58 of 365: We are living in Orwell's 1984

Yevgeny Zamyatin (1923) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I’m not one to be especially paranoid, generally speaking. In fact, I tend to think of myself as generally stable, pragmatic, and realistic. I go on what I sense. However, recently, I began thinking deeply about all the trails we are leaving, especially my own, and how easy it is to know the deeper part, the private part, of who I am, easily.

I am okay with this. After all, openness is part of my brand. However, if I had a camera on me, broadcasting everything I do and say, it would be difficult to watch sometimes. I’m flawed, I have an ego, I make mistakes, and I try my best to improve myself. I fail, often, and I am okay with that, but also, I like to think that my worst moments of anger or failure would be seen in the larger context of the good I try to do in the world.

I guess what I am trying to say is that we do have the equivalent of cameras on us all the time. I read the dystopian trilogy (Zamyatin’s We, Orwell’s 1984, and Huxley’s Brave New World) as a young man, and it had a great effect on me. I accepted that society has a big-brotherly effect on us, and I try to do my best to satisfy their needs, while being myself to the degree that anyone can within a society. I also try to resist the Soma of this world, embrace emotion in the face of a societal need for me to be less sensitive, and generally respect, but not unequivocally align with authoritative mandates.

So consider the reality of the ways in which we are tracked and followed, and know that those records and details might be used against you at some time in the future. If you know it, you can make better decisions in light of it, and avoid the potential issue with reasoning.

1. At any given time, no matter where you are, there is likely a reporting sensor that knows that you are there. Your phone is an example, but so are security cameras, fitbits, and computers.

2. The data stream of each of these devices is logged in some way, some more overtly, and others more overtly. I can look at the history of my browsing, steps, music listening, book reading, meetings, messages, and photos and video going back over 10 years. There are no gaps.

3. There is a technological movement being presented quite reasonably in the form of Robert Scoble’s Age of Context that focuses on Big Data (e.g. credit cards), Social Data (e.g. Facebook), the Internet of Things (e.g. tweeting fridges), and personal data logging (e.g. fitbit).

For more on this topic, please take a look at these slides that I prepared for a talk on sensors, personal data, and context.