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Cheri Brewer
Orange, CA
United States

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Can we avoid an Orwellian future??

Trend of relinquishing our privacy for convenience.

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Eric Grovum
- 0
Aug 3 2012: In 1984, the "citizens" were brainwashed on a continuous basis. We are being brainwashed too. When we allow ourselves to follow only the media that we tend to agree with, we get more and more caught up in a paradigm that can be molded by others. Challenge your own cognitive biases by trying to see things from the opposite perspective. Really try to believe the opposite point of view, and you may see where you are wrong. I know I find my own biases every day. Think with your brain and with logic - not your emotions. If you feel emotional on an issue, you are not using logic. This will help shield you from the brainwashing. It's happening on both sides of the political spectrum.
Eric Grovum
- 0
Aug 3 2012: It is already here. It is more amorphous than 1984 or Animal Farm, but it is happening right before our eyes.
griffin tucker 10+
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Jul 28 2012: if privacy is becoming less and less apparent, would this mean everyone's life is on for show?

could this mean everyone would eventually be accountable for their mis-deeds and bad actions because they could be on display?

would that then mean working conditions, world-wide, could get better because nobody would want to be shown on display as committing bad actions?

just a few questions on my mind about the future.
John Dunbar 10+
- +1
Jul 28 2012: This nature of your question reveals exactly what government and the corporate controlled media wants. That is, of course, to continue asking and posing questions like this because if we are still asking about an orwellian FUTURE then we don't already know that an orwellian society has arrived. Domestic drones, google street view, unyielding prosecution of whistleblowers, social networking, iPhones, are just some of the many obvious tools that are employed by big brother.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_BRITAIN_GOOGLE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-07-27-13-51-42
David Hamilton 50+
- 0
Jul 22 2012: More importantly, can we replace an Orwellian present... You're talking double speak : p
- Cheri Brewer
  - 0
  Jul 27 2012: Yes. I was fishing in a way...how else to explore other minds? :)
griffin tucker 10+
- +3
Jul 22 2012: freedom is relative; how would someone who doesn't know what one person's freedom is, as compared to their own?

the question is being answered, albeit slowly, as with the growth of telecommunications and different people's freedoms being on display along with their... how should i put it? "first-world problems."

it goes the other way with third-world problems being on display too, but people in first-world countries can't relate to developing countries problems as i've heard developed countries' people often feel help-less with the question of "what can i do?" being answered as, "i'll donate money to a supposedly non-corrupt organisation" or, "i'll let someone else sort it out." or at the extreme of, "i can't do anything."

the world is indeed becoming smaller in this sense. i'm a self-coined 'optimistic realist' myself, and believe freedoms will be changed for the better where constructive creativity and collaboration will rule, along with understanding diversity to an extent that we all get along well, however contradictory this may seem.
- Alexander Jerome Leon Cruz
  - +1
  Jul 29 2012: Someone today told me that when one gives up freedom in favor of security, you´re relinquishing your right to both. Words from Benjamin Franklin, but the conversation revolved around this optimistic realism that you´ve coined.
  
  I see virtual activist groups as advocates of a truly creative world by tackling the frontier where creativity has its most essential standing: the internet. I strongly disagree with copyright laws. I am aware that this standpoint is controversial, intellectual property assures us that we will be comissioned for our creativity as thinkers - but in my perspective, "property" alone is the concept that feeds the fire of our degrading privacy and freedom of speech. Hence, Orwell´s society is a present day reality.
  
  The perspective I often see is that we must do something to control the flow of information, where I think the issue rests in this mindset. Let information flow freely! The acquisition of knowledge is a right to personal empowerment - if bills such as SOPA were to pass and severely disrupt the already butchered flow, we are welcoming ignorance and saying goodbye to any hopes for a transparent society.
Rhona Pavis 50+
- +1
Jul 21 2012: I believe we can co-create a Utopian future. We have the power. Let's do it. If you live in accordance with your own highest awareness of what is right, there should be no fear of others knowing what you do or say.
- Cheri Brewer
  - +1
  Jul 21 2012: I like your outlook Rhonda, I hope you are right. I do share your lack of fear, but not your faith in mankind. Ideals, I believe are doomed by collective human nature. That's from my view anyways. My own best intentions and ideals are not faultless.
  - Rhona Pavis 50+
    
    0
    Jul 22 2012: Cheri, my name is Rhona. I may be right. I have found the majority of human beings to be wonderful people. None of us is perfect, but most of us are on an upward spiral in improving ourselves as we live and learn. I believe there is a cause/effect relationship in doing good, speaking positively and obtaining positive results that accrue to yourself and others. POWER TO THE POSITIVE!
    - Cheri Brewer
      
      +1
      
      Jul 22 2012: Beautiful name, thanks for correcting me.
    - Alexander Jerome Leon Cruz
      
      +1
      
      Jul 29 2012: We are all wonderful people: "modern" society has labelled our virtues as barbaric and imposed limitations on it. This logic stems from fear.
      
      I too believe we can create a Utopia, but I like to think that we already are. Act as if its true, and in time our conscious actions WILL bring change and allow the surfacing of true, compassionate human nature.
- Max Gutapfel
  - +1
  Jul 21 2012: That topic is meeh... as long as there are social standards and laws in place which i cant agree on it would be my end.
  I can live according to my believes ofcourse i can, but will society let me?
  - griffin tucker 10+
    
    +1
    Jul 22 2012: fear is the key-word.
    
    if you can do it with-out fear of society back-firing on you, then something's wrong with either society or your own belief.
    
    or both, in which case you have an opportunity to enlighten the world how you came across your belief, and why societal standards need to be examined.
    - Rhona Pavis 50+
      
      0
      
      Jul 22 2012: griffin, I wonder what the source of your fears are. I wonder if you can tell when fears are initiated from a source that is internal to you or external to you.
    - Max Gutapfel
      
      0
      
      Jul 31 2012: Rhona personally i dont think one can differentiate between the source of anything being external and internal to oneself.
      
      We seem to be a collection of all perception weve made throughout our lives. And the way we process this perceived data is in its own dependant on what we perceived before.
  - Rhona Pavis 50+
    
    0
    Jul 22 2012: Max, society is delighted that you have the wisdom and courage to live according to your own beliefs as long as your beliefs cause behavior that is positive. You contribute way more to society by living your own beliefs, than do those who give up their own lives, thinking, beliefs to march in lock-step with others, e.g., authority figures, whose beliefs may have been negative and may have caused negative impacts on society. It is creative, positive people who are most powerful in making our society increasingly positive. We have a choice about what to focus on. May as well focus on positive anything, everything. It's there.....all over the place- near and far.
    - Max Gutapfel
      
      +1
      
      Jul 31 2012: Rhona, the problem is in the system I currently live in i have no huge problem with everyone having access to my thoughts or being able to create a personality profile of me.
      
      However i want to keep that sphere of privacy and intimity, because times change.
      I cant predict what will happen, so id like to have that lets say backup incase something goes wrong and i at one point have to fear people knowing too much about me either through a change in society or politics.
      
      Thus i see it important to preserve at least a small sphere of privacy which i can rely on when i feel like it is important to do so.
      
      For example I use this windows installation 99% of my time however i got a partition on my maindrive whose movements through the internet are almost impossible to track (use of TOR network and so on) i dont use it currently as i dont feel like i need it, however having the tools at hand to go private is something i wouldnt want to miss out on.
  - griffin tucker 10+
    
    0
    Jul 22 2012: hi Rhona,
    
    there's something called a 'singularity' that has recently come to surface in the more popular light, and has always been an internalised and externalised fear based on my experience of watching 'the terminator' movies.
    
    http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/rise-of-the-machines-20120718-229ev.html
    
    although the picture painted is very bleak, i still remain optimistic, but i sometimes worry that the machines will become more intelligent in some areas but not in others and humanity could be existentially threatened as a result.
    - Alexander Jerome Leon Cruz
      
      +1
      
      Jul 29 2012: Griffin,
      
      the article you´ve presented us is absolutely fascinating. From the point of view of a physicist, as the article says, this is a sound possibility. But, it poses a critical point on determining the behavior of the super intelligent AI: it will understand human nature and construct a schema of what we want.
      
      Perhaps this intelligence could model love? Compassion? Honesty? I do not feel so threatened by this future, even a child can understand what it means to be human - why not a self-aware machine?
  - Rhona Pavis 50+
    
    0
    Jul 29 2012: Yes. Just stay within the positive realm of action and society will be delighted that you indulge your every positive whim. Glad you think for yourself. I respect you for that. The key to freedom and progress is POSITIVE anything and everything, Max.
  - Rhona Pavis 50+
    
    +2
    Jul 31 2012: Max, we cannot plan for everything in our future. I think the safest way to deal with the future, the unknown, is to acknowledge that you are co-creating it with your words and actions of today. If you choose to stay within the positive realm in regard to all matters, I believe you will be, not only safe in the future, but will increasingly thrive throughout your future. It's like establishing good habits to train yourself to speak, act, focus on the positive......which is ubiquitous and infinite. Thank you for expressing your true thoughts and feelings. They are valuable and appreciated. Happy Today
    - Max Gutapfel
      
      0
      
      Jul 31 2012: Thanks for your words :o)
      
      I do focus on the positive, ofcourse i do im coming out of a depression which i had for at last 2 years its hard to tell where it starts an where it ends.
      
      Not focusing on the positive is not really the key to being happy thats true. And seriously if you go through the streets and hear a person whistling pippi longstocking then you can be sure its me ;o).
      But keeping in mind the negative aspects of our world today and thinking about how to make a change is crucial anyways.
      Problems wont fix themselves and only focusing on the positive is close to ignorance.
      
      I am a happy person (most of the time :P)
      
      But maybe you should try to define the "positive realm" which you mention all the time as it seems that this is the part where i dont really know what you mean.
      Do you mean the "realm of positive thinking"? -doesnt seem so but would make sense :P
  - Rhona Pavis 50+
    
    0
    Jul 31 2012: Max, you always have a choice about where to invest your focus, your energies. I suggest the biggest payoff comes from consciously choosing anything positive. Say your car is broken. You can get upset about that, be annoyed, be frustrated or you can consider positive alternatives, e.g., opportunity to read a book, maybe you avoided an auto accident, discover an alternative form of transportation, decide you deserve to obtain a better, new car. Or you can dwell on the broken car.
    When I refer to the positive realm, I'm usually just talking about the positive position which you and I and everyone can seekfind, if and when we have the will to do that. Someone once said, "when something happens, call it neither a curse nor a blessing, but rather just say, 'This is what happened.'" We never know the consequences of things. Something that initially appears to be negative can turn out to be positive. For example, a broken car could result in your having a new, better car or discovering a better way to get to where you want to go, e.g., calling a friend for a lift and your friend deciding to stop and have a fun activity with you before or after the task of taking you to where you want to go. Anything positive is possible. I am glad you cured yourself of depression. Obviously, you are sensitive. Makes it all the more important to work at using positive words, acts, concepts, etc. Be as MAX as you can possibly be. You are wonderful the way you are right now.
pat gilbert 50+
- +1
Jul 21 2012: If you don't want them to take your freedom don't let them, otherwise as they say only proles are free,
- Cheri Brewer
  - 0
  Jul 21 2012: Hi Pat,
  I have never heard that saying before. Honestly, I know a few "prisoners" who experience a kind of freedom some will never know. The truly free, cannot be bound.
  - pat gilbert 50+
    
    0
    Jul 21 2012: Maybe you thought I meant paroles? I actually meant proles (which is short for proletariat) Proles are the lower class in 1984. They are free because they don't think about the boundaries because of alcohol consumption.
    - Cheri Brewer
      
      0
      
      Jul 21 2012: Ah, that makes sense...it does help to not think about the boundaries! Thanks for the correction.
Mitch SMith 50+
- +6
Jul 20 2012: No - it can't be avoided.
It's not the future.
We have been in it for some time now.

On the upside, the future is unknowable, the universe is infinite:
Big Brother is not big enough - and never will be.

There will always be places to live freely in the ever-widenning cracks in our brother's small mind.
- Cheri Brewer
  - 0
  Jul 21 2012: Agreed.

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