For decades, we’ve been debating the horrific dystopian world depicted by George Orwell in 1984. I particularly remember the old reassuring adage: putting the Party controlling machinery in place would be unfeasible because of technicalities. Too many cameras, too much maintenance, too many people required to be “on the other side”, constantly watching and monitoring. The failed real-life example of East Germany spoke for itself, they said. Then, a revolution driven by technology changed the paradigm. The transition into a surveillance state is happening under our noses, not with the brute force of an Orwellian dictatorship. Ushered in gradually, and initially packaged as convenience, it’s been sold to us as “modern capitalism”. Two crucial differences with 1984: first, people are sharing their lives voluntarily, trading privacy for the fleeting benefits of some form of connection, or most likely in exchange for a present-time version of the “15 minutes of fame”: a viral post, a meme, maybe a demented fad. Second, we don’t need an army of regime zealots to oversee a gargantuan and clunky analogue system. No need for the Stasi, not even the level of paranoia required by those visions. That is in the past. Now we have smart glasses, and always-on listening devices. These tools, whether outright awful and creepy (Meta’s), or the ones initially designed and marketed as personal assistants, have become constant observers, capturing public and intimate moments, while feeding them into data ecosystems that we cannot control. Moreover, large language models, or “artificial intelligence”, if you prefer to call it that way, is increasingly replacing human control. It really is obvious how this latest shift represents the ultimate ambition of extreme capitalism, where our experience is mostly harvested and monetised. Instead of the ubiquitous Orwellian “Party” (the SED in East Germany), we now have corporations. No Big Brother, just psychopaths as CEOs surrounded by sycophants and herds of followers. I’m doubtful the result will be much different in the long run. In one thing Orwell predicted the future accurately, by saying “who controls the past controls the future; who controls the present controls the past”. When we hand over control of everything to soulless corporations responding to the flow of money/power and nothing else, we’re not that far away from accepting the Orwellian motto. After all, “social media” chose to spread and increase their influence by rewarding the noisiest, the bullies. I guess the British writer also foresaw “ignorance is strength”. I used to find it ironic how imposing constant surveillance is far easier under the guise of “free world” capitalism than it ever was under the dictatorial point of view East Germany imagined. As I read somewhere, we have built our own panopticon, happily paying for the privilege of living inside it. Reply via email