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
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.