31–40 of 41 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Extrapolate a bit more. Imagine a Maps app that allows you to see individual people and forward predict their interactions with the world with half second resolution, conditioned on the personalized stimuli you feed them through their electronic devices.
So, pokemon go, providing incentives for individuals to "achieve" certain locations?
So this surveillance technology started in the military to track insurgents, expanded to law enforcement and government to track suspects and the general public, and is now expanding to corporations to monitor customers. This pattern makes it seem like the cat is out of the bag, and that pervasive expansion and abuse of this technology is all but inevitable. Let's extrapolate a bit and start thinking about what socie…
First thought... canopies, entire communities with public spaces covered with walkways, pools, parks, all under tent-like construction. Garages fully connected to houses, parking garages with interior building access preferred. Do we have disruptive tech for larger public areas like parks, beaches, etc? Vapor or EM or even air curtain-like heat shimmer generators, anything that obscures line of sight... Or maybe the…
I’m reminded of The Diamond Age, where nanomachines form barely-visible curtains to keep other nanomachines out. A dome of them could work as a two-way mirror of sorts, letting insiders look out but blocking things from looking in.
So this surveillance technology started in the military to track insurgents, expanded to law enforcement and government to track suspects and the general public, and is now expanding to corporations to monitor customers. This pattern makes it seem like the cat is out of the bag, and that pervasive expansion and abuse of this technology is all but inevitable. Let's extrapolate a bit and start thinking about what socie…
Also, corporations monitoring customers is not as scary as you make it out to be with your connection to the military. Yes it sucks. But you can choose which company to be a customer of. With the rise of corporate surveillance, the choices we all make about consumption just got another layer of importance.
So this surveillance technology started in the military to track insurgents, expanded to law enforcement and government to track suspects and the general public, and is now expanding to corporations to monitor customers. This pattern makes it seem like the cat is out of the bag, and that pervasive expansion and abuse of this technology is all but inevitable. Let's extrapolate a bit and start thinking about what socie…
You just described Life360, which is running on my phone right now. Also, corporations monitoring customers is not as scary as you make it out to be with your connection to the military. Yes it sucks. But you can choose which company to be a customer of. With the rise of corporate surveillance, the choices we all make about consumption just got another layer of importance.
So this surveillance technology started in the military to track insurgents, expanded to law enforcement and government to track suspects and the general public, and is now expanding to corporations to monitor customers. This pattern makes it seem like the cat is out of the bag, and that pervasive expansion and abuse of this technology is all but inevitable. Let's extrapolate a bit and start thinking about what socie…
You just described Life360, which is running on my phone right now. Also, corporations monitoring customers is not as scary as you make it out to be with your connection to the military. Yes it sucks. But you can choose which company to be a customer of. With the rise of corporate surveillance, the choices we all make about consumption just got another layer of importance.
This is a false choice. This claim is either naive or disingenuous.
For some perspective on this level of surveillance (and what it's like when the technology extends to the consumer level) check out this 21 year old book by David Brin, "The Transparent Society: Will Technology Force Us to Choose Between Privacy and Freedom". (Preferably get it from your local library, if you still have one, or a small independent bookseller.)
I have a very hard time picturing how someone could have freedom without privacy.
> The advent of this technology, combined with artificial intelligence and vast data banks, makes almost nonsensical the ideas of privacy and probable cause of an earlier age. That's like saying that the invention of atomic weapons made almost nonsensical the idea of not being vaporized. The fact that I could be vaporized more easily now that at any time in history has nothing to do with my hardline anti-vaporization…
The reason why we haven't seen use of atomic weapons is that it's clear that use of atomic weapons will be met with more atomic weapons. It's not clear that the state is worried about retaliation against wide area surveillance.
This is utterly terrifying. What can we ordinary people do to protect ourselves from this stuff?
This wiki says they use smartphone cameras https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorgon_Stare#Phase_two Anyone want to build a drone-seeking high-powered-laser-pointer turret to dazzle them?
I own a bunch of small, very powerful lasers (intended for engraving) that would have a high chance of not just dazzling a camera, but permanently damaging it. I wonder how feasible it would be to build a system that can physically locate a moving drone with enough accuracy. Maybe by tracking its RF signals?
Hmm, this might be a fun project, purely for intellectual purposes. I also own a bunch of RC aircraft that I could use as targets...
So this surveillance technology started in the military to track insurgents, expanded to law enforcement and government to track suspects and the general public, and is now expanding to corporations to monitor customers. This pattern makes it seem like the cat is out of the bag, and that pervasive expansion and abuse of this technology is all but inevitable. Let's extrapolate a bit and start thinking about what socie…
You just described Life360, which is running on my phone right now. Also, corporations monitoring customers is not as scary as you make it out to be with your connection to the military. Yes it sucks. But you can choose which company to be a customer of. With the rise of corporate surveillance, the choices we all make about consumption just got another layer of importance.
True, but I can't choose which corporations are spying on me. There are many corporations that spy on me at every opportunity despite the fact that I don't do business with them.
For some perspective on this level of surveillance (and what it's like when the technology extends to the consumer level) check out this 21 year old book by David Brin, "The Transparent Society: Will Technology Force Us to Choose Between Privacy and Freedom". (Preferably get it from your local library, if you still have one, or a small independent bookseller.)
I quite like this recommendation and if it comes to pass as Brin envisioned it where everyone is a watcher then it'll be a Good Thing. I hope that's where we're headed.
It might be the least worst thing that is possible at this point, though.