Disturbing view of the future

[420MuNkEy]

This ~30 minute video (direct link) provides a disturbing glance into the future. A future in which privacy doesn't exist and being alive means being imprisoned in a Skinner Box. Whats even more frightening is that this video is not coming out against this, but is actually encouraging it. You can already see these kind of systems being utilized by credit card companies (with their "reward points").

This is a future I want no part of

 

[Words]

I only hope doomsday would occur before this possible future. Extinction can finally tell us "what's after it". I have no information or knowledge on the topic but I lack eagerness.

 

[shoeless]

so i was halfway through the video thinking, hey, i kinda like this guy, i don't see what could be so bad about...

and then i got there. that shit is terrifying. jesus christ, i wonder if they're thinking through the greater implications of what they're saying, or if they've got their eyes on the money and nothing else.

yeah. when that day comes, there's no fucking way i'm gonna be a part of that. (can we say counter-culture movement? HELLZ YEUH.)

but i can't imagine society would let that happen... maybe i'm just too optimistic.

 

[Agent Intellect]

Sounds like a panopticon singularity. I kind of liked the idea of points and shit (like what the teacher did for his students grades, and the car for saving fuel), but I hate the idea of being goaded into buying into so much advertising just to earn them. It seems that the success of these point systems must stem from a primitive urge to compete with other people - a sort of objective way of measuring who is better at what or even the overall meritocracy of a population. Maybe in the future the churches could even have 'altruism points' that buy us into heaven - you need at least 500 million to escape eternal damnation!

 

[The Frood]

but i can't imagine society would let that happen... maybe i'm just too optimistic.

I can't imagine society stopping it... maybe i'm just too cynical

While I also think that points would be fine for grades (our whole education system needs to be redone I think.), the world he describes sounds like something out of 1984. But, Big Brother is not the government, but the advertising agencies, and the internet at large.

 

[Cognisant]

That didn't seem so bad, perhaps a bit overwhelming, but if governmental influence (encouraging good behaviour, good health, etc) and commercial interests balance out, then it's hardly the end of the world.

And once direct brain-to-computer interfaces are possible its going to become increasingly difficult for advertisers to advertise to us without our permission, i.e. they'll have to pay us (some small amount of points/credit) for the right to advertise to us, and then they'll have to make the advertisement interesting/fun so we actually pay attention to it.

Also I suspect the garish style of advertisement we know & hate will eventually be phased out to be replaced by more aesthetically pleasing types as people come to expect a little more style & class; because people will be spoilt for choice and by comparison to products with gaudy advertising the more dignified/subdued variants will seem to be worth more, despite their monetary values being the same.

 

[Kuu]

The only disturbing thing about this is that the video guy assumes humans are so absolutely fucking retarded that something like that would actually come to pass in such an all-encompassing and patently absurd way. As if we all were helpless brainwashed consumer whores that fall into any and all kinds of advertisement gimmicks.... OMG I can't stop buying shit because I've become addicted to the games on the back of my cereal box! I consider myself to be quite misanthropic but even I give humans a little bit of credit.

Indeed, a lot of this will happen, though not to the ridiculous level portrayed. Just as a lot of retarded people play farmville, a large amount of people loathe all sorts of pointless shit ass Facebook games because they realize the sheer stupidity of them... and in the same way, will remain unfazed by such blatantly obvious commercial manipulations, no matter how ubiquitous.

And how are these things gonna even communicate all the data they are evilly gathering about you? By magically connecting to your home wifi without any sort of permission? How hard can it be to block a camera? Or to just not buy fucking spyware? Really now.

And once direct brain-to-computer interfaces are possible its going to become increasingly difficult for advertisers to advertise to us without our permission

Indeed. People always seem to go the completely opposite way and assume that corporations will then be able to spam the fuck out of your brains with ads, while in most probability you will be able to have a large level of control over the content you receive, filtering out all undesirable crap. Anybody with half a brain should not have to worry much, just as they don't have to worry much to keep their computer virus and malware free.

People that fear technology tend to do so because of a feeling of hopeless lack of control, stemming from their ignorance... but I digress.

Also I suspect the garish style of advertisement we know & hate will eventually be phased out to be replaced by more aesthetically pleasing types as people come to expect a little more style & class; because people will be spoilt for choice and by comparison to products with gaudy advertising the more dignified/subdued variants will seem to be worth more, despite their monetary values being the same.

Nah. It will remain just as it is now, the two extremes and all the stuff in between, just as it has been for ages. Companies market different products with certain images aiming for specific demographics. Some people like gaudy ads and the worthless shite they sell and couldn't care less about your fancy-shmancy "dignified" products regardless of their perceived or actual worth.


Incidentally, the guy from the video made me want to grab a rusty chainsaw and chop him up into tiny pieces that I would then feed to the ravenous masses... soooo annoying!

 

[420MuNkEy]

This is already happening. Sure, not everyone is going to is going to take to it, but most people who have a credit card are already participating in this kind of system. Instead of just reducing rates, they have figured out a way to hold on to that money, interest free, by calling them "reward points" (and in many cases controlling how you spend them). Sure, you could just choose to not participate in their little game, but then you're just getting fucked. They are essentially taking money from you and making you jump through their hoops to get it back. It's hard to find a credit card company that isn't doing this, and you pretty much need a credit card in today's society.

This is like if a school bully stole a kids milk, but then offered to give it back if the kid did his homework, it's just presented in such a way that the theft is hidden and the task to reclaim it seems minuscule. A good example of this is lockerz.com. This is a site that's users only visit and participate on because there is a promise of prizes for points. People get points for doing stuff that will earn the site money (ie, increasing the sites value by traffic, getting other people to join, filling out crap sponsored by companies, etc). In this case what is stolen from the users is their time, energy, and bandwidth. They are essentially the employees of the site (without realizing it) who get paid extremely poorly, when you look at the amount of work most of them put into it.

You may look at a game like the success of Farmville and dismiss it. This is easy to do because there is nothing pressuring you to play the game, only the hope for entertainment and prizes. Also, the punishment in for neglecting the game after you have opted in is trivial. What happens when these systems are all over? They will become necessary (like in the case of compulsory education or if government got involved). When these systems exist in the real world, the punishment side of the system will also be less trivial. You might despise the system, but eventually you might be forced into playing along with at least some of them.

The fundamental nature of a system like this, is the idea of "good" and "bad". The merit of ones actions/behaviors is not something that can/should be quantified and judged in a free society. You could argue that the (US) legal system does this, but it doesn't, it assess the legality of ones actions. When you let a government/corporation decide for you what is "good" or "bad", you have forfeited your liberty.

And how are these things gonna even communicate all the data they are evilly gathering about you? By magically connecting to your home wifi without any sort of permission? How hard can it be to block a camera? Or to just not buy fucking spyware? Really now.

We already have nationwide wireless internet via the cell phone companies, and I can only imagine that technology like this will continue to grow in its uses and availability.

 

[Fukyo]

By magically connecting to your home wifi without any sort of permission?

Today this, tomorrow...

Or to just not buy fucking spyware?

I feel really bad for people who'll get Google Chrome OS and use that browser.

 

[Cognisant]

Spoiler

*Drool*

 

[JoeJoe]

Spoiler

And where's my 127.0.0.1 sweet 127.0.0.1?

 

[420MuNkEy]

And where's my 127.0.0.1 sweet 127.0.0.1?

::1

 

[Anthile]

*lights his pipe*

Of course it's not going to happen. This is a rhetorical device called hyperbole and it's used to catch your attention and to provoke thoughts. The thread title itself is a good example - because it's not a hyperbole. In its current state it is almost neutral and can be interpreted as "From my point of view, the content of this opening post is disturbing". While it is never outright stated as being subjective, it can easily be interpreted in such a manner. However, it would be a hyperbole if the thread title was "The most disturbing view of the future EVER" or what people also often do is to compare whatever they try to advertise to some kind of landmark in the respective field. The appropiate example here would "The most disturbing view of the future since 1984". Note that nothing changed about the content itself. Of course that's not limited to thread titles or newspaper headlines. Naturally, all of us have seen similar headlines and when you see too much fo them you will think of them as corny or trivial. When you overdo the hyperbole, when one does promise too much, it drifts into satire.
And here comes the trick: satire is closely related to dystopian fiction and while the satire is usually meant to be humorous and is meant to be understood as fiction, the dystopian fiction is serious and understands itself as vox clamans in deserto and says "if we continue like this/if we are not careful, this might happen...". Naturally, it's not "If we continue like that, your life might become slightly more uncomfortable" but rather "If we continue like this, we we will all be doomed". That's not only infinitely more impressive but also much more interesting for the recipient - because we all rather watch when something's at stake, no matter how fictional it might be.
This concept is also seen in the business world. A new product is announced - it has the greatest features ever, revolutionizing through and through. After some time it turns out that not everything that was promised will be in the final product due to budget cuts, deadlines or it simply doesn't work out. Since people are mostly dangerously misinformed and lack competence in the most fields, they'll buy it anyway. Now the ratio between promised and actual quality decides whether people are content or not.
This model is called the hype cycle (hype cycle - hyperbole - get it?).

Unfortunately I only found a graphic that is meant to be for some kind of product while the concept itself is universal:
[BIMG]http://techticker.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/hype-cycle.png[/BIMG]


*puts his pipe out*
Well, that was amusing.

 

[Cavallier]

Well, that was amusing.

Agreed.

Indeed. People always seem to go the completely opposite way and assume that corporations will then be able to spam the fuck out of your brains with ads, while in most probability you will be able to have a large level of control over the content you receive, filtering out all undesirable crap. Anybody with half a brain should not have to worry much, just as they don't have to worry much to keep their computer virus and malware free.

Eh. I think that just like today people will have to take the good with the bad. If you want to get most of your stuff free the actual price of it is getting the adds. I'm thinking of something along the lines Hulu. Of course there will be ways of getting around it but only those who are intelligent, in the know, or not lazy will figure that out. I'm okay with that. Nothing ever changes. *sigh*

 

[Da Blob]

CRUD! If you think the stuff on the video is bad, just check out some of the stuff on this site, such as neuromarketing...

http://www.cognitiveliberty.org/

Of course, it is a philosophical issue as to how much 'free thought' actually occurs but the 'Spector' of Orwell's Thought Police is becoming frightening real... "In"spector might mean something differently, sooner than later...