Welcome to the machine
"Did they get you to trade
Your heroes for ghosts?
Hot ashes for trees?
Hot air for a cool breeze?
Cold comfort for change?
And did you exchange
A walk on part in a war
For a lead role in a cage?"
- Pink Floyd "Welcome to the machine"
I wish this could be an upbeat essay with a happy ending but it's not although I do promise it's not a trend to be found in future essays. What I paint is a rather dark and dystopic future so, and no one would blame you, if you just couldn't handle that kind of trip today you would be forgiven for hitting the back button and losing yourself in a nice photo or pleasant essay but I would ask you'd read on as it's important to know the truth about our future. About how we've traded our right to privacy for the cold comfort of a caged society always under surveillance. While this essay is dark there is a dim light at the end of the tunnel.
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| One of the apps used to check your "social credit" score in China. image: vice. |
The Chinese Government uses a "social credit" system that watches almost every aspect of their citizens' lives. What you say online, what you buy as most everything is paid for via an app, where you go, who you call, who your friends with and right down to tracking if you cross the street against the light is recorded and tallied. In the last case if you cross the street against a traffic light facial recognition will be used to obtain your ID, record your transgression, fine you and even deduct that fine from your electronic wallet.
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If you say nice things about the Chinese government and buy Chinese made goods your score goes up. Even buying diapers will boost your score as it shows you're a responsible parent. Buy too much alcohol, tobacco, foreign goods like Japanese manga or worse, speak ill of the Chinese government your score drops. A high score gets you low interest rates on loans and travel ticket discounts. A low score and you lose access to high speed Internet service, permission to speak online and access to many prefered schools and prefered employers. A very low score warrants a visit from the local authorities to encourage you to better behave. Are you a Chinese Muslim or Tibetan? Your score gets graded on a steeper curve meaning getting a score similar to a well-behaved Han Chinese citizen is almost impossible. It seems while George Orwell wrote "1984" as a warning China and others including the US Government have used it as an instruction manual.
What did you say? That won't happen here in the US? Sorry pal but it's already started. Got that uber-cool Amazon Alexa or Google Home device that's always listening for your next command? How about Facebook Portal with its ever-present camera watching you as you watch your flat screen TV? And of course your smartphone that is constantly talking to a few nearby cell phone towers which the police can use without a search warrant to locate where you've been since you first put in your SIM card. You are being watched.
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What did you say? You haven't done anything wrong? While you might stay on the clean side of the law that quite frankly is the least of your worries. Let's put aside that the police can tap into your Amazon Ring doorbell anytime it wants, also without a warrant, or track you with your smartphone, also without a warrant; it's "big data" and their private "social credit" systems that you should be more worried about. It's the companies that control our government in what political philosopher Sheldon Wolin called the United States system of government: an inverted totalitarianism. Who needs the government to oppress the public when with your tax dollars big corporations can do the job for a lower cost and make a profit for its investors?
Wonder how online ads seem so relevant? How they seem to almost know what you're thinking of buying? It's because Google, Facebook, Amazon and a host of other players now track your every move online. Amazon has a patent to be able to tell if a woman is pregnant before she knows it by analyzing what products she views. While this treasure trove of data on every aspect of your life is now used for mostly advertising that's quickly changing. Potential employers with their access to private "social credit" systems now can see if you're a good candidate. Maybe they don't like the type of alcohol you're buying, the type of pornography you're watching, the type of video games your playing or how much time you spend playing them or even the videos you watch on YouTube nevermind YouPorn. Those that would offer you a loan also use these private "social credit" systems. Soon your healthcare and automotive insurance rates will be adjusted by what you do online. If you like watching JDM (Japanese domestic market) tuner drifting videos I hope you also like watching your automotive insurance rates go up.
While one can argue there are benefits to having AI and its algorithms check many things what happens when it misjudges you? Even if you catch it which is unlikely good luck finding a human to appeal this miscarriage to. The problem is companies today pretend to believe with a religious fervor that these electronic judges are almost flawless so there's little need to have humans around to catch the problems that fall through the cracks. Where in the past there was a chat bot or email address to a contact those days are long gone. There's an old saying "It's a recession when your neighbor loses his job and a depression when you lose yours." All injustices are relative and what isn't a problem when it happens to a customer it sure as hell is when it happens to you.
At this point you're expecting me to offer a neat solution that in a few steps these problems can be fixed like so many clickbait articles claim but the truth is right now there isn't one. Most of these companies offer no appeal to their mistakes that could quite likely have a major impact on your life. See, I told you this was a dark essay but here comes the dim light at the end of the tunnel.
Thanks to the fine folks in the EU a path to a solution comes in two parts: data ownership and the right to be forgotten. The first treats all that granular data on you as your property meaning you can demand any company from using part or all of it. The second is that you can demand that a company delete any data it has on you. So what's the catch? Companies will do everything they can to keep these laws from coming to our side of the Atlantic Ocean but we must demand of our leaders that they do. Only then will we no longer have a lead role in a cage built out of our own data and used against us.
It was through the failing system of neoliberalism did we get into this quagmire and only through democratic socialism will we find our way out. Only when we realize that we must work together can we fix this problem that affects us all.
"How I wish, how I wish you were here
We're just two lost souls
Swimming in a fish bowl
Year after year
Running over the same old ground
And how we found
The same old fears
Wish you were here"
- Pink Floyd "Welcome to the machine"
