The part of the essay that stood out for me is this: -- The panopticon was a building design dreamed up by the philosopher Jeremy Bentham, and in its most basi

The part of the essay that stood out for me is this: -- The panopticon was a building design dreamed up by the philosopher Jeremy Bentham, and in its most basic form, it’s a prison scheme which allows observers (i.e., prison guards) to have a constant view of the inmates if they so desire, without the inmates knowing for sure if they are being watched. The effect, of course, is feeling that one is always being watched, resulting in altered (more “normal,” acceptable) behavior. Bentham’s idea was, he said, applicable to poor houses, hospitals, schools, and mad houses — though he ultimately devoted his time to designing for prisons. The express purpose of the panopticon is behavior modification, what Bentham described as “a new mode of obtaining power of mind over mind, in a quantity hitherto without example.” No such prison was ever built to Bentham’s specifications. -- The author hit the nail on the head in drawing that comparison to Facebook. I have long been unsure how the usage of such a version of Facebook would affect us. The answer might lie in the psychological effects of living in a Panopticon. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panopticon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panopticon http://www.cartome.org/panopticon1.htm http://www.cartome.org/panopticon1.htm