orwellian invisible guards were paid employees. On contemporary Internet, there is no shortage of unpaid volunteers digging in other people's activity just for the thrill of getting someone punished. The difference is that the state apparatus may run out of money; the USSR did. You never run of enthusiastic volunteers, as long as you reward their actions with what they want, in this case, a public spectacle of a virtual guillotine.

hobby-coder-guy 6y ago
Doesn’t sound like Twitter at all.
chongli 6y ago
There were plenty of enthusiastic volunteers in 1984. Children in the story were trained as spies and rewarded for denouncing their parents. Friends denounced friends. Orwell understood that in order to create an atmosphere of total oppression there could be no loyalty between anyone. This is why the party criminalizes sex for pleasure. It’s the recognition that the loyalty within families is the greatest threat to the totalitarian state. The government in Brave New World recognizes that as well but seeks to eliminate the threat by other means (taboo and superficial pleasure).