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Data collection and surveillance companies Privacy Surveillance companies Surveillance state

The dystopian future is arriving, in little waves

Singapore is now using robots to monitor social behavior.

The dystopian surveillance state has arrived. Or, more accurately, it is arriving, in little waves. Just because the waves have not hit our shores does not mean that a tsunami is not coming our way which could sweep away the blessings of democracy and freedom in its swirling waters.

Do we have the power to avert it, or to extend the metaphor to give warning and to seek higher ground?

Advances in unregulated technology are sweeping us away. With weak and dysfunctional political systems, can we find a way to regulate the most pernicious developments in and uses of technology?

The jury is not yet in. But it is currently deliberating.

See,

Agence France-Presse,”Singapore–‘Dystopian world’: Singapore patrol robots stoke fears of surveillance state; Trial of robots to police ‘undesirable’ behaviour such as smoking or breaching social-distancing rules,” The Guardian, October 6, 2021 (06.05 BST).

The Spirit of Voltaire

By James Rowles

James Rowles is a writer, teacher, international lawyer, and international development expert.

He is particularly interested in the Epistemology of Truth, and how mass propaganda, social media, and other phenomena shape the nature of consciousness and the ascertainment of facts in the world today.

James holds an undergraduate degree in History (Modern Europe) and law degrees from Stanford University, and a Doctor of Juridical Science (S.J.D.) in International Law from Harvard Law School, where he has also taught as a Lecturer on Law.

James is a polyglot, who speaks fluent French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish, and also knows other languages. His regular if not daily reading includes U.S. newspapers, the Guardian, die Welt, Le Monde, El País, and Veja.

One reply on “The dystopian future is arriving, in little waves”

I like your point, I would say we are in deeper than we know. The business world has raced ahead of governments and now asserts perhaps more control over more population then any government. And no shots have been fired…so far.

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