Okay, so I'm not really a paranoid person. I don't think the world is out to get me...as an individual, but I do have a healthy dose of collective paranoia. I think that "they" - as in the indefinable, omni-present they - are getting a bit too close for comfort. I keep seeing 1984-esque advances in technology, and the whole thing makes me very uncomfortable. Here are two for instances...
A gentleman named Isaac Daniel has developed a Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking device that is embedded in sneakers. He claims that a false report of his son being missing spawned his invention, and yet the device is currently only in adult sneakers. Daniel said, "We call it a second eye watching over you." Umm....creepy....
And some neuro-scientists have set us on the path towards a Minority Report society where we can punish people for actions they have not yet committed. They have developed a brain scan that is capable of determining what actions you intend to take. One test for the brain scan involved researchers telling participants they would have to decide whether to add or subtract two numbers placed before them. Prior to showing the numbers to the participants, the researchers scanned their brains and were able to determine with 70% accuracy which decision the participants were going to make.
Ian Sample, in the Guardian, writes "The research breaks controversial new ground in scientists' ability to probe people's minds and eavesdrop on their thoughts, and raises serious ethical issues over how brain-reading technology may be used in the future." Well guess what... I don't wany anyone spying on my thoughts.
Nor do I want them to be able to track me through my shoes (or my phone, or my car, or some chip in my hand that will mean I don't have to carry cash around with me).
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