They Watch

What is going on in the world when everything we do, from when we leave home until we return, is watched and recorded?

If you brought this picture back to 1999, you wouldn't be able to find anyone who believed it was going to happen within 20 years. "Seriously? You want me to believe we're going to install huge unblinking black robot eyeballs, which record High-Def video footage in 360 degrees, 24 hours a day, in every shop, on every bus, and on every streetcorner in the developed world?"

And yet, we did just that, didn't we? And hell, it's not just video! They're also recording every word, every beep, every hiccup we make in public. But we (the people) don't have access to the vast majority of our own data.

They watch, and they listen. Everything's recorded for later analysis - there's plenty of value in that data! As facial and vocal recognition software get better and better, a complete picture of our lives (minus a few blurry moments in our bedrooms and bathrooms) is available to whoever "they" are.

Is it really for our 'safety and convenience'?

Or do they record so much data on us because it advantages them to do so, and we aren't putting up a fight?

What else are they doing, because it advantages them, and we aren't stopping them?

In light of supercomputing, artificial intelligence, and the coming information singularity..... could allowing just anyone to collect so much data about us be potentially dangerous, especially looking 5, 10, even 20 years in the future?

Aren't you thinking about this?

Because I know you've seen them watching you. I know your gaze meets theirs from time to time. And I know you look away.