70 years later, George Orwell's 1984 has become a reality.

a reply to: gladtobehere

The UK police trialing Facial Recognition cameras is Orwell writ large , the man who received a fine for covering his face is proof of that.

I am no longer a free man I'm a number on a database , my personal information is no longer my own but the property someone else to be used and sold how they please.

You can bet your ass Orwell's 1984 has become a reality.

PS , for the watchers , I love Big Brother he is there to protect me.

a reply to: gladtobehere

The only difference is we do not have left wing totalitarianism like in the book. We have right wing totalitarianism. We have a one party centralized communist government. The thing is it's NOT the kind of communism that is in the worker's favor. What we have is corporate communism which is more concerned with public policies creating the best return possible to shareholders with a complete disregard to any issues addressing poverty of lower wage workers.

a reply to: Edumakated

The reality though is that it is becoming increasingly harder to function in society without giving in.

I live it so I see it in my everyday life.
I can't get a gym membership or a warranty at the hardware store and a few other inconveniences.
Paying cash and having a name and address isn't good enough anymore.

They say that it is your choice.
Is it really though??
Times have changed, you either follow policy (like a monkey) or you can go piss off and not use their services....you're choice.
My choice is, I can do without.

I have said it before and will say it again....some day I will be branded a terrorist, just for not having or carrying a phone because that is MY CHOICE.

I kind of feel discriminated against ,but won't go that far to call it that....I will go so far to call it very 1984ish though.

originally posted by: Edumakated
The thing I find interesting is that we willingly trade freedom for security and convenience. I mean everyone has a 24 hour tracking and monitoring device called a cellphone. We willingly put listening devices and cameras in our homes.

I'm convinced the natural state of man is living under tyranny because we so l willingly ask for it.

I believe there were a few good men some years ago who held the same opinion. But who also warned against complacency and imagined that other brave men like themselves would always rise up and present themselves when it seemed both the right and necessary thing to do.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. —

I believe the time is now, within this generation that we will see such brave men step into the light and force the necessary changes to secure our freedoms once again.

a reply to: gladtobehere

How rich, posting this on a website that requires an email account from...............

originally posted by: thov420
I believe if Orwell thought his 1948 novel would come to fruition like it has, he would have destroyed all copies. He not only saw where things might go with tech, he openly advocated against it. I believe he would have been shocked to realize tech would actually progress the way it did into his worst nightmare, or he was way ahead of his time and would have ended it himself.

Asimov was also pretty progressive with his Foundation series. I've felt he wouldn't be happy with the way humanity has "progressed" lately with AI. It can (and might)certainly become our downfall. That said, humans are very clever and our tech is only going to get better until the line between AI and consciousness becomes a blur.

I believe exactly the opposite with regards to Orwell...I think he would have printed more copies in more languages in ever increasing font sizes.

There's a strong mix of Huxley's Brave New World added in. People self-propagandize themselves happily, just to be "involved" in something big.

originally posted by: gladtobehere
Anyone know what happened to that thing called the 4th Amendment?

It was cast aside for artificial safety when a goat farmer on dialysis orchestrated the most successful terrorist attack in American history from a cave on a satellite phone...

Only to eluded the most sophisticated surveillance network on the planet for more than a decade. Eventually caught right before Obama ran for his second term.

Sorry it was to easy...

originally posted by: danbuter
There's a strong mix of Huxley's Brave New World added in. People self-propagandize themselves happily, just to be "involved" in something big.

Without propaganda life has no meaning. Everyone thinks they know what propaganda is but that's only because we are told what to think propaganda means. It's much more subtle and manipulative:



The way modern propaganda is structured by getting people to believe they are thinking for themselves is pure genius!