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A key point of 1984 is that behind the screen is a fellow citizen; and that the entire structure of oppression is operated by otherwise-regular citizens. It's
by dleslie 5y ago
A key point of 1984 is that behind the screen is a fellow citizen; and that the entire structure of oppression is operated by otherwise-regular citizens.
It's sad that "big brother" has lost the connotation of a citizen-operated panopticon, because I think that concern is far more immediately pressing.
- artichokeheart 5y agoI think more pressure needs to be put on the developers in these big tech enterprises. I think the problem is that it's cash and cachet, not fear and torture, that blind them to real human impacts of what they are doing in their day job.
- briefcomment 5y agoWe need people to start making the hard decision to forgo the convenient option. > "Dr Lan Xue, who advises the Chinese Government, said facial recognition could prove "tremendously helpful" in identifying people in mass gatherings if there is a "major accident"." People need to follow their gut and say no to things like this. It's hard to pick out the reasonable interventions from the ones that are being promoted for surveillance purposes. It's probably best at this point to be conservative with the civil liberties we compromise on. Unfortunately, certainly language has been co-opted, and that's confusing. "Greater good" and "public health" are hard to argue against.