"Wow this could be like 1984", says person living in the scenario described in 1950 their whole life
Microsoft president: Orwell’s 1984 could happen in 2024
121–130 of 182 posts
Re: Microsoft president: Orwell’s 1984 could happen in 2024
#122My personal version of 1984 is someone smashing random quotes from 1984 into my face, forever. Has nobody seriously read another book in the last few decades? And Microsoft's president even gives us a stereotypically shoddy reading of the book > "You know the fundamental story…was about a government who could see everything that everyone did and hear everything that everyone said all the time. " The actually interest…
I think the stasi world was actually more terrifying than an AI eye in the sky. Because you couldn't trust anyone, not your friends or family. Everyone was part of a big network out to get you, so you were sort of locked in your own head. The more realistic fear for me is ending up in a cyberpunk dystopia where the world is run by 3-4 big corporations. Which is ofc not something they like to bring up.
> Because you couldn't trust anyone, not your friends or family. Everyone was part of a big network out to get you, so you were sort of locked in your own head.
Have you seen Twitter?
Re: Microsoft president: Orwell’s 1984 could happen in 2024
#123My personal version of 1984 is someone smashing random quotes from 1984 into my face, forever. Has nobody seriously read another book in the last few decades? And Microsoft's president even gives us a stereotypically shoddy reading of the book > "You know the fundamental story…was about a government who could see everything that everyone did and hear everything that everyone said all the time. " The actually interest…
> the Stasi already had the capacity for that 40 years ago. I disagree. I haven't lived under Stasi but I have lived through Martial Law in Poland in 80s. Yes, when you have picked up a phone receiver you have been greeted with pre-recorded message that "your call could be recorded", there were tanks on the streets and secret police everywhere. But more or less you realized that state capacity is quite limited - poli…
> But more or less you realized that state capacity is quite limited
From what I remember (it's been a while) this was actually also the case in the book. It's not like Big Brother watched you every time, and most of the time he didn't. But he could be watching anytime. That was the whole point of it.
I lived under Stasi and yes, the means where limited, but just the threat alone was enough for most people to be cautious. If you are a target and your phone is recorded 1% of the time, you will get caught eventually, it is just a matter of time. A few relatives of mine requested their Stasi-documents and there were quite a lot of personal episodes and details in these protocols. Who visited whom when or what they talked about.
And as another commenter mentioned, Stasi had your neighbours, friends and family too. That's actually harder to leave than your banking apps. Especially if you can't even leave the country.
Re: Microsoft president: Orwell’s 1984 could happen in 2024
#124I think it's important to note here that new technologies that have the potential for oppression can be used not only by authoritarian governments but by liberal-democratic ones as well (see: CIA programs, Snowden leaks, etc) and private companies.
Authoritarianism and democracy are not mutually exclusive.
They are more orthogonal than dictatorship and authoritarianism though
Re: Microsoft president: Orwell’s 1984 could happen in 2024
#125Earlier quoted context omitted.
Doesn’t require A, but the I is absolutely required, intelligence is what the Stasi did. Automating what we know is a dangerous policy should not be treated as lightly as you’ve put it just because you are bored of people quoting 1984 to you. Have you considered the reason they are quoting it more and more lately might be because real life has been getting closer and closer to it?
Agree to an extent, but people are throwing it around in the context of vaccine passports and other state actions that are pretty reasonable. Frankly the tossing around of 1984 has degraded discourse because its used way too much and often ignores nuance in favor of a slippery slope argument.
There have always been fringe opinions. They too get a much wider audience today.
Re: Microsoft president: Orwell’s 1984 could happen in 2024
#126Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's been a while since I read the book, but this seems like a stretch. One country imposing implicit/vague economic penalty on a citizen of another country, doesn't seem right relevant to me. When 1984 and "Orwellian" are used as a catch-all for any type of oppression or even any type of propaganda, I think it does a great disservice.
> When 1984 and "Orwellian" are used as a catch-all for any type of oppression or even any type of propaganda, I think it does a great disservice. I agree, but it's not hard to make a stronger case. Organizations like Google, Facebook and Twitter centrally decide Truth, and then penalize anyone who posts anything in conflict with their version. Google censors the videos of people who dare to disagree with e.g. the WH…
At some level you always need a way to filter out noise, so quality have to improve to get signal.
Re: Microsoft president: Orwell’s 1984 could happen in 2024
#127Earlier quoted context omitted.
Um, clearly it's not undeniable, because I deny it. What precisely scares you so much about vaccination status being somewhat public? There's precisely zero threat to any real liberties there. And it's laughable to call this "hard totalitarianism". As an aside, this didn't even happen, of course; we didn't "grant the play store our vaccination status". Never happened.
Because it's practically being used to restrict travel, employment and access to many things. What if you've already developed immunity through infection? Why should you be forced into it? This received emergency authorisation when public debate on the matter was heavily censored through government and big tech partnerships and complicit centralized media outlets. If treatments with drugs like invermectin were given…
Vaccine status may grant more freedoms to more people, but can only happen with some degree of controlling the masses. You have to at some point, see beyond your nose tip.
Re: Microsoft president: Orwell’s 1984 could happen in 2024
#128> 1984 could happen in 2024
Then again, it has already happened in the 2000s.
Re: Microsoft president: Orwell’s 1984 could happen in 2024
#129> 1984 could happen in 2024 Then again, it has already happened in the 2000s.
Where and when?
Re: Microsoft president: Orwell’s 1984 could happen in 2024
#130Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is there any indication that his has changed? Did he apologize for his previous remarks or recant them in any way? If someone tells me they want to undermine my rights, I'm not in the habit of later giving them the benefit of the doubt because "attitudes can change".
This story is about Brad Smith. Attitudes can change, but he probably didn't body-swap Schmidt
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